Diversion Scarf

I needed a little diversion from my coat and so I decided to whip up this scarf. I've actually attempted this scarf before with other yarns without much success. I used left over yarn from my niece's baby blanket and this time it worked!

A couple of close-ups of the lace pattern




And then a few pictures of the scarf on me. This inadvertently turned into a photo shoot for my next facebook profile picture.

Pattern Love

I want this pattern:

(via Lanzet Living)

It's kind of Evil School Marm meets Elsa from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I could never actually see myself wearing this, but I would just love to have it in my closet. And yes I would totally buy the cane to go with it (the outfit just wouldn't work otherwise). I can see myself flittering around my apartment, cape flowing behind me, occasionally stopping to slam the cane down on nearby tables and yelling insults in German. If it wasn't $20 I would so buy this.

So many projects, so little time...

Here are a few of the projects I want to start after I finish my coat:

Cape Dracula
I love this coat so much that I kind of want to marry it. Is that weird?

(Image via Sewable)

Little sister's dress
Possibly as a first birthday present for my niece

(Image via Knitting a Lot)

Jennifer Shirt
It's just too cute not to try. I think it would also be cute to lengthen the pattern and turn it into a summer dress. Oh how I love casual summer dresses.

(Image via Burda Style)

Personalized Labels
No image for this one since they weren't all that compelling. But I will have to put something in my creations so everyone knows they're mine!

And here is an oldy, but goody of mine that could use a personalized label:





The pattern is Butterick B4849. The contrast fabric is vintage and the red fabric was left over from my curtains. I am so Julie Andrews

Back Stage at a Fashion Show

Last night I had an opportunity to be a model dresser for a fashion show put on by a very prestigious department for a client. It was my first look into the world behind the runway. I had been imagining Model rushing around, people screaming, make-up and hairdryers everywhere, basically organized chaos. So how was my first foray into behind the scenes fashion? Eh, kind of boring. After getting there and looking through the 5 outfits I was to help put my model in (which took about 10 minutes tops) I then stood around for about one and a half hours making small talk with the other dressers. That was followed by about 20 minutes of activity once the show started. Then another 20 minutes of boredom.

Overall though, I did get my model dressed pretty quickly. They never had to yell for her, so I pretty much did my job. And I'll give runway shows the benefit of the doubt in that it was a very small show and I think the organizers wanted to hedge their bets a little by having the dressers show up so early. Plus it was really cool to see all of the designer clothes up front. The clothing came mostly from the Spring Ready-to-wear and Resort collections from Giorgio Armani, Prada, Dolce and Gabana, Laundry, Emilio Pucci and Marc Jacobs to name a few. It's pretty safe to say that I was lusting over most of the clothing.

Here is the Giorgio Armani snake print dress that my model wore for her first outfit. It looks less shiny in person. I think it would look perfect for a night on the town with a leather jacket to give it a little bit of an edge.

(Image via Style.com)

Here is my very own snake dress modeled by me. The pattern is vintage simplicity.

White Handbags

I want to add a white bag to my collection. I've been eyeing a couple of options for a few weeks now and I'm still trying to work out how to fit it into my wardrobe. Will it go with my silver flats for instance? Should I buy white shoes to match or would that be to much. Will it function as a funky neutral? In any case, here are a few options that have caught my eye:

Pintucked Maison Shopper


Forever 21 Robertson Clutch


Urban Boundaries "The Sophisticate"


What do you think? Should the I add a white bag to my closet or not?

Coat Progress!

I've made some progress on my coat. What do you guys think? It of course needs, sleeves, lining, and a date with the iron, but it's getting there.

Front


Back


Close-up of the fabric

Fashion means never having to say you're sari

My sister and her husband recently went to India and kindly brought me back 4 gorgeous saris to use for fabric. I'm very lucky to have such a great sister and brother in law that they lugged back such gorgeous fabric all the way from India for me, but now I'm at a loss for what to do with it. I'm in that place that I think many sewers get into which is the I-want-to-use-this-fabric-but-it's-too-lovely-to-ruin-so-I-can't-use-it area of Sewersville. It's just left of Crap-I-didn't-follow-the-measure-twice-cut-once-rule.

The fabric itself is a very silky fine fabric, something which I'm not all too familiar with. Also, the kind of clothing options that usually come immediately to mind are not ones that necessarily look good on me. I'm pretty much have an hour glass figure and satiny bias-cut dresses don't really do much for me. Two of the saris also happen to be see-through, so lining is a must.

Sari 1


Close-up


Sari 2


Close-Up


Sari 3


Close-up


Sari 4


Close-up


So in a effort to not let the fabic go to waste, I'm thinking that I might start off simply by going off on the dress that I've been lusting after at Bop, which seems to be a pretty simple design. I'm thinking I could probably just sew two rectangles of fabric together, put in a little casing around the back at my waist line, make a cord to go through the casing and hopefully I'll end up with a cute summer dress.

Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Better Than Flowers

Yesterday a friend of mine was showing off a new pair of shoes, pearlized pink patent leather high heels by Kate Spade to be exact (no longer available online, so no pic). "Where did you get those!" I asked in awe of their beauty. Her answer? "My husband sent them to me." Her birthday is in February, their aniversary is in September, so he did it just because he loves her! Yes, it's true it seems that she an awesome husband.

It also reminded me of the only time I've even seen my mother cry over a gift and that was one Christmas where my father gave her a one of a kind hand painted silk jacket. My mother had worn it in a fashion show, but the designer wanted to use it for another show and therefore would not sell it to her. So my father went out of his way to track it down, convince the designer to sell it to him, and have shipped back to him to give to my mom for Christmas. Aww...

So let this be a lesson to any men who my be reading my little blog and are stumped on how to show your special lady you love her: "There is no better gift than the gift of fashion."

...And to anyone who wants to give that gift to me here are a couple ideas:

Marc Jacobs Mix Quilted Bowler

Castle Starr Rose Embellished Pleated Shift Dress

Elie Tahari Naomi Pearlized Opera Flat

Something Simple

This tunic is modeled by my lovely friend Maple. I've never really liked how it looked on me, but it looks perfect on her. The pattern is a vintage one from the 80s.