Obsessed with Embellishment

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 was not my idea - I saw this years ago in a fashion mag, and it was SO long ago I can’t even recall when it was or what magazine it was! Basically, it’s a sushi mat used as a roll for makeup brushes. Take about 27 inches (3/4 yard) of 1 inch black elastic, and thread it through the bamboo sticks to secure your makeup brushes. Roll them up and secure with the elastic.

Last week I was in Sephora (my absolutely favorite place to shop, other than a fabric store) and the tech doing my makeup loved the idea and brought over about 4 or 5 of her coworkers, who all declared “I am so stealing this idea.”

So steal away yourself!

For the most part the red carpet parade at the Oscars was pretty much what I’ve come to expect. Starlets, old movie stars, previous winners, industry types - the tabloids will cover it better than I ever could. Nothing really made me crazy, fashion-wise, although the level of glamour was uniformly pretty high. Penelope Cruz, who is always one of the best dressed women in Hollywood, looked great as always in a fluff of Versace, Ann Hathaway was adorable in Valentino, and I loved the wit behind the brooch over Catherine Deneuve’s Gaultier heart, stabbed with a saber and trailing symbolic blood.

But - then Cate Blanchett showed up and I gasped in amazement! Her Armani Prive gown was a masterpiece of couture embellishment and color! The deep, rich gunmetal color was gorgeous against her pale skin and I’m convinced the inspiration for this magnificent gown was the Art Deco bronze & ivory figurine “Starfish Dancer” by Chiparus The above photo of Cate really doesn’t showcase the gown as much as I’d like, but in HDTV it was easy to see that it was heavily encrusted with beading, crystals and even mirrors. A stunning work of embellishment, just like the original Chiparus bronze from the 1920’s. Nice work Cate!

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Lately I’ve fallen back in love with dresses - they’re so easy to wear! You just put them on and off you go. A while back I made the HotPatterns Plain & Simple Shirtdress out of a fine wale corduroy and I wear it almost once a week.

Marfy has three great sporty dresses for Spring ‘07, and it going to be hard to decide which one I like the most.

All three of these would be great in a cotton pique, linen, denim, seersucker, or a twill.

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This style has really great lines, I love the slanted inset pockets on the skirt and the button front. The machine embroidery concept for the skirt looks kind of dopey, and instead I’d use one half of a metal tooth zipper as an edge trim for the pockets. I might also replace the button front with a nice Riri zipper, and again use the extra teeth to trim the edges of the inset pockets.

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Reminds me of my fave HP Plain & Simple Shirtdress. This would be killer in a dark wash denim with snaps and rivets as fasteners. Another great combination would be white linen with brown topstitching. I’d wear this to work with a tight cap sleeve T-shirt underneath and in the fall I’d wear it over a long sleeve body suit and tall boots.

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Now, the only thing I don’t love about this style is the dowdy length on the skirt - do you know any woman who looks good in a hem that hits right below the knee cap? I’d raise the hem for sure to right above the knee, and other than that I love the 70’s neckline and all of the zippers (Riri again would look fabulous), snaps, and topstitching.

Over on Sewing Divas I posted a valentine to Isabel Toledo’s new collection for Ann Klein, and the love it-or-hate it reaction pretty much reminds me of the reaction to Karl Lagerfeld’s first collection for Chanel 2+ decades ago. Something tells me this type of controversy is a good thing for Isabel’s future at Anne Klein.

One accessory from the show I lusted after where those Ghillies. I’ll admit they seem to be a love it-or-hate it shoe style. Diva Ann doesn’t like them at all, but I really do, and I have a pair in beige suede that’s has been in my closet for over 10 years.

You can bet I’ll be wearing them again this year after I sew up my versions of Isabel’s designs for my fall wardrobe. Ghillies are a great walking shoe, super with pants and adorable with the right kind of skirt. Nanflan reminds us that Anne Klein has a shoe line, so hopefully Isabel’s runway version will soon show up on Zappos.

But until that happens - Behold - the John Fluevog Darjeeling Ghillie! A big thank you goes to Vivienne for pointing out this really fun shoe.

Beaded Tassel Tutorial

I first made these as a fastening for a Chanel-like cardigan. These tassels are not hard to make, although the work is a little fussy, but if you like making jewelry you’ll probably enjoy this.

The finished tassel is about 2 3/4 inches long, and the top loop is 2 inches (50 beads for mine.) If you plan to use the tassel for earrings, or to embellish a zipper on a handbag, then you can adjust the length of the loop accordingly.

