ars gratia artis

back at last... with a corset

2013-03-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

...
I have been on a long hiatus from this blog. While I was off and busy I was always wishing I could come back and show some of what I had been busy at, but have clearly failed to for a long stretch. Well, I'm hoping that now I can catch-up on some of that.

Among the projects that I worked on while I was away, this is one of the few that was for me. All me.

I think I have been intrigued by the look of corsets since childhood. I always loved the form that clothes from corseted eras had and thought that the corset itself looked beautiful.

I never tried one on until university when I was doing a production that was set in a corseted period. Granted the first one I tried on was not the best quality and certainly not fit properly to my proportions, but it was still positive enough of a first taste. I loved the feel of being hugged and the exaggerated hourglass that it created. I've always been very hourglass on my own but putting on a corset was the first time I remember really thinking that the hourglass was something I wanted to be. In fact, it turned out that I was hourglass enough on my own not to fit properly into standard sizes designed for 'contemporary figures' that were in stock in our costume department, and a teacher who had collected her own set of custom corsets for shows was kind enough to lend me hers. WAY BETTER.

Years later I have finally sewn a corset for the first time. Of course, I couldn't be sensible and start out with your typical 5 horizontal panel pattern. No, that would be too logical. I decided the first one I would try my hand at was the Angel Underbust Corset by CorsetTraining.net.

So easy, right? Well, the pattern wasn't difficult, but I had not yet mastered (or even tried-out) many techniques involved in corset making, so there are certainly flaws. The most noticeable flaw is the amount of wrinkling that occurred in the outer fashion fabric.

I do like the pattern very much, but if I make it again I will do so with a number of alterations to the fit.While the pattern is designed specifically for waist training, the lower front which would allow greater movement and pressure just on the floating ribs for most is too short on me and ends up just under all of my ribs, so causing a few more problems than it was intended to solve. Next time I would add length to the top front. I also was worried about it being too small in my hips, as is usually the case, and ended up adding more than I needed to and I have way too much space in the hips now.

I hope to take all of these lessons into account as I go to make my next corset.

...

{ valentine trickery }

2012-02-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

...
Hello lovelies. Happy Valentine's Day.

I thought I would share some of the sneakery I got up to for my sweetie, with the aid of others' creative talent I found on our good friend, the Internet. If you are still in hunt of some ideas before the day is over, perhaps you can use them, too.

First, when he got up in the morning, he found this fun tag on his toothbrush...

...accompanied by a sign on the mirror instructing him to look in the fridge where he found a yogurt parfait waiting for him.

...and a 'card' waiting at his desk. I loved this moldy peaches lyric quote poster art, but we don't get color ink for our printer because we are so cheap(poor), so I tried to jazz it up with some colored pens and doodling.

Some of my plans came out of GOOP suggestions, such as changing the wallpaper on his phone and setting alarms on it for various times, with instructions to check different locations for hidden treats. I changed his phone wallpaper to this fun poster art.

He wasn't supposed to find this until the first alarm on his phone, but due to him changing coats and checking pockets before he left he found it early...and left a photo of him wearing it that he put as the desktop wallpaper on my computer. Sweet.

At the second alarm, he was sent to find this cross-stitch heart card and a couple heart-shaped cookies stashed in his backpack.

There was also an origami heart stowed in another pocket.

Other than that, I did a couple things for myself to celebrate the day.

With some more of that leftover grey felt I have sitting around I threw together a little heart garland to hang in the window.

And in my frequent and addict-like browsing of Pinterest, I spotted this lovely valentine manicure tutorial by jenna beth.

I tied my own version with colors that I had on hand (no pun intended) and wound up with this.

I'm not as skilled as the originator, but still something fun to feel fancy today.

Happy celebrations to you all.

...

Pin It

{ hubby's tuque and scarf}

2012-02-10T17:07:00.001-08:00

...
Finally, I made a tuque and scarf for my hubby. While I am an American living in Canada, and have mostly kept my native vernacular, I have loved " tuque" ever since I first heard it. It is used by Canadians in reference to any typical knit cap and, it seems to me, feels like a very happy word. Just try saying it aloud.

The patterns used for these, the Molly tuque and Matilda scarf, may have girly names, but they were made for manly purposes. Both patterns are available for free. The tuque pattern I did alter to remove the cable. I made it first as prescribed, and and decided that the inclusion of the cable made it look significantly more feminine... so I frogged it and started all over again without, much the horror of my cast-mates who had been watching me knit it backstage during performances.

The cabled scarf is beautiful, and so fun to nuzzle your fingers into the texture of the multitude of cables. It is also nice and warm due to the cables. The downsides of it is that it took forever to make...I would estimate about 6 times longer than your average scarf. At least that was my experience. Also, I'm not a fan of the look of the backside of cables, so you have to be specific about how you drape it. That doesn't seem to be as big an issue in practice as I worried, though.

So I finally am able to send my husband off in the morning warm and with remembrances of me wrapped around.

...

Pin It

{ be my honey pie }

2012-02-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

...
St. Valentine's Day is approaching and I'm in a lovey-dovey mindset.

Are you planning any baking for this season? If so, I found something just right: Honey Pie.

I had always heard 'honey pie' as a (slightly mocking) pet name, but it never occurred to me that there was a real baked dish of the kind. Then when I stumbled across a recipe for one on Pinterest, my mouth watered at the thought. After sending the pin to my husband to check out the recipe it was quickly determined that this must be made in our home.

