Tag: Creating Embellishments

The Montana Antique Mall

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An unexpected trip to Missoula, MT afforded an opportunity to go to the Montana Antique Mall. https://www.montanaantiquemall.com/

Several of the dealers had antique clothes for sale; here are some photos of some of the pretty clothes I drooled over.  The Montana Antique Mall isn’t a museum technically but it inspires me the way a museum would.

I’m sorry the pictures in this post are blurry.

A White Dress:

antique, white wedding dress againsta green door.

This lovely white dress was embellished with rows of taffeta, pinked on both edges and gathered into ruffles. Four rows of ruffles cover the sleeves. Another four rows of ruffles are placed at an angle, encircling the hips. Three large loops of taffeta are gathered and sewn to the side seam to form a bow at the waist. I think this was a wedding dress; can’t you just see the bride holding a bouquet of roses?

 

a close up of the white dress: the ruffles along the hip line and the big bow at the waist

Close up of ruffles and bow.

Close up of the ruffled sleeve.

Close up of the ruffled sleeve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Pink Coat:

A soft pink wool coat

This lovely wool pink coat is decorated only on the ¾ length sleeves’ cuffs.

The pink cuff embellsihed with off white crochet work, cyrstals and tiny nailheads.

The embellished cuff

There is central crotcheted motif of a daisy like flower, encircled by smaller flowers. Scattered further afield are smaller flowers and single leaves. All of the crocheted elements are held onto the cuff by small, prong-held, pale blue crystals and tiny silver nailheads. Imagine the ¾ length sleeves, with its wide sleeves and embellished cuffs meeting a long, shapely evening glove. The Opera, anyone?

A Salmon Dress:

A salmon colored flapper dress embellsihed with crystals.

 

This lovely salmon dress is embellished with crystals, a gathered skirt and a handkerchief hem.

I love the pattern of crystals following the lowered waistline and then flaring up into the bodice, going to either side of the breast mound, with one group of crystals continuing all the way up and over the shoulder.

a close up of the gathering of the skirt and the crystals.

Close up of the gathering and crystals.

 

The fullness in the skirt is controlled with gathers that peek out in a small arched section where vertical lines of crystals blossom. I’m ready to wear this dress out dancing! If only it fit me…

 

 

 

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My work room

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My work room is in my home. We have recently moved into this house (10 months ago!)  so my work room is still a work in progress. I have to think: where did I put those duck billed scissors? Or the fabric markers? Still it is lovely space: filled with light and beautiful fabrics.

At the top of the stairs from the front hall is large loft-like space; this is my workroom. Along the far wall of my room are west-facing windows that look out over the river near us.

The view from my work room at high tide

I have 2 industrial sewing machines positioned along the north wall: a straight stitch and a zizgzag machine. On the south wall I have a bamboo counter that holds a small ironing board and my industrial iron. The north and south walls also have shelves starting at 5’ off the floor and continuing up to 10’. On one set of shelves are my books of Fashion History and inspiration. On the other set of shelves are boxes of fabric that I hope to use soon.

Ellen, wearing a pin-tucked, green, corduroy shirt showing some ribbon flowers

 At my work table with some ribbon flowers

In the center of the room I have a custom made table that is 38” high and is 47.5” wide by 66” long with a dropped leaf to extend the table to 92” long. The table is topped by a large cutting mat as I prefer cutting fabric with a rotary cutter. As I work on a project I’m very good at covering every flat surface in my workroom with bits and bobs, so I try to start with all the flat surfaces cleaned off.

All of my tools and supplies have a home in a drawer or a labeled box. It makes me crazy to not be able to find something, so everything has a place to live—in theory. Of course there are a couple of boxes that have all the odd things thrown together: rhinestone setter, grommet setter, electric knife for cutting foam and a bead spinner are in one box.

I made the switch to an industrial iron and sewing machine many years ago. I was exasperated by my home sewing machine needing to be repaired all the time; I needed something sturdier. With the industrial straight stitch machine I can sew fine chiffons or thick wools with just a few adjustments of the tension discs and the stitch length. The zigzag machine is a little more complicated than the straight stich machine so I need to spend more getting the stitches just right. I also have a 3-4 thread serger. I dream of owning a cover stitch machine.

Last but not least I have a stereo in my workroom. I listen to the music, the news, audio books while working. I find the tempo of the music keeps me moving forward: Loreena McKinnett or Jesse Cook are good when working on complicated pattern changes, while Bruno Mars, Beyonce or Adele are good when working on more straight forward things.

The view from my work room at low tide

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If I am a sewing machine…

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If I’m a sewing machine, what are you?

While floating in the swimming pool with Alice (of the re-fashioned Kimono) and my cousin Abby (donor of the Kimono) we were talking about our extended family. Abby was describing people for Alice in Abby’s unique way.

Juki sewing machine

 

One of Alice’s 2nd cousins was described as, “ felted wool sweater and hard cover book.”

2 hard cover books on a table

 

A distant cousin was described as “organic herbs and felted wool hat.”

Sage with some bug eaten holes.

Alice and I thought this method of describing people was very funny, accurate and hard to do. We tried to describe other members of our large extended family using Abby’s object driven descriptions and ran into problems. How many adjectives can be used to describe the object? Does the order of objects matter?

As we floated in the pool, I decided I was sewing machine: lots of potential for doing all kinds of stitches, but I need to be plugged in and turned On. To translate that: I can sew, I can write, I can organize, etc. but I have trouble getting started. Most of the time the jolt of energy from my morning coffee gets me going, but sometimes even the coffee doesn’t work; I get plugged in but the switch isn’t turned On. I’ll find myself reading all three newspapers on the breakfast table and think longingly about the novel I’m reading, instead of the challenging sewing on my worktable. I know that if I can get to my workroom and get started on the current project I will become totally absorbed in the work.

Once I get turned On I have trouble stopping- the Off switch is elusive. I will be totally and happily absorbed in my work and the hours will fly by – until my husband (or my grumbling stomach) reminds me it’s time to eat. My reply, “Yes, thanks for the reminder, I’ll be there in 5 minutes” and mean that. Somehow the 5 minutes turns into 30 minutes and by then I’m totally out of energy. Luckily, my husband knows this about me and compensates for my totally absorbed state/tardiness. So hitting the Off switch is as hard as hitting the On switch for me.

What about you? Are you an elevator? Moving from one floor/task to another as the people around you demand your attention? A tractor plowing through your tasks? Or maybe a weed whacker: capable of cutting through the weeds to expose the hidden flowers?

 

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