annekata

New Beginnings...

2011-12-02T12:07:00.002-05:00

I've started a new blog. And after 5 months of thinking, I finally decided on a great new name: annekata.com. Isn't that creative? I wanted to notify each of you personally who had left email addresses, but, here's what happened: ALL of my emails disappeared into the great void while transferring accounts. Auspicious beginnings? Mmmh. One thing is clear; never again will I mess with the settings on my email account late at night.

When (or if) you would like to visit, you can subscribe (via reader or feed) to my new site as the feed addresses here will not be automatically transferred. Subscribe buttons are on the top right on the new site. It looks very minimalistic now, because I'm still trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of wordpress. And besides, I like minimalistic.

Oh, it's good to be back. I'd love to see you all at annekata.com.

Farewell My Friends...

2011-06-26T22:57:00.000-04:00

Today is a good time to say good-bye, because I believe my time on this blog has come to an end. I thought a break would do, but it really won't.

For some time now, I seem to be doing less and less of what once was the purpose of this blog....to be creative and chronicling the process of how in my creative life, the thread of inspiration works. It's becoming more apparent to me that lately an idea or inspiration is evaluated for its "blogableness" instead of just enjoyed and explored.

I don't want that. Time to change directions and honestly, I don't know where it's going to go.

It has been a phenomenal year; I met wonderful people and made friends, both in the blog world and in real life. What an incredible experience!

To keep annekata from deteriorating into mediocrity, I'll leave the blog here, as an archive of ideas and projects to browse. My twitter and email will remain open and if you want to be notified when I start something new, please send a brief email.

Thanks everybody so much for being part of annekata for the last year, thanks to all of you who have left comments, inspirations and ideas. I appreciated every single one of them and will miss you all.

I'll be around, my dears and will be following many of you who communicate over the web.

Enjoy your summer.

Summer is here

2011-06-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

Summer is here, school is over and blogging will need to take a back seat, until we fall into a new rhythm.

Currently finishing up the book "Half a Sky", and looking for inspiring reading material to enjoy while sitting in my Strandkorb, which in reality is my much less spectacular lawn chair.

As I really enjoyed your suggestions last time, do you have any good ideas for summer reading?

See you soon!

Summer is here: Vardos, Roulottes and Caravans....

2011-06-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

Fresh from my daughter's Wizard of Oz performance, I've been thinking about the definition of "home". What defines our experience of home. Is it a place? Friends? Or a feeling? I find the idea of bringing home wherever, you are intriguing. Living in a big house now, I'm really missing the mobility of no place or, at least, a smaller place.

Don't these gypsy caravans look as if Professor Marvel could use one of these to travel and see the crowned heads of Europe?

They're called vardos or roulottes. Although I'm not much of a camper (I leave those bug ridden experiences to my husband and daughter, while enjoying a hot shower instead...), these look so inviting, that I would certainly take the leap and try one of these myself. During the day I would sit on the wicker chair with a great book and at night, there would be candles, quiet and fireflies.

The people at Les Verdines build and sell reproductions of antique roulottes. They're probably far too expensive to purchase, but in Provence, you can rent the one below for 70 Euros a night. What a romantic idea for a summer escape.

It's the last day of spring, we have 3 more days of school and I'm dreaming of my own little "roulotte".

Has anyone had an experience with these?

The Queen of Finland

2011-06-17T09:48:00.001-04:00

Mental break time. Couldn't resist. I've never seen a Queen cover done quite like this. If this is any indication of Finland's creativity, my next road trip will include the European North.

Enjoy your weekend!

Blues and Blankets...

2011-06-15T06:40:00.000-04:00

A blue afternoon.

Experimenting with blanket making. I like the idea of creating a "modular" blanket which doesn't need to be completely planned from start to finish like many quilts. Often ideas come when I'm in the middle of a project, so it's great to have the flexibility to change direction.

Not sure where this is going. Right now I'm experimenting with jersey, lace, linen and cotton.

I'm thinking of "stuffing" the squares with a bit of wool, to add some warmth for the cooler months.

Or maybe I'll hide a secret message?

Fast Fashion: 9 Outfits

2011-06-13T09:19:00.000-04:00

illustration (c) Lena Corwin

Did you know that only 3% of our apparel is produced in the United States nowadays? I knew the number was low, but 3%? That's down from 90% in 1955 according to Elizabeth Cline's article "History of the Dress" on Etsy.

"In 1930, the average American woman owned an average of nine outfits. Today, we each buy more than 60 pieces of new clothing on average per year"

At first, that seemed like a lot, but now that I think about it, that's only 5 per month. I wonder, does that include underwear and socks? On the other hand, there are more than 9 outfits in my closet; a mismatched jumble of second hand pieces, some re-fashioned, hand-sewn shirts and skirts along with a few new purchases thrown in.

But when it comes down to everyday wear, I probably do wear only 9 outfits. So why do I buy more stuff?

How many new items of clothes do you own, buy and wear?

Upgrading and Improvising

2011-06-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

It's hard to start a big project when it's hot. All of my plans melted during the 100F heatwave we've been "enjoying" all week. I'll spare you my dear reader another whiny lament on why I hate this weather.

Here's my project from yesterday, it took less than an hour and made an unwearable t-shirt into a comfortable one.

While I enjoy a well-fitted shirt, the collar on this one was too tight. Time to cut off the trim and widen it. There's something really satisfying about cutting up a shirt and transforming it into something more to my liking. Sometimes the end result is a disaster, which is why old t-shirts work well.

Once the trim was removed, the shirt looked like something Madonna could've worn in the 80's in "Desperately Seeking Susan", so it needed an age appropriate finish. I used what I had, a piece of black lace. Nice black lace is hard to find, because it often looks cheap, like the crappy polyester you find in the dollar stores. Yuck. This one however, was different:

I cut the edge off and attached it with a slip stitch, without a plan, very improvised:

And this is the result:

Nothing big really, but remember it's hot outside. It took me 45 minutes and I'll definitely wear this. Although I'm not much for "wearing lace and doilies", this feels like a nice upgrade.

Here's another application for using a doily with a white t-shirt, from the book "Artful Mending" blogged here:

Although I probably wouldn't wear this myself, it does look great. Love the top stitching with the contrasting thread and raw seam. The book "Artful Mending" features more ideas on how to use doilies to re-fashion clothing, but is mainly about artful mending and re-using. A true gem.

It's one of my favorite Japanese sewing books:

Title: "Patch Notes" (yesasia.com) A Japanese friend told me it really means "Artful Mending".
Autor: Katsuya Mayumi
ISBN 978-4-579-11127-5

Needlework, Shadow and Experience

2011-06-07T09:22:00.000-04:00

all images (c) Dorie Millerson

Isn't it amazing how personal experience always depends on what we focus on at any given moment? According to the American philosopher William James: "Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him."

Take Dorie Millerson. She has been on my radar for some time. After reading the Wizard of Oz all day, I now see her needle work in an entirely new way. Look at the house above, and how it's suspended by a thread. Much like Dorothy's house in the twister.

And here's anotherof her pieces:

Look at the interplay of her crisp white needlework and the black shadow cast against the wall. I leave it up to you to find a reference to Oz, the Great and Powerful....

But of course, her work is much beyond these references I'm experiencing right now.

From her website: "Her studio practice involves research into stitched and constructed textiles and the potential for interlacement to suggest human experience".

Isn't it amazing how simple thread can transform into an experience so powerful that it can be interpreted in many different ways? Right now for me it relates to the themes of the Wizard of Oz, but for you, it's probably different? Or perhaps, you don't relate to it at all....

I'm fascinated with work that includes light and shadow. Particularly here, the shadow is an integral part of the work itself.

I think it's time to go back and play with lace....Lace, light and shadows. Lampshades and curtains and bed spreads? Oh my.

More information on Dorie Millerson's incredible work:

http://www.doriemillerson.com/

Over the Rainbow...

2011-06-06T08:29:00.000-04:00

Guess what's been happening over the last week (and probably will for the next two). My life is now happening over the rainbow. I've been the scarecrow, the wicked witch of the west, the lion and even the apple trees in the Wizard of Oz and know the entire play (well almost) by heart. As you can see...nothing, absolutely nothing gets done, when you help your child prepare for a play.

What I found during this process is the complete version of "Over the Rainbow" sung by Ella Fitzgerald. What Judy Garland sings in the movie is only the last part of the song. Listen for yourself:

Reading the script brings back many of the fabulous quotes, such as: "But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?" Ahhh, not much has changed, has it?

I'll let you know when I emerge....

Reading Right Now...

2011-06-02T09:16:00.001-04:00

The image above is by Stephanie Sinclair, a phenomenal photojournalist known for being able to gain access and photograph difficult and delicate issues of gender and human rights issues all over the world. More of her work can be seen on her website, but be aware: some of the images are difficult to look at.

The reason why this is on my mind right now is that a good friend gave me a book called: "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" written by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and I'm in the middle of it.

It's a difficult, moving and captivating book revealing stories of countless girls and women and their struggles to escape suppression, displacement, violence and poverty. But it also holds hope that women are the solution to the problem.

A worthwhile book:

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Nicholas D. Kristof (Author), Sheryl WuDunn (Author)

ISBN-10: 9780307267146

ISBN-13: 978-0307267146

"What one has not experienced......"

2011-05-31T06:42:00.001-04:00

Fiddleheads for dinner.

Have you ever had fiddleheads? They're from a wild fern that grows in the American North-East and believe it or not, they're edible. In fact more than edible. First boiled and then sauteed with some garlic and onion they are delicious and taste a bit like asparagus. They're seasonal and only available for a few weeks each year. They're also the kind of new foods I discovered when I decided to eat differently over a year ago. By omitting all meat, dairy and eggs it was time to battle my sky-rocketing cholesterol (something for you twenty-something-year-olds to look forward to).

I was really curious at the beginning. Could I, a German meat eater, who grew up on "Wurst" and "Schnitzel" live on vegetables and grains? Don't get me wrong, vegetables make a nice garnish on a plate, but surviving on them seemed rather worrisome. Everything I'd ever wanted to eat had dairy and/or eggs except maybe the occasional apple.

Tartlette recipe here in case you missed it.

What about comfort food? German Kuchen? Would it be hard? Would my cholesterol go down? Could I even do it? Where should I start? I needed a strategy....

First I started to read about food. About food production, the environment, nutrition and health. One of my favorites was Marion Nestle who has written many interesting books and articles about food and food politics.

And then I started to cook. I learned from websites and library books, and our family's culinary experiences ranged from "barely edible" to "incredible". I learned to prepare dishes from Africa, The Middle East, Asia and the Mediterranean; places where much of the food is plant based anyway.

After 6 month, my cholesterol dropped 100 points, the migraines I suffered for decades disappeared and I was feeling pretty good. In fact, really good.

I've learned a lot in the process and feel so much better now that I wouldn't return to eating meat, eggs and dairy, even if my cholesterol level was naturally low, and that is quite interesting to me. If you had suggested a few years ago that I would happily eat this way, I would have laughed. Isabella Duncan was right, when she said: "What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print".

Food choices are very personal, but I 'm curious: Do you always eat the same meals/food? Does health play a major role? The environment? Do you eat organic - or not?

How do you choose what you (and your family) eat?

An Artist's Dacha and a Tiny Porch

2011-05-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

There are many interiors to love in the book "Russian House" by Ella Krasner, found through enhabiten, with the humble country dachas being my personal favorites:

This dacha above is very much my ideal of the perfect summer house: simple, improvised, soulful, and of humble beauty. Just the kind of place to spend a nice Memorial Day weekend daydreaming.

Instead, you'll find me on my tiny porch below, reading magazines and sipping tea...the next best thing.

Enjoy your weekend!

The Russian House

Ella Krasner

ISBN-10: 1902686462
ISBN-13: 978-1902686462

Curtains Progress

2011-05-25T11:57:00.000-04:00

The curtains are hanging and I'm really glad they're finished, or at least 'hangable'.

From the inside.
I think I'll sew a few more doilies on and cut the back away, the effect is quite nice I think.

Off to start a new project.....

When Work in Progress is not Progressing...

2011-05-23T14:04:00.001-04:00

Remember when I started these curtains and ended up somewhere in Spain?

Isn't it frustrating when a project is started and not finished.....especially, when the beginning is just not that promising? It's quite hard to stitch lace onto the woven fabric. It's stretchy and slips and not fun to stitch. Not sure if my idea to integrate an old quilt patch will work either. But, I'm not ready to give up. Why? Because I like when my creative endeavors come to a conclusion either positive or negative, so that there is an understanding of what was learned. I haven't gotten yet to this point.

It's one of those project without any plan or concept.

Do you have unfinished projects lying around and if so, do you ever finish them? How do you know when a project (any project) is completed?

