My Outfit: Peekaboo Lace

I can only imagine the original undergarments this dress was worn with. It has three layers of see-through lace inserts. I just wore a simple white slip under it, but some sort of petticoat would fill out the shape more. Petticoats would certainly be inappropriate on a day as hot as this one!

I wore this dress to the pie-making contest/potluck (details and pictures to come), but it was way too heavy for this 100 degree heat. Never-the-less, when I got home I took the time to get some photos of the outfit, before switching it out with a loose, jersey cotton dress to cool down and watch the local kick-ball league Sunday-night game.

 Outfit details: Vintage Dress/Gift, Belt/Thrifted, Sandals/GoMax (barely visible!)

The Life of a Rag Curl

Inspiration: D.I.Y. Curls: How to Rag Roll Your Hair by Katie via A Beautiful Mess.

Revitalization, not regret

My whole life I have loved to create. I used scrap remnants to sew odd shaped teddy bears and doll clothes as a child. I created flyers and posters with paper, scissors and glue for yearbook and club events in junior high school. My high school career revolved around the dark room and the digital media lab. In college I got back into knitting, crocheting and sewing, this time learning to follow and adapt pattern.

What I had in creative talent, I lacked in self-confidence in my work. My biggest dream in high school was to go to art college, but I didn't think I was like my peers in high school that studied art. They painted oil paintings, and completed life drawings, and were on their way to scholarships from prestigious art colleges, and they knew it. We weren't so totally different - we all thrived on creating.

I wish I could tell my high school self that my artwork was worthy of a portfolio, a scholarship, and further development. I wish I had been more open about my interest in attending art school, so that I wouldn't have felt so isolated. But I took a different path - one that took a slow climb up the hill of confidence, with some falls along the way. I learned that you have to take the ball and roll with it, put yourself out there and some people will like your work and some people won't, but its still worth it! I am in the process of revitalizing my life and career goals to incorporate creative design again.

I'll Eat You Up I Love You So!!!

Where the Wild Things Are holds a special place in my family (as in many I'm sure). It was a common request as a story to be read, and "I'll eat you up, I love you so" was a common phrase of endearment. My sister even has a Max tattoo!

I made a Max doll for my mother for Christmas this year. Once I had the idea, I was instantly inspired. I knew that it would become a treasured addition to her collection.

Max is wearing his wolf-suit pajamas. I purchased the fur new, but all of the other materials were from my stash of supplies (and my mother's...). I made the body from a doll pattern I had, and I made the suit from scratch, estimating proportions. The hair is yarn sewn on one stitch at a time - and a full head of hair like that is a time consuming process.

The buttons are doll buttons that my grandmother gave me and I sewed in a row of elastic loops on the other side to fasten across. I am not satisfied with his facial expression, but it is one of the things it is hard to get exactly right. I'd like to learn more face design techniques in the future.

Song of Solomon

I created these dolls for an English class that I took. We were assigned to make a creative project contrasting themes or characters in one of the books we read. I chose Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The characters I depicted were Pilate Dead on the left and Ruth Macon Dead on the right. The two could not be more different. Pilate has traveled far and wide, and lives in poverty in a shack. Ruth was well educated and loves only her wealth. Pilate is independent and takes care of others. Ruth remains married to her oppressive husband for fear of losing her access to wealth. She suffers personally, and therefore is unable to care for others.

Pilate was the aunt of the main character Milkman. She was a bootlegger and a natural healer. She carried her name scrawled on a piece of paper inside of a little snuffbox that she wears as an earing (seen on the doll on her right ear.)

About Pilate: She spends her days fermenting wine, chewing on splinters, and fixing everyone else’s problems. Oh, and perfecting the recipe for the soft-boiled egg. Her secret longing is the wild cherry jam that she once made as a little girl living on Lincoln’s Heaven. The sum total of her belongings are a wash basin, three beds, a rocking chair, some magazine pictures, her dad’s bones, her geography book, a knife, and brambles. She wears things like quilts and knit caps, and sings soul-rattling songs. (from shmoop.com)

The pilate doll is wearing a miniature handmade quilt that I made, and a cap (although it was crocheted, not knit.) She usually is barefoot so I didn't make her any footwear. One of the character's unique attributes is that she doesn't have a belly-button, but most of my dolls don't have belly-buttons and it is hidden beneath her clothes so I didn't make any changes there!

There is less of a physical description of Ruth in the book, so I thought a fur-lined coat would represent her ties to wealth. In the opening scene it described her wearing a cloche, which I had never heard of before. I researched the hat and found out that it was a fitted, bell-shaped had typically made of felt, which first became popular in the 1920s.

This is an image of a cloche
Source: http://tuppencehapennyvintage.blogspot.com/

I created my cloche using felt and then fitted it using the steam from an iron. The style that I created it similar to the one in the picture above with a turned-up brim.

I decided to leave the dolls faceless. I decided to do this so that the reader of the book could still imagine their own faces and personalities for the doll. I know I have read books before and then seen a movie based on the book. Once you see the face of an actor depicting the character it is hard to imagine them any other way. By leaving the dolls faceless, I allowed the reader to create their own vision of the character.

Christmas Doll





 

I don't remember when the tradition started, but at some point in the last 5 years I started making a doll for my mother for Christmas every year. She has a doll collection of both dolls that she has made, and dolls that I have made, as well as others that my sisters and I played with as kids. This little dolly doesn't have a name, but I gave her to my mother for Christmas 2009.



Yo-yo hair detail with bow





25 things to do before I turn 26

Inspired by A Beautiful Mess, I decided to make a to do list of goals for the 25th year of my life.

I had a great birthday with friends and family. I even had a carrot cake with 25 candles (pictured above).

Without further ado, the list:

1. Make beautiful dresses for myself
2. Send ~homemade~ birthday, Christmas, Valentine, and just cause cards to people I love (especially immediate family) *bonus points for handmade presents*
3. Start an etsy shop (sell patterns, hndmade kids clothes, handmade western shirts, vintage?)
4. Sell crafts in a craft fair
5. Learn Adobe Suite
6. Have a computer to use Adobe Suite on
7. Redesign my blog
8. Buy myself a dress form and a serger
9. Organize my pattern collection
10. bike across Kansas
11. roadtrip through Kansas vintage shopping, and visiting tourist spots (Garden of Eden, Great Ball of Twine)
12. Climb a mountain
13. Visit the ocean
14. Compete in a pool tournament
15. Stretch regularly (subjective) - be able to reach past my toes (objective)
16. Care for my own doggie
17. Learn a song on guitar
18. Eliminate all debt besides governmental student loans
19. Use a sketchbook for drawings and ideas
20. Volunteer as a youth advisor
21. Visit Germany (!!! scary but good)
22. Run a race (5 miles?)
23. Track spending
24. grow my own garden with herbs, vegetables and flowers
25. Learn to dive (really scary!)