As much as I have an insatiable sweet tooth, I admit that I worries that something called honey pie would be too sweet to bear. I justified in my mind that there must be some reason I hadn't come across it before.
NOPE.
It was amazing. Not too sweet, not too overwhelming an honey flavor. Inside, it is the most lovely soft yellow color, and the top gets a bit of a creme brulee flavor to it as it carmalizes a touch. Amazing. The closest thing I can compare it to is a pecan pie without nuts, but so much better.

You'll just have to try it.

Here is the recipe I followed from South Brooklyn Post. Try it out and send back some love to the makers of this recipe.

Salty Honey Pie

By Melissa and Emily Elsen

Makes one 9-inch custard pie.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Have prepared one pre-baked pie shell of your choice. We use an all butter crust.

For filling:

1/2 c butter melted

3/4 c white sugar

2 Tbsp white cornmeal

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c honey

3 eggs

1/2 c cream

2 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla paste

1 or 2 Tbsp flake sea salt for finishing (Maldon is a good choice)

–

All of the mixing can be done by hand, or with an electric mixer.

Melt butter and combine with the sugar, salt and cornmeal to make a thick paste. Add the honey, vanilla and vinegar and mix together. Fold in the eggs, add the cream and blend.

Pour the filling into a pre-baked pie shell and bake at 350 F for 45 to 60 minutes. The filling will puff up like a marshmallow and the center will be just slightly wobbly. Once cooled (at least one hour), finish with a sprinkling of flake sea salt. Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.

Happy Pie Time

...

Pin It

{ i solemnly swear i am up to no good }

2012-01-26T22:24:00.001-08:00

...

Are you a Harry Potter fan? My friend Nicole surely is.
It was her birthday the other day and we decided to throw her a Potter themed party.
Knowing me, I had to stick with theme for her gift, so I painted a tea cup and saucer for her in style.

I had curiously managed to side-step the whole Harry Potter cultural phenomenon for so many years, so when I knew the final movie was coming out last year I decided to steam-roll through all of the previous movies for the first time so that I could see the last when it came out in theatres.

I did indeed thoroughly enjoy it and took a liking to them. Surely one of the most memorable things to me was the Marauders Map and its accompanying pass-phrases of 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' and 'Mischief managed.'

I thought that, plus several random foot prints, would make a fun marking for ceramics.

...

Pin It

{notebook paper pillows}

2012-01-24T00:19:00.002-08:00

...
While browsing through one of my favorite window shopping locations, PaperYa on Granville Island, I saw some lovely accessories created with ivory canvas and a whole lot of stitching to look like notebook paper. As usual with my widow shopping adventures, I thought 'I can make that'. So I did.
You can do it, too!

I could have left the pillows blank, but I decided to embroider a quote on each; one from Alice in Wonderland, and the other from the great mind of Einstein. I particularly appreciate the Einstein quote, both as an artist and a dyslexic.

Should I ever want more of a blank canvas look, I can just turn the pillows over, since the backside of each is quote-less.

This can be applied to most any project you want to make, because the beauty is in sewing the lines before you cut the fabric. I can see making anything from wallets, purses, or even shirts with this technique. Since I wanted to re-do our couch pillow covers, my task was particularly easy.

I measured to make sure I had enough fabric lengthwise to cover both pillows and then I started sewing many a straight line with blue thread. I did it at 1/4" intervals so that I just had to use my sewing machine presser foot as a guide. So easy, right? Admittedly, this is a tight spacing of lines, which means a lot more time to do this part. You could space them further apart if you like, which would take far less time, but I wanted it to look more like the actual spacing on notebook paper. After that, you can do one (or two, closely spaced) line(s) in pink perpendicular to your blue lines. I estimated the placement for my pink line to be 3.5" in from the left seam of the pillow, as that seemed good for the proportions of my pillows. This measurement would fluctuate, depending on the size object you were applying this to.

There are slight irregularities throughout this, such as not always perfectly straight lines and thread thickness where I ran out of a bobbin in the middle of a line. I decided to embrace these as being 'rustic' or some such thing instead of getting OCD over it.

...

Pin It

{ i made pancakes }

2012-01-20T16:11:00.002-08:00

...
A random piece of craftery for you today. A painting...sort of.
I went over to my dear friend Lois' place recently, where she pulled out masses of paint supplies and declared it craft time. Always a fun surprise.

My husband loves pancakes. I mean loooooves them. I often joke that he pre-courted me with pancakes as he frequently managed to make a fresh batch with too many right when he knew I would be nearby.
He treasures a heavily earmarked copy of The Pancakes Cookbook by Myra Waldo, and at the front of it I found the above quote.

I just couldn't resist turning that into something for our walls. Come on: Shakespeare + pancakes in a house of flapjack addicted thespians? It was necessary. So now I finally have something to hang on the formerly naked wall above our stove.

So go make some pancakes! Here is a classic buttermilk recipe to get you going if you need it.

2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk ("++more" says the hubby)
2 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and sugar. Beat the eggs, then mix in the buttermilk. Add to the flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Mix in the melted butter or vegetable oil.

