Hit the Mute, Dear

~ this room has all the colors I can take ~

Today I've dressed myself in all sorts of pastel-y colors, muted patterns and soft textures.

~ And turned my back on bright and vibrant hues ~

ahh, the peace and quiet of lilac knitted over-the-knee socks paired with old Doc Marten Mary Jane shoes.

~ uhhuh ~

Can we get a close up of that?

~ yeah, that's what I'm talking about ~

Ladies, what I'm wearing today is:

• the Becca jacket pattern made as a vest by Tina Givens (now out of print)
• a linen wrap-around dress modified from Simple Modern Sewing
• the aforementioned sox from Sox Dreams
• the Doc Martens from ebay
• $ store reading glasses

oh, and check out the handmade fasteners on my vest

~ fasteners by Sara ~

and photo-ing by Sara too!

Just in time for Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style.  Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cherie's Shoe and Tell.  Do stop by and see the gang. 

Copper and Wine...

with Hot Fuchsia and Dancing Leopard Dragons.  That's what I wore to school.

~ oh, I think this pix looks a little washed out ~

Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway the actual names of my clothes are Frankie and Olivia.  No, I don't go around naming them, but that's the names given for the patterns from Tina Givens.  Frankie includes the crop top and pants.  Olivia is the tunic top/dress.  I think they go well together. 

~ I mean Frankie just needs somebody else ~

 
Without Olivia or someone like her, Frankie would just be too, too...matchy-matchy!

Frankie is made from a deep copper stretch velvet with added wine linen trim that has writing on it!   Olivia is made from a slinky knit, I mean really slinky.  That's why she needs Frankie both over and under her.

~ whom has ambushed whom here ~

Back to the Flannel

~ ahaha ~

If you've been around Project Minima long enough, you've seen this before.  My rehabilitation of fav flannel shirts.

This one comes complete with a black suede buckled bow taken off my old sandals.  Nice.  And that silk brocade was given to me by a friend.  It's from curtains, I believe.

~ look at that, it's so warm out I don't need a coat! ~

I added cuffs from a tablecloth scrap leftover from that series of  French house dresses I made out of old tablecloths.  The pockets were short sleeves from a dress made along while ago.  And the pocket, collar and button placket were covered with stretch mesh leftover from my handmade tights.

~ hey! This is my house ~

A friend gave me the ombre, pleated, dotted fabric.  All I had to do was run a drawstring through the top and a skirt was born.  Tights, now stockings, were from a swaporama held by Style Agent 99 way back when.  I remember I swapped a gauze peasant blouse for 'em.

~ shoe shot ~

Shoes, as ever, from ebay.  Xoxo is the brand. 

~ the jewels ~

Those golden scarabs are dollar store plastic glow-in-the-dark bugs painted gold by moi.  Retro-fitted with gold-colored jump rings through their creepy crawly parts.  Red silk cord is threaded through and voila.  One bug is on a cord as necklace, the other is on a pin as broach  - to be arranged at will.


And now it's time to join the crowd of Visibles at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style before it's too late!!!  Also tune in for Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like party and Cherie's Shoe and Tell.  There's fun for all.

Bad Photos, Good Painting, Nice Enuff Dress

~ brown embellished corduroy dress with chiffon trim ~

I'm standing in front of one of my interior paintings from grad school, Bedroom Suite #2.  I had done a series of life-size oils of my apartment surroundings back then. 

~ here, the photo was so bad, I paintified it in photoshop ~

~ and with my Egyptian reversible coat ~

Here's what I'm wearing, Ladies:

• $ store reading glasses
• handmade necklace of ribbon, burnished/ hammered copper, and abalone shell
• corduroy dress handmade from Tina Givens Clara Kaftan pattern, modified
• reversible coat handmade from Koos van den Akker Vogue 2709 oop pattern, modified
• shoes/ boots from ebay

Linking up with Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style.  Catherine at I Will Wear What I Like.  And Cherie's Shoe and Tell.  Hope to see you there!

My My My Myiake

I made it!  The Issey Miyake coat designed for Vogue patterns (1476) some 20 years ago.

~ Some things just get better with age, yeah? ~

I was so intimidated to even try it.  Plus it takes 5 yards of wide fabric.  And there's only 2 pattern pieces that don't resemble anything wearable.  

~ it looks exactly like the pattern picture ~

While it turned out to be a quick sew, it was quite the elaborate cut out.  I had to move out the chairs and table from the sewing room so I could work on the floor for this one.  I mean the one pattern piece was ginourmous - like 60" by a zillion I think.  And there was no way I could work that on my 3 x 5 foot table (I tried).

Gadding about on hands and knees from one end of the wooden floor to the other...now that was a whole 'nother adventure that I don't care to encounter again.

~ gadding about in style ~

The fabric I used was a dark gray double-sided fleece I bought at Fabricmart.com.  But it acted more like faux fur in it's shedding capacity while cutting it out.  shoo-wee.   It was extraordinarily soft and lightweight.  One side has longer napped fleece than the other, but both sides show in the design of the coat.

The big pockets are amazing.  I did raise them about 2 inches according to other people's reviews on the Pattern Review site.

~ dramatic bat back view ~

I also added wide elastic to the sleeve hem to bring it in a bit and not have it so accessible to the cold wind.  They're not tight on the wrist at all.  I didn't use the sleeve facings then.  I also didn't miter, top stitch, or hem anything because it was, after all, fleece and therefore, unnecessary.  That's why it was such a quick & easy sew.

~ whoa, the big reveal ~

Ladies, I'm also wearing:

• hat handmade by Viv X
• embellished fingerless gloves handmade by Elaine 
• embossed suede with satin trimmed vest handmade by moi
• chiffon print dress handmade from Tina Givens Adelle pattern
• herring bone sox from Sox Dreams
• golden Fluevogs from ebay

Seems this coats turns out to be one size fits all, more or less.  Just check out the pix after the break!