Ladies and Gentlemen...

Here's my latest...and it even works!  

Well, it certainly isn't fitted in any way.

And I wasn't taking any chances after that last mess. 

I was totally inspired by Nancy Murakami's rendition of Katherine Tilton's Vogue 8834 blouse pattern.  She turned it into this lovely neutral gauze dress.    For more about it, go to Marcy Tilton's newsletter.

I already had the pattern and enough black gauze fabric in my stash.  I even had a length of black snap tape to use rather than making endless button holes for the asymmetrical, collar-to-hem opening.  yea!
 

I made that necklace thingy just because

As you can see, the collar is huge and can be snapped on up to the very end.  There's no shoulder seams, just darts (that show) and move the collar up and over from front to back.

Bathed in a Golden Glow

I was going for a mid-calf length, but the fabric kept elongating, like about 4 inches.  I was using the fringed selvedge for the hem and sleeve edges so I didn't want to shorten it.  So it's ankle length now.  I also added some extra snap tape across the back neck from shoulder to shoulder to keep it from sliding off my shoulders.  I think it looks cool, like it's even on purpose.  I have to fold the dress up, rather than hang it, to keep it from stretching even more.
 

Thanks to Shams of Communing with Fabric I was made aware of Mari of  Seamster Patterns and her Rose Hip Tights & Stockings pattern that's downloadable.  They are the best.  I used this crazy op arty sheer-ish stretch-every-which-way fabric from my stash which was perfect for tights.  And somehow everything just went together.  woot woot.

Especially with my latest e-bay acquisition...huh? huh?  yea, baby.  Slashed, steel-toed boots.

For more close-ups of the dress and patterns used, go to my Clothes for Spring page.

But now it's time for me to join the Gorgeous Gals at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday!!!

This just in...Bella's Link-up: Project Pao features me (!) as a Secondhand First Fashion Icon.  Might as well join the party, I'd say.  Hope to see you there.

No, this just in...Let's make the transition with these babies to Sheila of Ephemera for her inaugural Shoe Shine line-up.  Ready, set, go!

Still later, this just in...Spy Girl's 52 pick-me-up: black.  Check it out.

Spring Studio Sweep

But first, a shoe shot especially for Bella's ShoeShine.  

~ my flamin' oxfords (from ebay, of course) ~

Thank you, Bella!

Not nearly as cool, but still substantial, are my shots of the newly revamped and reorganized studio for sewing.  Check It Out!

The State of Project Minima: Year 3, Qtr. 3

A rite of passage, these last three months.  Only now have I realized I did all hand sewing during this time.  hmmm.  ahhh.  yes.  That's nice, just for 3 months - starting and then stopping without conscious thought - as my Mom slipped away. 

~ painting by Vilhelm Hammershoi ~

But right before this hand-sewing marathon...I received the blessings of the Traveling Yellow Skirt in the mail. You can read/ see all about this amazing week-long adventure starting with this post:  The Day the Yellow Skirt Came To Call.  I cannot express what a difference the TYS made in my life and my mom's at that time.

Can I Say Couture Manure?

Because that's what I've made.  All that time spent hand-stitching and I came up with an epic fail.  blah-ha-ha.

~ painting by Anita Dominoni ~

In retrospect, I suppose it was one of those what was I thinking scenarios...  But, on the other hand, I do love me some hand-sewing... Maybe taking it from fingerless gloves and hats to a designer coat was a bit  much.

Well in the end, or what I believe is the end at the present moment, I managed to move it up a couple notches from epic fail to moderately passable.  That means from only wearing it as a bathrobe to maybe wearing it out of the house on occasion. 

Okay, so if you want to see me in it, turn the page...

Out of the Blue...

There I was sitting at home hand-sewing a couture item for myself (to be mentioned in a future post), when...wham! bam! thank-you ma'am!...I received this email from a heavy metal band in Geneva, Switzerland. 
  

~ painting by Marieloes Reek ~

Yeah, this is a True Story.

They're called Promethee (that's Prometheus pronounced and spelled in French, ya'all).  They wanted to purchase one of my mandala drawings, Day 203 to be precise, for promotional use with their band.  Yep.  Mathieu, the bass player, said they had stumbled upon my Mandala-a-Day blog and really liked my work. Uh-huh.

It wasn't for sale, since it was contained in a sketch book as part of a series I did every day for a year. So after some back and forth correspondence in which I thanked them for not just ripping it off the web, I ended up sending them a higher resolution jpg of the image.   Mathieu asked me to also write their band name (PRMT) in my own script, separately, so they could include it underneath the mandala.  1,000 are going to be made as promotional give-aways when the band plays next.  hee hee hee

So dudes, here they are playing a little something, something...

Well alrighty then.