Rub a griddle or heavy skillet with vegetable oil or butter. Heat until a drop of water jumps when dropped on it. Pour the batter onto it by the ladle or tablespoon, depending on the size pancake you want. Bake until browned on both sides. Serve with any pancake accompaniment.

Makes about 24 5" or 48 2.5" pancakes.

The Pancake Man also imparted this tip for the best pancakes:
"Blend evenly with a big spoon, but don't over stir - there should still be plenty of air bubbles throughout...And only flip once."

Have a happy Pancake Day.

...

{grey coat for grey days}

2012-01-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

...

Long awaited. The coat is done and I love it. Just what I wanted.
A vintage feel, a neutral color, and plenty warm.

Last year I posted about this lovely pattern from Burda that I had found. I made alterations to the pattern to fit me just so, but it got put on hold for a while.

I love the poofy sleeves in this pattern, as it prevents that well known gripe of putting arms into the coat and having all of your layered sleeves get shoved up inside. These sleeves have plenty of room for layers beneath. In my alterations, I also made sure to widen the shoulders and the top of the arms since I was sick of not being able to raise my arms properly in a coat.

The high neck and collar is great, adding enough warmth that I can get away without a scarf often times, and if I add one, I can wear it on top to show it off instead.

I found the perfect light grey felton wool to use, and got some vetiver green lining. Isn't vetiver such a great name? I opted to use hidden magnetic snaps for the pockets instead of the buttons and button holes prescribed by the pattern, as I thought I would constantly catch things on the buttons. I borrowed a technique for covering the snaps with the lining fabric that I spied on some Anthropologie coats.

The hidden button placket is a nice feature for a clean look when closed, but a bit trickier to do up the buttons in a hurry.

Being the geek that I am, I had to make my own label. I hand-embroidered my name and the phrase 'this took forever to make' on a piece of the felton wool and trimmed it with my handy-dandy pinking sheers (I love those things). I also added a reinforced bias tape loop for putting on coat hooks. I hate it when things don't have that. Of course, I put it so the loop could be tucked behind the label when not in use. I also trimmed the lining hem with lace for a little extra fun.

So there it is. I'm really pleased with this project. It may be the one I feel most proud of to date. I was really intimidated to make a whole coat, but finally felt up to it after having taken a number of commissions to re-line coats and make jackets. I have full confidence that this coat will last me for many years to come, both in durability and in classic style.

Has anyone else ventured into coat making this chilly season?

...

Pin It

{sciarpone inspiration}

2011-12-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

...
I have a New Year gift for you!

I first stumbled upon this strange thing called a Sciarpone over on SwissMiss and knew right away that I wanted to make it. Unfortunately, it was summer at the time. You would think this would stop me, but it didn't. I spent what brief summer we had here with a giant growing knit cobra escaping from my purse wherever I went. Friends around me during the Fringe Festival can attest to how odd this looked in August.

Obviously it has been a while since I made this and the photos show how this yarn has pilled something awful already. Boo. I do love the design of this, though. It is useful to wear in so many ways and is easy to layer. While I would recommend using a lighter weight yarn, I do enjoy how very warm this thing is.

While I am very sorry for how long it has taken me to post this, the reward is it comes with a free pattern for you! This pattern is exactly what I did for what you see above, not including recommended changes. Those follow.

using 'loops & threads' cozy wool (50% wool 50% acrylic) - 90 yds per skein, 5 skeins
*My gauge in stockinette was (in 2x2") 6 stitches and 8 rows. The finished measurement around the arm was 14.5". I have big arms, so depending on your arm size this may give you more ease and drape there.*
co 36 over 3 #10 double pointed needles
join in round and place stitch marker at join if needed
k1p1 rib, continue until 10" long
k1fb, k 3 through end of next row, now totaling 45 stitches
continue in stockinet for 10.5"

at end of last round, switch from dpn to circular needles for ease
for all pearl rows: p1 k1 at start of row and k1 p1 at end of row
for all knit rows: knit across
continue with this for 60", or until sufficient to wrap around your shoulders as seen in photos, ending on a pearl row

join in round again on circular or dpn, adding back your stitch marker at the join, if you like
continue in stockinet for 10.5" inches (equal to other arm)
on next row, k2tog k3 across, so that total stitches is back to 36 again
k1p1 rib for 10"
cast off

you are done!

If I were to do it again, which I likely will, I would:
{} use a different yarn material, one less likely to pill with the amount of wear this gets
{} use a less bulky yarn weight for a more drapey feel
{} knit the middle section longer, probably 66" instead of 60", again for more drape

...

Pin It

{2012 hue}

2011-12-30T12:15:00.001-08:00

...
Pantone has announced the Color of the Year for 2012: Tangerine Tango

The exact process they use for determining the choice hue each year is a bit of a mystery to me, but it does seem to be pretty accurate to what shows up in many runway shows. I'm fascinated by the implications of society's collective mood that predicts this and responds to it.

I had recently been feeling attracted to shades of orange and wondering about ways that I could get away with wearing some, without looking like a walking fire due to my gingery red hair.

While I love the look of these frocks, they may may be a smidge more daring than I am ready for just yet with the hair combo. I think I am more likely to aim at making bottoms in the shade first.

...like a maxi skirt or a fun pair of shorts for the warmer months...

But I certainly am thinking of making a bow-tie for the hubby working in this shade. I've been thinking of trying to make some bow-ties for a while now. Orange would likely be fun on him since he has bluey-green eyes, which I hear orange compliments nicely.

