FRILLER!

That's me in my newly made frilled top worn in the straight jacket version, I do believe.

~ alrighty then ~

Let's back up a bit...

~ ahh, that's better, don't ya think? ~

So here's the story.

This top was a major disaster from a Tina Givens pattern, Lucca.  Do not try this at home (or anywhere else for that matter).  The drafting and instructions do not fit together and make no sense in any way imaginable.  Nevertheless, she persisted.  And persisted.  Ripping, cutting, remaking and finally totally making my own pattern from scratch.  Thank the goddess I was using an old king size sheet because, in the end, I did use all the fabric.

~ now wearing in kimono version ~

And nothing is softer than old 100% cotton sheeting.  mmmm.

~ and that leads me to...~ 

Mending on my mind line mind, whatever.

~ I've been boro-ing on old makes that need some TLC ~

The first shirt is made from parchment linen and developed a hole above the side seam pocket.  It's actually an adaptation from Tina Givens Gina shirt pattern.  It was my first boro style, visible mending and I really luved the way it turned out.

~ sweet boro patching ~

The second shirt is really old and originally made from a king size pillow case.  I've already refashioned/ repaired it a few times.  It's had 2 new pair of sleeves, 2 new pairs of patch pockets, multiple refinishes around the neckline, new side seam pockets and underarm repairs.  After I removed the front patch pockets, the middle section needed massive restoration. 

~ big ole borro patching to the rescue ~

And now for a break from all that, we'll go to the grand finale.

~ my ebay Doc Martens ~

By the by, these old jeans are at least 30+ years and counting.  They were once high-waisted, cuffed and pleated.  That's long gone and this is their latest transformation.  And talk about soft.  mmmmm, can't get any more soft (or faded) than ancient jeans, bay-bee.


As soon as I get it together, I'll be linking up to Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cheri's Shoe and Tell.  See you there!

Watching The Total Eclipse Dress

~ Oh yeah ~

I made the dress 'special for some moon event and finished it just in time.  Of course I couldn't really watch it with my sunglasses on.  So this is just a reenactment.

~ yep, I had to look away ~

But let me tell you about this dress.  What a process.  I had made the pattern before - Marcy Tilton, V8876 and really liked how it turned out.  You can see that make here.  So when I got the phases of the moon fabric, I thought no problemo.

~ it's still got the bones ~

But this fabric behaved so differently than the other.  And for some reason it ended up really large, even though I made it the same size!  I had also carefully finished all the umpteen zillion seams, along with putting in a jumbo two-way zipper down the center front.

I tried putting in the lightest weight tissue linen for sleeves and the bottom border, but that didn't seem to help much.

So I carefully ripped out untold teeny stitches to remove that honking zipper.

~ groovy leather belt-let ~

In the end, I decided to wrap the dress over by 4 inches or so and added a leather buckle strap from a gone-to-toast pair of sandals.  I found some moon-sized buttons in my stash and the rest, as they say, is history.



I made the organza pants in the beginning days of Project Minima.  They continued off of yoga shorts.


And I made the Japanese tabi socks from a pattern, more or less, by Folkwear.
I used stretch mesh fabric for the sock with non-slip gripper fabric for soles and snap tape as the fasteners.

~ geta shoes from ebay ~

And now I'm rushing on over to Patti and the Visibles of Not Dead Yet Style fame.  Then Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cheri's Shoe and Tell.  Come on by.

Variations on a Theme

I walked in, someone said "wow" and snapped a picture.

I said, "send it to me."

And they did.

Blog post done just like that (snap).

~ moi, paintified ~

Okay, here's a few details:

I just made the stretch mesh peasant top with grosgrain ribbon tie, self-drafted.  And the linen tablecloth bloomers based on Tina Givens Lainey pants pattern.

You've previously seen the TG stretch mesh Tessa slip pattern and the old jeans made into the Vogue 8928 hat pattern.

I already had the shoes, sox and sunnies.

With the bare minimum I'm heading over to Patti's Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine's I Will Where What I Like, and Cheri's Shoe and Tell when they all go live.  Hope to see you all there!  Oh, and Judith's Hat Attack.



Oh wait, there's more...
 

~ with blue hair as an accessory ~

~ and without the bloomers ~

~ but there's matching sox and very cool shoes ~

~ plus a lovely vintage clasp ~

Now, that's a wrap.