Random Cool Sewing Item

Any of you sewers ever use these? I originally bought some at a sale because they are aluminum, and pretty. I found more recently in a grab bag of sewing stuff at an estate sale Then I used them a few months ago, and I just love them! They are very handy, and they grip really well. I noticed that my hems on the last few things I have made turned out much better. I would highly recommend the little suckers! Plus, they are from the 50s and are colored aluminum, like the tumblers.

Sewing Circle!

So, yesterday I got a wild hair and decided to set a date for the Sewing Circle idea that has been floating around my head for a long time! I have always loved the image of women sitting around, sewing or doing other creative things together, like they did back in the day. I am hoping that it will be fun and we can all learn from each other. I know how Pollyanna that sounds, but in my not-so-secret heart there is a lot of June Cleaver and Betty Crocker dying to manifest!

I can be raunchy and all that, but I truly love the whole 1950s mom ideal. Dancing around the kitchen in heels, pearls and a spotless apron cleaning with Glass Wax and all that. It's funny-I joke around in chagrin that I always end up being the mom or the goody-goody when I really want to be the vamp or glamour girl. I would love to be a mankiller, but I always get back to the 1950s mom-type. Or the 1940s we-have-to-be-strong, woman-on-the-home-front. (I suppose I could just be the very sexy housewife-it's been done!) Maybe it's because I grew up a latch key kid in the 70s and TV in the afternoon was heavy on the 50s sitcoms. My 40s/50s magazine collection is one of my favorite things to read. One of the best ones is Ladies Home Journal-they had a feature called "How Young America Lives", and they profiled young families of the time. Fascinating how things have changed AND stayed the same. People certainly did more with less back then-I admire the hell out of that.

Anyway! Tangent there, sorry.....I am excited about the sewing circle, and I plan to make those days set aside for it strictly sewing days, no matter who shows up. If nobody does, then I'll sew alone! I am so thankful that I have a good place to work in, and notions and such I can share with my friends. I am so curious to see everyone's projects and see them grow! I hope this is a success! I plan to do one weekend day and one weekday so lots of people have a chance to come. The first one is Monday, December 14th and the next one is Saturday, December 19th. 9am both days, but it is a drop in thing. I will space it out better in January.

I hope this works out! :-)

Pink Glider!

I did this about a month ago-it's done! I now own a flamingo-pink metal glider! I love the color so much. I want to make everything pink. Well, not really, but you understand. This took 2 coats of primer and 2 and a half cans of spray paint. If you page down a bit here on the ol' blog, you can see what it used to look like. LOVE IT!

New stuff I made...and catch up!

I guess I went on a bit of a hiatus there...just to briefly catch up, the Mad Men Fashion Show on September 18th went swimmingly! Everyone was amazing and we got tons of great feedback for it. It took me about 8 weeks to get it together, and it really showed. This was the best one we've done. I had a lot of last minute help, thank goodness. And my friends as models were incredible-I am so blessed!

Our Halloween Housewarming party on October 30th was fabulous fun too! I had a wild hair and dressed up as Lolita Haze...no one outside our circle of friends would have known who I was because of all the in-jokes in my costume, though, so it was good that I did it at our own party! We had some out of town guests too-Karen (and her husband) of the blog Bobbins and Bombshells had come in the shop during the day, and on a lark I invited them to the party. I was very pleased that they came, and we had a great time! Goodness, I drank a lot...the next day my mom came into town from central Oregon for a visit. She surprised my son with her visit, and he was stoked! We did the Halloween trick or treating thing and had fun. We spent the week doing a lot of thrifting and messing around. Fun!

Last night, Saturday, Charles Phoenix and his slide show came into town, courtesy of my friend Marshall. If you don't know who he is, go see his site: www.charlesphoenix.com. It is like nothing I have ever seen. HILARIOUS!!!! I made a couple new things for the event, too. The bolero is a 50s pattern, made of vintage light wale red corduroy and lined with red satin. The skirt is also a 50s pattern made of vintage atomic print cotton. I am really rather proud of this outfit, actually! The bolero is going to be made again, I can assure you-it was SO easy!!

So now we are heading into Thanksgiving. I have so many sewing things I want to do and I need to get back on the dreaded eBay. I miss the old eBay so much this time of year-it was pretty magical back about 10 years ago. I used to get so excited for the Christmas selling season. Now....eh. But I am thinking about Etsy and the possibilities there. All things must change, I guess. ;-)

Hollywood Regency Fashion Show!

That's right, this is coming up in less than two weeks! I am very excited and becoming a little nervous...I still have to write the text and make the dress CC is going to wear....it is my interpretation of the polka dot dress that Betty Draper wore in season 2 where she has her meltdown. Everyone's outfits are picked out and tried on and I finally found shoes to fit one of our girls, thank god. She wears size 10+ so that was fun....! Have to pick up a Playboy Bunny costume for Lolita to wear, find a pipe for my Hef, and get a pair of pants shortened, figure out what the heck Louis will wear. It's coming together. If it works like it should, this will be the best one we've done.

Just cross me some fingers out there in blog land, ok?

A few goodies

So I have been trying to get this new house together, and I decided to get out a collection I have that I have not seen for a long time. There was a time there when I was really into Gilner Pottery pixies, and every other elf/pixie thing I could find. They are a little harder to find now, but I am happy with what I have. It's nice seeing these fellows again!





I was at Big Lots not too long ago, and spotted this cute retro clock in mint green and baby pink, and once my old alarm clock died I decided to blow $15 and get the pink one. I love it! It sure has a clanging alarm, though, but it does get me awake!




I went over to the Goodwill recently and found a few little doodads...the red belt is patent and I have been looking for a wide red belt forEVER, so I was quite happy to find this! The pattern is from 1998 and I was very pleased to pick it up in my size for 99¢! I saw it on eBay for $32.99 BIN, which is just crazy expensive. The skirt looks a little long so I will shorten it, but I have this lovely piece of emerald green rayon that will be just perfect for this. I plan to do the 40s style dress first. The party book is a scream from 1932 and even has the complete plans for a real minstrel show! It also has ideas for just about any kind of theme party you could think of. The copper set is on eBay now because I can't wear that color at all.

So, there is a little bit from here-more to come as I unpack boxes and hopefully hit some estate sales soon!

Glider project

I bought this fabulous vintage metal glider about 10 years ago in a suburb of Phoenix called Maryvale-which for you non-Arizona folks, is a place I would call our own version of Levittown. Built in the 50s, it was an all-inclusive community full of cookie-cutter houses, shopping centers and schools. It used to be a great place to live, and the houses are huge! Now, unfortunately, it is full of undesirables, renters who don't care about where they live and has acquired a reputation for being dangerous. I used to go to some amazing estate sales out there. I still love going to look at the houses because you can still get a sense of what it was supposed to be. But I digress! :-)

I bought this from a house where it had sat for about 40 years on its own little concrete slab. It had been painted to match the trim on the house! Its original color was dark green, which I would have liked to save, but there is lots of rust, so i will have to use Kilz on the entire thing. I wanted a dark raspberry pink, and so I selected "Watermelon" from the Krylon line of colors. I LOVE it! I need to get this done because I am dying to see the finished look. I plan to make some vintage fabric pillows to go on it as well. It will look good with my repro yellow and turquoise metal motel chairs. What do you think?