Farewell, Downton Abbey!

For a "Farewell to Downton Abbey" tea party at the museum,  I dug deep into my fabric stash and came up with a  sheer sparkly piece that I bought at least 17 years ago in Djibouti.  Inspired by a kimono jacket worn by Essie Davis on "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries," I bought Butterick B6176, which promised to be "Fast & Easy," and voila, a couple of hours later I had a sparkly jacket.

The tea party was at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon,  so after thinking hard about how to dress my head, I hurried home from church and whipped up a turban  from an old skirt  (bought in the Tbilisi bazroba in 2003 for a Halloween costume for DD). I sewed a piece of broken jewelry to the front, added a peacock feather rescued from the mannequin tree at Christmas,  and I felt pretty fabulous as I left the house! 

If I make this pattern again, I will make it a size smaller than indicated by the pattern measurements. I love the freedom of movement of the kimono shape, but honestly,  two of me would fit inside that jacket. I pinned it closed in the front with an antique button, but I could have wrapped it to the side seams. 

Christmas Open House at the Sheriff's House

Every year, Lawrence County Cancer Patient Services has a holiday home tour to raise money for their charitable work. I had been asked a few times to open our home for this, but never felt I had the time or resources to clean and decorate the house to a level I felt appropriate for  this event. I mean, close to 250 people were paying money to walk through our house--there should be something to surprise and delight in every room, right?

Well, this year I said yes, and my sister Dee flew out from New York to help with the preparations. My friend Emily also worked with us every day the week before the tour, and other friends pitched in as well. I borrowed decorations from a lot of people, particularly my mom and sister-in-law Roxie, and bought a very few new things for my permanent collection. Here are a few highlights:

Bloomington Trashion Refashion Show

I'm so pleased I can finally show off my designs for the Bloomington  (Indiana ) Trashion Refashion Show. I had two designs in the show. One was a simple swimsuit cover-up made by folding a crocheted tablecloth, attaching ties from burlap string retrieved from a coffee bag, then stringing ceramic beads from the Congo on the string to add a little subtle color. I didn't have to cut or sew anything for this design, just wrapped and tied it. This design was modeled by our Croatian exchange student Iva.

The second design took a lot more time. A local coffee shop donated several burlap coffee bags, which I cut and sewed into a long Jane Austen-y coat. I lined the coat with colorful silk from a pair of old Indian saris.

To wear under the coat, I originally intended to knit a long Regency - style dress out of string my brother salvaged years ago from the dumpster of a furniture factory where he worked. I ran out of time, and quickly decided a short dress would make a nice modern contrast to the coat, so I kept the dress short and sleek with a high Regency waist set off by an old piece of ribbon. This design was modeled by Kara, a yoga-instructor-in-training and experienced runway model.

A few days before the show, I made a skirt for myself out of another coffee bag, lined in old muslin. The muslin was so soft I felt like I had thrown the skirt on over my nightgown. The skirt went together so quickly and fit so well that I want to make this pattern again soon. Even DH liked it.

Easy table runner!

I whipped up this table runner yesterday in about an hour from fabric I bought a few years ago (you may remember my obsession with blue and white china). I sandwiched a piece of leftover quilt batting between two pieces of fabric, edged it with wide bias tape, and sewed along the edge of the bias tape to secure everything. I love the way the runner adds color to the table and pulls the dining room together. I have a small piece of this fabric left. Hmm, what to make? A matching runner for the buffet, maybe?

Seventh and last summer top finished (finally)

My friend Lisa and I made the last top using the Burda pattern from top #5 and the leftover sparkly knit fabric from top #6. I think it looks fantastic and didn't cost anything to make.

Yay, Seven Summer Top challenge completed! What to do next?

A new twist on mother/daughter outfits

My daughter sent me this image this morning, of herself in the African dress (Togolese, actually) that matches a tunic I made a few weeks ago. I think the two together are a cute throwback to mother/daughter outfits we have had in the past.  See how the embroidery around my hem matches the embroidery around her sleeves?

Summer top #6 nearly done

This yummy little number, in a sparkly black knit of unknown fiber content, cost me exactly $0.00 to make. The fabric had been in my stash for a long time. DD bought it off of a G Street Fabrics sale table long ago.

I was originally going to use the same cowl neck sleeveless top pattern from Burda magazine that I wrote about last time, but there was a lot of fabric, so when I saw a long, bat-wing, cowl neck tunic advertised on television, I decided I'd make something similar for myself. Here's the result, still missing the hems, but you get the idea. The bat wings need to be cut a few inches closer to the armpit, but no major surgery is required on this one.

While not exactly a hot weather top, this tunic will look pretty fetching with skinny pants when the temperature drops.