Pina - Dance Dance, Otherwise We are Lost

2011-05-22T17:17:00.000-04:00

PINA - Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost - International Trailer from neueroadmovies on Vimeo.

"Pina" is tribute by Wim Wenders to the German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, who died of cancer in June 2009. She was the godmother of the Neo-Expressionist form of German dance known as Tanztheater (dance theater) and I've always greatly admired her work. Her "Tanztheater" is located in the German city of Wuppertal, very close to where I grew up. Pina Bausch is a great inspiration and proof that you can live your dreams and create no matter where you live or come from. Her visual language is unique and the emotions portrayed through her work are powerful, beautiful and harsh all at the same time.

The movie was just released in the UK in 3D, a definite "must see" about a powerful artist by a brilliant film maker.

If you're interested:

pina - A film for Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders

Pac Man Meets Patchwork

2011-05-20T11:18:00.000-04:00

When the earthquake with its terrible devastation and radiation threat hit Japan last March, Japanese Fashion Week (JFW)was understandably canceled.

Nevertheless, only eleven days later, one designer displayed her collection and 14 others (out of the usual 50) decided to independently show their collections as well.

Is it frivolous to show fashion in a time where nuclear threats linger and people are recovering from unimaginable disaster and hardship? I don't think there's an answer to that. On one hand, the show must go on for labels to survive and people to keep their work; and on the other, it seems incredibly superficial to concentrate on fashion of all things.....or not?

The image above is from Anrealage's collection and was shown on the JFW website. To me, many of the garments look like an exploded log cabin quilt, as if the methodical orderliness of antique quilts had been blown apart and re-assembled into a seemingly disorganized pattern. Quite fascinating to see an expression of fashion and technology well done, where pac man meets patchwork.

The art of high fashion is seldom about clothing people alone. It includes cultural, political and social statements. Here, creative ideas and resilience are being portrayed on the runways. Take for example Hiroko Itoh, who integrated the disaster into her show by presenting a huge draped dress printed with a map of nuclear power plants in Japan (below).

To help the Japanese fashion industry, and help brands promote their collections, Japan Fashion Week organizers are archiving photos of the shows that did happen on JFW's official website. The new site www.tokyofashionfilm.com, hosts videos of the runway shows that have been held since the disasters and you may find many fascinating. I also find it remarkable that many of these designs were done prior to what happened and yet they seem so appropriate to the Zeitgeist.

I'm sure Japan will pull itself together over time. Isn't it interesting to see how people deal with the aftermath of disaster and integrate those experiences into creative expression?

Talented Stitchers

2011-05-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

While my family is visiting, there's no time to stitch or work on any creative endeavors. But that doesn't mean there's a shortage of inspiring thoughts and images.

Here are a few of my favorite stitchers. There are many more, of course, but to appreciate each of them individually, I thought to limit myself to these four. Think of a big museum vs a small gallery. I love going to the MoMa, but am often overwhelmed by the creativity, people and artwork. Small galleries often show less, but invite the discovery of new artists. Hope you find one or two here you hadn't heard of before:

The embroidery above and right below is by Christine Mauersberger, who writes an inspiring blog and has a phenomenal flickr:

Scottish embroiderer Susie Cowie stitched the famous pillow that Fanny Brawne makes for John Keats in the movie "Bright Star":

See more of her work on her website.

Morna Crites Moore is a prolific artist from the US, whose layered work is breathtaking:

More of her work on flickr and her blog.

Last, but not least here's Dorothy Caldwell from Canada:

See some of her 2003 exhibit in the Textile Museum of Canada here.

Looking through these is really inspiring me to thread a needle and get back to work.....

Going Away...and Gone. Disappearing Posts and Overseas Family Appearing on Doorsteps

2011-05-15T20:05:00.000-04:00

Blogger has had some difficulties and has unfortunately lost my last post and several comments. My apologies for not jumping on this earlier, but I was out of town.

This is an excerpt of what was originally posted:
My family is on its way from Berlin to visit us here, so blogging will be sparse this week. I thought to leave you with some great inspiration and fun DIY projects from around the web. The sailboats above are from Ann Wood and guess what.... you can make these yourself, because she has a wonderful tutorial on her blog. She also makes beautiful paper mache tea cups with another tutorial.

Here are some other fun DIY projects for around the house:

Build an outdoor kitchen
Make a rope wall
Bio plastic DIY lamp (in german and english)

and two of my favorites tumblrs to get visually inspired:
http://rosapomar.tumblr.com/archive

http://chignonue.tumblr.com/archive found through Elizabeth Abernathy.

Enjoy the week!

Twitter and "How's the Telephone Working?"

2011-05-09T07:21:00.001-04:00

Fred was born at the end of the 19th century and he loved to write postcards. How do I know? Well, I picked up 4 postcards written by Fred in 1913 and addressed to Mrs FF Barratt in Clarkson, NY. What's remarkable about them, other than the pretty ladies on the front, is the surprisingly conversational tone.

In "the old days" mail was delivered twice a day and it was sufficient to write the recipients name and city on the card and it would get there the next day. Unbelievable. Or may not, considering that this was the main means of communication in those days with the telephone just beginning to catch on.

Nowadays, the only mail getting to my house promptly are the dreaded government tax letters. Anything else, one can wait for. And if the dot over an "i" is missing, it might never get to my house. Because machines are stupid.

The reason why I was taken with these 4 cards written by 1 person is that they actually survived 100 years. People conserved these family ephemera. The tone is not only conversational, but resembles much the style of today's communications:

"How is the telephone working" (undoubtedly a good question in 1913), "it is raining here to night" and "the sidewalks are ofull icey here" and "see you tomorrow". The structure and content of these sentences made me immediately think of Twitter.

I am really trying to like Twitter. It's supposed to be fun, informative, fast and is certainly a good marketing tool if you have a few million followers. (Did you know a tweet from Kim Kardashian's is worth $25,000 if she mentions a product!). Isn't that crazy? With those kind of numbers, obviously, I would tweet all day long.

My issue is that I don't seem to have anything to say on Twitter. I follow a handful of people including Steve Martin and the Dalai Lama, but even though entertaining and/or inspiring, the conversation is always just a bit ahead of me. Sometimes I tweet my posts and which is a bit lame. On top of that it appears to be a real time sucker. Every time I log on, I find myself lost on totally unremarkable sites (and we know already that this happens even without twitter). So I log on less and less.

Maybe that's not of concern for most of you, but I'm curious. If you use twitter.....do you use it for pleasure, business or both? Do you have trouble staying focused (the issue of the week)? I'd really like to know, because twitter seems useful. Somehow.

But then, ever so often, I'd love to receive a postcard with short messages such as "the sidewalks are ofull icey here". Because one thing is clear: my tweets (together with millions of others) will be forgotten the next day/week/month/year and I doubt even blogging will be around long enough to write about how wonderfully quaint twitter was "in the old days".

Umbrellas and Trash Bags

2011-05-06T07:16:00.000-04:00

It's been raining all month long here in upstate NY and there is flooding everywhere. It's mud, rubber boots and umbrella season. Even though an umbrella is always with me, I often end up like Gene Kelly in the left image (though, a bit more like a wet rat) with my umbrella closed getting soaked.

Why? Because umbrellas are not practical. They are wet and dripping and ungainly and one more object to constantly schlepp around. I stumbled over a magazine article about the history, design and cultural meaning of the umbrella. Don't worry I won't bore you, but one should know that these things have been around since 1200 BC.

Well, not being a fan of umbrellas, I usually wear a raincoat and rain hat. The hat is black, of course, and looks a bit like a sun hat. Sadly I only have one and while it was raining incessantly I've been wearing it all the time and was getting bored. Then two things happened.

First, I saw all the amusing hats and fascinators at the royal wedding, wondering how Kate and William could keep a straight face. Second, there was a black contractor trash bag left on my kitchen floor (that floor that's sooo not happening at the moment). Waterproof, I thought, perfect for a hat. With images of glamorous albeit ridiculous hats in my mind, I searched for my scissors.

Glancing at the rain pouring down the windows, I decided on a simple, no sew project. Here's what inspired me: Maya made these wonderful newspaper hats modeled by her beautiful nieces, and her method seemed perfect for the occasion.

I cut two 22 inch circles (for strength) from a contractor sized trash bag, placed one on top of the other and just wrapped some tape around the circle/hat to give it shape. It was even easier when I used a hair band as the hat band. The plastic is so stiff, it can be formed into shapes. Hah! I would make one for me and my daughter. I toyed for a split second with making one for husband, but suspected pronto that he would look a bit too eccentric for our small town.

How exiting I thought, picturing myself as an Eastern European spy walking through dark, foggy streets of Prague in the 1940s. Husband wasn't convinced. He believes my "creation" (if you can call it that) looks like a black trash bag being worn on the head. The man clearly lacks imagination.

But as life goes, as soon as I had talked myself into all the great possibilities this idea offered, the sun came out in all her glory and spoiled everything. Modeling the hat in bright daylight was out of the question, because when it's sunny, husband has a point, the hat does indeed look a bit like erhhh.....a cut up contractor bag. But when it rains.......

Still, the idea has potential. I could just stuff the plastic "hat" in my purse, bring a headband with me and stay dry. Maybe, if I cut the circle smaller, it won't look quite so out of place. Now I just need a new raincoat and there must be an old shower curtain around here somewhere...

So next time it rains, look out your window. I'm the one wearing the shower curtain with the contractor bag on the head.

Have a sunny weekend!

"Savage Beauty": When Fashion is Art

2011-05-03T17:28:00.000-04:00

(Solve Sundsbo / Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Tomorrow, May 4th the exhibit "Savage Beauty", organized by the Metropolitan Costume Institute will open in NYC celebrating Alexander McQueen's incredible work and contribution to fashion. And boy, do I wish I was there. McQueen used fashion as a way of expressing his artistic genius, but in reality he could have used any medium.

For those who can't be there in person, here's how you can be part of the experience: Visit the webpage on the Met's blog complete with videos of his art including the famous hologram dress modeled by Kate Moss. The work is incredible when seen in motion and very theatrical. For a closer look at some of his wild and sometimes eerie dresses, here's an interesting slide show by the LA Times.

The (soundless) video below is courtesy of Alexander McQueen illustrating his work in chronological order.

Video montage courtesy of Alexander McQueen

Savage Beauty
May 4th - July 31st, 2011
www.metmuseum.org

The Wanderings of an Unfocused Mind

2011-05-02T10:30:00.001-04:00

It started while brushing my teeth yesterday morning. There were my curtains which have been bothering me for 3 years. Left behind in the house from previous owners they photograph actually quite nicely, but upon further inspection it's clear that they came from a home improvement store and are made from shiny polyester.

They also don't really block the view at night, when the light is on, which is why I keep the light off. Of course, every evening I had intended to do something about them. But it was always forgotten when the sun came up in the next morning.

Time to do something about it. From my abundant lace stash, I chose a small round table cloth/doily and an older plain cotton curtain which had nothing going for it, except it was a curtain. The intention was to sew on the lace and cut the fabric away to get an effect like this (still protecting from view):

After a while I wanted to reconfirm an idea about lace and went to the computer for some quick research. And then.......it happened.

First I looked through my old images to find some other lace and stumbled upon images I took in Sevilla:

Then I mumbled to myself "where are these great postcards I bought in Barcelona?" Well, 20 minutes later I found them and wondered: "Why was I looking for these again?" My precious Sunday afternoon started to slip away, but what the heck...finding old photos is fun, isn't it?

Then I remembered an exhibit I saw in Barcelona with photos from Ramón Masats, an outstanding Spanish photographer, whose beautiful and expressive black and white photography I love. He captures life in Spain in a very unique and vibrant way:

This image illustrates my mind heading off in a different direction than originally intended.

While reading I wondered if pinhole photography was something to take up...And so it went. On and on.

The curtains were completely forgotten until I saw this image:

Of course an hour and a half had since passed and here I'd done nothing but wander. All that time spent looking through books and distractions, when I could have written a post about the makings of curtains. Was this a waste of time? Or was it enriching my sources of inspiration?

Unfortunately, this also happens when I really need to focus. Looks like it's time to read this book, about being "Fully Present".

Is it just me, or does this happen to you too? Any tricks to stay focused?

Jane Eyre

2011-04-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

I've always been intrigued by the Brontë sisters. Five sisters, two of whom died in childhood and the others, all super talented writers before the age of 40. Here I am over 40 with no novel and no excuse. This blog certainly won't become a classic. Back to the Brontës.

Emily's Wuthering Heights made me shiver under the covers and Charlotte's Jane Eyre is my favorite Brontë novel with its dark brooding mood, gothic setting and early feminist ideas.

