Sunday Night Reflections

Create Time with Audio Books

I've heard so many ask, "how do you find time to read?" Here's another statement that I've been told many times, "I love to read, but I just don't have time." 

A friend of mine encouraged me to add a review of the books I read to the blog. She said that every book I've recommended to her has been wonderful, and she felt that others would also enjoy my recommendations. Of course we don't all have the same taste in literature, but with her encouragement, I thought that I would go ahead and add a book review post form time to time. This will probably become a once a month post, although, I have another video all set to be published next week. So if the 3 books I talk about today don't appeal to you, maybe one of those I recommend next week will :)



If by chance you have read one, or all of the books I talk about in the video, please let us all know your thoughts. Or, if you have a great book to recommend, I'd love to hear that as well! 

HAPPY READING!

Rhonda

The Wednesday Showcase

So many of you enjoyed the Summer Bucket list that I posted yesterday. I'm glad that you did. It's such a great reminder to write things down and make them happen, even the simplest things like going to a special place for ice cream :) Margies is a bit of a Chicago institution. The store originally opened in 1921.

A few years ago, the second location opened maybe about a mile from my house...but I have yet to go. Thanks to my little bucket list writing friend, I will be going soon :) They are known for their ice cream confections that come in a clam shell that's as big as your head!!! Smaller sizes are available! 

They also make their own candy. It's a family owned business that has been around for almost 100 years. Now that's amazing! If by chance you are ever in Chicago, by all means, head to Margies! There's a cute story on their website about people who have ventured in, The Beatles, and even Al Capone! A group of men wearing long black coats walked in one day and requested the booth where the Fab Four (the Beatles) had sat. The waitress was a little leery, turns out, they were the Rolling Stones! 

My Wednesday Showcase posts have been a bit few and far between. I know so many of you enjoy these posts, so slowly but surely, I am getting back on the proverbial horse :)

Today I would like to introduce you to a lovely, and especially elegant lady, Irene of Irene's Studio. She lives in Ontario, Canada where she primarily makes clothes for herself, sometimes things for the home. Like many of us, she prefers not to sew for others, but sometimes...that just happens! I think Irene has been following my blog from just about the beginning, so this post is a long time coming. 

Everything Irene does is amazingly beautiful, and she pays close attention to detail. Pay close attention to the picture in the top right hand corner below. The stripes, plaid, triangles are matched perfectly across the garment. Her bound buttonholes are in the lower right hand picture. They are so well done that they are difficult to see!!!

This was a cute story. Irene made the lovely linen tunic on the left, had scraps, so since it was linen, decided to make tea towels. She had the watermelon motifs on another piece of fabric, so thought it would really dress up her towels. With that, the questions began, should she hand applique, machine applique, or fuse? She almost drove herself crazy. Believe it or not,she actually hand appliqued the watermelon pieces to her towels. In the far right picture, you can see just how beautifully they are made. Just amazing!  

This is one woman who can use a scrap! Love the stripe top on the left. She then took the scraps and used them for sleeves with the black fabric, and finally used the very last bit for a cowl scarf.

Here's another example of her creativity with scraps. That top on the right is killer!!!

A simple sheath dress can be the most elegant garment in your wardrobe, and this is a perfect example. She had originally intended to wear this dress for Easter, but it was too cold, so she saved it for Pentecost Sunday. Hey, the Holy Spirit loves a pretty dress too!!! Love the side pleat, and the hand picked lapped zipper, the perfect couture detail. 

I think it's always fun to see patterns made up. Irene took Vogue 7806 and basically made the exact same jacket as is on the cover. Except...she wanted an especially warm jacket so she underlined it in wool. Check out her lovely catch stitched seams.

Finally, when there's a dog in the story, I just can't resist. 
Irene's story about this gown;

Being eaten by this guy;

Appeared in the August/September 2017/Issue 192 of Threads magazine. The picture of the gown above is after it has been saved from the jaws of her pooch :/ You can see her post on how she repaired the gown HERE. 

No long after Miss Little Bit came to live with us, I had the reconstructive surgery done on my face and jaw. She was especially attached to me from the very beginning, so I was quite worried about leaving her. Once I got back home, she was my constant companion, slept with me, sat with me, would not leave my side, except to eat. One Sunday morning, my husband fed her, I stayed in bed. He shut the door to our bedroom before he left for church. She was so anxious about not being able to get to me that she chewed the back of the rocker on my favorite rocking chair. When my husband got back home, there was a little pile of saw dust on the floor. How could I be upset?!! I had originally thought that I would just sand and stain it, but it's still there. It's become a sweet reminder of all the joy she brought into my life. As upsetting as a destroyed wedding gown must have been initially, I bet it's one of Irene's sweetest memories of her dog :)    

I hope you'll check out Irene's Studio. I think you will love getting to know her.
Rhonda

A Summer Bucket List

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back! 