Are you ready for a little Tangerine Tango in your life next year?

How do you think you might use it?

...

{2011 year in review}

2011-12-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

...

Hello again.

The year is nearing an end and this year I decided to do a letter to our friends and family, especially since we would not be seeing almost any of them this season.

I had seen a number of inspiration sources for graphic christmas letters... far better than a droll old fashioned list of the year's events, I thought. I have no photoshop or any experience with image editing software, so I downloaded Gimp and figured things out as I went. Here is what I came up with:

We browsed through some color palettes on colorhunter.com and landed on this one.
We also took a festive little pic to send along with the letters.

Then I finished off the envelopes with some fun gold and polka-dot washi tape.

Did anyone else try their hand at a graphic holiday letter this year? I'd love to see it. I definitely plan on making a new one next year.

...

Pin It

{mr. & mrs. mugs}

2011-09-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. It has been so long.

I hope you knew I wasn't disappearing forever. Though I admit I've been away from the blog for far too long. I got too busy, and then I just got lazy. Shameful.

I promise I have a number of projects to report on from over my hiatus, and I'll start with these Mr & Mrs Mugs.

Among my previous sales of painted porcelain, I've done a number of these sets for a happy couple.

While I'd sold pairs of these as wedding gifts, I had yet to have a couple to give them to until this summer.

Then I suddenly had three! Three beloved couples married this summer within 3 weekends. So I got on it. Instead of the usual coffee/tea mugs I had sold, I decided to do some more traditional tea cups and saucers. I figured that, even if it was a wee bit girly for the gents, it felt more like wedding gift china.

One of these sets I decided to do in green, to mix things up a bit...

But wait! There is a special surprise or two waiting underneath.

On the saucer, I put each couple's wedding date and monogram.

And on the bottom of the teacup, a little heart.

For one couple, who had an apple theme to their wedding, the heart on the bottom became an apple instead.

OK, that's it for my first post back. As soon as I can wrangle my hubby photographer, some decent weather, and time off I will get photos of my new winter coat. I'm so pleased with it and can't wait to show it off.

Pin It

{celebration frock}

2011-07-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

...
A celebration deserves as new frock.

The celebration this frock was made for was the recent Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (aka The Jessies). This was my second time out to this annual honoring of exceptional professional theatre in Vancouver, and it was great! There were many wins for good friends of mine, and for the theatre that has been my home for the past two seasons, followed by a great deal of enthusiastic dancing.

In continued tradition for me, I ran out of time to put the finishing touches on the frock before heading out the door. The lace applique was added on after. Hand sewing and trimming the lace certainly took more time that I had estimated.

I also tried to harden up the styling of this with some dark lipstick and gold nails, being there is ever so much pastel and lace going on here.

I didn't have enough fabric to make a fully lined skirt, so I went the way of the 'underwear as outerwear' trend and made matching pink satin shorts for underneath. A little transparent. Not sure how I feel about that.

I do know how I feel about the skirt, though. It feels lovely!

The material from the skirt has a lovely flow and movement when I walk.

I hope that these pictures can capture a bit of that movement. I admit, it made me feel a bit like a model on a catwalk, feeling the fabric flowing around me as I walked. It felt like water.

The bodice was from the same Vintage Vogue 2239 that I used for my Ice Cream Parlor Frock, as well as the same yoke that I self drafted for the same piece. Added to that was a (also self-drafted) full circle skirt that I made to have the hem dip lower in the back. That helped the whole flowy-ness thing.

Hopefully this frock will be put to use for many more celebrations, including a few weddings this summer...

...

Pin It

{vintage bathing suite: trial and error}

2011-06-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

...
Here is a project that was a long time coming.

Last summer, I was looking through vintage bathing suite photos and liked this Janzen one so much I thought I would make it for myself. A very lofty ambition being that I had never sewn a bathing suite, shirred fabric, or even, at that time, sewn with jersey stretch fabric before. Biting off more than I could chew? Naaaaaaaaaah....

Now, after I'm done, Gertie has shown some wonderful research into the construction of these amazing pieces. I obviously didn't do my own homework properly before I began.

I started with the free Alison pattern on Burda. This had to be considerably altered for the under layer and back, and then I just self-drafted a pattern for the intricate front.

I will say it right now: this garment is not up the the standards which I hold myself. I do really consider this one a failure, but I'm trying to let myself off a little easy on account of it being so many new techniques for me. I will learn my lessons from this and try again.

Lessons:
[] This was too ambitious for my first try
[] I tried to achieve this vintage look without going full-out on the intense inner structure that these pieces had when they were made. It needed all of that for it to look right.
[] I tried to start making it on my first machine, which just chewed up alot of the fabric.
[] I did not yet know about using different machine needles for jersey fabric. Very important.

I also did not think about the fact that if I wanted to show evidence of this swimwear, I have no option but to model it. A challenge of this blog for me is to tolerate taking photos of myself in the garments I make as I don't even have a dress form to hang them on. That is just intensified for swimwear. Ultra-intimidating.

...

{burda magazine happiness}

2011-06-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

...

I finally picked up the June issue of Burda Style magazine. Apparently, it doesn't arrive in stores until over a week into the month here in Canada. Sucky.

