Back in the Saddle

It's been a while since I've posted about sewing projects.  That doesn't mean I haven't been sewing, I have.  Starting in 2016, I started attending Costume College, its an amazing event put on every year by the Costumers Guild West. During the day there are classes in pretty much all aspects of costuming and in the evening costumed events. It definitely feeds my costuming soul since I stopped going to  the SoCal Renaissance Faire. After 40+ years of attending, I just couldn't do it any more. It has become "Ye Olde Renaissance Swap Meet and Food Truck Con" I just found myself depressed attending so that was it for me. Another event that feeds my little costuming soul is Dapper Day, an event at Disneyland and other various sites in the LA area.  Dapper Day is what I thought I would post about today to get back into blogging.

Three years ago I wrote about loss, we had a heart wrenching year with the loss of several family members. To find balance and cheer, John and I started going on outings together, basically dating each other now that we were empty nesters. Since John works in education he usually has Friday off, this was the start of "Fridates".  One of these Fridates we went to my happy place, the Downtown LA garment district. It was there that I found an amazing silk/cotton fabric. It was white printed with pink flowers, it was vibrant, happy, and just spoke to me. I wasn't sure what the fabric would become but I knew it had to be vintage inspired and that I would have to honor the fabric by using couture techniques to make it.

Fast forward 3 years to now and I pull the fabric out of my stash. Two years ago, John and I attended our very first Dapper Day at Disneyland.  I made my dress and altered a seersucker jacket that belonged to John's Dad along with some white linen pants for John and a brand new obsession was born.

For this year's spring outing, John requested we dapper Disneybound as characters, but which ones?  John chose Pooh and Piglet, for him, we found a Pooh Bear colored suit in LA, paired it with a red shirt, a hunny colored tie, pocket square, a hat, and he was good to go.  I, however take a little more planning. so I pull the 6 yards of silk/cotton out of my stash and get to thinking.  I decide I need a full skirt and it just needs to say springtime! I also started thinking about accessories, because sometimes they make or break an entire look.  I wanted to be thoughtful about it.

I found this pattern in my stash, then began the process of grading up the pattern to fit my more, shall we say, voluptuous shape?

              

I used only the bodice pattern for the dress, I had previously graded up the skirt from another pattern and decided to use that.  Once I had traced this bodice, adjusted the size, I was ready to cut my first muslin of the bodice. 

pattern check number 1 As you can see, the midriff seam is too high, a full bust adjustment was needed. Messy but done. Success!!! This is the 4th muslin I made and I added the gathered bodice piece to check the look.  Time to cut my silk. I underlined the fashion fabric with silk organza to give it a floaty quality. This was hand sewn to all the pieces. It gives the silk fabric a rounder shape which is noticeable in the skirt.                Once I got the bodice put together and the skirt put together I gathered it and basted it to the bodice while waiting for the hubby at Kaiser. I noticed an outlet and thought to myself that I should have brought my sewing machine.                    I ended up removing the skirt because of a small fit issue with the bodice.  It needed a stabilizer piece that I made from the organza.  Also it was a little too poufy, my daughter said it looked like I was trying to sneak snacks in my bodice.   Finally got the skirt and the zipper in, then onto the lining! Once I got the lining put in and the hem done, I did a final try on and discovered another issue.  The back neck was gaping. Ugh. So I explained to John how to pin the excess so I could look at it and decide the best course of action after I had a good cry.  While helping me John snuck a selfie in. 😂                                                                             Mostly done, but the back neck issue still needs to be solved, hence my unhappy face. The solution turned out to be 3 inch darts in the back neck. which meant unpicking about 5 inches of the back neck, adding the darts and sewing it back together, joy.  Lining neck dart Outside back neck dart And finally my label! Last but not least, my accessories. I purchased a plain paper parasol from Hobby Lobby in pink for $7.99, originally I was going to buy a yellow one and paint it to look like the hunny pot but decided it wouldn't look right, so I went with the pink.  And drew on it freehand, first in pencil then with permanent marker. I used a stencil for the lettering. I purchased a vintage pink hat from an Etsy seller and also made a hair flower to wear under the hat brim, my pinks didn't quite match up so at the Dapper Day Expo I bought a white double lily hair flower from La Casa De Flores that was perfect! And finally, the piece that I considered for a while, had my doubts about and ended up being the most popular part of my outfit, my purse.  I found a vintage 1970's wicker purse in the perfect shape and decorated it to look like Pooh's Hunny Pot, my friend Heather cut the vinyl lettering for me.  I found a little happy bee to hang on the zipper pull and I was ready to go! Overall, our trip to Dapper Day was perfect! We met up with some friends, it was their first time attending and had lunch with them. The parks weren't as crowded as you would expect, and the weather was perfect! What more could I ask for?  This picture cracks me up because of the reflections on my glasses and the Mickey sign looks like it's attached to John's hat. I also get asked about shoes, I'm known for my shoes by most friends, for Dapper Day I go practical, I'm wearing a pair of Rockport MaryJanes that are comfy and have great support. If it's one thing I've learned, it's always take care of your feet! Selfies while waiting for lunch, After I took this photo I discovered that my bodice lining is riding up, this can probably be solved with a small weight attached to the lining. Oh, and did I mention I met Gertie Hersch? She is beautiful, inside and out!