Needless to say, I was eager to see the latest Jane Eyre movie, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. I thought at first Michael Fassbender was a bit too young and handsome for playing Edward Rochester, but his excellent acting made me soon forget that. Same goes for Mia Wasikowska. In reality too pretty to be plain Jane Eyre, she exceeded all my expectations for her exquisite interpretation. Fassbender said she reminded him of a young Meryl Streep.

The phenomenal cast also includes Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax and Jamie Bell as St. John Rivers, but see for yourselves:

Have you seen the movie and what did you think?

Blues: Knitting With Sewing Thread

2011-04-26T14:44:00.000-04:00

Remember the wispy knitting? The scarf is finally done and I thought that it might be fun to experiment with some sewing thread. With the large assortment of colors available, making something in an exact shade is easy to do. Here, I've used two colors and blended them to create a seamless transition from color to the other.

See how it goes from dark to light? Only 6 spools - 3 for each color - were used for practice and it still worked. Next time I would use 5 spools of each color. Shading is simple. Just start with all the spools in one color and knit the desired length. Then replace one spool with another colored spool. Knit and then continue replacing one color spool with the next until the new color is predominent. Then reverse.
It takes a little practice to sew with fine thread because it gets tangled more easily and when a stitch slips they can be difficult to catch. On the other hand, this gauzy material is very forgiving...

Here's another swatch with button hole thread. The spools contain only 50 meters of thread each, so lots are required and it makes the knitting a bit more expensive. The image below shows the look using more spools of thicker buttonhole thread producing a tighter fabric:

Any ideas for knitting with unusual materials?

Frivolities and the Frenchness Factor

2011-04-25T10:18:00.001-04:00

Style icon Ines de la Fressange has written a book: "Parisian Chic".

The book is not yet mine, and may never be, but I was surely obsessed with it last week. Luckily my local book store carried a copy, so grabbing a cup of coffee and feeling thrifty I tried to memorize the entire thing, most of which was remarkably simple and not all that new.

Here are some of her tips: Smile a lot, buy some moisturizer from the pharmacy, a good tooth brush and dress yourself in classical clothes......Mmmh. Use cologne, wear a navy blue sweater with white jeans......oh oh, this is where i stopped. WHITE jeans? REALLY? That might work for Ms. de la Fressange who is almost 6 feet tall and weighs 125 pounds. Jeans (especially white jeans) and loafers don't look quite so chic on the average person, who eats bagels with cream cheese. Common folk would look like an LL Bean catalogue, as Elaine Sciolino from the NY Times aptly observes in her entertaining book review.

However there were some helpful tips and ideas regarding how to combine clothes, how to throw a dinner party and which color to choose for your bathroom towels. (Not turquoise.) But the most brilliant part is the marketing and PR behind the book. It certainly worked on me. Why else would I be obsessed with "Parisian Chic"?

Well, wouldn't we all love to look a bit more French and less LL Bean?

Take Jane Birkin. She's actually British, but after being with Serge Gainsbourg's (je t'aime....moi non plus....) the "Frenchness factor" goes way up. Does she really look like a style icon with an expensive handbag named after her? Look at those jeans and sneakers.

Admittedly she's incredibly charismatic and there's a very relaxed cool chic about the look, as if she didn't care about her appearance. She even cuts her own hair, a thing many of us share with her, according to the comments left here. Already our Frenchness factor goes up a few points.

It seems that the French do share a few characteristics. They age gracefully and don't try to look 10 years younger than they are. Make-up and accessories are usually used sparingly, and the outfits look as if they were thrown together in a few minutes.

Juliette Binoche illustrates a more elegant style with the same simplicity and sparsely used accessories:

And last but not least, below are Coco Chanel, Jean Seberg and Audrey Hepburn.

Jean Seberg and Audrey Hepburn are not French, of course, but they surely could be. Why should French style be exclusively reserved for the French?

Last week I found a black and white striped sailor shirt and wide legged pants at a thrift shop.

On second thought, I seem to look more like a toddler wearing a stripey shirt than Coco Chanel. Trying to look French and failing brings the Frenchness factor way down.

The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour by Joan DeJean, has some ideas on why French style is so dominant in the Western aesthetic.

Here's what Publisher Weekly says about it: "Not only do French women not get fat, they've led the world in style for the past 300 years. French historian DeJean's premise is simple yet wonderfully effective: largely because of one obsessive spendthrift, Louis XIV, France, in the late 17th century, became the arbiter of chic, a position from which it has never since faltered."

That's why Crème brûlée is still the most frequently ordered dessert in top restaurants and a proper celebration includes champagne. Adieu tristesse.

Knitting and All Things French

2011-04-22T10:04:00.000-04:00

Spring break week is flying by. Some of you might have received a confused jumble of thoughts from me in your inbox last night when I pressed the wrong button at 1 in the morning. (The Save Now and Publish Post buttons lie awfully close together.) Please delete it. Please. A 'postable' version is in the works.

With my 8-year old at home for the week, we concentrated on fun mama-daughter things: we went thrift shopping together, had coffees and hot chocolates while reading books. We also saw movies including "The Devil Wears Prada". My daughter was relieved when Anne Hathaway quit her job and started to wear "normal" clothes again. My child lives in sweat pants and can't be bothered with dressing up. She wants to be a scientist, and in her world they don't wear Prada.

I'm also in the process of knitting some more wispy scarves (see above) and obsessed with all things french. This always happens in April. Last year around the same time I wished I was in Paris.....and I still do.

More about scarves, thrifting and French things next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Spring Break!

2011-04-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

It's spring break and I'm taking a few days off.
Have a good weekend!

Parisian Asphalt, Electrical Tape and Dandelions

2011-04-13T10:46:00.000-04:00

Juliana Santacruz Herrera found a fabulous way to deal with potholes in Paris. Not only would our winter battered streets in our town benefit tremendously from some colorful "repairs" of it's many holes, but so would my kitchen floor.

See, even Parisian potholes are stylish. I've seen projects with crochet or knitting covering lampposts, but never filling the holes in pavement that we take for granted. Even the most mundane features of our environment can be the trigger for inspiration.

Scottish artist Jim Lambie has an another interesting idea for floor coverings using electrical tape to create geometric patterns.

A little too psychedelic for my old Victorian, but nevertheless an innovative use for electrical tape. If I had a garage, I'd think about it.

My floor can neither be taped nor painted (see image below). We've dug up an interesting mess of plaster, wood and more linoleum. But still, I do enjoy seeing the "bones" of my house. It's less scary to be confronted and dealing with mess, than not knowing and adding to the problem.

The only thing on my mind for the last few days is that (damn) floor. But yesterday I needed a break. I've been having this vision of fabric and yarn flowers growing out of the gaps. And believe me, there are many. Here's a sneak peak....

They definitely add some humor to the mess. Leaves and more flowers are in progress. I've wanted to make flower brooches for quite some time and this is a good way to start.

Clearly, dandelions can grow anywhere, even on my floor.

They Draw and Cook and I Eat Out

2011-04-11T09:28:00.000-04:00

Salted Cucumbers by Artist Anastasia Zhebyuk, Kaliningrad City, Russia

What is the next best thing to do when you can't cook, but love food? Reading a cookbook of course. This is what I discovered: They Draw & Cook, a wonderful website for food aficionados found through A Billion Tastes and Tunes. Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell are a brother and sister design and illustration team who came up with the brilliant idea to create a food website with recipes drawn by artists from around the world.

Spaghetti al Pomodoro by Artist Serena Veslemøy, Oslo, Norway

The site features wonderful recipes which can be sorted by country, ingredients, meal type and illustration style.

Love the vintage feeling of the old botanical illustrations of the Butternut Squash Soup below:

Butternut Squash Soup by Artist Heidi Aldin Monteleone, Lumberville, PA, USA

It seems that there won't be many nice dinners cooked in my kitchen anytime soon. It turned out the wood floor was not as great as we had hoped for. Sniff. Thanks for your concern regarding asbestos. The "stuff" was tested at a lab and was OK.

If we have to cover it, we'll use some of the wood rescued from an old cottage, that we discovered at a salvage center. Pulling up the floor will be done soon and I'll show you the room, once it's finished. Don't worry, I won't bore you further with old kitchen floor images. But frankly, there is not much time to do anything else.

To make you instantly feel better about your kitchen and/or life in general, just look at where we're having our take-out meals these days:

Of course, now that we're doing the floors, I also want to repaint our yellowish walls. The color glows beautifully when the sun shines, otherwise it looks a bit too beige. I actually mixed the paint myself; eco paint and pigments bought from Earth Pigments. Although I love the idea of mixing my own paint and it works well in other rooms of my house, using pigments is messy and time consuming work.

I love any color by Farrow and Ball, but at $100 per gallon, it's a bit overwhelming and not in our budget. Doubt I can get anything close to that with the earth pigments. But then, necessity is the mother of invention.

Hope your week started a little less messy than mine.

Dust for Dinner

2011-04-08T10:02:00.001-04:00

This is where I live.

In mid April there's not a leaf on the trees.

Pretty you might think. I do, too and many of the rooms are very nice. The house was built in 1872 and used as a rooming house for many years. It hasn't been updated in any major way which attracted us to it in the first place. Oftentimes these old painted ladies are renovated to death with cheap materials and questionable taste. It makes them all look alike. Comfortable? Maybe. Beautiful? Not so much.

Well, ours is not renovated. It's a place with a lot of 'atmosphere' and lousy bathrooms. It gives us the freedom to leave things as they are, or improve gently with recycled materials.

Sometimes it feels all too much, but more often I love the possibilities of making a place just to our liking. It's like living on a theater set with dust, dirt and boxes everywhere.

Our main floor is very livable, but the kitchen/dining area downstairs is a mess.

This is the reason posting is sparse this week. For three years we have been living on a red painted press-board floor and this week I couldn't take it anymore. We started to remove the flooring, anxious of what we would find.

Underneath the strange press board layer was a a Mondrian inspired layer from the 60's, a red linoleum layer from the 40's, and mystery polished tar paper layer, probably from the 20's. Luckily non of them were glued down. 4 layers of ~~crap~~ history. And boy, what were they thinking? Can you image a wide expanse of floor with this pattern?

Not sure, what we'll do once all the layers are removed. I like painted floors and would give that a go. I might ask you for advice on colors.

Our weekend plans involves removing linoleum and eating dust for dinner.

See you on Monday.

Irina Werning's "Back to the Future"

2011-04-06T09:39:00.000-04:00

Argentinian born photographer Irina Werning had a brilliant idea. Why not have people reenact their childhood pictures and place the two images side by side? Born was the project "Back to the Future"; and what a phenomenal project it is.

It's like time travel. The identical postures, clothing and environment help highlight the passing of time.

I've been wondering if the people in the images sewed their own clothes for the shoot. How would you find the three dresses from the top image? Or the buttoned one below?

Isn't there a melancholic sweetness to seeing the two images together?

Irina Werning's site also features another interesting project called "Little Schools in the Andes". The "school library" is one of my favorites images:

Now I want to go traveling badly. Anywhere. Anytime.

For more images:

Irina Werning / Photographer

http://irinawerning.com/

Needle Flowers and Clouds to Knit

2011-04-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I experimented a bit more with tatting and this is the outcome: spring flowers. Not a major creative achievement, but nevertheless fast and easy to make, perfect for gift decorations, jewelry components or hair pins.

All that's needed is a tapestry needle, yarn or string and a pair of scissors.

The first knot is a half hitch knot and if they are spaced apart, they form loops or flower petals.

Make 10 or 12 loops, depending on the yarn and flower size. The pull the yarn carefully through the loops and close to form a circle. Tie and you're done.

The yarn used was quite stiff and the flowers hold their shape well. If your flowers are limp, don't worry there's always starch.

Sometimes moving pictures make it easier to learn, especially a movement related technique like tatting. I watched this video by TotusMel to learn how to make the knots.

The hint of warmer weather inspires wispy things; time to bring out that cotton linen yarn bought long ago from a thrift shop and begin a summer scarf. I usually don't like multi colored yarns, but this one is wonderful. It's like having a bit of a cloud in my hand.

The needles are too large for the yarn, but using them creates an airy and light weight texture.

If you would like to share a fun project you're working on, send a link in the comments, I'd love to see what you're up to.

Pants and Hidden Zippers

2011-04-01T09:32:00.000-04:00

Usually I wear skirts in winter. They can be layered, warm and comfortable. I also hate the feeling of pants over tights. It makes me feel like a sausage looks.

However, as soon as spring arrives, pants come out of the closet. I love picnics in the park and being able to sit comfortably rather than figuring out how to sit demurely in a skirt on the ground. And then there's the bug issue..... In short, spring and summer means pants.

