Assorted Crafts . . .

Detty Scarf

A scarf for my former sort-of-mother-in-law who I adore! Normally I avoid the weird shaggy ribbon yarn they sell at some knitting stores because it looks old-ladyish. I used it as trim here and it actually turned out quite glamorous:

At long last . . .

Dear readers,
Forgive my long absence. I'm sure it seems as if I have stopped all hand crafts, but actually I have been non-stop knitting, sewing, quilting, spinning, etc . . . for months. The production has been so intense that I have barely even taken pictures before giving things away. But here is a brief sample of what I have been up to. This scarflet/neck warmer is for our delightful department secretary. I tried to make this neckwarmer as quirky and warm as she is. The yarn is from Falklandknits in the UK, the Spinninglab on Etsy, and the buttons are vintage and come all the way from the Czech republic.

Lady Felicity Victoria Bearington Goes to Africa

"Having finished her education at Riddlesworth Hall with top marks, the Lady Felicity Victoria Bearington plans to join her brother, Lord Neville Bearington, at is mission house in Africa. As several of you may recall, Lord Bearington departed last September to the darker continent in order to bring light to our lost brethren. He has sent back reports of smashing success. Lady Felicity is delighted that she can go and be of help to her brother. Is the young lady worried that she is leaving before her Season ends? Not at all! They eldest daughter of the noble Bearington clan has far loftier goals than ball gowns and waltzes. "It has always been my dream to join my brother in the greatest work of all," she has reportedly told several intimate friends. Before leaving our fair country, Lady Felicity enjoyed a tea party with some school chums. What a jolly time they had!"

As quoted in the Times, 1903

So I made this bear for the Mother Bear Project, a group who collects hand-knitted bears and distributes them to various African countries. http://www.motherbearproject.org/ The bears go to orphanages, refuge shelters, etc . .. where children are suffering from HIV or have lost parents to HIV. All the bears are made by hand from a 1940's pattern. It is really quite a sweet project, but I can't quite escape its colonial overtones. Hence, all the bears have British names and turn of the century identities. Felicity is my second bear--I sent Lord Neville off in January. My goal is to join the 100 Bear Club. I would love to start a bear-making club as well in Huntington.

Miss Mermaid goes to a Wedding

I made this dress at the beginning of the summer for my friend Angela Ryan FM's wedding to my other friend, Doug Stewart. The fabric is Moda and the pattern is from Betsy Ross, but it went horribly awry. The problem seems to be that my shoulders are tiny but my belly is round and full of doughnuts, so a dress that fits my waist droops around the top. (I know, the people who make stuff out of muslin first and then adjust to fit completely avoid these issues). So I made this dress, which originally had a much higher neckline as well as straps, and it looked terrible. The straps were uneven, the neckline was so high it was practically modest, and I generally looked like a satin clad nun with a drunken seamstress. At first I was grumpy and discouraged and yelled at some cats. Then I became inspired and ripped out all the top seams and took them in about two inches. Then I ripped out the straps, flipped over the neckline, and form-fitted it to myself. I was pleased with the results and held up the whole affair with some stretch lace ribbon. The waist is encircled with some turn of the century (the last one, not this one) pink silk rayon ribbon dating that I found from Inwiththeoldvintage on Etsy. When I originally started the project I was envisioning 1950's debutante but by the end I was seeing mermaids. To complete the look I got nail polish in shimmery turquoise and an aqua beaded hair vine from Chicallure (also Etsy). I certainly didn't look as pretty as the bride, but another wedding guest with whom I was not acquainted made my day by calling me "Miss Mermaid."

A New Dress for Upstate New York

Capelet Revolution

Thank you for all the enthusiastic responses to my capelet post! I agree--capelets are the bandwagon of the future, so let's jump on and travel to town. This particular capelet is a patterned blue velvet, lined with jade green taffeta. It features black grosgrain ribbon trim and a green frog closure. The beautiful model is Whitney.