New Sewing Room

I've been busy all day today so just a brief post. I moved my sewing room! I've been working out in the garage for years now and although I've created some fun and gorgeous stuff out there, let me just say that it was also hotter than Henry Cavill out there. And in the winter it was colder than a penguins butt.  So I decided while I'm working on my daughters wedding to move into the living room, next to the dining room it is the least used room in the house. I swear some men should not be allowed to design houses, they have no idea what women, especially mothers need in a house. If I designed my kitchen, it would be all stainless steel and have a drain in the middle of the floor. I would be able to hose it down too. My boys bathroom would have shower stalls, urinals and toilet stalls. It would also be capable of being hosed down for easy cleaning. It would be located next to the laundry room/locker room where clothes would be left to be washed and kept.  Just a few thoughts on how houses should be designed. So here's my new work space. All of the living room furniture is in the garage for the time being. Did I mention how awesome it is to have 4 strapping teenage and adult sons to to the heavy lifting and a hubby that knows how to get them to work? 

Pretty much my entire fabric stash is still in the garage and getting to most of it will be a problem because the 2 sofas are blocking the garage, but I think I have enough to keep me busy for a while. 

In other news, in case you didn't know this about me, I am a geek.  I love superheroes, comic books, superhero movies, animated superhero movies, you name it. I have every season of Warner Brothers Batman the Animated Series on DVD. I love this series, I loved Kevin Conroy's voice work as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Mark Hamill as the Joker. I'm working on getting all the different series of the animated universe, Superman, Justice League, Batman Beyond and the stand alone movies. If Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano had a hand in them then I want them. So having said that, here's how I feel about the casting of the upcoming movie "Superman vs Batman: 

Yeah, what idiot did the casting? Did they not see Daredevil? Gigli? Jersey Girl? I love Ben Afflecks writing and directing but Batman? I think they should have gone with Richard Armitage. Just sayin. 

Well that's it for now, I'm a little fried from all the moving. 

Take care,

Terri

Back Again!

So what have I been doing for the last year? Stuff. Many sewing jobs and a lot of down time. I worked part time for a woman that makes vintage style swimsuits. You can check out her stuff at www.mysugardoll.com I had fun learning new techniques!

My son Andrew came home from serving his mission in Fiji. He was only home for a month when we shipped him off to live with his grandparents to go to school and help them out. He's back home again but will be leaving soon to attend school in Idaho.  

My daughter Ashton became engaged last year and her wedding will be in October. The reason for October you ask? So we can use pumpkins for the decor. We have purchased the gown, found a photographer. booked the church, reception venue and caterer plus the In n Out truck. This Saturday I will be heading to LA to purchase fabric with the bride and her bridesmaids for their gowns. The groom and his guys will be purchasing new suits in September. There is still a bit to get done but that's the big items taken care of.

This summer I also attended Chaffey College, I took a computer aided design class. It was taught by one of my all time favorite teachers, Colleen Poteet. My sewing skills have improved exponentially since meeting her. I was also offered part time employment by the college as an apprentice working in the fashion design program side by side with Colleen.  Definitely my favorite job ever! 

Here's a recent photo of the hubby and me at the Martin Johnson House in La Jolla, California, we were there for a wedding. Gorgeous location. 

