Combinations! Oh my!

I have been planning to make some combinations for quite a while, now. Combination underwear (or just "combinations") were a style of ladies unmentionable underthingies during the Edwardian era through the 1920's. You might call them rompers or jumpsuits, today, but more delicate than those terms really imply. Here is a scandalous lady on a naughty "French postcard" for reference:

 

Are you totally scandalized now, or what?

 I started this project by pouring over vintage patterns for easy-fit rompers of the 1980s. Eventually I ended up with a design I was happy with and I set to work on a length of lovely buttery soft satin and some fabulous vintage trim. Along the way there were a lot of false starts and a crazy amount of broken thread, but at the end of the day I am pretty happy with the way it all turned out.

Total scandal around here, dudes.

What The Designer Would Be Wearing This Season If It Wasn't So Freaking Hot Outside

My new purple wool melton coat, which I made right at the tail end of last Winter. So I was really looking forward to the cool weather this year and wearing my nice new coat! I have only worn it ONCE this Winter! Today it is 70 degrees! I give up on this season.

Kitsch Is Cool

So I've noticed a trend with my shop. Etsy recently updated it's item posting process to include "styles" for each item. You can pick up to two styles, such as retro or nautical. I use those two a lot, obviously. The thing I have noticed, though, is that often when I am posting something I can't think of another style to use so I select "kitsch". Which is interesting, because I don't think I ever would have described my style that way before. I would certainly have thought of "retro" on my own. Or "burlesque". But kitsch? Hmm. I think I have learned something new about my self.
For example here is a new project I made today. I have been on a hand embroidery tear this week. Anyway, it is certainly "nautical" and it's got to be "retro", but I also found myself deciding it was "kitschy". What do you think?

On The Prowl!

I know I have mentioned that I used to work at an independent fabric store. For the entire 5+ years I was there this hilarious jaguar print silk habotai sat on the clearance rack calling my name and daring me to design something fabulous to make with it. Many times I was on the verge of buying some when... nah, I thought better of it. Well, on my last day at the store I was buying a bunch of supplies to make use of my employee discount while I still could, and I decided the time had come for me and this fabric. It had been marked down three times and I don't think anyone in my entire time there had purchased any of it. What a shame! So I bought all of it. All. Of. It.
It really is amusing stuff. Check it out in my destash shop for a close up view of the fabric. I ended up making a retro pin-up girl outfit with it, which turned out super cute. I made little floaty tap pants for the set, but the piece de resistance is the top, which I based on a design from a pattern book circa 1970s.

Bu'uns

My mother in law was a fantastic seamstress and all around artist (a lot like my own mother mixed with me, really). After she passed away I was pretty much the only person in the family who knew what most of her equipment and supplies (she had a tremendous amount of both) were and how to use them, so the task of going through everything has fallen to me. Here is a little treasure I found today in a (one of MANY) box of buttons. These are vintage sterling silver Mexican made tribal mask buttons. I don't know what to use them on, but little gems like this are turning up everywhere I look. It's not a happy task, but it is most certainly an enthralling one.

Dollies!

Digging through old notebooks and folders I found this paper doll that I drew back in college. I drew paper dolls pretty much constantly and I think they were a lot more helpful in developing my rendering skills than any fashion illustration class I had to take. Fo sho. Or maybe the classes were a good starting point and gave me the basic tools needed but the rest comes with practice, as is so often the case. Anyway, I just thought this was a fun little one and wanted to share.

Everybody Here Would Know Exactly What I Was Talkin' About

So I have been on this slipper kick (ha!) lately. The original plan was that I was going to make slippers for all the lovely ladies I know for Christmas. Except... yeah. That didn't happen. I bought a free use pattern and whipped up a pair in my size to see how it would work. But, they didn't fit. Not by a mile. So over the course of the next week I made something ridiculous like four pairs of slippers until I finally found a shape and size that would fit me. I made myself a pair. Then I adjusted the pattern to be a more catch-all shape and after considerable gnashing of teeth produced two pairs for the shop. The first pair can be found on Flikr or Etsy and is (sailor-style, of course, because I love sailor style!) made from reclaimed ticking. This second pair is one of Those Projects.
You know. Those.
I am such a picky perfectionist. And, sometimes I just make something and then decide about half way through that I am Not Sure About It. These gave me that moment of insecurity at one point, though in the end I do think they are pretty cute. I changed things up a bit and added a fleece-lined sole. Which is why the insides look a little wacky-do in the photos. They are comfier to walk around in, though. Also added: non-slip patches on the soles. I designed a more sleek ballet-slipper-esque shaped patch to use on other slippers in the future, but this pair wanted diamond shaped patches.
You see, it all started when I rediscovered the money-print cotton fabric in my stash. I bought it about... 6 years ago. The day before my wedding, actually. I was out shopping for baby-quilt fabric for my nephew, who was about two months old at the time. ANYWAY. So I found the fabric again, and decided it would be a great slipper lining. And then I found the vintage corduroy (Hi, I'm Corduroy McClure. You may remember me from such I Will Fly designs as the Organ Grinder short vest). And then I had a sudden flash of inspiration. So now they are the Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes.
I dunno. Sometimes I just out-twee myself.