Above are my new hand-sewn linen summer pants, modeled yesterday on a grey pre-spring day. They were copied from wide legged pants that I loved for 25 years and wore literally to death. Once they were on the verge of falling apart I deconstructed them to use as a pattern. There was no need to transfer onto paper, as the "fabric pattern" worked just fine.

It's actually not that hard to sew a pair of pants by hand. It's like sewing anything else. I used a running stitch and top-stitched the seams, which is easy to do.

The zipper was always the most intimidating part, and for a long time I shied away from hand-sewing clothes other than jersey skirts or shirts. Here's a quick tutorial on how to hand-sew an invisible zipper.

I used some colorful fabric for the tutorial; which wasn't very clever, because the red pattern is a bit distracting, but you'll get the idea.

These are the supplies needed.

Sew the seam with a running stitch, as it will be cut open in the end to reveal the zipper.

Iron the seams well. My iron doesn't see much use, but for this task it is indispensable.

Center the zipper so the opening is right on top of the seam.

Pin the zipper.

Stitch very close to the seam on both sides of the zipper. Make sure, the zipper is centered.
I had to highlight the stitches with photoshop, because I used red thread on a read zipper. Clever me!

When the zipper is sewn to the seam, cut the center to reveal the it. I love this step!

Done!

Once I figured out how to do this, clothes pattern became much less intimidating. Using zippers open up many possibilities for a hand sewn wardrobe, including garments like pants, A-line skirts etc. without resorting to the drawstring.

Off to experiment with more tatting.

Have a great weekend!

White and Conscious Colors

2011-03-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

H&M's "Conscious Collection" has been all over the internet. It's their new sustainable line which is made from environmentally friendly materials such as organic cotton, Tencel® and recycled polyester. I liked some of the clothes, so I went to the site, of course and ask myself: How on earth can H&M offer an organic cotton shirt for $14.95?

Their whole collection consists of different shades of white and that's trouble for me. White, beige or any other "skin tone" colors makes me look as pale as a bed sheet.

A few years ago, I wanted to know if my normal black "uniform" was still acceptable, while getting older. So I did a color analysis. It felt a bit stupid, but the process was interesting. The "analyst" held some colored silk scarves against my face and it was immediately apparent how one color looked great and a similar color of a different tone, would make me look completely washed out.

It turned out that colors with blue undertones are best for me. Theoretically, I should be able to wear certain "whites", but it's hard to figure the exact tone and even harder to find something to wear in a specific shade. Theoretically I should also be able to pull off that hideous yellow in the color wheel below, but you won't catch me dead in that color.

I think most people have a good sense for which colors work for them. Secretly I love the fall colors with their modern greens, rust and caramel, and I have occasionally ventured out to buy a shirt in one of those colors. But they never work and usually end up back at the store where they came from.

That's why the small color wheel often comes with me when looking for clothes or accessories.

Do you always know what colors to wear, and how do you make that decision?

Gray Matter

2011-03-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

Here's a totally off topic post and if you're under, let's say 35, you'll probably be bored to tears.

Do you know Francoise Harding? She is an iconic figure in fashion, music and style. Born in Paris in 1944, she was the "It-Girl" of the seventies (and beyond), quintessential french with her side swept bangs and parisienne chic.

Goddard cast her in his movie "Masculin, Féminin". Nicolas Ghesquière, the head of Balenciaga was influenced by her effortless style and she is also an accomplished musicians who played with Iggy Pop amongst others. Her career is definitely based on talent, but also looks and appearance. She is now 67, still working, gray haired and....beautiful.

I'm 44 and the only thing I share with Francoise is that my hair is graying. Well, maybe she also likes reading in bed and hot long showers, but that, I don't know. Last year there was hype around gray hair. From teenage blogger Tavi to Kristen McMenamy, many celebrities had a moment of experimenting with gray. But here's the thing: when you're 14 or a former supermodel, gray is edgy, stylish and cool. If you live in upstate NY, not so much.

I'm pretty sure, I won't dye, but then, one can never be sure. My mother in law just did after years and years of silver gray. She will turn 80 in two years! But if it makes her feel better, then that's the thing to do.

I dyed my perfectly nice brown hair without a streak of gray for 15 years, before our daughter was born. I thought my hair looked dull, so I made it look darker (and dull), thinking I looked chic for many years, when in fact, I didn't.

Aging will make you do funny things. Once, I toyed with Photoshop to take some of my wrinkles away. I looked smoother, but felt stupid. Instead, all the light bulbs will have to be changed in my house, because low light is good for the complexion.

Natalie Chanin doesn't dye (or does she, maybe it's just white?) and Helen Mirren doesn't (always) and there's Jamie Lee Curtis, all women I admire. Needless to say there are so many more women who dye, who I also admire.

What will you do, when the first grays come in?

Country Kitchens and Cottages

2011-03-25T09:08:00.001-04:00

Every time we're having company, I bitch (to myself) about our kitchen. It's not big enough to cook with more than two and it has a small window into the dining room, through which people can watch me do dishes and wave, but not much else. It's a weird shape (lot of good light though) without enough counter space. One day, when the kitchen is clean(er), I'll show you.

Today, instead, I'll show you the places I'd love to call my own. Barbara and Rene Stoelte compile beautiful books about countryside living, featuring European houses of a by-gone era. I stumbled over the book "Living in the Countryside" on Liane's blog enhabiten. It was a steal on amazon for 2 bucks. "Country Kitchens & Recipes", another of their books, also caught my eye and ended up in my shopping cart as well. Here are a few images from "Country Kitchens & Recipes":

The images are beautiful, but the recipes, honestly didn't tempt me much.

I was surprised (and mildly disappointed) that some of the kitchens were also featured in their other book "Living in the Countryside", which is by far more interesting. It features cottages in Ireland and Sweden, houses in Holland, Italy and Greece to name a few including this beautiful crooked house:

The images below are not from inside the crooked house, but show a variety of different styles and places.

Both books are atmospheric and have been looked through many times. You can also practice your language skills as the text in is in English, German and French side by side! I like that.

Enjoy your weekend!

Living in the Countryside: Vivre a la Campagne
Barbara Stoeltie (Author), Rene Stoeltie (Author), Angelika TASCHEN (Editor)
Hardcover: 397 pages
Publisher: Taschen; 25th edition (September 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3822848352
ISBN-13: 978-3822848357

Country Kitchens & Recipes
Barbara Stoeltie (Author)
Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Taschen (March 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3822813796
ISBN-13: 978-3822813799

Food, Lace and Other Ramblings

2011-03-23T10:55:00.002-04:00

In Barcelona, I used to eat palmeras at least 3 times a week, but now, here in upstate NY, palmeras are scarce and muffins abundant. It was time to make my own, so I bought some puff pastry and gave it a try. I sprinkled lots of sugar on the counter, used one thawed sheet, sprinkled more sugar on top. Then the two opposite ends of the dough were rolled toward the middle, (they should be really folded) and baked for ~~12-15~~ 15-20 minutes at ~~350~~F 400F. It really depends on your stove.

Voilà, out of the oven came nice palmeritas de hojaldre and along with my cafecito listening to Spanish music it created a mini vacation for me. It's also a perfect treat to impress impromptu guests. Here's a video in Spanish about how to make them, with easy to follow directions even if you don't speak the language.

What else? I mindlessly "meditated" a few more rounds on the red jersey fabric. I might make one of my Greta hats with it.

I'm always fascinated by lace and lace like things. There's a little store in my town, which has a never-ending supply in all sizes and conditions. Maybe that's why I don't have that much interest in making some myself. Lace making is very precise and doesn't encourage "happy accidents" with creative outcomes. More likely, I'll end up entangled in dozens of bobbins and fine thread, rather than creating something innovative and new. The truth is this: patience is not one of my virtues.

But tatting seems different. With this technique the lace is produced by a series of knots and loops. I've been wanting to experiment for a while and when my friend suschna gave it a try, I was inspired. Here's an example of tatted lace, obviously not done by me.

Tatting seems more flexible than bobbin lace and I'm hoping to come up with a free style version. There was no tatting needle or shuttle or the proper yarn in the house, but a tapestry needle and left over yarn were enough to at least try out the knots:

It's technically not proper tatting, but reminds me of a cross between macrame and sewing. My understanding is that the knot is not quite correct, it's just a half hitch knot and not turned. But it works up fast and I'm excited.

This is is my first humble attempt:

What else?

Just finished reading "The Help", a novel by Kathryn Stockett, recommended by one of you, and found it fascinating. Can't wait for my daughter to enter her teen years to share it with her.

My longing for palmeritas was probably triggered when I saw the movie "Biutiful" with Javier Bardem, set in Barcelona. In my experience Barcelona is beautiful, but I know that Barcelona has its dark side, which is what this movie shows; a side full of violence, poverty and despair, in which beauty is scarce and sadness abundant. It's the story about a father, a small scale criminal dying of cancer while trying to take care of his children in a world of immigration problems, Chinese labor and drugs. The movie is difficult to watch and not for the faint at heart, but it's incredibly well acted and very thought provoking.

Have you seen an unusual movie lately, which you can recommend?

Hand-Sewn "Thing to Wear"

2011-03-21T09:42:00.000-04:00

http://oldjapanphoto.wordpress.com/

A kimono is the quintessential Japanese garment. The word kimono actually means "thing to wear" from "ki" = wear, and "mono"=thing. So, why am I writing about Kimonos?

Sass Brown from ecofashiontalk.com had a very thoughtful post on the Japanese company 'Ichiroya Kimono Flea Market' which sells kimonos and related items. Not only was her article inspiring, but I found the world of kimonos fascinating and thought provoking.

One kimono uses up an entire bolt of fabric measuring about 14 inches wide and 12½ yards long. It's traditionally hand stitched. Today, it still requires a substantial amount of hand-sewing, even if a sewing machine is used.

Kimonos from Montgomery Collection 1920-1950

A friend of mine in Cologne took a kimono sewing class and explained to me that when a kimono is washed, the garment is taken apart by removing the thread and the garment re-sewn after drying. I use button hole thread, because I don't ever have the intention of taking my skirts and shirts apart and certainly not reassembling them. However, the care which goes into a kimono is humbling.

Kimonos are "zero-waste" products as they contain a whole bolt of fabric without cutting. Although the garment uses a lot of fabric, the life of a kimono doesn't end in a landfill.

Instead, it's re-used, creating many different items such as children's kimonos, covers, hand bags and other accessories. Damaged or soiled kimonos were often re-sewn to hide their flaws.

Now, if that isn't green, I don't know what is.

But it goes even further. Historically, when kimonos were worn out, the silk thread was laboriously removed (can you image the work involved?) and rewoven into a new textile. This weaving method is called saki-ori and was found in rural areas. Not sure, if it's still done. Below is a fragment of saki-ori fabric.

Textile Society UK

Of course, I was also intrigued by the fact that kimonos are hand-sewn.

Here's an authentic video showing the small running stitches used for sewing the kimono. Who would've thought that even the feet can play a small role in hand-sewing (at 4:12):

If you live close to Macon, Georgia, and are interested in seeing some kimonos "in person" there's an interesting exhibit featuring 100 beautiful garments from the Montgomery Collection in Lugano.

Fashioning Kimonos (Traveling Exhibit) now in Macon, Georgia through April 10:

https://www.masmacon.com/exhibits.da

Stitching In The Moment

2011-03-17T14:08:00.000-04:00

After a week of paying attention 24/7 to every Live-Ticker on the internet with news regarding Japan, I couldn't take myself anymore. So I went for a nice walk in the woods, but it didn't work, my mind was elsewhere.

Enough! Meditation should be a good way to center myself or so I thought. Yeah right. On top of that, meditation doesn't work like Ibuprofen....relief within 30 minutes.

But anchoring a feeble mind through the body usually does work, that's why some people, meditate, run or work out. I'm not a sporty person and running is not for me, but I thought stitching might work. Freehand stitching. A simple and familiar activity, to concentrate and focus on the repetitive nature without thinking too much.

Using an old t-shirt I started stitching round after round. Sometimes I got angry and tear out the stitches, but then calmed myself and started again. Needle in, needle out, just like breathing. In and out.......and it worked.

Not sure, what the design will look like, not that it matters much. But it surely doesn't help anybody here or in Japan if I'm sitting in front of a computer obsessively following the news. However, I do know that it's better for the people around me, if I'm more present here and pay attention.

Over the weekend I plan on being outside and looking for signs of spring. I know it must be there somewhere.

