Crown Bolero - Layout

Here is the results from the stenciling. I wasn't sure how my own drawn and cut stencil would work, and as it turned out, would have been better on heavier paper. All I had on hand was a heavier grade drawing paper, which isn't meant for wet mediums. It worked, but barely.

The Lumiere paint I had was old, and getting a bit thick, so I added some water and stirred the dickens out of it. However, I think that is why I ended up with a rather mottled look to the paint. At first I was upset. But the more I looked at it the better I liked it. The uneven coverage gave the crown an antique look, like old gilding that has started to wear off. The center portions of the base of the crown I did not even try to cover, as all of that will be cut away when I do the reverse applique. Why waste the paint?

The arrowhead shape and the long center shape I cut out of tape and stuck to the shirt so it would leave the negative space in the design. That was another experiment that turned out well. Those negative spaces will stay the color of the shirt, and most of the gold cut away around them to reveal the purple underneath.

Here are all the elements ready to pin together. You can see how my paper stencil buckled, so next time I will get some good heavy stock, or even see if I can find stencil plastic, if I do anything like this again. The tiny pieces of paper are the negative spaces that I used as a template for the tape.

And here are all the pieces pinned together and ready to start sewing on. The thread is regular sewing thread, but heavy duty, and I will double it. I will use that to outline all the design elements. I will probably use embroidery thread for any other decoration, and will use that to sew up the bolero when the fun of stitching and beading is done. Last will be to add the dark teal binding around the edges.

Crown Bolero - Design & Color

I have been thinking about his design for awhile, and decided on the muted colors after seeing a reproduction of an Italian tapestry from the fifteen-hundreds. The photo of the tapestry had been darkened for use as background for a rather dark and gloomy fashion ad. But I kinda like dark and gloomy (except rain and gloom all winter. That I don't like at all). I suspect there is more Morticia Adams in me than I care to admit.

Anyway, here are the crown designs I played with, made by folding a sheet of printer paper in half and just cutting away freehand. Like making those paper snowflakes when you were a kid.

Then I took these and played a bit more with cutouts. I can't get too carried away with those, as this will be a stencil. The design, once stenciled on the shirt, and stitched around, will then be cut away to reveal the second layer of fabric underneath — a reverse applique — so the design has to stay pretty simple. Next, I will draw the crown on heavy cardstock paper, and cut it out to make the stencil.

I didn't like the one on the top right at all, so eliminated it straight away. It was too clunky looking. In the end, I decided I liked the spiky quality of the one on the top left.

The hard part was the color. I wanted muted, except maybe for the crown, but even that couldn't be an in-your-face color, or cheesy, like a fake gold lame' or something. I wanted an old, faded, tapestry look without it being made of old tapestry material. And without the old tapestry dust.

So here is what I came up with, all from T-shirts purchased at the Goodwill. The light gray-green will be the main color of the bolero. The royal purple with be for the crown - of course. And the dark teal with be the binding color. The crown will be stenciled with Lumiere antique gold paint, which will only be an outline once the fabric is cut away. The small fleur d'lis will be stenciled on the front panels of the bolero and then cut out in reverse applique like the crown. After that, it will be stitching and beading. Not sure of the binding stitching color yet, but might be a lighter purple than the crown, or something that matches the gray-green. In any case, something that shows up nicely on the dark teal. That's still undecided (there is an insidious little voice in my head telling me to use metallic thread. I did that on my first bolero and loved the look, but hated working with that thread. It breaks, kinks, and doesn't go in the needles very well, so I am slapping a mental hand over that inner voice's mouth).

I am going to have a lot of fun adding beads to that crown! In fact, I like that crown design so much, that I can also envision it in black on a red bolero...or red on black. My husband gets tons of either red or black promo T-shirts from work, so I would have plenty of material to do either.

So, that's my current project, The Crown Bolero.

Wildfire Update, Plus Cat vs Deer

After over a week of anxiety over whether we were going to have to evacuate our house, it seems the fire danger is over, for us. The blaze closest to us is now pretty much under control, and after attending a community meeting last Sunday evening, where many of the fire coordinators were present, along with local law enforcement and health care monitors, we feel safe enough to bring our furniture and belongings back home. However, fires still burn out of control all around our valley, and we were told at the meeting that we would be dealing with smoke for the rest of the summer. And the smoke is pretty bad, both for us and our horses. We can stay inside, but obviously they can't, so we ride either early in the morning, when the air is cooler and the smoke not quite so bad, or late in the afternoon or early evening, as sometimes a breeze will come up and blow most of the smoke to the west of us.

