Patchwork Underground

So, I had just finished watching Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance music video (for the I-don’t-know-how-many-eth time) and I was thinking about how hard I could rock it in those 15″ heels she wears in the video.  I closed my laptop and stood up.  And then I fell down.  OW!  My leg was asleep and before I realized what was happening, I rolled over in my measly 3″ heels.  I was in denial for a day or so but eventually I went to the doctor - BROKEN FOOT!

Here’s what a broken foot looks like in a sewing room:

I went thrift shopping to dull the pain - got this awesome vintage Idea Book of Trims….

It made me realize that I heart freaky Kubrick-style ballerinas:

…and glassy-eyed girls in big hats:

I also learned what happens when you give a girl a Buttoneer.

The Idea Book of Trims made me realize that my trims are a freakin’ mess.  I have them in a bunch of disparate bags stashed all over my sewing room.  So, in the interests of organization (and further dulling the pain of my broken foot), I hobbled to the dollar store and bought storage bins.  Voila:

Coming up next: a tutorial for my scrap earrings!  Here’s a sneak peek:

I spend a lot of time looking for inspirational images on the internet.  I wanted to share this last batch with ya’ll because they are soooo spectacular and really interesting on so many levels.

I’m beginning to understand that my hat fetish and my snood obsession kind of go hand-in-hand.  I’ve been doing research on vintage snood patterns and I’ve been having a little luck.  You can see one of them here.  I also found a really neat tutorial here - it tells you how to make a simple snood from an old doily.  (If you didn’t know, I heart doilies big time.  The doily/snood combination is almost too much to bear.)

On to the pictures!

*Swoon*

OMG! Hat Making - where have you been my whole life!?

This hat is insane and I love it!  The back story: I was bumping Lady Gaga in my sewing room and testing out a traditional Dresden plate pattern that I found on the internet. When it was done I was like, “OK, so, this is cute and would make a nice pillow or whatever - but seriously now - what would it look like on my head?”

BANG!

I used super stiff iron-on interfacing as the body for the brim, ironed it onto the Dresden plate, hand stitched a rad fake fur lining onto the other side and stitched a doily center onto the middle to form the crown.  I hid the unfinished bit where the brim meets the crown with matching lace so that it just looks like an extension of the doily.  I also hand-stitched wire into the brim so that I can move it all around and change its shape however I want to.  I used tiny stitches everywhere so that the whole thing is REVERSABLE.

Plans for the next hat are already in the making.  This time, I want to actually wet felt a vintage-looking hat together….with feathers and rhinestones and fake foliage, of course.  I already put a couple different millinery books on hold at the library and they should be shipping to the North Portland library for me soon.  There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this thing and I’d like to actually learn how to do it for reals.  Yay!

I was a rodeo clown.

We made an altar for our beloved dead.  (Hi Grandma!)

I was cold!  Bur.

We partied like it was the pagan new year.

Phew!  Now that the biggest and bestest holiday of the year is over I’ll finally be able to buckle down and get back to some of my super-serious non-holiday crafting.  I’ve been working real hard on some sweet new designs for clothing patterns and I’m getting pretty excited about the fabric shopping I’ll be needing to do soon.  Here’s a few hints about what’s in store: dresden plates, yo-yos (MORE!) and a wee bit of origami fabric-folding (for good measure).

OK, I’m off to draw more pretty pictures of clothes I want to make….