Inspiration from Japan

2011-03-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

Minotogetenti
Embroidery floss and fabric (hand embroidered) by Takashi Iwasaki

Still having difficulty writing a post when the world is in such turmoil. Instead, here's a list of Japanese themed blogs and sites I find inspiring:

-----------------------------------------
Blogs:

http://natsuminishizumi.blogspot.com/
http://hellosandwich.blogspot.com/

http://ii-ne-kore.blogspot.com/ (based in Australia)

Blogs and Stores:
Uguisu: http://uguisu.ocnk.net/
Baden Baden: http://www.badenbaden.jp/

Artists:

Takshi Iwasaki: http://www.takashiiwasaki.info/takashiiwasaki/english/news.html

Fashion:
Yab-Yum: http://yab-yum.com/top_yy.html
Tao Kurihara: http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2011RTW-TAO
-----------------------------------------

I'll resume my normal blogging shortly. I'm at a total loss for words.

Japan

2011-03-14T12:20:00.002-04:00

It's hard to write a post today. David John from the blog "You Have Been Here Sometime" posted 3 ways to help Japan including considering the purchase of the poster above. The Huffington Post has a comprehensive page here with many different options regarding ways to help.

DoSomething.org is asking young people to make paper cranes, photograph and upload them to the facebook page: Paper Cranes for Japan. Many cynical comments were left reminding everybody that Japan needs money and not digital paper cranes. However, I think this is a way to express support for people unable to give monetary help. It's a project that can involve children and open conversations about how connected we are and the importance of empathy and compassion.

Young people will be responsible for handling matters, when disaster strikes in the future. They will be in charge of how conflicts are resolved and resources are allocated.

Learning to do this with empathy and compassion will make all the difference.

Bolero II

2011-03-12T11:28:00.001-05:00

It's always nicer to see how a garment looks when on a person and not a hanger. My daughter volunteered this morning to show how the square bolero worn and although it's a little big on her, you get the idea.

There's real potential here and although I'm not a knitter, I'm tempted.

The second picture (top right) shows how she puts it on: arms through the opening and then she lifts the entire garment behind her neck.

Off to take a walk now. See you later...

Square Bolero...

2011-03-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

Let's call this a bolero and not a shrug. Bolero sounds of music and latin songs and Spain, while shrug sounds like this: ...a form of nonverbal communication that is performed by lifting both shoulders up, and is an indication of an individual either not knowing an answer to a question, or not caring... (Wikipedia)

Last week while thrifting I found the bolero pictured above hanging sadly on its hanger. The reason why it looks shapeless on a hanger is that the bolero is actually a square and only recognizable as a shrug when worn. This one was made by H&M and loosely knitted. The "dress" on the right is actually a skirt I made this week from two black t-shirts. I used two different tones of black (easy, if you have only thrift shop t-shirts to work with, ha! Finding matching ones is tough). Luckily, thrift stores have plenty of black shirts so they can be pieced together for a bigger project.

I love the idea of garments that drape and move and are not what they seem to be. Obviously I wanted to understand how to make one of those. The measurements below are for a child (or very small adult: me) size bolero, because my daughter was intrigued by the idea of a square which could be worn as a vest and wanted one, too. The good thing is that experimenting is fun, as the vests are simple and fast to make: Here are some images from my notebook.

Measurements in inches.

The one pictured just above was made from thrifted t-shirts and looks very similar to the one in the top image, although it doesn't drape quite as well. The "pattern" would be perfect for the knitters amongst you!

I'll definitely will make a bigger one to keep me warm in the cool North East summer nights. Yep, a woman can dream, right?

Have a lovely weekend!

Liquid Networks, Where Good Ideas Come From and a Brand New Hair Cut

2011-03-09T10:08:00.003-05:00

Some of you know that I'm a lover of the great European coffee houses. The smell, the people, the atmosphere, the sounds and sometimes the artwork. So imagine my surprise when I discovered the Java's Cafe in Rochester NY, not more than 2 hours away from here on our trip to the International Museum of Play. And while it's too far to hop over for a spontaneous coffee, it's definitely worth a visit next time I go to the Eastman Kodak House.

Here are a few more images:

There's even a billiard room downstairs with wild paintings, reminding me a bit of places one might find in a big city. It was empty and spacious and great for running around and letting off some steam.

But after listening to the TED lecture below by Steven Johnson "Where good ideas come from", I love coffee houses even more. "Liquid networks" he calls them. According to Johnson, good ideas are usually not Eureka moments, but happen in busy environments like cafes, where people with their thoughts mingle (as long as they're not staring at their devices). Ideas don't happen "all of a sudden". They incubate with other thoughts, conversations and stimulus. When all the puzzle pieces finally come together that's what we remember as the birth of a new idea.

The question proposed is how do we create environments that allow great ideas to come together? It seems that it's not the home office or studio. If you want to know "Where good ideas come from", make yourself a cup of coffee (you Europeans might be ready for a glass of red wine) and listen to Steven Johnson:

Sometimes, ideas are born in lonely bathrooms staring at the mirror and wondering how one would look with shorter hair. Here's my new haircut fresh from yesterday. Husband installed these great mirrors, so I can cut my own hair. DIY doesn't have to be limited to hand sewing and crafting, right? I took a quick snapshot, in case I wanted to replicate that style - hahaha - in the future.

Does anybody cut their own hair? Or their husband's hair (if it's still there) or kids....

There's also sewing going on in my house: a shrug, a skirt and a zipper tutorial to come...

Snow Day, Sunny Crochet and Exotic Animal Training

2011-03-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

With another March snowstorm bringing us 18 inches (45 cm!) of snow I was in dire need of something sunny and yellow. At least the forsythia cuttings in my living room were blooming as the storm raged outside.

Luckily, one can always make something sunny and cheerful. And that's all I did on yesterday's gray and snowy Sunday afternoon. A bit of crochet, watching the snow fall and a good read in front of the stove.

Last week I remembered the most emailed article of the NY Times in 2006: "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage". Amy Sutherland, author and journalist wrote this highly amusing piece about what she learned from animal training and how she applied it to her husband Scott, whose behavior needed a little tweaking.

"The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband. " The article was so successful, she was offered a book deal. I guess there are more husbands in the world who need improvement.

I don't have a husband who needs much training. But, thinking about it....... Anyway, behavior modification is fascinating to me. The book was in my local library and seems essentially a longer version of the article. If you have a Volkswagen Beetle, but secretly long for a Mercedes Benz, you can read the article here.

String Gardens and Other Flowers

2011-03-04T01:38:00.002-05:00

Gardening is not my thing, though I love flowers. Who doesn't? I never developed much of a green thumb, because working in the garden seems overwhelming - here in the Northeast, specifically. When I rip out a weed, 3 more grow in its place as soon as I turn my back. The concept of "weeds" is strange to me; take dandelions for example. They're pretty and make a nice salad, when used in spring. I wouldn't consider them a weed.

And then, there are bugs. Big bugs. American bugs. Honestly I'm a bit afraid of bugs, they always seem to hold the upper hand whenever we meet. The can often fly or sting or both. Unfortunately I can't.

But then I saw these images of string gardens.

I believe they're made in Holland; the website doesn't tell, but has many exquisite images to look at. And while these plants are far from practical (think watering and weight), they are so unique that I'm thinking of making one over the weekend. Admittedly it feels strange, to have plants floating in space this way, probably because they are not connected to soil or to each other. But then potted plants aren't either. It just perfectly reflects how we live in today's world, where everybody is connected through their electronic devices and not directly with each other. Not sure, how I feel about that. On the other hand, there are potted plants and wild flowers. They don't have to exclude each other. In short, I might give it a try.

Here are the instructions, on how to make a "Kokedama", a planted moss ball, popular in Japan. There are also instructional images on the string garden website.

And if I have leftover time this weekend, I'll be dreaming up new skirt projects and doodling.

This was playing with crocheted button hole thread, secured with a running stitch to t-shirt fabric. It works up quickly and makes a nice raised surface. I tried to "write" with it, but it just looked messy. I wonder what I can do with this. Any ideas?

Have great weekend everybody.

Stitched Words: Agnes Richter and Rosalind Wyatt

2011-03-02T00:05:00.003-05:00

While thinking of stitched words, two remarkable examples of embroidered garments came to mind. The linen jacket above was made by Agnes Richter, a seamstress and patient in an Austrian asylum during the late 1800's. She constructed the jacket from cloth typically used in the institution and embroidered her story onto the jacket.

There is no clear inside or outside of the garment. Only the words on the arms are legible from the outside, the rest are can be read from the inside, where she placed them close to her skin. The garment is part of the Prinzhorn Collection at the Universitaetsklinik Heidelberg. Due to its fragile nature it's not always available for public view.

Images (c) rosalindwyatt.com

The red garment above is an 18th century silk bodice embroidered by Rosalind Wyatt, a calligrapher from the UK The embroidery features letters between Daniel Hack Tuke, Wyatt's husband's great great grandfather (1827 - 1895) and his newly wed wife Esther Strickland. They were written on a 1853 journey while visiting various European asylums. The Tuke family is known for radically improving the treatment of the mentally ill with a progressive and humane approach.

Rosalind Wyatt was inspired by the work of the Prinzhorn Collection, which was assembled in the beginning of last century and contains 5000 works made by people in psychiatric institutions from all around Europe.

Two amazing jackets, so different and yet so interconnected.

For more information on Rosalind Wyatt's work, click here.

More images of the Agnes Richter jacket can be seen on LuluBird's flickr stream.

Blue Flower Skirt Progress

2011-02-28T09:29:00.000-05:00

The laundry is piling up, but my skirt is wearable. Let's see how it turned out.

I really like it...............until I look at the source of inspiration; then I like it a little less. The original design was balanced, while mine is not. Instead, it has a random flower, twig and leaf pattern. That's why I've decided never to look at the original again.

But on the other hand, my skirt can be also worn as a dress, if I can get past the pregnancy look.
(Should have ironed before taking images...)

The added denim belt simulates a raised waist and shapes it. The waist band is a double layer of jersey with the edges left raw. A sweater or bolero on top would be perfect for the dress version.

Stitching the applique was meditative. The project could be picked up at any moment for a few stitches here and there between reading and working, cooking and coffees with friends and the rest of daily life. These type of projects are my favorites.

But look what I've discovered when turning the skirt inside out. It's almost like scribbles on a chalkboard and looks very loose and improvised. It definitely needs further exploration. It's like blind drawing, but with stitching. Creating a unique and recognizable way of stitching can be hard, because the variables are so limited. When stitches look like they were spontaneously "drawn" onto the fabric it might be a way to achieve a more personal signature.

What I've learned:

Choose your thread wisely...the gray works well for contrast, but is not very subtle. One more similar to the blue fabric, would've still stood out, but not as much. On the other hand, I might never have discovered the effect of the thread scribbles on the reverse side, had the contrast not been so pronounced.

An easier way to applique a skirt is before it's assembled, as there's less fabric bulk to deal with. I never do that, though. Usually my skirts are sewn together before decorating, so they can be worn any time once the basic structure is complete. I get easily discouraged with enormous projects.

Today I'll wear my new skirt with rain boots, a rain jacket and wait patiently for spring!

Guest Blogging at Whip Up

2011-02-26T08:02:00.000-05:00

Today I'm over at Kathreen's blog whipup.net with a guest post and I'm honored to be in such great company. Whip up has a wonderful guest blogging series with many fascinating craft ideas and artists.

The necklaces above can be made in 10 minutes for a minimalist design or more for a more intricate one. It's so easy to make that even a child can whip it up. The supplies are more than simple: A t-shirt, scissors, needle thread and some trims, beads and bits for decoration.

If you want to make your own, see the tutorial on whip up.

Small Things and a Tasty Surprise

2011-02-25T09:49:00.001-05:00

This week the kids are out of school and I have a bad cold. My poor child has been house bound with me for days and it's vacation time. Enough, I thought, we're all going on a trip.

Rochester NY is not far from where we live and we decided the Strong National Museum of Play might make a fine outing. We, actually means my daughter, because me and my sore throat weren't that keen on thousands of noisy and overly excited kids all in one building. The decibel level must have topped an AC/DC concert (not that have ever attended one..., but that's what I imagine).

While sniffling and schlepping myself through the museum I stumbled into the doll and doll house section and decided to take a rest. It was quiet and the displays were marvelous.

Usually, dolls are not my thing, but this was different. There must have been more than a thousand dolls (Barbies not included), and I won't bore you with all the pictures I took. These types of dolls below, however, were new to me. They were porcelain with a printed cloth bodies. They seemed to be from the late 1800's to 1900.

Wandering in the doll's section was interesting, but my favorite part of the museum was the doll house area. Endless inspiration of color, textiles and room decor:

They were phenomenal. Here are two kitchens:

Looking at the pics, I'm realizing that once you remove the size reference these images are not half as interesting as when you see the rooms in their miniature size on display. Just use your imagination and make them tiny. That might add some interest.