Here are a few more photos. This level of smoke, more or less, is pretty much it until the first rains in October. The level of nastiness greatly depends on the inversion layer. If we get one, it holds the smoke low and at ground level. If there is no inversion layer, then the smoke stays a little higher. These photos were taken in the afternoon, around 3:00, during a bad inversion layer episode.

 So, in the words of Monty Python, "Now for something completely different."

For years, we have been feeding a little feral cat we named Harp. We originally thought she was a boy, and because of the markings on her face, we called her Harpo. After we discovered she was female, we had to adjust the name. At one time she was tame enough for me to catch, take to the vet and have spayed, and then release. Now, once and a while she will let me pet her, but just, and not always.

She shows up at different times of the day, but usually either early in the morning, or in the evening just before dark. So we always keep an eye out for her, and when we see her, we put her bowl of crunchies out. At night, when she is done, we pick the bowl up and put it in the house so the racoons can't have it. Nasty little things, racoons. Lately we had noticed that Harp was really chowing down a lot of food, more than what her size would warrant. I was a bit suspicious, so this morning, when I saw the doe coming down the hill behind our house, a very intent look on her face, I had a hint of what was coming, so grabbed my camera.

Mom came down the hill and intimidated Harp into leaving the bowl, then proceeded to snarf down the food. I could hear her crunching away with gusto. I guess I will have to put out more "cat" food, so both Harp and Mom can have enough crunchies to share. (It was a low-smoke morning, so the photos came out nice and clear. By the time I was done writing this, the smoke had moved in again)

Harp enjoying her breakfast.

Momma deer approaches.

Momma deer pushes Harp away from bowl and digs in.

Lots of crunching noises ensue.

 

And this is why mom needed the extra protein.

 

Baby gets a snack. Snacking can be rough on mom.

 

Mom and baby stroll off.

 

After they had gone, I put more food out for Harp, and she came back and finished her breakfast.  

BTW, not sure why Mr. Blogger decided all of a sudden that the text should be centered, and no matter what I do, Mr. Blogger won't change back to left-side orientation. Ah well. 

So, that was my little wildlife encounter of the day. Made me smile. Smiles are always a good thing.

Wildfires!

Living in a forested area is lovely, until your worst nightmare comes true. Wildfires. Fires close enough to be a threat to your house and animals. That's the high-anxiety threat we have been living under since last Friday, when a thunder storm rolled in Thursday night with no rain, but lots of lightning strikes all across Southern Oregon.

The scattering of fires, burning out of control, are being lumped into the title Douglass County Complex, and several of them are burning within 15-25 miles of our house. If the wind shifts, or the fire changes direction, we might have to evacuate. If they tell us to get out, what we can take will depend on how much time we have. Suddenly we'll be facing a hard reality. What will we attempt to save, and what will we be forced to leave behind? Those are decisions we hope we won't have to make, but the possibility that we might have to is a real one.

Our safety and that of our animals is a priority. After that...what? Our personal papers are in a safe deposit box, so those aren't an issue. Here is my mental list of things I will grab: Our two computers, because they hold thousands of photos, and all of my manuscripts; my jewelry box of good stuff including things belonging to my grandmothers; the silver teapot my dad bought for my mom back in the 70s and that she has given to me; a Brown Betty teapot that my grandfather bought in England during WWI and brought back for my grandmother; my collection of Dorothy Dunnett books which are out of print and one is signed. After that, depending on time and space in the trucks, two pieces of furniture: an antique dressing table my grandmother gave me when I turned sixteen, and a Victorian library table that belonged to my aunt who was murdered in her house back in the 80s. Then clothes, and whatever else we can throw in the trucks or the tack room in the horse trailer. 

As the days go on, we monitor the Forestry reports, check web sites for updates, and keep fingers and toes crossed. In the meantime, ash falls on everything, smoke makes the air hard to breath and burns the eyes, and bombers (so far, one DC10, two DC4s, and a twin engine) full of fire retardant and helicopters dragging water buckets fly right over our house.

Here are a few photos. I started taking them Friday morning, when the smoke wasn't too bad, but things got slowly worse as time when on. Today the smoke is horrible and has engulfed the whole Rogue Valley, causing the EPA to issue a hazardous air quality warning.

The red stain on the bottom of the bomber is from the fire retardant. 

Our two horses, trying to figure out where the smoke is coming from. They are wearing fly masks, to keep flies out of their eyes and ears. They can see through them just fine. It also keeps the falling ash out of their eyes - a use I doubt the manufactures originally had in mind, but they work. 

