Getting Back On The Horse

A few weeks ago I noticed on Facebook that Sandra Betzina was sponsoring a contest, Spring Into Fall. You were supposed to create a coat that would be a great fall coat. I had this outfit made, so I thought, what the heck and sent in a picture of the coat. I won third place!! I'm surprised that I won at all. I had such a difficult time getting a picture to download. The picture I submitted was awful (seems to be a theme with me lately). I didn't realize that I could submit more than one picture.

The entire outfit is a three piece outfit. The over jacket is a Vogue Sandra Betzina pattern. Sadly the pattern has been discontinued. I did notice that on the Power Sewing website they do have some discontinued patterns for sale so you might be able to pick one up there. And then there's always Ebay. It's worth a try. It's really a great pattern.

I bought the wool I used a while back. It's actually double faced. My problem is that if I'm not cold, I get cold easily so I make my clothes with that in mind. Rather than make the coat reversibile, I lined it with a nice flannel back lining and used the opposite side of the fabric to face the collar. I was determined to get the entire outfit out of the fabric so I ended up with scrapes for the passementerie. But it worked.

The passementerie was cut on the bias. I did my design on one side, made a pattern and then copied it on to the opposite collar. This photograph shows how I ended the work.

A view of the center back.


A close up of the collar detail.

I top stitched all the seams in yellow.
After I finished the coat, I realized that I could hide a small button on the shoulder seam and put a small loop on the collar and have the collar up around my neck. Remember, I get cold easily so this was a very nice discovery!

The jacket that I made to wear under the top jacket is from a vintage DuBarry pattern from the early 1930's. I love this jacket. And now you will hate me. I didn't have to make one alteration. It was as if the pattern had been made for me.

A close up of the bound buttonholes. The buttons are vintage buttons I found at Soutache here in Chicago. The owner of Soutache carries the most wonderful buttons and she also has a great selection of vintage buttons as well. Worth checking out.

The fabric I used for the lining is vintage silk that was meant to be used for ties. It's really great. I think the cars are vintage Bentley's. Ah, we can always dream.



The pattern I used for the pants is a vintage McCall's pattern fron the 40's. I find that the pants patterns from the 40's have a very low crotch, so I did do a few alterations. I love the detail of the pocket.

I love this outfit. It's so versitile. The over coat works great with jeans as well as other slacks. One aspect of the pattern that I didn't like was the pocket. I ended up tacking it to the lining so that it would lay flat. That's a minor detail though.

I won one of Sandra's books, Fabric Savy. It's a great book. Something I think any sewer would like having. It gives great information on what type of thread and needles to use with different types of fabric as well as tips on how to work with the fabric. Christmas is coming. I'm sure you've been so good. You've sewn all the fabric you bought this last year so you deserve a little treat. I don't think there's a seamstress out there who doesn't have a pile of fabric waiting to be sewn. I know I do and it's more than a pile!!

Happy sewing.

Part 2, A Picture

The picture is not the best of me or my outfit, but I thought I would post it. I realized that I always post pictures of my garments as lifeless objects on my dressform. My husband took the picture and before he could take another, the battery on the camera died. Oh well, one is better than none.
Rhonda

Which Came First

My blog is supposed to be about my "creative life," but I seem to write a lot about flying. I guess flying is a very large part of my life. Today's blog will be about something I created, so bear with me.
After I earned my private pilot license, I decided to buy an airplane. The flight school where I learned to fly had an airplane for sale that they also wanted to keep as a lease back. Seemed like a good deal, I had an airplane to fly when I wanted, students would help to defer the cost and the school would take care of the maintenance. As time went on, I realized that the owner of the school was taking advantage of me. Just down the street was another flight school and pilot shop, Aviation Professionals. I had met the owner when I had been in to buy my books. So one day after I had had enough, I marched into Aviation Professionals and asked if they would like to have my plane on a lease back. He knew my plane and would be happy to include it in his fleet. Little did I know at that time, my life had just changed. Bill Schreiber has become one of best friends, but even better, his boys love me.
In my very first blog, I wrote about Bill's youngest son Randy. He owns a piece of my heart and probably a lot of my life as he is now the mechanic that works on my plane. Bill's older son and I have a very special relationship. We have spent hours together in the tiny cockpit of my airplane. He learned to fly and earned his private and instrument rating in my airplane. I took him along on my rescue flights so he could build his hours. We've had close calls and lots of laughs.
This weekend, Terry got married to the lovliest young woman. When he decided to ask her to marry him, he told his mother first and told me second. What an honor. As my husband and I sat and watched the two of them take their vows, I thought, this must be how a parent feels. I was so proud.
So finally, You've waited long enough. This is what I wore to the wedding.
The blouse is a very pretty faille. It has a beautiful shimmer to it. The skirt I love. The stripes are various shades of grey and black. There are smaller stipes of black that are so rich, they look like velvet. Sorry about this picture, it's not the best.

I love my shoes. They're Betsy Johnson, just fantastic and comfortable to boot! The front of the blouse is cut on the bias and has a number of front tucks. The sleeves are a raglan style. I'm really happy with how the sleeves turned out. The flullness was exactly what I wanted, although it's difficult to see in this picture.
I decided to leave a portion of the sleeve open. Gives a bit of a peek-a-boo effect, sexy without showing anything.
The back is simple. There's a slit opening that is hidden in a large center back pleat.

