My French Jacket Takes A Journey

The suit is off my body and out of my hands, on its way to an adventure without me. I originally posted about this jacket here, and here.

As I packed the jacket and skirt, I took pictures, just to remember. So pretty, even if I say so myself. 

And oh so much work. All the channels of quilting, all the hand sewn seams.

 The beautiful chain that holds the hem in place so well.

Such pretty buttons from a lovely sewist who suffered far too much from breast cancer.

The skirt was folded and placed in the box first.

 Saying goodbye to my jacket. Oh my, it's difficult to see her in a box.

All packed now and on her way to a glorious adventure. Have a wonderful time little suit!!
I'll share more when I can. Isn't it funny how when we really need something wonderful to happen...it does.

Monday Morning Inspiration

I saw the piece pictured below on Dust Jacket Attic and loved it. It's by Prabel Gurung. Since I was looking for something inspiring to share this morning, I thought I would take a look. Sadly, this was the only piece that I liked. You can google his name and find the collection on Style.com. If you do, let me know what you think. Maybe it was just me.

Disappointed, I continued to look around and what I did find, I loved. Today's inspiration is short and sweet, but I am in love with these pieces, primarily because of the sleeves.

To give the sleeve of the jacket above it's shape, there are two seams across the top portion of the cap.

In my opinion, the shoulders of this coat should have been extended a bit as the sleeve makes the model look too narrow in the shoulders, but I do love the sleeve. We have done a sleeve that is similar to this. It's pictured below and you can see the post here.

The coat sleeve has a panel that runs down the center of the arm. Really nice.

We have also done a sleeve that is the shoulder part of the sleeve pictured above.

It was the drop shouldered sleeve and you can see that post here.  I love the dramatic puff and the tapered lower portion of this sleeve.

I included the above piece just because I like it. The skirt is so beautiful and the side drape so dramatic. All of these pieces are from the fall 2012 collection of Ulyana Serbeeko.

Stay tuned to Sleeves On Saturdays as the above sleeves are on the list!

Wishing you all all a lovely and creative week.

Rhonda

Sunday Night Reflections

Your life is a multi-part series of all your experiences....and each experience is created by your thoughts, intentions, and actions, to teach you what you most need to know. Your life is a journey of learning to love yourself first then extending that love to others in every encounter.
Whenever  you are faced with a difficult decision, ask yourself: what would I do if I weren't afraid of making a mistake, feeling rejected, looking foolish, or being alone? Remove the fear, and the answer comes into focus. 
                                                                                 Unknown Author                                    

Meet Bert!

Yesterday I shared with you that I would be flying today. A friend of mine recently told me, "Rhonda, I worry about you. Whenever I hear  that a plane has crashed, I wait to hear if the pilot was male or female. If it's a female, I call your husband."  This is a woman who is very generous with her time, but is not very forthcoming about her emotions. She paid me a huge compliment, she cares. What a gift.

So yes, today I flew. A glorious day, bright blue skies, smooth skies, no turbulence, and a precious dog to boot. When I landed at Michigan City, Indiana, I was met by Joyce, the lady below. She had a camera in her hands and tears in her eyes.  

What a joy it was for me to take Bert out of the cage and deliver this lovely dog to her. Such a wonderful life the two will have together.

Do you recognize the jacket I'm wearing? Yes, it's the Paper Bag Jacket I showed you last week. See, I really do wear these things! I still owe you a picture of me in the Airplane Top I posted yesterday. Sorry about that.

And a wonderful friend came along for the ride. She's a fellow sewing friend and a pilot in the making! I was amazed by how well Sue was able to keep track of where we were, spot airports as well as traffic. I even had her putting in frequencies before the flight was over. It was her first time in a small airplane.   

Tonight as I close my eyes, what will I dream about?

Power baby, power!!!!
Actually, not at all, I'm far too tired!!
Hope you have had a glorious day as well.

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

Hi Everyone and welcome to Friday!! The weather is absolutely glorious here in Chicago today. I'm so happy as I have a flight to do tomorrow. Should be a fun one. I actually get to take a dog to his new home. From what I understand, he has a rather severe heart murmur and needs medication. Most people want puppies and if it isn't a puppy, they want a dog in good health. So this poor fellow has been looking for a home for quite a while. Tomorrow he will be flown from Nashville to Michigan City, Indiana where he will be picked up by his new owner. I love these flights. The dog's name is Bert and from what I understand, an absolute love. I'll share pictures tomorrow afternoon. 

The piece I'm posting today is just two very simple rectangles. It does need to be made out of a knit fabric. I used a wool sweater fleece for mine. The fabric is double sided so I played around with it a bit, that is why you see the two colors. 

