Another show finished!

A quick backstage photo of all my awesome models from the Teen Fest Fashion Show.
Yesterday, I participated in another fashion show for the local Teen fest.
All I know is that my daughter (who modeled) and myself both overslept our alarm clocks this morning. I guess it wass alot more work than we thought at the time.
As for other news,
I've been tagged by Christi Michelle which means (I think) that I have to answer some questions about myself and then tag some other bloggers. I guess it's the new chain letter.
I'll play:
What was I doing 10 years ago 1998?
I was working for Jcrew in Asheville NC, making websites and learning VRML (an old 3d vector graphics mark-up language) that has since become something else and I don't remember any of it. My daughter was two.

5 things on my to do list for today:
Go to bank
go to other bank
buy Saxophone for Grampy
ship saxophone to Grampy
Go to Costco

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:Move to the Netherlands & build a solar Green House for the family
Pay back my in laws for all their generous help over the years plus plus!
Put my daughter in private school.
sew and play music a lot!
Take my family on a world tour for a whole summer.
Be a philanthropist.

Places I have lived:
California, Portland Oregon, Arizona, Galveston/Houston Texas, Asheville North Carolina, New York, Groningen Holland, New Orleans, Colorado & Vermont

Snacks I like:
Hummus, olives, nachos, dropjes, beer

six people I want to know more about:
Barak Obama (the next Prez) I don't know if he has a blog, but my guess is that he's a little busy these days to play. Since that was my first thought, that's what I posted.
Allison the Heinous Shrew
OustaPop
Summer of PDX Street Fashion
Style Scout
Nikki Shell of Wardrobe refashion

lousupcycles

Isn't upcycling just the coolest? Take this little number for instance. A book bag made from ... isn't that a target bag? Why yes, I believe it is. How cool is that.? You can grab this bag, fashioned by none other than Stacy Leelyn over at her etsy shop
lousupcycles.
If you can't use a book bag, then grab a shopper crocheted from old plastic grocery bags. Oh, just visit her shop. You'll see all kinds of wonderful upcycles crafted by this talented green girl.
Cheers Stacy on the fabulous work!

Did someone say shirtdress?

Just another variation of the shirt dress from yesterday.
This one is made of three "uniform" shirts. This time the collar was left in place, and I used external darts to shape the top. I inverted the sleeves as well so they can be big pockets.
Just having some fun. I came across a whole pile of these shirts and I grabbed them because I've always had a thing for gingham.
Cheers and happy sewing,
Xmas

Failure to conform

Hey ladies, here's a great way to piss off your boss if you're required to wear a uniform at work. Made from 4 uniform shirts.
Cheers,
Xmas

Art Walk at Nectar's

Some time ago, I scored a quantity of the finest silk ever in a range of rich dark colors. You may remember the charcoal dress I fashioned for the one fashion event, that was from this lot. Anyway, here is the next all silk dress. I've just finished it along with a gajillion other things that I've been working on lately. Sorry no posting, just sewing. I used live mannequins for the Art Walk. This was Nectar's first Art Walk event.
The little suspender shorts are made from somer seriously ugly 80's peg pants. I had to add a gusset to create the cuff, because the legs got narrower down the leg. The original waistband was much narrower too and it had elastic eewww.
We had a bunch of fun and everyone loved the live mannequins.

what's more fun than a barrel of t shirts?

I've been trying to purge my sewing space of the pile of t shirts that has overtaken my room.
Now mind you, that none of these t dresses or tops looks as bad as they appear on my dress form. I made no adjustment for size. I just threw them on to photograph.

vintage redo

I have been sewing like mad lately but, not posting to my blog. Sorry my bad.
I took the plunge and reworked this crazy vintage jumpsuit for Easter. It had uber wide legs, so wide I could have made an A-line skirt from each of them! And, it It was oh so outrageously cool as it was but, I doubt that anyone would have worn it for anything other than a costume.
I usually don't mess with pristine vintage as a rule, but I just couldn't let this fab piece sit around wasted.
The fabric is a Japanese hand painted polyester and it looks quite a bit like a colored Easter egg. Anyway, here's the final look. By the way, it looks so wicked cool worn with light brown cowboy boots!

Viva La Spring!

Spring arrives in just over a week and I've been haunted by some sweet little floral fabrics that have been screaming for a destiny. Maybe they're vintage, maybe not. I scored them at estate sale I hit a couple years ago. Anyway, the other day inspiration decided to play hookie. So I went digging around in my pattern box to see if I could find something to get myself going. I came across a McCall's pattern for some cute little tops (M5388). Just what I needed to get things rolling.
First, I cut the pattern length for a dress instead of a top. When the dress was finished, I thought it looked like an oldy nightgown so I went back to work. I added a ruffle, made a belt and finished it off with a big button. This was the final look:



But wait there's more, lots more floral fabrics, haunting and haunting me, so now what? I didn't want two of the same dress. So I decided to further modify the pattern. I made only the pattern front part twice (once inverted) and started off on another dress. I also eliminated the sleeves this time around. Instead of a ruffle, I added some recycled curtain sheer fabric at the bottom and a little ribbon trim. I made my own bias tape from the fabric to finish the armholes (which had to be enlarged by the way).
The resulting dress was cute hanging naturally, but still a bit frumpy for my taste so I made a little apron instead of a belt this time and this is the resulting dress:



After I had finished, I was walking past a bag of clothing destined for the Goodwill when I spotted a little sweater poking out that was the same color as the trim of my new dress.
It was my daughters from some years ago a girls small sz 7-8. I wear a misses medium myself. But, being that it was a lightweight ribbed sweater, it was quite stretchy. I started chop, chop, chopping to see if I could make it work as a shrug.
Yes! I removed the collar, cut the sweater shorter, cut the sleeves short and split them on the underside. I trimmed the corners of the sleeves to a rounder shape and took the whole thing to the serger. It worked great!



So now when the weather warms up, I'll be ready to roll.

Projects and Questions

This is a simple sundress I made yesterday from a variety of materials. The top was previously a 70's mens shirt. The old shirt had a few rust spots from hanging on a hanger but I liked the fabric so I've been holding onto it until I could put it to use. The waistband and ruffle were once a 70's lounge dress. Again a really nice fabric, but the former utilization was well, fugly. The skirt portion is just some pretty cotton fabric I had laying around.
On another note, my partner and I have been thinking of expanding and maybe even changing our operations at the Green Closet.
Recycling textiles and clothing is very important but it is only one part of the bigger reuse picture. With that in mind, we've been thinking of making the GC more of a community sustainability center that includes recycled art in the mix. Mostly, but not limited to functional recycled art like furniture, lighting etc. Is it possible?
We were thinking of creating a coop of recycled artists and having regular gallery events. I've seen some pretty amazing works around and I think that there should be a place where these artist can be seen.
There are many places that are recycling clothing but few (if any) that are showcasing the many re-uses of trash as art in form and function.
Is it possible to merge the two? I wonder. Must we sacrifice one to support the other? Any thoughts? We welcome and encourage your comments and suggestions.

The price of oil

Today the price of oil continues it's climb crossing over $107 a barrel. It ain't a pretty picture, what's on the horizon for our economy I fear. Maybe the bright side to all the mayhem is that more folks will take to the reduce, reuse and recycle lifestyle.
I made a little sun dress today but blogger's not uploading photos at the moment so I'll have to post that later.