Since I'm leaving you in the kitchen (see above), here's a great recipe from Ann Crile Esselstyn from the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" from Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., (it has also been all over the web). One might not expect a culinary highlight from a book about preventing heart disease, but try this one and let me know what you think. I have been making this all the time lately. It's perfect on salads, vegetables and very likely on pasta, but that has to be verified. I also eat it by the spoonful, but only sometimes.

Here it is:

1/2 cup walnuts (cashews work well too)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
a glove of garlic

throw in a blender, pulse until very smooth and you're done. You might be in for a big pleasant tasty surprise!

Enjoy your weekend. We will be having...........................SNOW. AGAIN.

Inspiring, Green, Dosa Inc.

2011-02-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The fabric above is from Dosa Inc. and reminded me instantly of Korean pojagis with their translucent quality and fine craftsmanship. I was originally searching the web for fine organic muslin and stumbled over Jamdani and from there, to Dosa Inc.

What is Jamdani you may ask? According to Wikipedia, Jamdani is "believed to be a fusion of the ancient cloth-making techniques of Bengal (perhaps 2,000 years old) with the muslins produced by Bengali Muslims since the 14th century. Jamdani is the most expensive product of Dhaka looms since it requires the most lengthy and dedicated work."

The curtain pictured above is made from recycled Jamdani fabric, and the process is simple reverse applique. Big patternless pieces of Jamdani form the base cloth. Smaller patterned pieces (they almost look like handkerchiefs) are basted onto the base fabric, and patterns are drawn onto them with pencil. They are then cut, the edged folded under and stitched into place revealing the fabric underneath. See more of the process by visiting the Dosa Inc website clicking through to "Special Projects" and "Life of Jamdani".

Christina Kim is the founder of Dosa Inc. and creates not only beautiful fabrics but also clothes and accessories working with recycled material. She is known for using fair labor practices and her commitment to sustainability. She's also a fan of craftsmanship.

"The reason why I prefer hand sewn and hand drawn is that the artisan's personality comes through the stitches and lines. You feel someone's hand, habit and effort...." says Christina Kim and her creations reflect this perfectly.

Read more about her and her work in this excellent article from the Los Angeles Times or visit the website dosainc.com.

I'm still stitching away at my skirt, which I will show later this week!

Work in Progress: Blue Flowers on Black and Dorothy Parker

2011-02-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

My skirt project is not as far along as it could be. Experimenting with the easiest way to place applique took some time. It takes time experimenting with ways to make a process faster.

It's easier building up to the final project instead of having an image of the final result in my head. It seems that this is the way Yuko Yamamoto works as well.

Over the weekend I looked a bit like the girl in the below image, minus the youthful appearance and orderly environment, but of course it's not me. It's one more picture from the book: Travaux et Mode.

First I tried to copy the design exactly. It didn't work. A similar free hand version however did, and using grey button hole thread outlines the applique. The result is interesting, and I will keep you posted with the process.

The t-shirt fabric is perfect for applique, as it doesn't fray. Using letters and words would also work well and I'm already looking into some Dorothy Parker quotes to wear around town. How about this one: "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." Or this one: "The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue."

Do you have ideas for quotes on skirts? I appreciate your input and have been following your great book suggestions. I've already read "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and loved them both.

Have a wonderful week.

SIGH!

2011-02-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday...

Today...

SIGH!

Travaux et Mode: Skirts, Skirts, Skirt

2011-02-18T09:44:00.000-05:00

During my spring cleaning I found a black skirt tucked in the back of my closet. It's hand-sewn from t-shirts (of course). I had originally thought that black circles on the black skirt would add textural interest. Sadly it did not. It looked more as if a kindergardener had practiced stitching, which can be charming, but not here,

After a cool appraisal it became a "wear-it-only-in-the-house" garment and then retired to the back of my closet. After a few months of ignoring the skirt, I removed the circles and started at square one. Undoing all my hand stitching was painful and so much work, almost more time intense than sewing them on in the first place. No wonder, I can't get anything done.

Although not a big fan of following patterns, I definitely love interesting idea books. The one above and below by illustrator Yuko Yamamoto is my all time favorite source of inspiration on how to make skirts (and a few accessories). The book is full of instructions on how to draft a pattern from your measurements and shows many ideas how to customize a basic model, including adding embroidery, applique and working with color blocks. The styles vary, but they all share a quirky and sophisticated look at the same time.

While it's not your typical Japanese eye candy with pretty tunics and dresses made of natural linen, cotton or liberty fabric, it's wonderfully inspiring in a very modern unique way.

Skirt Detail:

Another one:

Here's why I bought the book in the first place. Rarely do I see a finished garment and think about making and wearing the exact same model, but looking at the one below, makes me want to do just that: Make it and wear it for spring, (summer, fall and winter). Same fabric, same color, same everything.

There are many reasons, why I usually don't follow instructions: I'm afraid of being disappointed if a garment doesn't turn out like the original, the fabric and drape might be different, not to mention the proportions, my own skills (and patience) and so on. Often the whole look is similar, but not quite.

With this one, I'll likely make some changes, but would love to keep the general feel.

Let's see how my initial excitement develops over the weekend. Do you have any fun plans? Making or otherwise?

Travaux et Mode Travaux
Yuko Yamamoto
ISBN: 4579110854 / 9784579110858

And the Winner is.....

2011-02-17T09:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for leaving such wonderful and encouraging comments. With this kind of support, I should do one every week.

I'll make a special package and send it to....

Amy Lear, who left these words in the comment section: "Wow. Thank YOU! You've absolutely inspired me to sew by hand. Since December, I've tailored a cardigan for me, some embroidery for my sister and fixed several pairs of my kids' jeans. I especially appreciate the hand sewing how-to's. Thanks!

Congratulations!

(Hi Amy, please e-mail me your contact/mailing address.)

Inspiring People: Lotte Reiniger

2011-02-16T07:20:00.000-05:00

Lotte Reiniger (1899 – 1981) was a German (and later British) silhouette animator and film director. She was most well known for "Prince Achmed", a stop motion movie completed in 1926 and the oldest surviving animated feature length film.

The movie featured a silhouette animation technique which Reiniger invented involving manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera.

Her work is a wonderful example of creating breathtaking art with a simple technique. The beautifully designed sets and refined movements of the puppets make the story come to life. Take a look below at the sets:

all images (c) ASIFA Hollywood

This clip below is from Prince Achmed:

I was really excited to see how she works. Below is a short documentary which illustrates her techniques. The introduction is rather long, but at 3:40 minutes she starts cutting paper and that's remarkable to see. At 6:00 minutes she explains enthusiastically how to make an animation table by cutting "a hole into your best dining room table" with a thick charming German accent.

Absolutely worth seeing in my opinion:

Before I forget, there are still a few hours left to enter my Give-Away!

Thank-You-Give-Away

2011-02-14T10:13:00.001-05:00

It's Valentine's Day and time to thank you all for being part of the blog over the last year. Your wonderful and thoughtful comments and emails are an integral part of annekata.

I'm offering these hand-sewn favorites of mine as a Thank-You-Give-Away to one lucky winner:

- a hand-sewn embroidered linen bag
- a locket with embroidery
- a hand-sewn ring

- an ornament pin

Everybody can participate, just enter your comment in this post before Wednesday, the 16th of February at 5 pm EST. I will ship world wide. A randomly selected winner will be announced on Thursday morning.

Happy Valentine's Day and thank you all!

Harper's Baza(a)r - Now and Then

2011-02-11T10:44:00.001-05:00

Look at these covers: One is from March, 1880, which was found in an antique shop, the other one is from February 2011. Isn't it remarkable how life and culture have changed in only 133 years? My great grandmother was born in the 1880's and I knew her. It might sound like the ancient past, but when measured in generations, it's actually not that long ago.

Harper's Bazaar is not a magazine I usually read, but it was interesting to compare the two.

The focus of Harper's Bazar in 1880 is on fashion, homemaking, furniture, needlecraft, a novel and surprisingly a bit of politics and other news. There was actually stuff to read! The issue from 2011 is concerned with fashion, other people's lives. We also have the privilege to see naked famous people unretouched by photoshop.

These are the top 5 articles from the online version:

Top Spring 2011 Trends from New York Fashion Week
100 Top Looks from New York Fashion Week: Spring 2011
SAG Awards 2011: The Best of the Red Carpet
The Naked Truth: Nude Celebrities, Unretouched
Barbra Streisand: Dream House Photo Shoot

The March 1880 edition features three articles on its cover page:

1. A reverie, which is the description of the picture of the cover page
2. Cleaning Frosted Silverware
3. How to Lay Out and Plant a Flower Garden

Articles include short stories, news from around the country, a novel, needlework and a recipe for "Salt Sulphur Muffins". (Wikipedia tells me that sulphur is used in fertilizers, black gunpowder and matches....and there's no salt in the muffins. Hopefully it refers to the color of the end result.) Here's the recipe if you want to try them out.

All the illustrations from the older magazine are lithographs. Here's the double fashion spread.

However the big difference is that the 1880 version also includes politics, news concerning the supreme court and other social and political events. The only politics mentioned in the current issue is what designer Michelle Obama is wearing.

Waldon Emerson gave a lecture on February 4th, 2 years before his death in Massachussets:

Monday is Valentine's Day and I'll be celebrating with a Thank You Give Away.

Enjoy your weekend!

P.S. If you try to bake the muffins, please tell me how they turn out!

Miso - Street Art

2011-02-09T08:51:00.001-05:00

"Miso {Stanislava Pinchuk} is a 21 year old artist, living in Melbourne, Australia. Her work sways between pasting hand drawn portraits in city streets, to intricate drawings and installations in gallery spaces. She has just completed writing a book for Thames & Hudson, and had her street work bought and archived by the National Gallery of Australia."
From her website: http://cityofreubens.com/about/

What would you call this? I don't think it's graffiti. In Berlin, there was both public art and graffiti covering many of the public spaces, houses, train stations and cars. Graffiti can be funny and inspiring, but often it's vandalism which has little to do with art.

For me, this is public art. Like art, it has a message and great artistic skill. My favorites are her doorway frames, picturing women influenced by folktales and her Ukrainian heritage. Miso likes the idea of transforming a seemingly unimportant moment of passing through a doorway into a more special event by creating a connection, and awareness in our busy lives. And surprising beauty. I definitely need a few of those moments today, with my poor kid being sick since days and days and days......

Learn more about her work here:
http://cityofreubens.com/

Draping 101: From Skirt toTop

2011-02-07T00:11:00.000-05:00

Remember I had big plans for draping last summer? Yeah, what happened to those? Well, I made the dress form according to my measurements, looked at books from Madeleine Vionnet and I shouldn't have done this. Everything I could possibly drape would resemble a jacket hung over a chair...) It is also hard to work with draping, when all I usually do is rescue small fabric bits from the thrift shop or the garbage bin. But then I tried a mini project.

It's a flowered Laura Ashley skirt of which I had already cut a generous piece of fabric off the bottom to make it wearable. The fabric is actually a nice heavy rayon jersey with a good drape; a bit flowery perhaps, but quite wearable with a black top. Now that I'm into making t-shirts for summer, why not give this one a try.

I turned it upside down, wondered and "draped" and draped and wondered. I didn't use the dress form I made from my own measurements, because it has shrunk a bit and became lopsided. You might think maybe it's just me getting out of shape, but everything else seems to fit me; so maybe it's a bit of both. As it wasn't intended to be a structured garment, I used one of my other dummies. A dress form is an absolute necessity for those interested in the art of draping.

To show where the armholes were cut, I colored the opening red. (Thanks photoshop) Once both are cut, the shirt is basically wearable. At least with a top underneath or the fabric being gathered and pinned like in the picture below. Drape either towards the front or the back. There are really many possibilities.

The picture below illustrates the positioning of the armholes. The shirt would look different if they were higher or lower, the skirt longer or wider or of a different fabric. Lots of possibilities there. This one has been created from an A-line skirt, not too wide, otherwise there would be lots of fabric to "drape away".

The top could also be sewn into shape, but fastened with a brooch, it looks pretty pulled together.

It was exploration time last week and the process mattered more than the outcome. It gave me many ideas for shirts and skirts, and a whole lot of respect for those who really understand the art of draping and clothing construction.

Summer Shirts and Ice Scating

2011-02-04T08:55:00.000-05:00

The maroon shirt on the right is one of my favorite old t-shirts and it's kind of ordinary. It actually becomes more ordinary seeing it here instead of in my closet. But it's very comfortable and I love wearing it. And that can make any ordinary shirt special. Since it's one of my favorites, I thought, why not clone it for the summer.

Here's my first attempt to make an identical shirt. All in all I'm pleased, except the trim at the neck buckles a bit, but it's not important. The maroon shirt is rayon and drapes differently, but other than that, they are very much alike.