I Made a Quilt

Look, it works! It already has a cat on it! After several weeks of prepping for my Women in the Wild West class, I decided to make a quilt. I had no idea how, but it seemed fairly intuitive. So I bought some of the heirloom calico at JoAnn Fabrics and used scraps from a dress I recently made for the top part. I found an old sheet at Goodwill for the backing, and sewed the two together in a duvet cover like style. Then I stuffed it with the batting and slip-stitched up the side. It turns out that is not actually the way to do it--there is something known as binding that works up the side, but I looked at a famous Texas quiltmaker's quilt and I couldn't find any binding. I decided to hand-piece and hand-stitch the quilt. I wanted a mobile project so I didn't want to involve the sewing machine. Also, I hoped to recreate the experience of making a quilt the way women would have done so for hundreds of years. None of these new-fangled sewing machines for me!

Victorian Heaven

My friend Whitney and I have a new mission--we are going to bring back the capelet. Specifically the lovely nineteenth-century capelet tripped with ribbons and buttons and all sorts of goodies. What a beautiful garment--it just has that "I'm a serious but passionate woman with a cameo-like face and a steel-like heart so take me in your arms, dark stranger," look. I predict that by Christmas, the fashion world will be falling over themselves to design capelets. And after the high-fashion runway world comes Banana Republic, and after that Macy's, and after that, Target. Capelets are coming back, my friends.

Pictures of Summer

Seeds and Buttons

Here is the dress I recently finished--it is the Amy Butler (my love, my goddess) lotus tunic dress made from Amy Butler Seed fabric. I trimmed it with three antique Victorian jet buttons.

I love this dress and would like to wear it every day. Thank you.

Ro-bots for K-bot

Pillows and Cupcakes!

Ever since I decided to make all handmade gifts for friends, I have been running about six months behind on presents, on average. Yesterday I finished my Canadian friend Anne's birthday present, although her birthday was back in February. (Her Christmas present did arrive in time for her birthday!) Making pillows is so much fun now, because not only is it sinfully easy, but I have discovered bamboo stuffing, made by the same people who make the Poly-fil stuffing. The bamboo is soft and silky and we all know that bamboo will save the world in the end because it can do anything.

I also finished another project--an engagement party for my friends Kat and Greta. Their favorite colors are red and purple so thus went the party. I made a sparkly purple tablecloth which I forgot to take a picture of. My friend Terry made beautiful purple and red flower arrangements (also no pictures, sadly). But here are the Greta cupcakes (you can't really tell, but the icing is purple). They are chocolate and topped with a serious dollop of creamcheese icing which was so good you could eat it out of the bowl with a spoon.

I've never had luck with elastic waistbands!

Last weekend I made the Belle Skirt from Favorite Fit. The pattern was ridiculously easy and took only the length of two Battlestar Gallactica episodes to cut out and complete. I used some Amy Butler fabric for the hem (climbing climantis) and some adorable Heather Schmidt fabric for the body of the skirt, which feels softer than regular cotton. The skirt looks good overall, but the waistline is pretty unattractive (see photo above). I followed the directions for a 28" waist, which I am pretty sure that I have, but there is tons of extra fabric that bunches up around the elastic. I need to wear a longer top (as in the photo) to cover up the waist, but it has to be fairly loose (I tried a tighter top and the bunched-up fabric showed through. I plan to try this pattern again using a smaller size and maybe thinner fabric for the waistband.

My Pledge

The Pledge
I LMD pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 4 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed, LMD.

Green Circle Skirt

Hello everyone,

This is my first blog post. I made this skirt from the Twirly Skirt by Aimie Butler's Betsy Ross patterns. It was pretty easy to make and it is light and breezy for the spring. (Unfortunately it hasn't really been warm enough to wear it). I bought the fabric from my favorite fabric store, Sew to Speak, in Columbus. I love that store! Everything looks like candy.

This is not the first skirt I have made by any means, but it is the first for the wardrobe refashion project!