Helicopter taking the empty water bucket back for a refill. 

Bomber flying through the smoke. The photo is blurry, as Robert grabbed the camera and took the picture as quick as he could, because the bombers were traveling really fast.

Smoke curling through the valley. By Sunday afternoon, it looked like a volcano had erupted behind our house, the smoke was so dark and thick.

 

 Because of the heavy smoke, everything is cast in an eery orange light, as if you were looking at the world through a tinted window.

Robert, last evening, out on our deck, reading the reports of the fire in the local paper. It's really no fun when you have to pick pine ashes out of your wine. At least they can't get into his beer can.

These fires are still out of control, with no way for us to know which way they may travel. So we stay on alert, and if things start looking grim for us, we'll start packing whatever we can, load our horses, grab our two cats, and we'll GO!

Proportion = Fail

Properly wearing the clothes you make is just as important as making them. Especially paying attention to proportion. This combination is an epic fail. I have worn this combination twice, mainly because it's summer and it's hot, and I don't want to sweat to death in jeans. Also, other than jeans, I don't have any other pants that come anywhere close to matching the colors of the tunic. The result is that I look a frumpy. Very frumpy. And before you wonder, "Well, gee, didn't you look in the mirror first?" the answer is, yes, I did, but rolled with the look anyway...due to said heat (it was around 100 that day).

This tunic would look much better with skinny jeans, and a shoe with a bit of heel, instead of flip-flops (remember, I said it was hot, and I live in flip-flops all summer, and these even had little purple stripes on them, that matched the tunic skirt). The cargo pants are too baggy. Baggy on baggy looks, well...let's just say it's not the most flattering combination I could have picked.

The tunic itself works, although in looking at this picture, I think it would be even better if I had made it a bit shorter. As far as the back view goes, the tunic does cup my butt a little, but not as much as it appears in the photo. I had my hands on my hips, and it pulled the fabric in tighter. Also, the cargo pants are low-rise, and have pocket flaps on the back, so those and the waist band kinda push the tunic out a bit. Another reason why the cargo pants really, REALLY don't work with this tunic.

Rule of thumb for proportion is usually, if it's loose/baggy on top, it should be tighter on the bottom, and vise-versa. Also, don't chop up the vertical line of the body with a bunch of horizontal lines in your clothing. With this combination the bodice ornament, tunic waist band, tunic hem, and cargo pants ending mid-calf just make a hash-work of the vertical line. Hash =  frumpy. 

Needless to say, I will not be wearing this combination again. No matter how hot it gets.

BTW, there is not a big, ugly pleat in the back, it's just the way the shirt kinda bunched up because of where I have my hands, and also, this was after we got home from running errands all day, so the shirt was kinda wrinkly from me sitting in the car.

Belle Epoque Tunic — Completed

After hours and hours of pleasurable beading, and adding the front decoration to the bodice, the tunic is now finished. Well, except for the buttons, which are boring, but I don't have anything to replace them that would work. I will keep an eye out, and when I find something, will swap them out.

I didn't bead the arm binding, as I thought it might be pretty scratchy on my underarms. The center decoration was made up of a scrap from the shirt, purple binding, beads, and an iron-on peacock feather that was one of several in a package I bought at JoAnn Fabrics.

The skirt hem beading.

Waist band, with double row of fly stitch and beads.

So, this project went from this = The inspiration.

To this = The materials (All from the Goodwill)

 

To this = The finished tunic.

I still wish I had been able to add the short sleeves, so if I do another one of these, I will make sure I have enough fabric to do that. Also, I may do the whole tunic out of T-shirt material rather than another cotton shirt, just to see how each one moves and hangs differently. Another tweak I may do, is not raise the front part of the waist. My fear is, the way I have it now, will make me look pregnant! NOT GOOD. I am wearing it today when I run into town to do errands, so will know better how everything works by the time I get home. If anyone asks me, "When are you due?", after being horrified, it will be my sign that something must be changed!

So, now it's on to the next project. I have an idea I want to try, using stencils on a T-shirt. Also, my Etsy jewelry shop has been closed for several months, while I decided in what direction I wanted to go, and to give me time to upgrade my stock, and take better photos. I need to get busy on that, and have several jewelry projects in mind that need to get made. With the temperatures hanging between 95 and 103 inside projects are a good thing!

Summer Storm Moving In

I took these photos last week, of a storm system moving in. It was around six or six-thirty in the evening, and I was standing out on our deck. To the west, the sun was still shining, but to the east the sky was really dark. Loved the contrast of light on the madrone, oak, and pine trees.