Handmade Favorites: Porcelain Milk Bottles
A couple of months ago I came across a shop on Etsy called Alyssa Ettinger Designs. The shop carries a bunch of really pretty porcelain pieces including knitwear inspired tableware and beautifully glazed beads and pendants. However, my favorite items are the replica antique milk bottles done in plain white porcelain. I love the crisp, clean look of these bottles! Anything vintage for the kitchen is really hot right now and a lot of times the original bottles can be difficult to come by and when you do find them they tend to have chips or cracks. These will still allow you to have that vintage feel in your kitchen even if you aren’t lucky enough to come across the real thing. I actually think I might almost prefer these to their glass counterparts.
Pulp Fashion: The Art Of Isabelle de Borchgrave
I am totally fascinated by the art of Isabelle de Borchgrave. Never have I wanted to go to San Francisco as badly as I do right now! Her incredible works will be on display until June 5, 2011, at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. You have NEVER seen a paper artist like this Belgian before! What she does is she recreates life-size duplicates of historical items of clothing (like those in royal portraits, etc.) out of PAPER! Each item is painted as a flat piece and is then constructed into the garments. They are just absolutely amazing and when I first started researching this article, I didn’t even know they were entirely paper. I thought they were starched canvas or possibly linen. Not only are they gorgeously painted, but the fact that she constructs these dresses also is a testament to her immense talent. Even the lace collars (below) and trims are made from paper products. I suppose that this would be a version of 3D trompe l’oeil, but I don’t know for sure. The exhibit contains more than 60 pieces, both the full color and a selection in pure white replicas made so that you’ll get a better appreciation (as if I wasn’t amazed enough) for their construction quality. If you are anywhere NEAR SanFran, I urge you to go to this exhibit. Of course, if you would like to report back and show me TONS of photos, I’d like that too! I selected a couple of images from the FAMSF & The Legion of Honor exhibit preview to show you exactly what I’m talking about!
I also found a video interview with the artist on YouTube that shows her studio and close-ups of a number of her works.
Yellow Rose Childs’ Dress
Here is another new dress I just put the finishing touches on this afternoon. This one too is made out of a vintage twin bed sheet I found in Memphis; it was $1.98. The vintage lace trim is also from a Memphis thrift store and cost about 30 cents. The buttons, chiffon for the sash, elastic, bias tape and tulle for the petticoat are all new, but were things I already had (except for the tulle, it was on sale 50% off at Jo Ann’s. The total cost of the dress & petticoat is about $4. I used a vintage 1959 Simplicity pattern (3413) in a little girl’s size 8. I’ve found a pretty good way to make the petticoats I think, this one is slightly different than the one on the blue dress I posted earlier, but was much more simply made and seems to give me more poof. I’ve really lucked out with having just the right amount of trim for the dresses I’ve made so far! Hope to have some more stuff to post tomorrow as well.
Fabric Covered Shoes Tutorial
I saw this tutorial a while ago, but I knew I had to post it on here eventually. I personally, have tried to recover a couple pairs of shoes in my day, including a fabulous pair of white satin Calvin Klein bridal pumps, what a disaster! I don’t know WHY I have such a hard time doing it, but I do. The instructions given at Whipstitch Sewing seem so easy to follow and the results look so good that I am going to HAVE to try this again soon! Wish me luck everyone! It would be so nice to buy a crappy looking pair of shoes in who cares what color and end up with them perfectly matched to a dress!
