Made it Myself Monday: Rabbit's Got Lamb Powered Wheels

Inspired by vintage German Scrap pictures and adorable Japanese felted creatures I decided to bring two disparate but cute worshiping cultures together, along with a gob of thrifted gee-gaws to make my tiny vision into a tiny reality.

 

I am very proud of the craftmanship on this pretty little silliness.

The wheels turn the lamb's bell rings, and each little basket in the back has a bunny and a bow.

 

The wooly creatures are hand felted from roving purchased locally and on etsy

with hand blown glass eyes.

and I finished in time for Easter !!

There's another picture or 2 on flickr...

just in case you need to see more.

New Vintage Wardrobe Project# 24: The Mail Order Pattern

This is a mail order pattern from the LA Times.

It has been a WIP for quite some time. 

2 years minus only about 1 Month, I think.

My first pattern with no seam lines or printing on the pieces.

And it was mailed in 1952 to Miss Bonnie Lawrence.

But it doesn't look like she ever made it.

Finally finished... Ta Daaaah!

New skill: Button loops!

I'm happy. 

Sooo Happy, in fact, that I made it a necklace, out of vintage bingo pieces and milagros.

I bought this  fabric from my friend Amber (aka Maple Syrup) and I think these two boys look like her two boys.. at least a little. 

 

But these guys would be older than me these days.

This NVW project is dedicated to her.

 

I got the buckle form the Addison Studio sale that I attended with my lovely sister...

Perfect, don't you think?

Well, That's all until Monday!

Thanks to Miss Retro Modern for the backgrounds for this shoot!

Thrift Thursday: Wait Until You See

It was pretty chock a block with Springy Holiday Goodness at the thrift store.

I got vintage-y blossoms, great crown lace, a chipped up, egg shaped bunny matroshka doll (destined for a refinish, random, tiny, wooden Easter-y charms), baskets, a bag, a set of rosette irons, a pie crimper, a vintage table cloth and a lamb cake mold.

Today I tried the cake mold out:

Behold: Naked Lamb Cake!

Since the face got a bit crumbly, I guess I'll have to frost it. 

( I am trying to resist because frosted cakes aren't part of my commitment to clean up my mid-section)

But it is cute, like a little cake-y sculpture.

I'll frost it and give it to a friend.

Because it's about process, not just product.

Work In Progress Wednesday: Only Enough Ambition to Annoy Myself

First a quick but heartfelt Thanks to comments on the Red Ridinghood cloak and also on the Alice post. I had so much fun doing them. I am really looking forward to doing more if those kinds of posts.
They are the best kind of challenge. Multi-level creative using varied craft spazz style skill sets...Yeah!

So her are a couple of bits of a couple of bits I am working on lately.

 Needle felted lambypie goodness and a grown up garment with needle felt applique.

But like usual (for everyone, I'm sure) This isn't ALL I 'm working on.


For Instance:
I'm doing my spring body clean up.
Shedding the solid mass of delicious indulgences that stretched from Early October until Mid January, and generally cleaning up the mess that it made of my mid section.

My big kitty, Harold, has kidney issues and that brings vet trips, weird feeding and containment tribulations, gross stuff to clean up and all that. As of now, he is on the mend but sadly will continue to be delicate for the rest of his life. Poor Harold.

Home junk: Taking down the temporary winter greenhouse we use for out tender succulents, garden and household "big chores" (like a complete fridge and freezer scrub down and inventory control, taking apart garden beds and the like).

And preparing for the GOOD STUFF... our first big (distant and semi-exotic)  family vacation in 3 or 4 years. While the trip will be great, keeping the pets and plants alive will require staff of some sort and that's a challenge. Then there's the planning reserving and packing stuff. Cleaning the house for a house sitter...
detail details details.

It's times like these that make getting to the creative stuff harder for me. It starts to feel simultaneously urgent and like it's just another mess to clean up, and then blogging? that is like the final step that just doesn't get taken. And then I feel bad. Like I could be successful if I would just make it a priority. And then I wonder "Successful, how? What does that Even Mean in Blogging?" I'm not writing the book proposal that I think about from time to time. At least that would succeed or fail. I don't advertise here, so I don't have to keep my stats up or lose revenue. There never has been revenue,  because I don't  make the time to investigate whether or not I even want to have advertisers. I haven't even made the formatting changes that I am dying to make for my own ideal vision of this space because I'm too intimidated and distracted to sit down and do the research, put it together and test it.  It makes my shoulders seize up and my mouth get all flat just considering it. Why? Because it's not my thing. I don't know the first thing about it and it is one of the few things that can bore and confuse me at the same time.

I seem to have only enough ambition to annoy myself.

I'm allowing myself to write down this rationalization/pity party by telling myself that I'm reaching out to other bloggers who might be feeling the same way, so if you are please, do share a comment and validate me in my favorite way,

with a comment on the old blog.


But, Please don't stop reading. I swear, I won't whine for at least 6 more posts. Just Craft-No Complaining.

And another new garment waits in the wings...

Made It Myself Monday: A Story to Wear

click to enlarge, my dears

About a year ago I finally found a wool blanket at a thrift store. I brought it home and cleaned it. One morning,  not too long after as I was doing my morning meditation, it came to me.

I sketched it out and sewed it up and started to do the needle felt applique all around it. 

Little Red, the Big Bad Wolf, The woodsman, the woods and Grandma in her house.

 I knew I wanted it to be creamy like the paper in old books. But trimmed in red felt ruffles.

I knew Red would have dark curls like my neighbor, Miss Rowyn.

And that I would want to take her picture with her very own Big Bad "Wolf".

 But it took almost a year before we finally took the pictures so I could share it with you.