The process is easy, so if you have a "favorite" shirt in your closet, why not give it a try. I made a paper pattern first. Take a sheet of paper and trace the back of the shirt. Make sure it's lying flat and trace it close to the seam.

Place a piece of newspaper inside the shirt and trace the neckline, followed by the outline of the front. Then piece the pattern together, cut it out and trace it onto a vintage T-Shirt.

I've used a shirt where the existing shoulder seams could be integrated, so there were two seams less to sew. (Try saying that three times fast!)

Once you're satisfied with the pattern, sew the shirt together. Add embellishments if desired. There are many ideas on the web and here's one from last year.

I'll be making a few of these in different colors. Has anybody started making spring and summer clothes yet?

It's still deep winter here with no spring in sight, so today, I'll be going ice skating with my daughter instead.

Enjoy your weekend!

Peeks into my Closet - From Karl's Clothes to Vintage Flowers

2011-02-02T08:14:00.000-05:00

Let's talk wardrobe.

My favorite garments have a story to tell.

When I first saw this coat it was hanging in the window of a somewhat unremarkable second hand shop in my hometown in Germany. It was 1986. The color (haha) was perfect and I thought it would be great to wear with boots and black tights. I fell in love. This coat was meant for me.

When buying second hand clothing, a look at the label is crucial (just like when buying food these days). There are many garments that look wonderful, but feature some mystery fiber, which behaves unpredictably in the washing machine and requires one to keep a deodorant handy at all times.

A look at the label made me gasp, and my heart beat faster. Karl Lagerfeld, it said. OMG, I thought to myself, I'll never be able to afford that. It was 50DM (Deutsche Mark), which would be roughly USD25 and the price was not negotiable. You're going to laugh, but at the time it seemed so EXPENSIVE. I was 19 and didn't have 50 Mark, but only 20 which I gave to the clerk. The coat stayed in the store for a whole other week.

I still wear this coat. It has been traveling and living with me for 25 years and will not retire anytime soon. Having a relationship with what I wear is important to me. I'll spare you more background stories, but instead show you another one of my favorites:

This skirt is made from recycled charcol and midnight blue suiting wool, pleated and patched with raw edged cotton squares. Here's a close up, I thought it could inspire my friends who are playing with refashioning ideas?

When I wear it, the skirt makes me resemble Mary Poppins, but as she was really cool, I don't mind.

The coat below is by Carolina Herrera, bought at a local thrift shop not long ago for $1,50. (It was $3, but it was 50% off). Its a silk cotton blend, made in Italy and impeccably tailored. It fits like a glove:

Last for now, here's one of my "going-to-a-movie-in-summer" flower dresses:

Here's a word about labels... I really don't care about them. What I do care about is that my clothes are well constructed, timeless, beautiful and inexpensive. They also shouldn't fall apart after a year or two. The merchandise from most big department stores don't meet these standards. Admittedly there's also the bargain hunter's pride for a fantastic deal. Believe me, I also have many schmattes in my closet, which will be introduced at a later time.

I live in the country side (I just say Land's End), so dressing up is not an everyday affair. My "weekday" attire looks more like this. It's all jersey and stretchy and wonderfully comfortable with layers to spare for the unpredictable North East weather.

Why am I showing you all this second hand stuff from my closet? Because I'm doing a premature spring cleaning while waiting for a snow storm to hit. It's nice to take stock and this is what I came up with: 70% is second hand, 10% is hand-sewn, 10% is store bought and new, the remaining 10% are gifts or hand-me-downs.

It helps that I live in a college town with an Ivy League school where students with lots of cash recycle fantastic, almost new clothes. Second hand or vintage shopping is my preferred source as there's a limited, but special selection to choose from, which make even a Gap sweater seem one of a kind. It's also usually a third of the original price (or less) and what's not to like about that?

Now I'm curious, how does your closet look and where do your clothes come from?

Lace Tops and Other Wardrobe Ideas

2011-01-31T10:05:00.000-05:00

This box came back with me from Boston 3 weeks ago. "Just some lace for you", I heard and "Know you like that sort of thing." She's right, I do like that sort of thing..... kind of. Lace can by tricky. I took a glance inside the box, saw what you're seeing above, closed it and placed it in my sewing room. And until yesterday it resided in the chaos, unopened.

Lace making is one of those highly impressive skills, where women patiently juggle their bobbins and needles and create beautiful works of art. Lace often looks complex and a bit fussy, just the opposite of simple and humble. There's no lace in wabi-sabi and decoration without function is sometimes hard for me to appreciate.

While trying to get a grip on my chaotic sewing room yesterday I stumbled upon the box, unpacked it (might as well I thought) and found some real treasures:

Beautiful pieces in different sizes and shapes and all of them crocheted and tatted lace. These I do like as the the cotton has a sweet country feel and the faded color adds to their charm. Here's a close up of the tatted piece:

The real unexpected treasure however, was a crocheted top, a little stained, but, of course, I don't care.

Actually, it was love at first sight, although white or cream or any light color for that matter don't work with my pale skin. I'm thinking of integrating some of the other lace into my wardrobe, but everything in my closet is dark. Do you think the top would take to dyeing? Or would it die and destroy the essence of this vintage piece.

Every year in February I'm thinking clothes. Hand-sewing (and shopping for vintage) is slow, hence there's no "whipping it up in an afternoon" sewing for me and planning ahead makes sense. This weekend I've started cloning one of my favorite t-shirts. Sewing in front of the fire place is wonderful.

It'll be ready later this week. And while sorting through my closet over the next few days, I'll show you some of my eclectic vintage pieces found over the years.

Be prepared for some wardrobe reflections....

This Week: Books and Warmth

2011-01-28T10:04:00.000-05:00

This image reflects my week perfectly. There was no time to putter, which is essential if I'm to start a new project. Like my window I was frozen solid. My focus was to keep warm and nurture our sick child back to her perky self with hot teas and great books. We read "Julie and the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George, a fascinating story about a 13-year old Eskimo girl surviving alone in the Alaskan tundra by joining a wolf pack. It made me feel very unaccomplished. It also made frigid upstate NY seem like spring.

But what's going to keep us warm for the rest of the winter is our newly installed stove, which we actually found on craigslist. (And we weren't even looking for one.)

Here it is fully functional sitting on the (almost) finished hearth. My living room is warm enough today that the idea of throwing a beach party entered my sluggish mind.

My head is into books these days, so I'm finishing up "Strawberry Fields" by UK based author Marina Lewycka, a tragic and hilarious story about a group of migrant workers seeking a better future as strawberry pickers in the UK. "Wild Trees" by Richard Preston is next on my list. It's the adventure of three botanists who study the Redwood canopy 350 feet above the ground in California and discover a world filled with fern gardens, trees and huckleberry bushes along with lichens, voles and salamanders, who live without any contact with the earth below.

Doesn't that sound fascinating? No? Well, then what are you reading these days? I'd love some inspiration and recommendations for my ever growing reading list.

Grab a tea and a good book and enjoy your weekend.

Palacios and My Humble Home

2011-01-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

You might have guessed that this is not my home. No, it's the "Casa de Pilatos", a 16th-century Andalucia palace and considered one of the finest examples of Andalusian architecture of sixteenth century Sevilla: Courtyards, paintings, frescos, statues of emperors from nearby Italica and azulejos (tiles) wherever your eyes can see.

Tiles are everywhere in Sevilla, not just in palaces. Every fleamarket has them for sale mostly from renovated houses, when the old floors are ripped out. These tiles are then sold to tourists so that they can bring them home as a souvenir from Spain.

Unfortunately tiles are heavy. There is no easy way to bring them overseas without increasing dangerously your luggage allowance. And even if it was possible it's still hard to imagine Hispanic tiles in upstate NY; they're just not part of the visual experience in this part of the country.

I once brought a beautiful dress from Malaysia and was determined to wear it, forgetting for a moment that wearing a indigenous looking garment would make me feel uncomfortable and somewhat ridiculous. Just the same way tourists look when they dress enthusiastically in "Lederhosen" for Octoberfest, if you know what I mean. The dress has been hanging in my closet ever since.

When we bought our house, it was, and still is, a jumble of different styles. That's a good thing as there's an "anything goes" feel, that could include some tiles to remind us of our time in Spain. Our house didn't have a wood stove, which I bitterly missed this winter, but our house doesn't allow for one. When a vintage gas stove turned up cheap, we didn't hesitate and are now owners of a green cast iron stove. Vintage means there was no color choice, but luckily we like green. Building a hearth seemed a good idea and this is where the tiles come in.

We ordered some Mexican tiles (not really Andalucia, but close enough) from Tierra y Fuego and are in the process of building a hearth:

It was challenging to bring together a peacock colored green stove, a yellow green carpet and the rest of the room, but I think we did it. It'll be installed this week. This is how far we've gotten and you'll see the end result shortly.

As I said, Mexican tiles make sense in Mexico and maybe California, but not so much in upstate NY. However, for me, these reminders of a time abroad are essential. They will bring a little bit of palacio into my humble home. And if it all works out, maybe, I'll wear that dress one day.

What are your favorite souvenirs or reminders of a trip or vacation and how do you integrate them into your life and home?

Blue Collar - The Anatomy of an Abandoned Idea

2011-01-24T11:23:00.001-05:00

The "King's Speech" exceeded my expectations which were set pretty high, given the attention around the film. It's been a while since I last went out for a movie, and gosh, indeed, it was wonderful. Now I'm really hooked and want to see more. Our art movie theater in town (we're lucky that way) is showing another promising one called "Made in Dagenham" (as opposed to Made in China?). It's a British comedy about the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewists who finally lose their temper when they are reclassified as "unskilled" labor and take on their corporate paymasters to protest the sexual discrimination. See the trailer here. The movie promises to be humorous - British humor, mind you - common sense and courage with a strong social message. Ethics seem to be on my mind lately.

When the economy went south in 2008, I wanted to incorporate some of its social implications into sewing. I made a prototype of a bag from a blue thrift shop shirt, with a distinct workman's feel. I tried to incorporate as many pieces of the shirt as possible and although it is definitely not a zero waste product, I tried to keep the waste to a minimum. The collar was used as closure, the Knopfleiste (button closure?) was used as a handle and it was lined so it could be reversible. The bag is remarkably sturdy and still looks like it was made from a shirt, which was the idea. I envisioned it to feature a slogan like "Losing my shirt, but carrying on" or something similar that would be either screen printed, appliqued or embroidered. I had big plans. The production never happened. Here is why:

Many of my ideas are victims of a fast moving world. My projects are often outdated before they see the light of day, because I like to work slowly. (I also have a family). Cost efficiency is not my strength, how can it be if you hand sew, especially it time is money. And last but not least, like the women in Dagenham, I don't really want to work for a lousy wage, even if it's something I love doing. Talk about respecting oneself!

The bag project was also an exercise in keeping a small footprint. In fact it was extremely small: Material: Local thrift shop. Process: Sewn by Hand. Energy used: A short ride to the thrift shop, some electricity and some food for me, the sewist. If I had outsourced any part of this, the footprint would have been larger, no matter how "green" my outsourcing would have been.

Here's where the project really hit the wall. None of this included any of the time it would have taken to organize and advertise, market and sell my creations. Even if I machine sewed the bags, there was just no way. I would have still been my own little one woman annekata sweatshop. The only way of making money would have been to outsource and/or sell the idea, but that was counterproductive to the message I wanted to convey. How could I protest work layoffs and that almost everything here is made in China with a bag "Made in China" or Thailand or India? It would have taken the essence out of the project, not to mention the fun.

The bags were also intended to help reduce the use of plastic bags (yes, they're still plenty used here in the US), but the price would have had to be very low to be a valid alternative. No matter what angle I looked at, it just didn't make sense.

In short, considering all the details of a business can be very eye opening and difficult, especially when trying to be idealistic. But it's even harder not to be idealistic, once you have your background information. It's like continuing to smoke cigarettes, even though you know the ramifications. It can be done, but doesn't feel so good.

In the end, needless to say, the idea was not pursued, but it was a real learning experience. Ah, well, back to the drawing board.

There are many ways of transforming pants and shirts into bags. If you would like to make one, it is easy and self explanatory looking at the pictures above.

How do you juggle creativity and ideals with economic and common sense?

The Kings Speech, His Wife's Dress and Junky Styling

2011-01-21T08:48:00.000-05:00

I will be seeing the King's Speech over the weekend and can't wait. I've seen the preview at least 100 times, Colin Firth just received a Golden Globe for his performance and there's one more reason why I'm mentioning all this.

