Commissions rock

 

I've had a run on commissions this month and they are all for lovely people and lovely babies. Yay!

The material above is for a dress for a brand new precious little tot. Her mum is a friend of mine from high school and I'm just so pleased to be making this dress for her daughter.

The denim is stuff from my stash, and the yellow cotton with the unusual tree print is Japanese and total gorgeousness. The pattern I'm sort of, kind of, a little bit using is from the 1920s. I suspect I'm making it hard for myself, but if it turns out how I imagine it in my head, it'll rock.

Keep your fingers crossed for me....

A suitable craft project for an invalid.

Upcycling an old Karen Walker tshirt into a cushion cover, also making use of that denim you got as a bargain from the op shop.

1. Cut out the denim roughly the size of the cushion. Cut the tee however you like. Take everything to your mother to have her cut it all again, but this time more cushion-shaped and with straight edges.

2. Ask your dad for a hammer. Navigate around the massive gaping drain he has recently dug in the back yard to fetch the hammer from the shed. Thank god you didn't fall in the drain and dirty your last pair of clean(ish) pajamas.

3. Count the number of snap button thingies you have. Divide this number by the number of sides of the cushion. Curse your expensive-yet-clearly-inadequate girls' school education and work it out on a calculator.

4. Sit the piece of tshirt on top of the denim and make wild stabs at where the snap button thingies should go. Snip the fabric, grab the hammer, and damage the tiles around your parents' fireplace by hammering in the first button. Quickly scan imagination and come up with story about a small earthquake. That happened while they were overseas. Before they had the tiles installed around the fire. Oh shit.

5. Take everything outside very quickly while your mother is putting the chickens away in the coop for the evening, and before she can see what you have done. Preferably move everything in front of your toddler who immediately wants to help because hammering stuff is What He Lives For.

6. Negotiate hammering in the 600 other bloody snap button thingies with a 23 month old maniac holding the hammer. Kiss the ground when you get to the end and have lived. Turn to your child and check that he has also lived. Congratulate yourself on avoiding an awkward conversation with his father.

7. Take a break to watch game shows on telly.

8. Muster enthusiasm to finish project. Tell yourself that you'll whip up the rest of the cushion after the child goes to bed.

9. Feign extreme pain/breakdown/minor amputation/mental retardation in effort to convince your mother to finish project for you. Suddenly remember that this technique has not worked on her in 31 years when she is starts to ridicule you.

10. Take all parts of the unfinished project home with you and swear that you will finish it. Soon. Consider taking cunning photo of the front of the cushion to make it look like it is finished so that you can blog about it. Fail spectacularly and blog about it anyway.

The one where there are photos of me trying to smile with my eyes.

Here are the thrifting photos! And not too late either. It's a freaking miracle I got my crap together enough to do this before Christmas.

Let's start with the scarves (and please excuse the lack of ironing; it's really not a strong point of mine):





And the jumper:

(Yes, a self-portrait in the bedroom mirror. I had no idea these things were so hard to do. I promise I will no longer judge the people wh take self-portraits for their Facebook profiles. And here I have to digress and skite that this is a hand knitted jumper, in some yummy warm mystery wool, and it cost $2.00. Yes folks, TWO BUCKS. What a find. I think it was knitted in one piece, and then it does up at the sides with three buttons.).

A silk shirt by Peirre Cardin but made in New Zealand? I'd love to know more about this.

I had a splurge when I was in Dunedin this week - A MAC lipstick called Russian Red. Fun!

And, to finish, my favourite Agatha Christie yet - "The Moving Finger". That's an outstanding title. Out-bloody-standing.

Paris does Christmas

 

A few years ago, I went to Paris just after Christmas. I thought I'd fall in love with Paris - I mean, what sort of fashion junkie doesn't? But it was worse than that. I hated it. Didn't like the smell, didn't like the weather, didn't like the people... but Paris does do Christmas well. Particularly Christmas windows. So maybe it wasn't all that bad.