 Sometime life is as silly as a fairy tale.

The cloak is for sale.

I love it but it's too small for me.

Email me if you are interested.

and detailed pictures of the needle felting will be on my

Flickr...

New Vintage Wardrobe Project#23: Aspects of Alice Tea Dress

What ever happened to the New Vintage Wardrobe Project?

Did it fall down a Rabbit Hole?

Actually it has been more of a issue of lack of documentation,

as opposed to lack of determination.

And when it came to taking self portraits... I, sadly, lacked inspiration.

But we recently came across a potion and were transported to a mysterious place.

 And what do we see?

One of my very first vintage pattern purchases.

Butterick -9721.

This looks like late 50's to me.

 

So we tried it out in a length of blue polka dotted lawn, that has the slightest glaze.

8 yards of  thrifted fabric.

Thrifted zipper. Thrifted cutom covered belt kit.

Total cost: 3.00

A wearable muslin.

 

A hand made crinoline underneath, 

stitched every bit, crankily, by hand, 

as it is slick and heavy with layer after layer of nylon ruffles.

 And  upon wearing it reveals that that it is, ironically (or is it literally?), a slip after all...

(Only an inch was supposed to peek out below. 

But as my mother used to say:

"It is Snowing down South, dear."

Isn't that coy?) 

 

After the photo shoot, it went back in the sewing basket 

for some more determined elastic for it's waistband.

And we had another cup of Earl Grey.

New skills?

A side zipper and hand cut and ironed bias tape to trim the arms and insides.

(What? No arm facings in the pattern? How can this be?)

Challenges?

Getting the fit right with the oversized collar was a seam ripper fandango.

Truly it is why the most effective seamstresses make muslins.

If I had done that to silk, the dress would be shredded. As it is, it still looks strained.

But I think I would get it right if when I make it again.

Still I'd wear this to a wedding, if I had one to go to.

 Other Modifications?

I didn't add the sweet blousey-ness at the waist. I mixed it up with some waist defining darts.

Maybe if I make it in the straight skirted version I could make a Mad Men version with the proper waistline. But I know the fitted waist works for me.. so I cling to the familiar...

 

But That isn't where the adventure is!

Thrift Thursday: What Does Your Thrift Purchase Say About You?

Let's face it... What we pick up at the thrift store can reveal both character traits and the subconscious longings of our very souls. Because it is indeed ourselves and not the tides of fortune that truly determine what amongst the flotsam and jetsam of mankind's discards will make it's way into our lives, or at least the back of our cars.

This week in the midst of chilly, breezy but sunny days, I picked up this:

From this example, what you will first notice, is that I am an optimist. I will usually see things as they will be... not as they are.
The second thing you will notice is that I have Spring Fever. The purchase of a picnic basket or patio furniture is always a significant symptom of this malady.

From this Estate Sale purchase you will see that I am a person of discerning taste who values style above fashion and has a tendency to rely on classic motifs to define my personal tastes.

Also, I'm not too creeped out to buy stuff that probably belonged to somebody who's dead now. In addition, they probably kept their used kleenex in there, so I'm probably not a huge germ-a-phobe.

From this example you can clearly divine that I am mildly imbalanced.

I am a obsessive-compulsive, pack rat, hoarder that is probably due for an intervention and a series of meetings that begin something like:
"Hello My Name is Betty. And I am a Compulsive Junk Shopper."
 Even though I am admitting here and now that I do have a problem, you will be relieved to know that this blog is as close as I will go to any sort of reality show situation.
I  also feel like I need to provide some rationalization, by stating that it was free, it has pretty eyes and it was clearly unloved.

But that still doesn't make it right... does it?

So, What does your thrift shop/estate sale/flea market  purchase say about you?

Made It Myself Monday: The Capelette

 

Well, you are all so sweet and encouraging that I am now ready to pick up the Gauntlet and start Blogging with Reckless Abandon,

Here is the capelette and flower collar combination. No close-ups because, frankly, the capelette leaves me a little less than thrilled. But it is a cute little photo-op as well as a learning opportunity:

Cape linings are not so easy.

I did have a really creative weekend and have lots to share this week but I wanted to start it out with some capelette closure and a

 Great Big Thanks

for all your kindnesses and encouragement!!!

xxxooo, 

Betty

3...2...1...0...

Yep it's Countdown day today. That is to say, if you sign a check today, you write the date and the numbers will be 3-2-10.

It is also the month that will start my 4th year of blogging. 4 years!
wow.

I have been kind of agonizing over the blog lately. Like thinking "Is this a power for good or bad in my life."? "Does it feed my very soul to connect with other people who like to use their hands to speak their minds or does it just create chaos and conflict over my personal creating, as in: am I doing it for me or for the blog?"
I haven't shared 3 of the last New Vintage dresses I've sewn, and I am not sure why.
I made the capelette for the felt flower collar... But I haven't done the photo shoot.
I want to. But there are always reasons. Other paths that need taking.

so... what is today looking like?

I seem to be getting in my own way when it comes to sharing and I don't really understand myself.

This year I decided that I wanted to put more Art in my Arts and Crafts, so I have been doing that.
But I have yet to post about it. Shy? Not usually. More  like Lofty Aspirations that can be a bit crippling because you might not acheive the desired effect.
Still, it feels like a good decision and I think I want to write about it but, I hope I don't run people off in droves with my narcissism. "OOOOh, do let me tell you about My Art!"

Everyday is a decision on a direction.
Today it feels like commit or quit.
But it doesn't have to be that way...
This pressure is all in my head.

Does this ever happen to you?

PS: I think I'm excited to see Alice In Wonderland. Anyone else?