The Paper Airplane Top

 I left an opening in the side seams so I could wear a belt with the piece.

A view from the side. You can see here that the back actually comes over the shoulders and meets up with the front.

A simple plain back.
You will need 2 measurements,
1. Your desired length
2. Your hip measurement
You will need to add ease to your hip measurement, 2" will be good, another inch is you would like for the top to hang a little looser.
Begin by cutting a rectangle half of your hip measurement plus ease by your length measurement. Example, if you hip measurement is 40" you will add 2" of ease which will equal 42". Divide this measurement in half and you will have 21". If your desired length is 32" your rectangle will then be 21"x32". To these measurements be sure to add your seam allowance and hem allowance. This will be your front rectangle.

The rectangle for the back will be longer than the rectangle for the front. As you can see in the picture below, the back is folded over to the top edge of the front rectangle.  As you can see below, the side seams of the back are folded over and stitched to the top edge of the front rectangle and meet in the center. You will need to divide the front rectangle width measurement in half to determine the extra amount that you will need to add to the length of your back rectangle.
(When the top is flat, I think you can see why I'm calling it the Paper Airplane top. I remember folding pieces of notebook paper with a point just like the neckline of this top and flying them around the room when the teacher's back was turned. I did get in trouble for my little stunts!)    

So for an example, if your front rectangle measure 21". Divide that measurement in half which will be 10 1/2". This is the amount that you will need to add to your back rectangle length. The width will of course remain the same as the front rectangle. Be sure to add to the length of your back rectangle for the hem around the neck, 1" should be fine. 

Begin by finishing the top edge of the back rectangle. Find the center of your front rectangle and sew the sides of the back rectangle to the top edge of the front rectangle. Try the piece on to determine how deep you would like your armhole opening to be and then sew up the side seams. If you would like an opening on the side for a belt, you can also determine this when you try it on for the armhole openings. 

Finish the hemline and you are ready to go. 

I finished my edges by zig zagging them down. This way I was able to have my seams on the outside of my top.

When the top is on, the "airplane" point rolls down to form the collar.

I will post pictures of me in the top later today as there is no one here at the moment to help me with pictures. So drop back by a little later if you have time.

Ordinary Heros, Extraordinary Results

When we look at a statue of someone great, we think they've got something we don't. We are trained to think that only a tiny percentage of us have the stuff it takes to be a hero. Not many of us will cure any diseases or slay any dragons, but every single one of us....every single one of us is called to be a king, a queen, a hero in our ordinary lives. We don't build statues to worship the exceptional life, we build them to remind ourselves of what IS possible in our own.




Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:
"On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All
airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."
"No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.
"While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.
"We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, New Foundland to have it checked out. "We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST. "There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put. "The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.
"Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.
"Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.
"We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane. "Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
"About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. "After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while. "We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.
"Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.
"Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible. "Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up. "ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. "Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.
"Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and
harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers. "Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.
"When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging
phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. "And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte. "He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000! "The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.
"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

Monday Morning Inspiration

I have been in love with Marion Cotillard since I saw the movie, "La Vie en Rose." Such a lovely movie, sad, but lovely and Marion Cotillard is just so beautiful. When I saw this layout in the Time Style and Design magazine, I just had so share.

"Sheathed in fall's signature mauves, burgundies and dusty pinks, Marion Cotillard is radiant in this season's commanding yet feminine silhouettes."

Above, Dries Van Noten pink Costa top. What I love is the take on a peter pan collar. Now this piece is done in white gold and diamonds, but I think it could be recreated in pretty glass beads quite nicely.

Above, an Alexander McQueen pink jacquard gown with an "exploding" 3-D enamel flower embroidered bust and ostrich feather skirt. WOW! 

Rodarte burgandy cropped wool guipure blouse and pencil skirt. The fabric has such a vintage feel to it. Lovely.

Prada Tricotina wool jacket. I must say that I am in love with the fall/winter collection from Prada. I love their long jackets paired with crop pants. I've included a video of their fashion show below. I think it is about 11 minutes long.

The shoes are very sculptural.

Marion is wearing a pair of Prada shoes in the picture below. You can see more of the Prada accessories here.

The coat in the above picture is from designer Antonio Berardi. Rather interesting. So I went on a hunt for more. I found the two pieces below,

and a video of his fall/winter fashion show. The show is very interesting. There is a coat that is really incredible. It's done in a burnished silver metallic and it has a blue back. What I don't understand is how any designer could ask their models to come down such steep stairs. Hopefully no one fell. Anyway, the show is interesting. It is also about 11 minutes long. Grab coffee!

You can see the show here. I tried to embed the video, but evidently, they attached the wrong video to the embedding. Sorry about that.

Happy Monday!