Day Dreams and Night Dreams

I spent a good part of the day Friday in my office doing reports which allowed me to daydream. And entire day of daydreaming…how indulgent!

I’m thinking of some things that I want to make and do for our home.

One of my favorite blogs ever is  From Gardeners to Bergers, who just recently did a post on Map Art for your home.

I, too am crazy about the Restoration Hardware giant map art. I want one for over my bed, like this one:

Vintage London Map

Then I was lucky enough to find a tutorial here

But found some actual poster sized vintage maps with This Ebay Seller.

Vintage Paris Map

I love that look.  We may even use that map theme on a wall in our Scotty. Maybe. So while I may never get to London or Paris, I can certainly dream about it.

The Painted Hive

I confess I could sew through the entire Collette Sewing Handbook. And I confess I would give my teeth for a copy of Vogue’s New Book for Better Sewing 1952…and sew my way through that, too. On that subject, I've been eyeing up Gertie's blog for awhile...she has a lot to say about this book!

So, what else? JR and I have been finding and re-working some really cool pieces to sell at a show in July. For many, many years, I traveled to retail shows selling my vintage re-pro cloth dolls and folk dolls and we sort of miss that venue…it was always fun getting ready, loading up, unpacking, setting up and packing up again, and unloading again…just kidding..that part Was Not  Fun, but I always got the biggest kick out of traveling to new places, meeting people and selling the things I loved to someone that I knew would also love them. It was an awesome creative outlet… I got to do the creating and , BONUS, made money at the same time!   So, after being inspired by our many visits to re-sale shops and flea markets and antique fairs over the years, we decided to take the plunge and do a show in July.  I’m excited. The hunt for stuff is always a blast and re-selling it will be even better!

I have a million ideas and never enough time to execute them.  My sewing and knitting pile grows, and I can’t seem to get busy with it. I think it’s because I have had a bad experience with a really bad piece of fabric this week…I’m trying to chalk it up as a muslin, and as a perfect opportunity to tweak the fit on a blouse, but dang, it’s bugging me. I think because it was a pain in the neck pattern lay-out and cut-out and the fact I am doing it all over again has moved my motivation arrow far to the left of the dial.

But I am making progress.

Where do you dream of going? What do you dream of doing?

The White Blouse

It doesn't get any more vanilla, white sugar and flour than the  basic white blouse. Wear it with everything from jeans to work ensembles to dress-up . One of my favorite looks that I have ever worn was a simple sateen white blouse that I paired with a beautiful brown mid-calf dressy slim skirt that had a wide sash and bow at the waist....I made it myself. (wow, that's a lot of adjectives!)  I wore it to a wedding...and then to another wedding. It was so classic and eye-catching...that skirt didn't need anything more than a simple white blouse with the collar popped and some dramatic accessories.

One of my other favorite looks is that same blouse with some jeans and a simple blazer. Classic.

So the complication comes from deciding which, of the countless flavors of white blouses,  would be the best white blouse for your closet. Of course, the first step is deciding why you want it and what your lifestyle is.

Because there is nothing that says "wear me!" like a white blouse, I have a wardrobe of 'em.
I have a white tunics, structured button shirts, ruffled shirts and simple oxfords. In everything from cotton and linen to charmeuse and knits. There are SO many different fabric options:

crinkle silk chiffon
rayon linen and silk blend 
stretch silk charmeuse
broadcloth
stretch poplin
shirting with lace details
lawn
eyelet
stretch sateen
linen
voile
silk cotton blend 
cotton jaquard


Let's take a look at some styles!

The White Shirt by lbrundage 




And some patterns!

The Updated Bow Blouse

Hotpatterns Metropolitan Tie Me Down Top

McCalls 651

Colette Jasmine

Basic Structured Blouse.. a great opportunity to try some interesting details or construction:

Burda 7189

Vogue 8747

Simplicity 2447

Burda 7359

The Tunic

Kwik Sew 3849

Burda 7368

New Look 6086

So there you have it!  What's your favorite white blouse? What white blouse will you be adding to your wardrobe basics?
                                                    

And The Babies Keep Coming!

                                                               Another grandson!

Jameson Robert
February 7, 2011
8lb. 7oz. 

             "Hush, hush" said the moon. "Turn out the light....someone new sleeps with us tonight!"

