Off to a Late Start

For the past 3 years now, I have always been on the ball when it came to preparing for The Tin Thimble's Handmade Summer Wardrobe Fashion Show and coordinating Fashion Week. This year, I am so elated to say, is our fourth annual event and I am as excited as ever to begin preparing. It is with a sheepish smile that I admit, however, that I am not so prepared this year. The show is a mere 4 months away and I am just now completing my first piece. I cringe. Anyway, check back in for more pieces in the following weeks and months, this first piece has me thoroughly inspired and excited to create more!

The pattern is Butterick 6582. It is made with a vintage cotton/poly floral voile is some of my favorite, neon colors. 

It is fully lined with 100% pima cotton, which gives the skirt a healthy amount of body and is perfect to swish around in.

Zip back with two buttons at the top. Found a belt at Target that matched perfectly. 

Green velvet bows on the shoulders make the dress extra girly and fun.

Fluorescent orange pumps from DSW by Jessica Simpson. They're my multi-purpose graduation shoes and I plan on wearing them as often as I possibly can. 

I hope to wear this outfit to my best friends' graduation celebration in Humboldt County in May. I cannot wait to celebrate such a great day with them in such a fun dress!

The Quarter-Life Crisis

Hello!

Gosh, I'm so sorry for my absence! It's been too long. Things in my life have been a little...hectic. I'm graduating from college in May (just a mere 53 days from now) and am finding myself at one of those places you commonly hear referred to as a "crossroads". The scary and exhilarating fact of complete independence lies before me. Living on my own in my very own apartment, paying all of my own bills (Family, thanks for all the help these past few years!), making all my own money.
I look back on the college town I've fallen in love with, all the incredible friends I've made and the general shenanigans Chico and my friends have gotten us into. I look forward, somewhat reluctantly, somewhat excitedly, to what happens from here on. Two jobs, starting a new chapter, making new friends, learning new skills and I think, "Does this mean I'll be a...a...a grown up? A real grown-up, adult-like person?" Weird.
I always knew I'd be excited to graduate college and move on with life but I was unprepared for the overwhelming amount of changes and decisions that would come with this graduation business. So to distract myself from the absolutely confusing mixture of melancholy and thrilling emotions I've been feeling, I've been trying to stay focused on the little things like...

...the beautiful spring weather, and all the blossoms that come with it. 

...graduation preparations that involve parties and purty dresses. Dress from Anthropologie. Shoes from DSW.  

...sewing pretty spring items for Etsy and Mending Mondays (for my local followers, there's more information on my Facebook page).

...beginning projects for the Tin Thimble's Fashion Week! 

I will have some exciting projects to share with you soon, so please stay tuned. Happy Spring, everyone! As always, comments and shares are greatly appreciated and make me glow with happiness!

Something for the Sister

When The Tin Thimble received the entire line of Colette patterns I felt like a little kid at Christmas. I went through the box saying" Ooh, look at this one!", "Ah, this is so cute!", "Eeek, I love this one!". The Colette patterns were followed by two large (and very exciting) boxes of apparel fabrics, and I took it as a sign. I made the Colette "Hazel" with a wool/poly blend plaid and wool gabardine. I made it as a shop example and it just so happened to fit Emma to a tee (lucky brat). 

Yep, that's a contrasting pocket. Love!

How cute is she? Gosh. 

Winter Warmth

Hello! How is everyones winter going? Here in Northern California it's freakin' cold. Real cold. I hope everyone is staying warm! Speaking of staying warm, some of you may remember when I made my man a quilt to keep out the Quincy cold. Well, when he took that blanket back to his Mom's house, his brother began to use it more than Matthew did. So for Christmas, I was asked to make Sean a quilt of his own. Again, I'm not a quilter, but I must say, making these is fun. Maybe it's because I get to use wools and corduroys and heavy fabrics that I don't often sew with. Maybe it's because I can sew them up so quickly, maybe it's just because I'm making them for special people. I don't know, all I know is that this one was just as fun to make as Matthew's.

The top is made from new and vintage wool, wool gabardine, corduroy, flannel and cotton.

The flannel on the left and the wool/poly blend on the right are available at The Tin Thimble.

The back is some fantastic vintage wool yardage that very closely resembles an old army blanket and the middle is a god-awful double knit, burgundy (ew), vintage polyester. Sean said he likes Matthew's quilt because it's heavy, and my god, nothing is as heavy as double knit polyester. It's also ridiculously warm. 

Happy belated New Year everyone! I've been busy working and have more exciting things to share with you soon. Stay warm!

Mediums

I never really think of sewing as art, at least not the kind of sewing I do. However, when I was asked to create a piece for The Tin Thimble's "All in the Family" exhibition for the Auburn Art Walk at Oz Gallery of Fine Jewelry, I had to rethink that notion. It was obvious that I wanted to sew something...or rather "sew" something, but fabric (that I could afford) just wasn't going to be artsy enough. After a very long and fun trip to Chico Scrapbooks I decided upon paper for my medium. I also obtained some of the paper from this incredible art store in Fort Bragg called Racines. Long story short, my dress has a regular muslin underdress, and then is covered (through tedious pinning, glueing and tacking) by pleated, folded and layered paper!

This piece, along with all of my Mother's and Sister's art pieces can be viewed at Oz Gallery in Auburn until November 30th. If you're local, you should go take a gander. Not to brag, but my family's pretty damn talented (ok, maybe I'm bragging a little). 

My (2nd) Favorite Time of the Year

If you didn't all ready know, I love Halloween. I mean, I really love Halloween. A lot. Also, it's a good time of year to be a seamstress. I get the wildest requests for costume help and I'm always up for a challenge.  This year (so far, that is) I've been a circus ring-leader and a sugar skull. I've whipped up a pretty sweat gnome costume to wear on Wednesday when all the little kids come trick or treating but I'll share photos of that later. 

Vest I bought at a thrift store, and embellished the crap out of. I added rick rack, epaulettes, pocket square, sequin trim. 

I added a couple red ruffles to my dance shorts to make a faux bustle. 

Sparkly tights! 

I did my makeup following several makeup tutorials on Youtube. I would highly recommend Kandee Johnson and Tanya Burr for similar looks. Elf sparkly eyeliner, L'Oreal foundation, Covergirl blush, Clinique mascara, Covergirl lipstick and Elf liquid eyeliner in black.

This was SO much fun to do. I received inspiration from Pinterest and then put my own spin on it. The white, black and red makeup is all from a cheap vampire palette I bought at Target for $3. I was called everything from creepy to awesome. Chya! 

 I can't wait to see all the little kids dressed up on Wednesday (lets face it, their costumes are always the best). Happy Halloween everyone!

The Ocean Has My Heart.

School, work, school, more school, tests, intermediate bug-catching breaks (for an entomology class), school, work, and then... a trip to Mendocino. A real vacation in a bed and breakfast with fun people, good vibes and no stress. Aaahhhh. I don't have much to say for this post. Mostly just some lovely photos that speak for themselves and hopefully translate a bit of the incredibly peaceful weekend I just enjoyed with Matthew and his family. Hope you're all doing well! I have exciting things to blog about coming up. Stay posted!

The "sand" at Glass Beach

The B&B Matthew's family friends own and so generously let us all invade. It was gorgeous inside and out! 

I love a good foggy day (especially when it's 100 degrees at home).

Treasures. 

The view from the headlands, a short 5 minute walk from the house. Sigh.