Monday, January 30, 2012

Simplicity 5877

 Shirtwaist dress with notched collar, set-in sleeves, bodice front button closing and side zipper.

Fabric used: Vintage cotton found at a yard sale
I would grade this as an intermediate  pattern. There is a fiddly step with the side zipper set into the pleats, and on the other side it has a side seam pocket. Mostly straightforward and the only change I made was to shorten the sleeve length. The fit was great on the first try, I will make this one again.

photo taken in just a sweater at the end of January
it's insanely warm for this time of year in Colorado
and no snow??

 


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Working on...

a banner made of vintage fabric

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Speakers, Sofa Cushions, and Emily Chalmers

 It's been awhile, so I will try as best I can to remember the speaker conversation. Pretty sure it went something like this.
"Honey, do you remember me talking about how since high school I've wanted to own a quality set of speakers? You know the kind I mean - blow the roof off your house speakers." Then he is getting a call and has to get off the phone.
Then I get the second phone call. "Johnny was at a yard sale when he saw these speakers. He actually drove off and left them there. I told him to go back as fast as he could and get them." 
I remember having a fairly lengthy convo about said speakers, but I'm thinking you get the picture.
It's to hard to type inflection so you'll have to trust me when I tell you I recognized right away that I was being entreated. I do remember the punchline he said, "Did I mention that they are kind of big?"
Now I've widened my shot to include the speakers. Not only are they kinda big, they are kinda black, and sitting in the living room, that prior to their arrival didn't have a speck of black in the decor, at least not on purpose. So now I have a serious problem. These speakers are a force to be reckoned with. My first thought was making a big slip cover to camouflage them. Then I remembered the photos of the Emily Chalmers loft and her use of black as an anchor, or point of interest, in an otherwise white space. Viola. Decoration born of desperation my friends.

Oh by the way, he redeemed himself when he came home after the living room re-do and said, 
"I like it, it's very Anthropologie."

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Curtain Skirts Re-visited

Fine Design

 Some time ago I saved this photo to my desktop. I could not believe there was actually a kindred spirit out there, one who like me, had such obvious love of skirts made of curtains. In fact, I made a very similar skirt to the one on top. I've actually made quite a few skirts from vintage drapery fabric.  Time went by and I couldn't remember the source of the original image.
 Then in December I happened to be visiting the decor8 blog and the images of a stylist named Emily Chalmers almost took my breath away. You know the feeling you get when you see a space and declare, "I could seriously live in that space." Everything about it... just lovely. So I got curious about you Emily Chalmers. I googled you. I tried to find every image that was out there. So there it is. The image I found so long ago and loved is your closet, in an open loft, in London. I love your loft.
Then I discovered not only are you a stylist, you are an author, and shop owner - with adorable personal style to boot. 
So yep... I ordered your books, not all of them, there's a lot.  

these photos belong to Hilary Walker