Fashion Feature ~Birthday Couture~

(Outfit pictures courtesy of my obliging Bro. :-D)

Please excuse the dorky pose; I haven't been
photogenic since I was 18. :-P

~What I’m Wearing~

 Shoes: Black 3-strap heels—thrifted

Stockings: Black fleece-lined tights—hand-me-down from Mom

Dress: “Viola”—made by me

Hairstyle: “Rosaleen” All-over Curls with Lace-braids

 Jewelry: “Woodland Faerie” Necklace; Amethyst Eardrops—made by me

Not pictured in outfit shots:

“Amethyst Wings” ring (left)—Arden Fair Mall, February 2000
“Flora” ring (right)—gift from Daddy, February 2001

It’s been a tradition of mine for most of my life to wear something purple on my birthday. After all, purple has always been my favorite color. It also *just happens* to be the color of my birthstone and birth-flower!

Enter “Viola,” a Regency-inspired frock made mostly from vintage patterns (circa 1970s-80s), re-drafted to suit my shape (although the pattern I used for the main dress actually had the Empire waist in the perfect place for me—a very rare thing for us long-chested gals). It’s made of poly-rayon gabardine, which drapes beautifully and is easy to care for on the whole.

There are a few things I’d tweak if I ever made this pattern again—namely, installing the zipper in the side seam, as the sleeves are too restrictive for me to reach it in back. >Sigh< I’ll also probably stick to round, V or rounded-V (“diamond”)-necklines from now on; sweetheart necks just don’t work on me.

Side view of hairstyle. Taken at the end of the day,
when my pretty corkscrews had turned into
Bad '80s Frizz. :-P

That said, it went together much better than the ill-fated “English Lavender” (but then, I did a mock-up of this pattern beforehand, whereas EL was the mock-up—BAD IDEA—and this pattern was much simpler, construction-wise). The dress fits pretty well and is otherwise comfortable and flattering. I received several compliments on this frock (especially from the twelve- and thirteen-year-olds who sing in the choir with me, LOL)!

Eventually, I want to make a chiffon overlayer, embroidered with a dainty vine-pattern and possibly trimmed with more colorful embroidery in key areas (as I mentioned in my CE), to dress it up some. Unless I decide something like that would be too costume-y….

By God’s grace I was able to whip up this pretty little necklace (christened “Wooldand Faerie”) and put new earwires on my Amethyst Eardrops in time to wear them on Sunday. The necklace was supposed to have two oval cabochons on either side of the silver vines in the chain, but the settings I got didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, and there wasn’t time to order anything else before my birthday. So I just threw some amethyst beads in the chain for now and hope to make it up proper at a later date (Lord willing).

This is the nicest outfit I’ve made myself in a long time, and it’s so wonderful to actually have a dress in my closet again!

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

In the Shop--Christmas Clearance!

My Etsy store is back up and running, yay! Just in time for folk to be thinking about Christmas presents. :-D

I just realized I've had my store for three years on Sunday. To celebrate, and with the upcoming Yuletide, I've added a new section to my shop, where I'm offering some of my jewelry at Clearance prices. These items are being redesigned and won't be restocked after December 29th, 2012, so get them while you can!

God bless, Gentle Readers, and Happy Shopping!
~"Tom"~

Happy Things #2

It would seem that "the madness that is December" kinda hijacked my Happy Things idea. It's been a rough few days, and to be honest, it's been hard to find anything happy in them...but not impossible. :-) I can't remember *exactly* when things happened, so I'll just do a general list:

~Happy Things, December 3^rd-8^th, 2011~

• Peter fixed my camera!!! :-D Thanks, Bro!
  
• Redeeming the dress I'd stupidly donated at work...in September...for a fraction of what I expected to pay for it. In a nutshell, I regretted getting rid of it, saw it in a storage room at work, and by God's aid got up the courage* to ask my boss if I could buy it. She said yes, and that I could have it for $8.50 instead of the $16 she was going to charge for it. When I went to pay for it, the ladies at the cash register only charged me $4.50! PTL!