But I waited as patiently as I could and was particularly pleased with this month's issue.

Though I must say, I think they consistently choose some of their least impressive patterns for the covers.

Fist off are the Bridgette Bardot inspired pieces. I'm excited for these vintage styles, particularly this one that can be both a bikini or made as lingerie pieces.

I was so excited when I saw the preview pics for both this blouse and trousers, but was disappointing to find they were only in petite sizes in the magazine. I think it is great to offer special sizing like this, but not to the detriment of showing it in regular as well. But I like these so much I might be daring and try to alter the pattern to fit my longer body.

I'm admittedly concerned with this frock from the collection, because it looks like it should be a well-fitted, hourglass type dress, but seems to be designed loose around the waist. There may still be hope to make it work if I go into it knowing I have to cut down the waist considerably.

I also love this blouse, which feels perfect for summer. I'm sure it will go perfectly with the fitted pencil skirt I just made. You'll be seeing that soon.

I have been wanting to make a new pair of shorts for the summer and these just might do. I'm likely to lengthen the rise some for a truly high-waist style, though.

I must say that in the past I have been turned-off by the usually bad styling choices made to showcase patterns in this magazine, but in this issue, and particularly in this BB style section, I thought they stepped up their game.

They also added in some accessories and diy tricks that I actually found attractive for a change. The leather purse, and others, are patterns printed in the magazine. Though I'm wary that there are no photos of that pleated belt being worn, so I'm not so sure how that would look on.

Finally, stepping outside the BB style section, there were a couple lovely maxi-length pieces I would like to make. I can just imagine how lovely it would feel to walk around in a gauzy version of this skirt, with a nice breeze blowing it around.

I'm also curious to make my own spin on this maxi dress. Looks like it would be so comfortable.

I know I have heard an increasing sense of disappointment around the sewing blog land about Burda magazine. It still did have a number of patterns that were were barely, if at all, tweaked and then listed as a separate pattern, so that is still annoying. I do hope that this issue is a sign they are starting to listen to some of the complaints and the July preview is already out and looking pretty good, too.

...

{adventureversary}

2011-06-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

...
Hey there. It's been a while.

I have gotten sidetracked yet again by busyness, but I come back with tales of some of them.
Today's tale includes hints at what will be a few upcoming posts on project. Some have been a long time coming, like my vintage bathing suite, and some are spur of the moment baking goodness. But for now I return from the exploits of my 3rd Anniversary adventure, or as it came to be known by us, 'Adventureversary!'

In the past, we have been known for failing at anniversaries and such due to lack of funds and shared time. I admit to being a bit of a typical girl in that this saddened me. It was about to happen again due to our crazy tight schedules right now, and I got a little pouty over that. But my Mr. is a romantic one, so when he saw that he managed to finagle the day off of work and whisked me away for a proper romantic celebration.

First, he rented a car for us and drove us all the way out to Harrison Hot Springs. I'd heard of this place for a while now and I would agree with the good things I heard before. It is set on beautiful Harrison Lake, BC.

The water is a crazy beautiful shade of teal that I thought only existed in the Caribbean.

It is set against the lovely backdrop of the mountains all around with incredible evergreen trees climbing up on all sides.

We arrived just in time for our dinner reservations and *almost* even made it out onto the dance floor. That just leaves us something to work toward next time.

After dinner we went to swim in some of the hotel's Hot Spring pools. Before we left we soaked in 4 out of the 5 there. I wish I could have gotten photos of the view from the pools that night. The backdrop of a rich blue starry sky with the dark evergreen trees on the mountain was stunning.

On the drive out the next day, we came across a Husband Rd. which, particularly on an anniversary, felt deserving of a photo stop.

On the drive so far that day it had been raining hard on and off, but when we arrived at Cascade Falls it was happily situated under the one patch of bright blue sky. That lovely sunshine caused the rain to steam off of the pavement in the parking area as we approached.

We sat by the Lower Pools and had a great picnic lunch by the rushing water, which included lingonberry sparkling cider and Godiva chocolate. Perfect.

We then began our climb up the side of the mountain to the spot where my Mr. proposed to me roughly 3 1/2 years ago.

We found the exact spot where he proposed, between those trees above, though it has since been gated off due to danger.

Then we stood and took in the beauty once again. He didn't know it at the time he was leading me there to propose, but that was the first waterfall I ever saw in person. We've been wanting to return there ever since and I was thrilled we got to do it in celebration of this occasion.

I count myself more blessed every day by the wonderful man.

We concluded the evening by making a favorite, Rhubarb Custard Meringue Pie, which I will be sharing with you soon, and by buying and playing Portal 2, a game hubby has been eagerly waiting for. I felt thoroughly romanced by the end of it and had a fantastic time.

Oh yes, and I painted my nails in honor of it...because I'm kind of a dork.

...

{burda coat: pattern prep}

2011-05-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

...
Time to begin the Great Coat of 2011!

Sad news to start: turns out (since I didn't have the pattern on hand) I bought half a meter too little of the fabric!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
So I will have to go back to Dressew, hoping and praying they didn't run out of it that fast and just make things work when I cut out the pieces.

What I did get started on was the arduous task of tracing, altering, and cutting out my pattern. This was my first time tracing out a pattern from the BurdaStyle magazine rather than an online print-out. I bought this copy of the magazine and was thrilled to see how many patterns I wanted to use out of it, but haven't gotten around to tracing any of them until now.