I Heart My Husband

Yesterday, after church and before going to Katie’s house for Super Bowl dips,  I ran a few errands, got my eyes examined, poked around Joann’s.

And during that time, my husband…my amazing husband…cleaned first floor of the house for us! Yes..that means vacuuming, dusting, washing floors, cleaning the bathroom. Oh, and Windex-ing where it was needed.

So, while it’s not yet Valentine’s day, I have to express an extra bit of love to a husband who not only cleans our house, but...

He will indulge my creative side, while keeping me from being too impulsive.

He cleans up after dinner and never complains if we eat popcorn as our evening meal.

He gives the best hugs while respecting my hot flashes.

He makes wonderful things with his hands and can figure out how to do just about anything.

He makes me feel safe, while encouraging me to be brave.

Little Hearts by Teresa Fox

He is the only person in the world who has ever loved me without condition, with much forgiveness, and as an example of grace….truly the picture of a husband that God had in mind.

Vogue 1264 Ankle Pants

Well, this is the same pattern I used for the pink pants. I still like the pattern, but I do see that I have some additional fit issues to work out, especially when working with a fabric that has some stretch.

 After wearing them for the afternoon, they started to bag out. ( I spared you the butt shot, because the sagging was a little embarrassing!). This fabric is a stretch cotton sateen with 3 % Lycra.  I hesitate to take them in any more, or they will be more form fitting than what I would like. What to do, what to do...

I made just one modification other than the fit. I added 2 inches to the length.  I like the little vent at the hem.

And I love the style of the pants. They have a nice clean, faced waistband with an extended tab closure and invisible side zip... a great pant for my wardrobe basics.

I would like to determine the best fabrics for these pants. What do you use? Any suggestions on something with enough stretch for comfort but not enough that they stretch out?

I need a little color in my l life on these gray days of Winter. What is it about so many of us that instead of our clothes being an expression of our vibrant and cheerful personalities, we tend to wear black, gray, black and gray-black?  I find that so interesting. Personally, I love color! I am a colorful girl who has any number of interests, moods and aspects to my being.  So why all this blah? Why am I always sucked into the big black hole of fashion? 

Are we just playing it safe? Are we really that afraid of color?

Is it because it just doesn't require thinking or planning? It's easy to wear black?

Is it our only idea of “classic?”

Do we think it makes us look thin?

Younger? Actually, I read somewhere that when women over 40 wear black, it sucks the color from their fragile and delicate aging complexions! Oh, great.

The last three garments I’ve made are gray…what does that say about me? Well, at least it’s a step up from black, right?

I've been wondering if maybe, just maybe, it's not the grayness of the world that's influencing my color choices (or lack thereof) but maybe, just maybe, I could make my world a little bit happier of a place to be if I would just choose  some color!

Pantone Spring 2012 by lbrundage featuring floral scarves

How about you? Do you wear a lot of black? How do you wear color in your wardrobe?

Yes dear, there is a raisin in our bed.

On my way home from work Friday, the skies over my town were filled with the blackness of a huge fire.

 On my way in to work this morning, those same skies were filled with snowiness.

Are Tootsie Pops actually smaller these days? They sure don't seem like the 2 cent ones that I used to buy at the corner store when I was growing up.

This is an amazing red blazer. Very nicely constructed, and I may very well steal that fabulous animal print lining when I make my red jacket.

Victoria, Of Ten Thousand Hours of Sewing,  put up a really good pants post, which includes  a discussion of the  Yahoo/Glamour article “Ten Pants that Every Woman Must Own.” 
Oh, great. Now I need print pants. Well, Victoria of Ten Thousand Sewing Hours, I'm glad it's not Ten Thousand Pants Every Woman Must Own."

Am I the only person at work that thows away the empty toilet paper rolls?

I feel like I did little this weekend other than watch documentaries, play with pinterest, polyvore, and google reader, and clean the bathroom.  Well, I fussed a little with the master bedroom…rearranging, re-accesorizing. 

And I cut out some gray pants.

I also started knitting a  Drops Seed Stitch Baby Jacket which reminds me a lot of one that was sold at Baby Gap recently. It will go with an equally adorable seed stitch baby hat which I already made.

And…Yes, dear, that is a raisin in our bed. I had a craving right before bed...what can I say?