Fall Inspiration

I'm sure to the true fashionista this post is very late. These Dolce & Gabbana images are in the fashion magazines - and I'm sure, all over the web.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around fall fashion until it is actually Fall. So...
I am finding several looks from this collection inspiring. First, the little suit. I plan to wear mine with a top.
Last fall I wanted to make a Chanel- inspired jacket and didn't get to it. So I'm moving it up near the top of my sewing queue.

::Chanel inspired jacket- check

And then... in several colors? I don't really see that happening, but aren't they pretty?

Ahhh... great print and pattern. Love the dress.

this photo was blurred for a more realistic dream like appearance

I had to include these images. When I saw them I was reminded of a dream I had in high school on more than one occasion, with slight variations in detail.
I am in the hallway going to class. My mood can be described as happy, buoyant even. I speak to all my friends as I pass, and things are just peachy, until I feel a slight breeze on my nearly bare derriere. That's right -I forgot to put on my pants. I look down and sure enough -I'm in my underwear. Predictably this is the point where my peers notice that I came to school in my panties. No one ever notices until I do, weird. The rest of the dream usually involves some elaborate plot to clothe myself before everyone notices.
Maybe the Dolce & Gabbana models won't look down, and will never have to know that they did the whole second half of the session in their skivvies.

Day two Self-Stitched

I am including this vintage dress in my Self-Stitched wardrobe. This was a pretty hefty re-do.
I cut off the weird almost 3/4 length sleeves, and with the fabric - lengthened the way short torso (bodice). At some point the dress had been altered and I had to fix the pleats. I almost gave up on this one. I hate mending/altering with a passion. I am not really sure why I loathe it so. It makes so much sense, as I love vintage, but rarely find anything I can wear - as is. So I've tackled a couple of items that were sitting in my mending pile, and plan to do a few more this month.

Note to my siblings: I did a little mending-it is not your green light to ask me to hem your pants. Remember, I am an artist. (I use this when I don't want to do something) ;)

New Look 6723

In search of an Audrey silhouette, I chose this New Look pattern.

View B.

Worn today for the first day of Self-Stitched-September, forgive the wrinkles.

Rick-rack detail.

I am happy with the fit and my fabric choice (100% cotton seersucker).
I made this one as is, with the exception of the addition of pockets in the side seams.
If you've been considering making this one up - check this out. The same view made up in a print fabric (sis boom). I like her version a lot.

Slow Stitched

Somewhere along the way I may have mentioned slow stitching. I read about "slow design", in the Alabama Stitch Book. Natalie Chanin refers to this approach as embracing the long-term view over the short-term gain by using age-old techniques to create products that celebrate strong design principles for modern living. The designs in this book are fashioned by hand. In other words hand stitched. I love the thought of this. Taking time to thoughtfully stitch something up- enjoying the slow measured pace.

Never again will I use the words slow and stitched in the same sentence. This dress took me about three weeks to complete. I could never find time to work on it. So I stitched it- a few minutes here and there.

Finding myself at the end of the day dress project, frustrated and in need of a sewing fix, I couldn't be bothered to hand stitch the Alabama project and I stitched it entirely on the machine, so there.

July in slow motion

1. faux airstream , 2. Alabama Stitch Book , 3. new barn, 4. july 2010 002, 5. july 2010, 6. Barred Rock chicken, 7. Nubian goat kids, 8. Nubian goat doe kid, 9. making goat cheese, 10. curds and whey, 11. home improvement, 12. double hollyhock

Farm Life mailorder 8405

I found a pair of Keds classic white canvas tennis shoes at an estate sale this weekend - which I was looking for by the way. You know where this is going don't you. They needed a day dress to go with. Just sayin...
You think I have crafty attention deficient disorder? really?

I've had the fabric for a couple of years. It came from a box of fabric D found at an auction. It is similar in hand to feed-sack cloth.

My thought for the rick-rack trim was to add something a little more subtle this time. Maybe just add a little texture. Look closer, a little closer (you may have to click on the photo and make it larger) a little closer, there. What do you think? Maybe it's a little to subtle?
So do I go red or black and contrast?

2010 Edition

Working on:
New Edition Stone Free Farm bags
and...
a home improvement project.

The bags are the same as the ones found here, and here, except for the addition of the 2010 pocket.

The bags are a collaboration with this artist. She designed and hand pulled the screen print. The print was made on recycled canvas fabric, that at one time covered sofas. The handles are up-cycled from discarded handbags.

On the back of the bags we use vintage home dec fabric. They are all a little different, depending on the fabric I've found.

As for the home improvement project, I'm going to wait to share (wip).
It was necessary as my place was starting to look like the Shipman's. You know, the Shipman's.
Actually... I don't know them either. The family lived next door to my Nanny (grandmother) when she was growing up. The report is that their place was pretty trashy. In the years that followed, as a tool to enlist our help, she would refer to the now infamous Shipman's. As in, "This place is starting to look like the Shipman's"; which was a gross exaggeration on her part because; we did not dump trash in a pit dug in an unused room of our home, nor carelessly dump our no longer functioning bathroom fixtures into the yard and plant flowers in the bowl.
And so it goes... my sisters and I understand that to let yard maintenance go, is to surely end up like the Shipman's.

Disclaimer: If your last name is Shipman I am positive that the Shipman's I am referring to, are in no way related.