I will admit it was tricky. Perhaps trickier because it was new to me, but I suspect I still like this better than the print at home ones. Also, the print at home ones often seem to be missing bits of instructions and some guide symbols on the patterns. That doesn't make things any easier.

Fortuitously, I just came across a tutorial at thecupcakegoddess on how to adjust patterns for big shoulders. Hey, I've got those, and one of my biggest complaints about coats on me is that they restrain my arm range of motion. I did not make a muslin, but I did follow her guide for making adjustments on my pattern...

on the sleeve bottom,

sleeve top,

and back armhole.

And, as usual, down two sizes from the rest at the waist. I didn't try to alter any of the darts, so hopefully that will be enough.

Next, I'll be pulling my usual lazy trick of making the lining first as my test muslin. Until then...

...

{an apron for lois}

2011-05-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

...
Today is the birthday of my dear friend Lois.
Lois is awesome. Lois deserved a pressie in reward for living another year of being awesome.

After the making of my bluebell frock, she mentioned that she loved the fabric and would like an apron made out of it. How terribly convenient that her birthday was coming up.

Also used was some more of that Christmas time MIL stash fabric I got and a little lace eyelet trim thrown in to boot.

I hope this apron will serve her well. In addition to her amazingness as a theatre stage manager (who's exploits you can follow at loisbackstage.com) she is a cupcake baker extraordinaire, and an incredibly generous one, at that! If there is an occasion, great or small, she will be there with cupcakes themed accordingly. This is the girl who made CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES for our NYE gathering! ...With edible gold stars on top!

I am doing an inaccurate modeling job here as we are not the same measurements and I had to guesstimate fitting this to the right size. Calling her in for a fitting would have spoiled the surprise, perhaps.

Happy birthday, bud! Many more great ones to come.

...

{a new coat in the making}

2011-05-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

...

I know this seems terribly out of season, though as two nice ladies in Dressew commented to me, it means I won't rush this project.

I'm going to make a coat. I've never made a coat before, so there should be plenty to learn in this process. Not feeling the pressure of cold weather at my back will be good for me on this one. I've been wanting to make myself a new coat for a while and this pattern that I snagged out of Burda is just what I was looking for.

I've been living off of two coats, one purchased from H&M about 10 years ago, and another that is a camel many times hand-me-down...ed vintage Sears coat that I re-lined since it was torn to shreds inside. The H&M one has not stood up to wear well and should have been gone long ago. The vintage camel one is decent looking now that I re-lined and re-buttoned it, but it is not very warm and doesn't even do up all the way to the neck, making me even colder. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I tried all this past winter to find the right fabric, and failed. Now that the sun is slowly showing its face to Vancouver again, and I had gone on budget lock-down, low and behold the perfect (and pricey) fabric finally showed up. Not much left on the bolt and the first I'd seen of this fabric in 9 months at Dressew, so I moved on it. I have mixed feelings about the timing of this, but what is done is done.

It is a lovely felton wool in light grey. A perfect neutral for me so I'll be ok to wear it with anything and thick enough that I think I will stay warm.

I know that Tasia at Sewaholic and Gertie have some great tutorials on things pertaining to coat making. I will, no doubt, be relying on them to guide me through.

...

{easter sunshine cake}

2011-04-25T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hello! Did you have a good Easter weekend? I hope so.

I had an awesome one. I really love my church and continually feel blessed by the authentic way in which they approach life and the amazing people I get to share that journey with. I also really love my hubby and the great chill time I've been getting with him lately.

My weekend included the following awesome things:

doing silly dances in the kitchen while baking the cake you are about to see
dragging our mattress out into the living room and making a fort out of that and our couch for a slumber party of two
watching Grease and playing Lego Batman from said fort bed of awesome
watching a film as the Good Friday 'service', which was made by one of my church community members who is a very talented filmmaker
going to my first ever Sunrise Service (SO FREAKING EARLY) and watching a beautiful sunrise over the mountains from the highest point in Vancouver
a sermon that partly discussed how we should party more
gathering with friends for an Easter Feast, or FEASTER as it has now been dubbed, at which the cake you are about to see was heartily consumed
getting a free ticket and a great friend date to see The Graduate on Granville Island

We had the most beautiful, warm and sunny weather for Friday and Saturday, with the rain arriving shortly after that lovely Easter sunrise. While the real sun may have deserted us, my cake stood in as the understudy.

Do you like lemon? I hope so, because this cake has plenty of it! Lemon and blackberry cake layers, homemade lemon curd filling, and zesty lemon icing. The recipe suggested blueberries, but I couldn't find them anywhere right now, so I substituted with blackberries. I was pointed to this recipe on Sweetapolita via the beautiful picture of it posted on Pinterest. This lady is my new cake hero and I anticipate making many of the delights found on her blog. I seriously suggest you do the same.

I may not have been able to replicate her pristine clean flat sides and top, nor her lovely sun ray ruffles around the edges, but I did my darndest with the limited piping tips and skills I presently posses.

Being that I also do not yet posses a cake stand or cake carrier, the trip on the bus to bring this cake was treacherous as always. My arms are quite weak, so my hubby stepped into the role of 'GUARDIAN OF THE SUNshine cake' to protect it along our journey. It needed a manly title, so one had to be created.