The cataract surgery on my left eye was last Wednesday. It was done very late in the day. By the time it happened, I was quite anxious, so I ended up having a little more anesthesia, but the surgery went well. The only downside of the anesthesia was that I was quite fatigued and a little dizzy for a few days. I'll see my doctor on Thursday for my one week checkup, so hopefully I'll get a thumbs up, and life will return to being at  least somewhat normal again :)

My husband had been out running a few errands for me over the weekend. When he returned, he said, "look what I found!" When he came out of the store, he looked down, and there was a folded piece of paper laying on the ground. He picked it up. What possessed him to pick it up, I don't know. Most often, people will just walk over a piece of paper laying on the ground. But, he did pick it up, unfolded it, and saw a teenage girl's summer bucket list. When he opened it, and discovered what it was, he looked around trying to find who it might belong to, but he said that no one was around. Rather than just throw it in the garbage, he thought he would bring it home to me. The list is pictured below.

As I read it over, I thought, "what a great and doable list!" 

*Get Tan

*Watch the sunrise on the beach

*Henna (tattoo)

*lolla (Lollapalooza, a music festival)

*Bonfire

*Tubing

*Paddle Boarding

*Movie In The Park

*Lacrosse camp with Katie

*Read a good book

*Watch The Sunset

*Have a Summer Fling

*Acai Bowls

*Go On Runs

*Spend the night in the tent

*Go Jet Skiing

*Dance In The Rain

*Skinny Dip (:/)

*Margies (for ice cream)

*See Mamma Mia with Kelsi

*Cubs Game

And finally;

BE HAPPY

As I read the list, I thought about when the last time was that I was excited about summer and all that it could hold. To be honest, I don't remember. Sad :( As I continued to study the list, I thought, let this be an inspiration. 

*Get tan. I do not want to sit out in the sun and get a tan, but I can go for a spray on tan. 

*Watch The Sunrise. I can get up early, go to the beach and watch the sunrise. After all, it's only a couple of miles away. 

*Henna. How fun would it be to get a henna tattoo?!! 

*Going to Lollapalooza is not my thing, but an evening at the  Grant Park Music Festival would be lovely. Sitting out on the grounds and listening to some classical music under the stars. Lovely!

*A bonfire would be fun. Haven't done that for a very long time.

*Tubing. Again, not in a very long time, but such fun.

*Paddle Boarding. I've thought it would be fun, so why not?!!

*Movie in the park. Last year, we saw Romeo and Juliet in the park. Such fun. I'll see what I can come up with.

*I won't be going to Lacrosse camp with Katie ;)

*Read a good book. I can actually cross that off my list. More about that in an upcoming post. 

*Watch the sunset. I think an evening in Michigan, sitting on the shore and watching the sunset would be so lovely. 

*Have a summer fling. Not quite sure what she meant by this. I won't be having a "fling" in the traditional sense, but maybe there's something nontraditional that I can do :) Any hints???

*Acai Bowls. Sign me up! I've already downloaded a few recipes!

*Go on runs. I won't be running this summer, but I will take some nice long hikes. There's a 15 mile hike that I have been wanting to do.

*Spend the night in the tent. I just don't like to camp, so I will not add this to my list.

*Go jet skiing. Another thing I've wanted to do. I'm sure there's somewhere to rent jet skis here in Chicago.

*Dance in the rain. Why not? :)

*Skinny Dip. That won't happen!

*Margies for ice cream. I can walk there, so that may happen in the next day or two :)

*See Mamma Mia with Kelsi. Well, I won't be seeing anything with Kelsi ;), and I'm not a big fan of Mamma Mia, but there is an opera that I would like to see.

*Cubs game...nah. Not much of a baseball fan. 

What I want to add to my list is;

*Go zip lining

*White water rafting

And again, last but not least;

BE HAPPY!

Maybe this will inspire you as well. We don't have to be a child to enjoy summer and all it has to hold. Write out your summer bucket list. Share it here in the comments. I would love to see some of your ideas for having fun, and things that will make you happy. We'll meet again at the end of summer to see how well we did.

BTW, if anyone by chance knows who the list above belongs to, let me know. I would love to return it. At the very least, a great big thank you to this child for opening my eyes to some fun filled days :)

The Stephen Burrows Challenge Coat

Today is cataract removal day :(  I was told to call the day before the surgery to find out what time I should arrive. To my great disappointment, I have to wait until 3 this afternoon to arrive, so the surgery probably won't take place at least until 4. Here I sit, hungry, thirsty, and thinking. Regardless of what everyone has told me about it being such a simple procedure, it's concerning when it's happening to you. Oh well, I've been through worse, and this too shall pass. 

I had promised to share my Stephen Burrows coat that I did for the Haute Couture fashion show. This was such a fun project!

The 2 pieces below are the original garments designed by Stephen Burrows. I've read conflicting stories on the piece. Some call it a coat, while others called it a coat dress. I decided that I would make the piece as a true coat as I would get more wear out of it.  

The first step was to find the fabric. I went with merino wool, so the colors are not as vibrant as those that Stephen Burrows used.

Next was the pattern. In retrospect, I probably should have drafted it myself, but I came across the Butterick pattern below, 6143. With some changes, I thought I would get the basic shape that I wanted. 

The skirt of the coat was far too full, so I pinned out some of the fullness to get the shape that I wanted.

