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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Shams' Sewing Tips Video #1


Happy Tuesday eve!

I have several little updates for you.

My briefest update is this: with my last post I exceeded 2 million views on my blog! Woot! Thatsalotta views! THANKS!

And here are the rest:

Shams' Sewing Tips video #1

I was recently preparing for a sewing get together—some friends and I were going to learn how to make jewelry using narrow tubes of fabric. Turning lots of narrow tubes of fabric turned out to be a pain point for all of us. One friend was using a Fasturn tool to turn her tubes, but the wand broke. Another was using a small safety pin to turn her tubes, but it was causing her hands to ache.

When I mentioned that I keep a bobby pin near my sewing machine for this purpose, they were unfamiliar with the technique. So I decided to document this little trick.

My original plan was to ask one of my friends to shoot a quick video using my iPhone. But Sarah, who loves technology, suggested that we use her camera and then she offered it edit it together.

So, thanks to Sarah, here is my first video, a short tip on using a bobby pin to turn a narrow tube of fabric. It works with knit tubes, bias tubes, and straight-of-grain tubes.

Margy pointed out that when you buy bobby pins at the drugstore, that you are compelled to buy at least a hundred of them. No worries, why not use the extras to make a bobby pin necklace! (I took this photo at Puyallup.)

If you notice the credit at the end of the video, that is Sarah herself. She celebrated her 70th birthday by bungee jumping off the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand. She is pretty amazing! She also taught us the technique she developed for making the jewelry.

THANKS, Sarah!

So, what do you think. Should we do more quick videos?


Making Jewelry

See, it happened like this: When I was in Puyallup this year with Sarah and Sue, Sarah brought along several necklaces that she had made featuring "beads" made from fabric tubes.

Sarah wearing one of her necklaces at Puyallup

Sue and I admired Sarah's bead necklaces. I actually made a necklace similar to this more than a year ago, but when Sarah described her technique, I couldn't quite visualize it. One evening, in our hotel room, I had Margy on the speaker phone and the four of us decided to get together at some future date to learn Sarah's technique.

The necklace I made 1.5 years ago

Last week, Margy flew in for our little get together. But before the jewelry-making commenced, we attended a local sewing gathering. I include the photos here, because you might recognize (and miss) some of these wonderful sewists, and you will certainly enjoy seeing the clothing of these stylish women!

Ann and Margy. Margy has blogged about her outfit, but Ann is wearing a Liberty shirt that she recently made.

Dorothy, Ann, Arna, and Margy. Dorothy, Ann, and Arna are each wearing the Liberty shirt.

Heather is wearing a beautiful jacket made from OOP Burda 7364. (And you can bet that I tracked down this pattern!)

Margy, looking stunning in her Marcy Tilton crinkle raincoat.

Dorothy in her snazzy prescription sunglasses

From there, we proceeded to the jewelry making!

Margy is just getting started

I love this pic!

Margy makes a mega-bead!

Margy and Sarah, two technology mavens

Focus...

Sue finishes her necklace

Finished!

Sarah's whimsical necklace

Sarah and Margy compare their self-made black-and-white bags. Margy's post about this bag was her first blog post ever. Sarah used the Poolside Tote Pattern by Noodle Head.

Filming the video...

... with Sarah

Sarah is also an amazing cook. This is her asparagus soup topped with black lentils (and some other stuff) and her homemade cashew cream. YUM!


Mini Movie Reviews: Iris and Dior and I

Both of my kids were far away on Mother's Day, so I was happy when Jillian suggested that we go see some fashion-themed movies! We saw two movies, back-to-back.

First we saw Iris, about Iris Apfel who, at 93-years-old, is a genuine style icon. The movie follows Iris through her incredibly busy life, talks about how she got started as a decorator and later moved into textiles. She worked on the White House under several presidents, including Kennedy. She is funny, witty, with a strong sense of her style, and a gigantic heart. It was particularly sweet to watch her interact with her husband, who celebrated his 100th birthday during filming. It's a real love story.

I liked this movie more than I expected—highly recommended!

Following Iris, we saw Dior and I. You might remember John Galliano, the head designer for the House of Dior until 2011, when some of his ugly behavior caught up with him and he was ousted. In 2012, Raf Simons, a Dutch designer who had been designing for Jil Sander, was hired to replace Galliano.

This movie picks up when Raf is being introduced to the employees at the House of Dior. He speaks minimal French (his English is good, but most of the employees don't speak English) and he has eight weeks to prepare for the Dior Haute Couture Spring fashion show. Eight.Weeks.For.Haute.Couture.

This movie chronicles Raf's journey, and the journey of the highly skilled and dedicated artisans of at the Dior atelier. The movie is also interspersed with voice-over excerpts from Dior's memoir, "Christian Dior and Me", written in 1956. The parallels between his memoir and Raf Simon's experience is fascinating.

Both Jillian and I felt that this movie had a slow-ish start, but by the middle of it we were totally engrossed. Another great film—highly recommended!

I'm sorry that I don't have a photo of Jillian, because she was wearing a gorgeous vest that she made from a Kantha quilt—it is very Meiko Mintz. I asked her if she plans to blog about this vest and she said yes, so maybe it's a good thing that I don't have a photo, because you will enjoy seeing it first on her blog!

Enjoy the rest of your week!