Above is a belated shot of the inside. I didn't bring a camera for when I sliced it at the party, so this is the slightly mushed leftover piece that hubby and I eagerly scarfed down today. I loved this cake, and I'm not usually even a lemon kind of person. It was like biting into springtime. The others all seemed to like it too, so I highly recommend you try this. It is a relatively easy recipe and all of the fresh lemons and lemon zest will make your kitchen smell better than ever.

{bluebell frock}

2011-04-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Time for another gentle hint to Mother Nature to show some more sunshine.

At least it was warm enough for me to manage being outside without a coat on long enough to take photos, so that is progress.

This frock is made from the same Burda pattern that I used for the bodice of my Valentine Frock.

I really love this bodice pattern. It works wonderfully with curves.

I didn't stay true to the skirt portion of the pattern on my first try, but came much closer this time around. When it comes down to it, the skirt still isn't fully true to pattern as I didn't have enough fabric in the pattern layout needed, so a good 6" total is not in there. It is still a pretty full skirt and just a little less fully gathered than it would have been otherwise.

The skirt length for this pattern is a peculiar one, and I can't guarantee that I will leave it at its current length. It is not quite long enough to be tea or maxi length, but is certainly past the knee. It makes it a bit of a challenge not to look like a milk maid or something.

Two other changes were made to the pattern: one intentional and the other not. I chose to sew up the cut-out neckline this time as it was just a little too scandalous with it there. The other was an opening and button at the top of the back simply because I was too lazy and cheap to run back to the store for a longer zipper when I had one the right color already. Necessity is a Mother... or something like that.

Another personalization was using bias tap for the edges of the neckline, back and sleeves.

And I LOVE the pockets!

Women's clothing should have more pockets.

So this is another spring/summer frock ready and waiting for fair weather to be worn in.

*hint hint*

Pin It

{pink}

2011-04-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can surprise yourself.

My whole life, from earliest childhood, I was not the girl who wanted things in pink. I much preferred blue and purple. In fact, I've spent most of my life avoiding wearing pink. When, a couple months ago, the day came around where people are asked to wear pink to show support for bullied children, I struggled to find one item in my closet. And it had been a while since it was worn before that.

Now I suddenly find myself wanting pink everywhere. I blame it on the beautiful cherry blossoms and magnolia trees in bloom all around me. They somehow seem even more beautiful posed as the only cheery, Spring-like color against the dreary gray skies. And it isn't just any shade of pink, but this same delicate, pale hue worn on the cherry blossom trees that I've been craving.

...

I painted my nails 'ballet slipper' pink.

I baked a Pink Lady Cake.

And I've been dreaming of a pale pink dress. I found some beautiful pale pink crepe satin on sale $4/m at Dressew, and had to move on it right away. I haven't nailed down a design for the dress yet, but here are some frocks stuck in my head.

I know that I plan to use the matte crepe side of my fabric for the frock-to-be, but in the meantime I made a lovely satin-side-out slip. Here is a sneak preview of it until I get proper photos.

{ice cream parlor frock}

2011-04-08T10:14:00.001-07:00

Another installment in my Colette Spring Palette Challenge.

This thing almost turned into one of those dreaded UFO's (unfinished objects), but persistence prevailed. The main problem was a clear design concept. That was made worse by my lack of dress form. I had chosen this gauzy teal fabric that begged to be draped somehow, somewhere, but without a dress form I have great difficulty designing something drapey. So I kept changing my design over and over and getting nowhere with it. Plus, I don't often do draping and am much more familiar with tailored and structured pieces. Once I settled on a design that worked, the thing flew together in no time.

Included from my Spring Palette that I had chosen is the teal, red, and white. I added some almost tan colored bias tape for trim around the neck and the combination really does make me think of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.

The bodice for this dress comes from the Vintage Vogue pattern 2239, which is what was used for my wedding gown and so many bodices since. Both the skirt (1/2 circle) and the yoke are self-drafted.

The teal fabric is one of my many $4/m sale finds at Dressew and the red & white stripe fabric was a stash gift from my MIL.

One of the great lessons along the way of making this dress was finally getting up the nerve to try the rolled hem foot on this beautiful machine I was given. Incredible! It was so easy (once I got the fabric properly inserted into the foot) and it is perfect for both those tricky circle skirt hems and a light fabric like this one. I see myself using this foot a lot in the future.

Thankfully, the weather has really been turning to spring the past few days, so it made for a lovely chance to get out and about on Granville Island. I even got some friendly duckies that followed me around the whole time.

The difficult thing for this frock was that I was about 90% done when something went wrong with my beloved machine, Ella the Singer. I broke a needle somehow and when I went to replace it, the new needle wouldn't go in. Through much help from dear hubby, we discovered that the little screw that braces the needle inside its home broke. Weird. I ran around to a few hardware stores and, of course, it is a specialty between sizes screw that nobody caries. I finally gave up and went home to finish via the old reliable hand-sewing I had spent so many years doing. A zooming-in on some of these next pics will reveal a few spots of hand-stitching.

Pin It

{mmm...the last of it}

2011-04-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Me-Made-March is over!

I made it! Despite some very tricky situations, I never wore less than two me-made items per day all month, even though I'd only pledged to wear one. My poor hubby also made it, as I was so frequently pestering him to take photos for me. I feel that deserves a pat on the back for each of us.