For the bodice, since it is knit fabric, I ended up using Londa's Creative Threads Terrific 'T" pattern as a base. The shoulder was changed a bit. Below you can see how I laid the sleeve over the sleeve of the original coat pattern. I used the width of the sleeve, and lowered the cap to halfway between the top of the t-shirt sleeve and the coat sleeve cap.  

I used a fusible knit interfacing on the knit fabric where there were not multiple layers of fabric. Since I made a coat rather than a dress, the fabric needed a bit more stability.
   

I determined where I would use the different colors. The green knit was laid over the yellow, and then the band of navy blue knit was laid in place. I sewed the navy to the green and then flipped it over and hand sewed the bottom edge to the green.

The same process was done on the bodice. I also basted all the pieces together around the edge so that everything would remain in place.

With all the stripes coming together at center front, it makes inserting the zipper a little bit of a challenge. To ensure that the stripes did come together at center front, I basted the zipper in place prior to stitching. Once the zipper was stitched in place and I was happy with how the stripes matched, I did a catch stitch to hold the seam allowance in place.

Then came the challenge of the lining. Since the coat is a knit fabric, I needed a knit lining, but I still wanted to have some slip to it as a typical lining has so that it would slide on over whatever I wear underneath. A few years ago, the Haute Couture Club of Chicago celebrated our 50th anniversary. One of our members, Renee Liepins designed the fabric you see below. If you would like to see some of her other wonderful fabric designs, you can find them HERE on Spoonflower. This is a lovely knit that has a very nice slip to it. The only problem was that I didn't have enough to do the entire coat. But, I had the solid gray that matched, so all in all it worked out. 

Here's a closeup of the knit fabric. Look closely and you'll see the HC in the pattern. 

The back of my finished coat.

 The front unzipped. 

And finally, the front zipped. I really did match the stripes :)

I so enjoyed this project, so much so that I think I would like to copy another design. If I can find complimenting stripes, then this little outfit is in my future. I know, I know, I am not supposed to be shopping for fabric!!!

Monday Morning Inspiration/Studio Progress and The Luxury of Sight

Happy Monday from a very rainy Chicago! My garden is bursting with all the rain we've had. Always a silver lining :)

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog the last few days. Life! 

My studio cleanup project is coming along. Although, I felt as though I had made very little progress, until I watched the first video I shot. So, I have a bit of advice for those of you who are riding along in the same cleanup boat that I am in ;), do a before video! I realized that as I have gone along, I quickly forgot what it looked like before, and all I could see was what still needs to be done. So yes, do a before video. When I went back and watched the pre-cleanup video, I was able to celebrate my accomplishment, at least my accomplishment to date :)   

For those of you who may have missed the first video of my studio, here it is in all it's disastrous glory.



This video was shot after a week and a few days after my beginning. I am not overwhelming myself with the cleanup effort, if I have an hour, great, if I only have 30 minutes, that's great too. 



I shared with a friend of mine that I was a little apprehensive about doing a before video. There was a little (a lot!) of shame involved, I'll admit, but there was also the fear of judgement. What surprised me was how many of you wrote back and shared your own stories of clutter and disarray. Thank you. 

Now for something truly inspirational...

Kristina from Ann Arbor, MI sent me an email last week and told me about a young woman whom she heard speak at her local library. Her name is Camilla Chiriboga and she is truly a young woman on a mission. 

I will let her introduce herself and share her mission as she does it best :)

"My passion lies at the intersection of fashion, health and technology. I design to provide the tools for people to simply enjoy their bodies and lives. I believe clothing should be made for everyone to enjoy the luxury of looking good and feeling comfortable and confident. I seek to celebrate people who are usually underestimated, and in this way, help boost their self-confidence to enjoy a fuller part in society, while feeling more highly valued and respected. Design for me is the tool to provide functional features that will improve daily lives, creating garments that will serve to empower our bodies and minds. This way allowing us to confidently embrace who we are and shape who we want to be through fashion." 

I especially loved the video below. It gives you added insight into what Camilla is doing, as well as the beautiful stories of those who have to deal with the loss of sight. 



You can find Camilla's website HERE. Click on the tabs across the top of her site to see more of her work. 

So many of us take for granted the gift of our sight, and the "luxury" we have of being able to create, show the world our style, and feel good in our clothes. I hope meeting Camilla has meant as much to you as it has to me.

Have a wonderful week!

Rhonda

And The Winner Is...

Good Morning!

I apologize for not getting to the giveaway yesterday. Sadly, our internet went down, and quite honestly, I did not feel like hiking off to Starbucks, or the library. But, we are back online, and all is right with the world once again ;)

The winner of Londa's Terrific 'T' pattern is Linda T of Seams Well. She has not been blogging too much lately. Maybe this will nudge her along ;) 

Congratulations Linda! Email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your info so I can pass it along to Londa. 

I finished my Stephen Burrows inspired coat for the Haute Couture fashion show. I'll be back a little later today with pictures and how I put it all together. 

My studio clean up is coming along. Not where I want it to be...yet, but coming along. I'll have a little video of the progress up tomorrow. And then on Saturday, look for a new T-shirt Tango post. 

Have a wonderful day!

 Rhonda