A dress and jacket I made for my friend Natalie Hughes. She had purchased the jacket fabric in LA, when I asked what she was going to do with it she said she wasn't sure, she is an amazingly talented quilter and every year she makes quilts for the 4th grade class of her local elementary school as part of a reading project they do. I volunteered to cut batting and help with the binding along with some other ladies. When ever I was over at Natalie's I would see the green fabric on her shelf. Finally, as I was leaving one day I grabbed the fabric and told her I was taking it. She protested that it was hers and I told her she would get it back but only after I made something out of it. The jacket is what I came up with. While searching my fabric stash I found the light green linen and made her a dress to go with it. 

A dress for Natalie's daughter Bailey who was in a wedding, there was enough fabric left over to do a tiny dress for Bailey's daughter Peyton!

On the left is my wedding gown, I purchased it in 1988. It was very in at the time. It's been hanging in my closet for a while now and with the daughter getting married I got it out hoping to do something with it. I had an idea of making it look like a dress from the 1950's, the photo on the left is the bodice after I had taken the entire dress apart and recut it into a sweetheart shape. This is as far as I've gotten with it:

This is another fun project I got to work on,  my friend Edee and her granddaughter Ariel asked if I could replicate this vintage dress they found on Pinterest:

They loved the dress but wanted sleeves and a skirt that wasn't quite as full, here's my design:

And Ariel in her dress:

There have been other sewing jobs, most of them were alteration jobs. I have a customer that really loves Tommy Bahamas gear so I've been making stuff for him, mostly shirts and a pair of swim shorts. I tried my hand at making swim suits, I successfully made a couple for myself but I won't be posting any photos of myself in swimwear. And shoes! I have a couple of pairs of new shoes that are awesome! I will post those next time. 

Again, welcome back to my blog, I'll try to be better about posting, thanks for sticking with me! 

Terri

Hello? Anyone there?

I know I shouldn't expect anyone to stick with me considering my last post was in September!  September! It seems like yesterday. So what have I been doing with myself?  Once October hits my attention turns to thoughts of Halloween.  I love decorating and costuming for it.  Here are a few items that kept me occupied:

This is my youngest Jonathan.  He was willing to let me dress him as PeeWee Herman. This is the easiest costume I've done in a long time.  Most of it was thrift store finds including the white shoes.  Thank you Deseret Industries in Las Vegas! I did make the bow tie.

My daughter Ashton and her boyfriend Matt. Ashton found this ugly, homemade bridesmaid dress at the same thrift store and I did the rest. I also did the make up.  I found an awesome tutorial on how to do the make up on youtube. It was so much fun and I got to use most of my MAC makeup brushes!  

Here is the 3 of them at our church Halloween party or Trunk or Treat.

This was on a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's in late September.  This was just after a successful trip to the Deseret Industries thrift store to find all the goodies we used for Halloween.  I probably should have fixed all the glowing eyes everyone has in this picture.

I have a bit more to post including one tutorial and some photos of Jordan in his costume from Halloween night. He's the one on the left.  He decided on the 31st that he needed a zombie costume to go hang out with friends that were also going to be zombies.  We spent about 45 minutes in the front yard destroying one of his older brothers old suits with everything we could think of, including fire, to make it look properly zombiefied.  Then I did make up for him and some friends.

Here's a sample of what I will be posting the tutorial on and some projects I have completed recently:

One of my hubby's shirts that he doesn't want anymore. I turned it into a cute shirt for me.

My Homer Simpson angel, we have a giant inflatable Homer that goes in the front yard every year. I always wanted one for my tree. Yes I know it's goofy but that's who we are as a family.

A dress I made for Ashton, as you can see I am totally inspired by TV shows like Mad Men and Pan Am

 I was asked last week if I could make a bow tie out of a neck tie, why yes I can!

 Since last December I have become the proud owner of some AMAZING shoes! These I ordered from Bakers! They were on sale! They are the most gorgeous shade of purple.  I just had to have them.  I did get something for my hubby since I was buying shoes.  He got a Green Lantern Snuggie and a Doctor Who t-shirt from TeeFury.  

I saw this in an In Style magazine while waiting at the urgent care for my son, he sprained his wrist, nothing serious.  I love it but not the colors. I'm thinking green/brown or blue/orange. 

So that's my little catch-up post. I do have some things to blog about regarding November but right now I need food and I need to finish laundry.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I loved Halloween and Thanksgiving.  I especially enjoyed watching USC trounce UCLA in football last year. By the time Christmas rolled around it was just icing on a great holiday cake.  

 Terri

Yes I am dressed as Zombie Snow White. I stopped dressing like a pretty princess for Halloween when I discovered little girls I didn't know liked to touch me with their sticky hands! Yuck!