Obsessed with Embellishment

My hero, Manolo the Shoeblogger has expanded his empire, and now has Teeny Manolo, a blog devoted to the joys of parenting.  At first I was more than skeptical, because I thought, “Oh great, another gooey valentine to childhood; just what the blogosphere needs” and I was fully expecting posts about scrapbooking and making your own baby food. Nothing could be further from the reality.

Finally we have a parenting blog written by sharp, funny and perceptive adults who have not entirely exchanged their pre-parent night clubbing, foreign film viewing, extreme sports playing, Jeep with no doors selves for video equipped mini vans, PTO meetings, school holiday party subcommittees and cold Saturday mornings on soccer fields.

And one of their best features is the Friday Caption Contest.

My twin daughters are on the edge of Teenhood, so bedroom redesigns are a top priority.  This is an easy solution:  they both picked out some fun fabric at Ikea, and I used it to make curtains for their closets.  The previous owner of our house installed folding closet doors with mirror fronts and a custom closet system.  The closet system is a keeper, but the mirror doors were too heavy and eventually fell apart, so we removed them.  The drapes are a better solution than new doors because the drapes enable access to the entire closet.

 The fabric was just split down the middle, the inner cut edges serged and turned under about 1/4 inch to keep preserve flower shape as much as possible (the fabric was the perfect width for the opening, and I didn’t want to buy double yardage just to add the traditional 1 inch double folded drapery side seam.)  The selvages were just turned under at the sides and the top & bottom hemmed.  A few washers were sewn into fabric pockets at the corners for extra weight at the bottom.  I did calculate a little extra yardage so a full flower could be centered.

The hardware is just a taut wire and simple clips.  If you don’t live near Ikea,  similiar hardware is available from Pottery Barn and  Smith+Noble.  Ikea has wonderful fabrics, but really you could use just about any home dec fabric (make sure it’s not too heavy if you use clip-on rings.)  You could even use a flat bed sheet (which may already be the perfect size and you won’t need to hem it!)

 Onto the the next one!

In the summer of 2006 we took a family vacation to Iceland.  This was the girls first trip outside of the US, and we stayed with friend in Reyjavik.  It’s an amazingly beautiful place, and just found some photos.

This photo was taken about 9:oopm; and it’s the view from our bedroom window at a farm that belongs to our hosts:

Enjoy!

Today was a a beautfiul fall day in Boston!  Clear, crisp weather, blue skies, the temps were in the high 60’s - by far this is my favorite time of year because I can wear my favorite clothes.  Today it was time to break out one of my favorite wool skirts and team it up with a nice turtleneck, kicky boots, a demin jacket, nice leather gloves and I’m all set for work.

As I got off the train at South Station I noticed that most people appeared to agree with me today, because everyone seemed to be wearing their new fall clothes, and for once I was surrounded by good  fashion.  Life was good.   I strode confidently through South Station, marched downstairs to the subway, and nothing could darken my mood - not even the condescending look a woman gave me as I stood next to her on the platform. 

“Whatever biotch, those ratty paisley cords are not exactly happening either” I said to myself, so pleased was I in my fashion superiority.  And then I glanced down at my feet and saw this.

Fortunately I had an extra pair of brown shoes at work.  I really need to get John to install those lights in my closets!

Things have changed in workplace fashion since I entered the work force in 1980. Last week in a company-wide email our CEO noted that since we are a sponsor at big local trade show, and we will be hosting many visitors, she asked that everyone wear business casual to work this week.You’d think she was asking the women to wear corsets, and men to wear spats.  You would not believe the complaining!  Over business casual.  Oh Please.

But this does segue nicely into the latest edition of Fashion Tribes, the Office Edition:

Sports Nut - This is a young guy, on the overweight side, who broadcasts support for his team in any way he can. His wardrobe is almost exclusively Official Team Merchandise. On the few occasions when he is dressed up he wears a $400 Official Team Leather Jacket with a shirt and tie, which makes him look a stadium groundskeeper. Something tells me these are the guys I see on TV who paint their chubby bodies in team colors, and stand half-naked & braying in the stands. If my daughters ever bring home guys like this I will be horrified.