The belt I have had for probably, well, longer than I would like to admit. It's probaly close to 20 years old. It really works well with the outfit. It's black velvet with a piping and a tassle at center front.
Here's another view of the shoes. The bottom is pink!! Everytime a step is taken, a flash of hot pink catches the eye.

So which came first? Actually, the silver faille I have had for years. The skirt I made last year, and as I said, the belt I've had for years. I didn't buy the shoes with this outfit in mind. I just liked the shoes and then everything else fell into place.

I recently came across this, "Nothing happens to us, it happens for us. All those years ago when I moved my plane to Aviation Professionals, little did I realize at the time that this was a perfect example of nothing happens to us, it happens for us. The Schreiber family has filled a space in my life with their love and compassion that has meant the world to me. First came a little airplane and then it was followed by a huge blessing.

Celebrate everything. You never know what blessing may be attached.

Divine Intervention

It seems that since June, Carl and I have had one thing after another to deal with. The past 6 weeks have been especially taxing.
This past week I flew to, well I should say I tried to fly to Columbus. I got close anyway. Before I left Midway I noticed a sound in the headsets but was able to adjust the squelch and get rid of it. During the flight it came back, but once again, I made an adjustment and it went away. I was about 50 miles away from my destination when the sound came back and it was very loud. There was no getting rid of it this time. Then suddenly one set of my radios went out, gone. Then the sound got really loud and everything went out. All of my electically driven instruments were gone. Thankfully there was a country airport within a couple of miles. Now it wasn't like I needed to put the airplane down in a field, I had time, but at this point who knows what else might go wrong so getting it on the ground in a safe manner was of the utmost importance.

Thankfully there was a mechanic on the field, Burl Fife. What a great name. I've heard of pilots having problems and mechanics taking advantage of the situation, but Burl was a good guy. He found a few things that need to be addressed, but felt that these things could be done once I got back to Chicago. What did need to be addressed was the fact that my alternator had gone out. As luck would have it, he had one in stock. The battery was a mess. I am not sure what caused it to boil over the way it did. When he took the lid off the battery box, acid was everywhere. He was afaid that I may need a new regulator, but in the end I didn't. He ws also afraid that with what I described I may have lost all of my radios. When I left the airport on Wednesday night to find a hotel, I was completely defeated. At that point I didn't know how long I was going to be in nowhere Ohio, I didn't know if I had lost all of my radios, and I didn't know why the radio had boiled over the way it had.
The next morning , thinking about all the things that have happened since June, I felt like God must hate me. I went down early to check my email and there was a message from Carl. It was about people who missed being in the World Trade Towers when the airplanes hit. One man had stopped for donuts, a woman was late because her alarm didn't go off, one got stuck on the NJ Turnpike, one missed his bus, one spilled her breakfast and had to change her clothes, one's car wouldn't start, one couldn't get a taxi, and one had worn a new pair of shoes, worn a blister on her foot and stopped to get a band-aid! I needed that reminder, a great reminder to thank God for not only what I can see but what I can't see, as well.

The next morning when I got to the airport, Burl was already there and had the airplane running!! He had charged the battery over night and it was working just fine. Then came the big test, turn the radios on. THEY ALL CAME ON!!!!!! I was so happy. I told Burl that I am getting a new battery when I get back to Chicago. He said I didn't need one. I replied, "I need one." After what I saw, I don't trust that battery.

Time to get ready for the trip back. I called for a weather breifing. The weather was great. We fueled the plane and then it was time to leave. As I said, I didn't trust the battery, so I decided to use it as little as possible on the way back. For take-off, I used only one radio and then once I was in the air I turned off everything except the GPS. When I got to Valparaiso, IN I turned on one radio. Then when I got to Lansing, IL I turned on my tranasponder. I have to have a transponder to fly in Chicago. Transponders take a lot power so I felt that turning it on over Lansing, if anything happened, it was very easy for anyone to get to me at that point. All was fine so far. I continued on toward Midway, made radio contact, turned off the GPS and turned on my rotating beacon. Still fine. Now I've lost radios (not in my airplane) going into Midway so I felt comfortable once I had made contact that if anything happened, I will still get in. Within a few minutes I heard, "cleared to land 31R." Those were pretty sweet words at that point, but nothing felt better than to feel the gear touch the ground. I was home.

Three months ago I picked up Libbie in Columbus. Her family had lost their home to foreclousure and had to give her up. They had posted an ad on Craig's List. She was about to go to a shelter, where her life would probably end fairly soon.

This is a picture that was taken of Libbie and me when we landed at Midway this summer.

This picture of Libbie and me was taken just before we left Midway to, as fate would have it, take her to her new home back in Columbus.

Libbie is such a beautiful dog. When Lisa of Illinois Bird Dog Rescue first saw her, she thought that she might test positive for Lyme disease and she did. For the last few months she has been on medication. Thanks to Lisa and IBR, Libbie will live a happy, healthy, long life. The man who adopted her is the most easy going man. He is retired and has two grandsons who live with him. I'm sure Libbie feels that she is living in Heaven on earth. I'm just so happy that I was able to help get her there. Well, at least close to her destination.

The last few days have taught me a lot. First of all to never doubt that I am in the palm of God's hand at all times. In the Old Testament there is a story about about three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. God did not save them from being thrown into the fire, but he did bring them through it.

I would like to finish with a little joke. A couple of friends are driving down the interstate and the driver is going 90 miles an hour in a 60 mph zone. His friend told him he needed to slow down. The driver replied, "I've got the angel of the Lord with me." His friend replied, "The angel of the Lord got out when you hit 65." Don't go any faster than your guardian angel can fly.