* By that I don't mean that my boss is unapproachable or grumpy or anything. It's just really hard for me to ask for things. :-P

• Mom's patience (as always) with a slightly neurotic me, and her help in figuring out how to raise the neckline on said dress. I love my Mommy. :-D
  
• Finishing said neckline insert before suppertime, so now I can wear my pretty dress (christened “Celtic Princess”) this Sunday! (Pictures to come in a later post...when I've uploaded them. :-P)
  
• Getting to “play with beads” this past week...and coming up with some pretty baubles that will help use up The Stash™ without needing too many extra parts.
  
• Mom's announcement that, next Tuesday (Lord willin' and the snow don't fly!), we will be going thrifting to get me some Winter dresses. Apart from the box of purple velvet scraps, I have practically NO Winter-weight fabrics, so Mom's Christmas present to me this year is to get me some ready-made that need little to no tweaking. Because I have sewing projects coming out my ears as it is, so there's no sense adding more unless absolutely necessary, wot?
  

Well now you've gone and blabbed about it, we'll probably be buried under two feet of snow next Tuesday. >:-P


Scram. >:-(

• The jug of cream from the family at church who have a milk cow just GAVE us, and the whacking-great lot of chocolate chips Mom bought yesterday. I'm seeing truffles, peppermint patties and maybe caramels in our future....
  
• Going on a “light ride” with the H family down the street. One of our family's traditions around Christmastime is to drive around the town and look at the lights on other people's houses. This year we were going to invite the H family, but they called us first! Hee. Great minds think alike.
  
• Seeing Jordan R for the first time since she got home from the Philippines, hearing her stories—both sad and happy—and seeing her pictures.
  

Well, it's getting late, and I have to work tomorrow. So until next time, Gentle Readers,


God bless,
~“Tom”~

"...I pulled on the old rubber gloves...."

Tomorrow's the day of the craft fair, so today I'm trying to get some last-minute things done, as we won't have time tomorrow. 'Cos we have to be at the church by 6:30 in the morning (good thing it's only three minutes away)! Eesh.

Mom very kindly fixed my pink skirt (note to self: Never fit a skirt with jeans on!), and I got all but one necklace all polished up. Some of my creations were looking a bit grubby. :-P Mega thanks to my cousin Laurie for the silver polish she sent me! <3 That stuff works great, and requires a lot less elbow-grease (which is risky with tiny little parts) than TarniShield. Way less messy and smelly, too. I still miss my Medallion Brass and Copper Dip (which has been discontinued :-( ), but this is a good substitute. It does say to avoid using it on pearls and so forth (the copper dip didn't harm them at all), but hey, one can't have everything. I'm just thankful to have such a generous and thoughtful cousin, and that the stuff got here in time to bling up my wares for the fair. :-D

Must dash now and look after lunch and finishing up that little bear. Yes, bear--I'm offering hand-crocheted teddies, too! Pix coming soon.

Be sure to drop by my Etsy store later this month; I'm planning to add some new goodies after the fair. :-D

God bless, Gentle Readers,
~"Tom"~

Quickie Update and Craft Fair

Just poking my head in to say that I'm still alive, but don't have time to write anything in-depth right now.

Y'all remember when my grandpa had surgery earlier this year? Well, today it was Grandma's turn to go under the knife. Two words:
Shoulder. Replacement.
Grandpa called this evening and said she came through the surgery fine. We're praying she'll go easy on that arm so's it can heal properly!

I've signed up to be a vendor at a local church's annual craft fair! So that's partly why I haven't been posting--I've been so busy making new things to sell that by the time I get some computer time, I just want to zone out and blob, LOL. But that's not very good for blogging, hence this little note. Here's a sampling of the stuff I'll be offering for sale:

CU of "Aspen"

"Twilight Fairy"

Most of these are ones I made a few years ago, although "Aspen" "Twilight Fairy" and "Persian Rose" were made earlier this year. Pix of some of the newest ones coming soon!

"Bubbles" earrings

"Persian Rose" earrings

"Fire"

 The next step is to make earrings to match all the older necklaces. Bracelets will have to wait--I was barely able to afford more earwires and headpins for the earrings!

"Water"

CU of "Earth"

You probably noticed a theme with the last three. I call them the Elements Series, depicting air, water, fire and earth. Trouble is, I can never think up a good way to represent Air! :-P















Until next time, Gentle Readers,
God bless, and keep warm!
~"Tom"~