Baby Mama - This as a woman under 35 who is expecting her first baby. For any number of reasons she eschews maternity clothes, so as her pregnancy progresses we are treated to way more boob and belly than we really need to see. In her first two trimesters she sticks with a tight t-shirt smoothed over her popped out belly button and maybe wears stiletto heels with her pregnancy jeans until she can’t take it anymore, and by her last trimester she is so sick of wearing the same three sundresses she adds a shrunken cardigan that she can’t even begin to button.

Endless Summer - This is a woman who will wear flip flops in the office into November if she can. Often combined with Baby Mama. Ladies - the only people who can get away with extending the summer via wardrobe are shorts-wearing UPS guys who do it because it’s locker room contest to see who can hold out the longest. The “No White Shoes After Labor Day” law needs to be amended to include flip flops.

Guilty Quilty - This fashion choice just screams “middle aged female”: a woman in a quilted microfiber jacket in black, beige or red (but oddly never a good red.) She also has a quilted brown-blue-cream Vera Bradley paisley bag AND a faux Pierre Deux quilted bag. Stop the insanity!

Party In My Cube - Female version: clothing that is too tight, too low and too short. Favors stiletto t-straps with crazy patterned stockings. Reeks of clashing scented hair and body products. Male version: clothing that is too tight, too wrinkled, and too faded. Has not worn leather shoes since his prom. His cologne is all that beer from the night before, slowing oxidizing through his pores. Often combined with Sports Nut during playoffs.

The New Mullet - You know this guy: young, smirky, walks down the street holding a lit cigarette that he never really smokes (then why bother?) Always has the newest anything from Apple. Carries a messenger bag slung over the back of his right hip. Wears his hair pressed into a ridge along the top of his head. Dude, in 15 years you will so regret every photo ever taken of you with that hair.

Hipster Doofus - This look is becoming very common in certain industries: shaved head (due to being prematurely bald, that part is ok ), shirt is always worn out, and the lack of hair is made up for with robust facial hair (goatee or soul patch.) I have to be honest here - I can’t tell these guys apart! From 10 feet away you look more alike than Blue Man Group.

The Woman Warrior - Now here I have to turn my wrath on myself. The next time you may be in Boston take a quick look round and count how often within the space of ten minutes you see this uniform on working women: black or brown pants, boots, shirt/turtleneck/t-shirt, denim jacket. Go ahead, count ‘em - you’ll be amazed.  And one of them might be me!

We love using rain barrels - it cuts down on our water bill, plus we can water whenever we want during water restrictions, which happen just about every summer in our town.  During even a moderate rainfall so much water comes off of our garage these two barrels fill up in no time.

One thing we quickly discovered with this method is that water pressure counts, so we really needed to get the barrels up off the ground in order to get every last drop.  John designed and built the stand above in one afternoon with 4 x 4 pressure treated lumber and the galvanized clips you see here.  Everything came from Home Depot.  The biggest consideration was weight; each full barrel weighs 500 lbs. and this set-up is plenty strong enough to hold two more full barrels.  This stand will eventually hold four barrels - we’ll order two more next spring when our town announces the subsidy program.

Today I almost outted someone on a sewing web site! I was so, so close…..fortunately I came to my senses.This person made a thinly disguised snarky comment on a project of mine, and after giving it some thought, I realized that a better way to deal with my miffed feelings would be to blog instead. There’s really no benefit to engaging this person publicly; it’s also not fair to the site operators or to the tens of thousands of people who go on the site every day. Why should they be subjected to our playground spat?What’s really sad is that I used to have a testy but reasonably cordial relationship with her – we disagreed on lots of things, but hey, I’m a big kid and I will zealously defend to the death anyone’s 1^st amendment right to free speech.That said, however, I have zero respect for people who keep their profiles private, who never upload a project and yet just like an untrained dog they leave little poop bombs while hiding behind the veil of anonymity. I’m 99.9% certain this person used to post under a different name, and after several years of reading her posts I’ve come to realize she’s just an angry and bitter person. Alas, I can’t change her – I can only change the way she makes me feel.

I have convinced John that chickens are a good idea!