This is a whole week worth of photos, so it is a mother of a post.

|day twenty-five|

hair-clips: me made!

sailor stripe shirt: me made!

skirt: me made!

tights: american apparel

boots: nine west

total items: three

|day twenty-six|

Twelve hours in a box office. We celebrated Wold Theatre Day a day early since we have no Sunday performances.

leaves felt headband: me made!

blouse: elisse at purr

skirt: me made!

shoes: ...? no label

total items: two

|day twenty-seven|

My old go-to outfit for chillier weather.

I tried a bit of a weird hair-do. I fully admit the weirdness of it.

I also included a pic of the outfit including my outerwear. All of my outerwear is either me-made or me-altered, but I have not been including it in my daily counts and pictures...mostly because if I did I wouldn't be required to wear anything else me-made and that would be cheating.

flower hair clip: me made!

mushroom hat: me made!

knit cowl: me made!

camel coat: me-re-lined and re-buttoned

cardigan: urban planet

knit blouse: me made!

belt: h&m

circle skirt: me made!

red heels: still a mystery

total count: six

See what happens when I count those extras?!

|day twenty-eight|

Baked a Pink Lady cake, and decorated it with chocolate and icing to look like a blooming cherry blossom branch. Sorry, no photos of that on hand. I also finished sewing the elusive vintage bathing suite project from last Summer because we were supposed to go hot-tubbing that night, which didn't happen... so I'll wait to give you proper photos of that later.

bow hairclip: me made!

bolero: american eagle hand-me-down

hairspray frock: me made!

boots: nine west

total items: two

|day twenty-nine|

aka: the day of the great flood

I already thought this day was a challenge for dressing to mmm standards as it was Spring Cleaning day at work. Really, the stuff that I make is not generally of the ultra-casual variety, let alone stuff I want to get dirty.

Then, after a day of grimy cleaning, the day got dirtier. Let the story begin!

About two weeks ago I began to be startled by loud burbling sounds coming from each of our water sources in the apartment. The handyman was supposed to be coming anyways, so I thought I would wait to ask about it until then. Then on Tuesday night, we heard water poor over the edge of our toilet. Upon inspection, disgusting feces water was rushing out of both our toilet and bathtub. Gross! It poured out quickly with nothing we could do and finally stopped while we waited for the after-hours handyman to show up. This had already flooded our whole bathroom and part of our hallway. The handyman came, tried to keep down his stomach while working on this landfill that was our home. He didn't know what was wrong and left to work a bit on some other emergencies going on at the same time. Then someone decided to do laundry, which is right next door to our bathroom. This caused a second great flood of laundry water which spread the flood over at least 1/3 of our whole apartment. At least the scented detergent in the water helped a bit with the smell. We managed to snatch up an electric power bar full of computer plugs seconds before the water reached it. Eventually we got sent to a hotel for the night while they attempted to deal with the mayhem. All in all, we were quite fortunate with it. What if we had both been out for the evening as we often are? Our belongings only suffered minimal damage and it was mostly the apartment itself (hardwood floor, etc.) that was irreparably damaged.

In all of this, as I waded through the flood to pack an overnight bag with clothes for the next day, I managed to pack me-made stuff. Smart or stupid choice of priorities? You decide.

hair-clips: me made!

cardigan: urban planet

shirt-dress/tunic: me-made!

leggings: urban planet

boots: nine west

total items: two

|day thirty|

stranded in a hotel

We were able to get a late check-out time for our hotel (since neither of us were supposed to work away from home during the daytime) and were allowed back in our apartment by 1. Then the cleaning began. I found that no matter how many times I washed my hands that day, I still had the strange impression that they were dirty.

Below I stand with the vintage small suitcase that was a prop from a show, which the theatre had fortuitously given me the day of the flood. I put it to use faster than any of us thought I would.

hair-clips: me made!

sweater vest: me made!

sailor stripe shirt: me made!

jeans: lucky

boots: nine west

total items: three

|day thirty-one|

Last day! I did it!

glam sweater: me made!

lbd: me made!

stockings: american apparel

shoes: aldo

total items: two

And thus ends the month of Me-Made-March and the mother of all posts.

{mmm...twenty through twenty-four}

2011-03-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Woooooooooeee, some days have passed now. Slacker Shay... again.

Just one week left now.

| day twenty |

flower hairclip: me made!

sweater: me made! (and blogged here)

leggings: urban planet

shoes: gap via value village via clothing exchange

total items: two

| day twenty-one |

knit cowl: me made!

army jacket: greenwitch village find

adriana frock: me made! (and blogged here)

penny loafers: bass

total items: two

| day twenty-two |

bow earrings: me made!

sweater: clothing exchange

roman holiday frock: me made! (and blogged here)

shoes: gap via vallue village via clothing exchange

total items: two

| day twenty-three |

bow earrings: me made!

turtleneck: h&m

valentine frock: me made! (and blogged here)

shoes: gap via value village via clothing exchange

total items: two

| day twenty-four |d

button earrings: me made!

grey cardigan: urban planet

waves maxi: me made! (and blogged here)

shoes: urban planet

The days are slowly turning to Spring here. We have been blessed with beautiful sunshine as of late and even the temperatures are inching up. I hope the trend keeps up!