Materials List

1. Nymo beading thread, fine. Use black Nymo for opaque beads, white for crystal & clear beads . Regular sewing thread is not strong enough for this type of beading.
2. Beading needles (I used J & P Coats H.16, size 10/13)

Naturally, for the beads you can use whatever you like, but I’ll give you the bead sizes I used as a guide:

One 10mm faceted bead for the tassel head
One 6mm disc-shaped bead for the neck

Each strand of the skirt contains:

16 seed beads of one color
2 seed beads of another color as a transition
1 bugle bead that coordinate with the 2 transition beads
1 4mm bicone bead
1 Czech E-bead (a bead the same shape as a seed bead, but larger)
1 dangle (usually side drilled) or teardrop bead (usually top drilled) for the end

Each tassel has 6 strands in the skirt. If you use a top drilled bead for the end of each skirt strand you will need an additional seed bead as a stopper.

Step 1:

Cut a piece of Nymo 5 feet long. Each tassel uses one continuous strand of thread, looped back and forth through the beads. It’s really important to have more than enough thread to complete one tassel because if you run out of thread and try to tie onto a strand to complete the skirt, you will compromise the strength of the finished tassel.

The first step works from the bottom up and you’ll create one skirt strand, and then continue with the neck bead, the head bead, and the top loop. String your dangle or tear drop with a single strand of Nymo, then double the strand, re-thread the needle, and string the skirt strand beads on the doubled thread. Add the neck bead, head bead, and the beads for the loop. When the loop islong enough, create the loop and bring the thread back down through the head bead and the neck bead.

It should look like this:

You now have one skirt strand and the top parts of the tassel are formed. Unthread the needle. You will now use each of the two separate threads to create the rest of the skirt strands.

Step 2:

This is an important step to understand: from this point onwards, you will string each skirt strand from the top down to the dangle (the original skirt strand was done bottom up in order make the neck, head and loop of the tassel)

Thread the needle and string on that single strand: 16 seed beads, 2 transition beads, the bugle bead, the bicone, the Czech e-bead, and the dangle or teardrop. After you attach the dangle or teardrop (with teardrops you will need to use a single seed bead below it as a stopper) thread through the entire strand again from the bottom up, catching every bead:

When you get to the neck and head beads, run the thread through those as well, snug the strand to the neck bead, and bring the needle out at the top of the head bead. Wrap the beading thread around the bottom of the loop where the last two loop beads touch the head bead, and bring the thread back down the thorough the head and neck beeads.

Unthread the needle, and separate the two strands of thread. Rethread the needle again as a single strand an continue as before, making another strand of the skirt. After you use up one piece of thread, go to the other piece and finish the skirt. You should be able to do 3 skirt strands on one piece of thread, and 3 on the other.

Step 3:

After all six skirt strands are complete, go through and wrap around the head bead one last time, but bring the needle out between the head bead and the neck bead. Run the needle horizontally through the many strands of thread, make a loop, and pull a tight knot. Then run the thread down thought the neck bead and through at least 6 beads in a skirt strand, and cut off the thread. This last step, of running the end piece of thread through a skirt strand, is actually very important because it prevents the knot from coming undone.

You’re done!

This vest belonged to my grandmother, Adele Vestcyk (1904-1997), and she made it, we think, between 1920 and 1930. I think it dates from the early 1920’s – the size is small, about a size 6, and less than a B cup. My grandmother was busty as a grown woman, so I suspect she made this while still a teenager. At the time she danced in a Polish folk dancing troupe and this was part of her costume. The style itself is a pretty standard example of a Polish petal edge woman’s vest, very common since about the middle of the 19th century. Here is an example of a modern one made in Morawica and Olszanica in the region near Krakow:

The modern ones are very heavily embellished, which might seem like too much of a good thing, but I really love them!

As you can see, my grandmother’s is much simpler, and there are a few things that make it a little different; the paprika color of the cotton velvet is unusual, and while the embroidery is simple, it’s still well executed, and it has a lot of charm. I suspect she embroidered the vest, without at hoop, after she made it up. The embroidery thread is untwisted silk floss and the lining is apple green cotton sateen (the photo makes it look more blue-ish than it really is.)

There are five pairs of Bakelite lacing rings; four are ivory, and the top pair is a Jadeite green - I have no idea why the top set is a different color, and it’s a mystery as to what type of cord she used to lace the vest. Traditional Polish vests of this type are usually black, with the embellishment in traditional folk colors of red, yellow, blue and green – the colors of this vest remind me much more of the fashionable colors of Jazz Age America.

The metallic trim is really neat: it’s tarnished after all these years, but I think it may have originally been a bright copper color, and I think the fiber in the middle is silk floss. The little bow shape is not at all a European motif; I think she must have added that herself. If you look closely you can see her hand stitching.

My mother gave this to me after my grandmother passed away, so I don’t remember hearing anything about it until I received it. It’s in my sewing room, and I really enjoy having her spirit with me when I sew.