It pretty much came down to this: we have been thinking of getting a pet for DD1 - she desperately wants a dog, but we both work full time.   Plus, she and her twin DD2 are super busy kids four nights a week, so a puppy would be sadly neglected.  I’m also allergic to cats, so after giving it some thought and remembering that I have past experience raising baby pet birds, it seemed that chickens that will satisfy my gardening/sustainability instinct, her pet instinct, and big bonus - chickens live outside year round.  Plus we get those beautiful eggs. 

That works for me! 

John’s thrifty Scots heritage did kick in and he quickly nixed the Eglu ($800 avec chickens), so I had to do some internet searching on chicken coop plans.  One thing I quickly learned is that there are two schools of thought on coop design: people who scavange materials from virtually anything (a total no-go in my toney neighborhood) and people who aspire to the gentleman-farmer-high-end-solution (lovely but there are no prices quoted on that web site - what does that tell ‘ya?)

Here is the coop of my dreams:

Pretty yes?  This design has all the feaures required for healthy birds, the plans are not expensive, we can build it ourselves, and it’s wicked adorable to boot. I actually love the goofy window box, and if you watch the ebay video (scroll down) you’ll see a hen sitting inside the window!  I’m such a sucker…

 Next challenge: where to buy day old chicks.  The big mail order hatcheries sell every breed but they have minimum orders  - 25 chicks(!) - and the Boston metropolitan area is not exactly teeming with Agway stores….stay tuned.

This morning I opened my email, and Georgene, a fellow Sewing Diva, had sent all of us a link to this blouse - fabulous, yes?  And not that hard to replicate either.  Pattern-wise, you could use any peasent blouse pattern such as Simplicity 3887, or  Hot Patterns Poetry in Motion Tops. The flounce is just some elastic on the sleeve.  A subtle feature of this peasent look is that there is no gathering at the shoulder and the lace insertion lies flat - I like that.

 What really makes this work is the seemingly elaborate embellishment, but if we break it down we can easily see what’s really going on:

• Notice the pearls are the same tone as the fashion fabric and lace insertion.  This is a great idea and is going straight into my idea notebook!   Pearl beads come in all kinds of colors, and this is easy to copy because you can dye fabric and lace to match the pearls
• There are only two pearl shapes: teardrop in one size and round in small, medium & large
• There are just four embroidery colors: a medium dusky green for the leaves, bright pink and dark bright pink for the flowers, and a lastly a pinky-beige leaf color that matches the fashion fabric and the pearls
• Only one embroidery stitch is used for the flowers and leaves:  a basic padded satin stitch. Georgene hypothosized that there might be some cording instead of padding under the satin stitching outlining the leaves, and I think that’s certainly possible too.

Pretty simple right?  So how does this all work together so perfectly?  It’s all about the transiton from one material to the next, and how they are used.  If you look closely, you’ll see the pearls are also used as centers for the flowers, and the tone-on-tone leaves  also act as a bridge between the brighter fowers and the fashion fabric.  Some of the leaves, both tone-on-tone and green, are outlined with pearls as well.  The transition between materials is hugely important to making embellishment work, and to keep it from looking “stuck on”.

The heavy embellishment is also mostly confined to the top half of the garment, and when you look at the other views on Net-A-Porter you’ll see the lovely drape created by the beading.

This blouse is a brilliant example of the sum being greater than the parts.   Thanks Georgene!

This may sound crazy but it’s true - I love chickens.  Years ago a coworker who lived in Pembroke MA gave me some eggs from his Plymoth Rock hens, and they were the most delicious and beautiful things I’d ever seen.  The yolks were so fresh they were dome-shaped in the pan, and the whites were thick and shapely.  Plus, when we paid him a visit I discovered that chickens are hysterically funny to watch, and ever since I’ve wanted my own, but we live in suburban Boston next to Route 128, which is not exactly farm country.  My neighbors are more likely to have tennis courts and in-ground pools over henhouses. We also have a mid-century modern house, and the coop designs I’ve seen are squarely vintage farmhouse.

However, the Eglu might be just the ticket.  It’s got a cool design, sort of an iMac for fowl and like an iMac is comes in different colors.  A late night search on my town bylaws indicates that residents are allowed to keep chickens for a modest fee ($10 a year), and I only want two - just enough for eggs.  A rooster is not in the equation because they are too noisy, have only one thing on their minds anyway and we don’t need to breed chicks.   All I need to do is talk John into it!