At the Paris premiere of the movie, Firth's wife Livia Guiggioli wore a beautiful dress which had a former life as one of her husband's suits. Livia has a blog on Vogue UK called Green Carpet Challenge in which she talks about how the dress was made.

The suit had apparently been attacked by moths and was subsequently refashioned by Junky Styling, a somewhat irritating name for the brilliant self-taught team of Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager who work with vintage garments transforming them into very chic, unique and beautiful pieces to wear. See what they have done with the old suit: Chic or not chic?

I really like it. I love when an up-cycled garment shows its former life, but doesn't look like it's cobbled together.

Lucky for us, we, too can now learn from the masters. To inspire the creative use of old clothes Junky Styling published the book "Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery", which will be available in the US on March 15, 2011 and is ready for preorder. I'm seriously tempted! I'd also love to hear from anybody who owns the book, which was published in the UK. Is it worth it?

Maybe my husband will let me have his old Armani suits from the 80's which feature the most phenomenal fabric, but are also hopelessly outdated, a fact he disagrees with vehemently. Not sure how to convince him that the particular style won't be back for another century or two and that his wonderful suits will be in the most capable hands.

Have a great weekend and stay warm, if you are in the North East.

Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery
* ISBN-10: 0713688335
* ISBN-13: 978-0713688337

Mi Buenos Aires Querido.....

2011-01-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break from the garden lockets due to a moment of nostalgia. Right now, I'd love to sit on the bench above, which is located in "La Boca", a working class barrio (neighborhood) in Buenos Aires. It's one of the famous tourist attractions with its colorful houses originally decorated with the left over paint used for ships.

It's also famous for its tango past. The history of tango is fascinating. Did you know that to impress the ladies, men would meet, improvise and practice, developing the dance style. You'll find couples dancing in the street today, but only for the tourists and their pesos. Although their dancing is often professional and beautiful, my favorite tango places were not in the guidebooks, but found in the neighborhoods outside the spotlight. Entering these hidden social dance halls felt like traveling through time and space.

They looked more like "Claechen's Ballhaus" in Berlin and the dancers inside are proof that youth and beauty are never necessary to express emotion, elegance and passion though dance and movement.

Get a taste below what you'll find in the streets of "La Boca". The "tango" was originally composed as an instrumental piece by a Canadian Celtic musician, so it's not really a tango:

However, the song Al Pacino is dancing to, is the beautiful tango "Por una Cabeza"
by Carlos Gardel. The scene below is taken from the movie "Scent of a Woman".

A day of a little "Wanderlust" .... and still experimenting with small embroideries. The unfinished stitched small "Boca" on top was a reminder of my time in Argentina and fits perfectly in a locket to be held close to my heart. "Mi Buenos Aires Querido"...a perfect tango ending... if nothing else.

Dreams and Threads of Feeling

2011-01-17T07:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, between ice skating and coffees, an article in the Selvedge Magazine caught my attention: It was describing a phenomenal exhibition: "Threads of Feeling" in the Foundling Museum in London. It's on view through March 6, 2011 and if you are in London, I envy you, because I'd really love to go.

The museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, from its beginnings in 1739, London's first home for abandoned children. Times were tough for impoverished mothers in 18 century England and many could not properly care for their children and had to leave their babies at a place where they would be fed and cared for. When a baby was left, a small piece of fabric was pinned to the registration form for identification purposes either provided by the mother, or a piece of fabric cut from the clothes of the baby.

These small fabric pieces are now part of one of the largest collections of 18th century everyday textiles thanks to impeccable British record keeping. Not many from this period survived, as textiles were valuable and were often worn until they fell apart, or were made into linings or rags.

They're mostly printed cotton, many of them vividly colored often depicting birds, flowers and acorns. Sometimes, patterns would be cut apart to be rejoined should the mothers reclaim their babies.

The reality was that of out of the 16,282 babies left at the hospital between 1741 and 1760, only 152 were reclaimed.

Today is Martin Luther King Day here in the US and I believe many of these women also had a dream. The dream that their circumstances would somehow change and they would finally be in the position to take care of their children.

The Foundling Museum

40 Brunswick Square

London WC1N 1AZ

First attempts of Garden and Weed Embroideries

2011-01-14T11:31:00.000-05:00

And while it's still snowing this morning, I'm dreaming of flowers and gardens. The locket garden turned out to be a weed garden, not the "Secret Garden" I had envisioned. The little patch of green in the locket was done with silk sewing thread and back stitched. Every other stitch was left a loop and cut open. The result is a fuzzy patch and quite useful for stitching dandelions:

All of these stitch doodles were an experiment and I'm not happy with the result, except the dandelion above. Below is another one which turned out too big for the locket. It seems dandelions take over wherever they can. I made a frame using chain stitch, so it might still be worn as a brooch.

And last but not least I thought it'll be fun to have a locket with a watch. A stationary watch set for 4 o'clock to remind me of tea time. My very own slow design pocket watch necklace. The execution is poor (I forgot my roman numerals), but the idea could be explored further, yes?

Don't forget to make some time for tea (or coffee) today and have a good weekend!

Lockets - Because Everybody Should Have a Little Secret

2011-01-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

"A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a curl of hair." says Wikipedia.

To me, lockets are little treasure boxes for grown ups. They're usually given at special occasions such as Valentines, Christmas and in the past, they were also given at funerals. As memories, I suppose.

In World War I and II, some American and British uniforms had buttons as miniature lockets, containing either space for photographs or tiny compasses. Now that's a good idea. Picture a Google Earth micro chip placed in your locket...you'd never get lost again.

I got all dizzy, when looking for a locket of my own: Some feature glass fronts to keep hair locks in, they're round ones, heart shaped ones, filigree ones, you name it, it exists. The one above is a vintage copper locket purchased on Etsy and filled with one of my little ornamental doodles. The image of the girl was found in an antique shop. She was so joyous that I wanted to carry that smile with me for those occasional gloomy moments.

I'm planning to make one with a tiny garden inside to beat the winter blues, which I will show you once it happens. If you don't feel crafty, tinyhappy from Australia makes beautiful embroidered linen pieces placed in copper lockets.

My favorite locket of all times is a leather locket from the 17th century, which was featured on florizel's blog.
The miniature is hand painted on copper and placed in the leather case.

Images (c) folkcollection.com

It's beautiful and delicate, but as if that wasn't enough, it comes with small transparent mica plates with different hair styles and clothes, so the lady can play dress up:

Layering one of the micas on top, the lady looks like this:

Isn't that brilliant? If it was for sale and if I had 2200 Euros, it would definitely be mine, mine, mine. But with so many 'if's', it looks like I'll continue to find them on Etsy and make my own little treasure boxes, which is (almost) equally satisfying.

Tutorial: Swarovski Pins

2011-01-10T08:26:00.002-05:00

Finally home (and with me, many bags waiting to be unpacked).

The hair pins above are quick and easy and an excellent way to make a special gift. I've seen beaded pins made with wire, but while traveling found that thread works equally well if not better. To make your own, here's how:

Supplies:

- bobby pins

- beads

- needle and strong thread

- scissors

String your beads, roughly the same lengths as the pin.

Pull the needle through the eye of the pin and tie.

Separate the first bead on the thread (leaving the others) and tie it securely.

Thread the needle back through the bead and tie in front. The following picture illustrates this very well.

Continue going through the beads one by one.

Once all beads are attached to the pin, it's time to finish and "hide" the two ends of thread.

Thread the needle back through the first and/or second bead, through the knot and cut it.

Done. Placed on a small piece of cardboard they make wonderful gifts for little and not so little girls.

Enjoy your week!

Almost Back Home

2011-01-07T10:10:00.000-05:00

Almost home. We flew over Iceland yesterday and even though there was just a brief lay-over, this is a country I'd love to visit in the future. With its magic light, friendly people, blue glaciers and black lava fields. The island has the feel of quiet and solitude and seems perfect for a get-away.

After a long flight, I'm back in the States, although not quite home yet until next week. I like my travels slow, just like sewing. It makes the transition easier.

My thoughts are still in Europe. To remind me of a marvelous time, I am carrying home some odds and ends, amongst them beautiful vintage Czech glass beads bought at a quaint little store in Berlin, with an elderly woman stringing the tiniest beads I've ever seen. Czech glass beads were always favorites of mine, but these in particular will remind me of Berlin, of the ice and snow and winter glitter. As you can see, I also brought back lots of green ones, hoping for an early spring.

I've started experimenting and show you the outcome early next week, once my suitcases are unpacked!

Enjoy your weekend!

Packing Oma Leni's Shirt

2011-01-03T08:25:00.002-05:00

Almost packing to go home. I had so many great ideas what to make while on the road, but I must admit that traveling and making, sometimes don't agree. Well, I made "things", like hand warmers, a scarf and straw stars, but not much else to share here. However I'm bursting with new ideas and really looking forward to going home and having all my "stuff" around me. What I miss on the road is the puttering with uninterrupted time. It's hard to enter the moment of losing oneself in a creative endeavor in a house filled with friends and family.

The shirt above was likely Oma Leni's. It was made in school to demonstrate sewing skills. It looks as if it was done entirely by hand and the seam work is extremely delicate. Look at the covered buttons:

The young woman on the right is my Oma Leni and her two sisters, all of them delightful. My great aunt in the middle is still alive, 96 years old and beautiful.

Leni and her two sisters grew up in this house with my great grandparents:

Later, she married my grandfather and lived in the house below, where my father was born. I spent the first few years of my life in that house. It's changed over the years, but the house still contained the store when I was little:

I'll be going home this week, packing Leni's gown and some old photographs which will remind me of home when I'm home.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T01:30:00.000-05:00

It's the last day of 2010 and I'm leaving Berlin. Yesterday afternoon was spent with 'suschna' and 'Lucy' two delightful fellow bloggers from Berlin. The hours flew by. We shared ideas, coffee, tea (and one piece of Apfelkuchen) in Claerchen's Ballhaus, a Berlin landmark since 1913. Although destroyed during the war, it is now minimally renovated maintaining the charm of an old dance hall, complete with tinsel and white shirted waiters.

Tonight the dance floor will be full of waltzing couples, toasting the New Year at least 6 hours earlier than the US and 6 hours later than Hong Kong! Ah, time is so relative.

Whether you go dancing or stay at home today, I wish you all a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Berlin - Snow and Art

2010-12-29T04:32:00.001-05:00

Just a very brief 'Hello' from Berlin. This is the view from the apartment I'm staying in. It snowed all night yesterday and there were people skiing on the six lane "Frankfurter-Allee". Very romantic with a distinct Eastern European feel.

The snow is taking over the city. Snowplows everywhere. Strolling through Berlin feels like walking in sand on the beach.

This is what I did yesterday: After a Sudanese falafel, we went to a photography exhibit at the C/O Berlin much too weak to mention and had a great time in the "Tacheles" pictured below.

The "Tacheles" is a huge warehouse full of artists studios. The entire building is covered from top to bottom inside and out with Graffiti. It's a piece of Berlin history, starting in 1907 as a shopping mall, later used by the Nazi party in the forties and for french prisoners. It became famous in the 90's as a vibrant international art space, complete with wild performances and squatters.

From their website:

“Tacheles” is an old Jewish word meaning to disclose, to reveal or to speak clearly. The slang meaning of the word was bringing to an end.

The Art-Centre Tacheles is situated in a ruin in Berlin Mitte. Located in former East Berlin, the area was a Jewish quarter in the past and has now become a meeting point for people interested in arts and culture and for those who think they are.

I love that "for those who think they are." If you ARE interested, visit: http://www.tacheles.de

Time Travel and Ghosts of the Past

2010-12-27T08:34:00.004-05:00

The image above is by Jo Teeuwisse and part of a series called: "The Ghosts of Amsterdam". She blends old photographs found at flea markets and merges them with a contemporary image of the same motif, taken from the same angle.

What a fascinating way of bringing history to life. Many European cities were severely damaged 65 years ago. It's not usually something we think about, but it's perfectly reflected in the images below.

When I find something interesting, I want to know more. Here's another photographer, Sergey Larenko, who uses a similar technique, placing old photographs into contemporary images. They are different, but equally fascinating:

Both artists use photoshop and I was really intrigued by how strongly I was moved. The only difference is that Jo Teeuwisse uses transparency filters, which give her images a ghostlike quality while Sergey Larenko is more brusque and places the historical images directly into the contemporary ones. They left me speechless, which happens when strong images speak for themselves.

For more, visit Sergey Larenko's livejournal or Jo Teeuwisse's flickr.

Thank You!

2010-12-24T05:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for being part of this blog.

Your presence, comments and questions, are a wonderful gift every day.

Have a great holiday, wherever you are.

I am off to Berlin right after the holidays and will send some impressions from there.

Warm wishes,
Kathrin

A Few of my Favorite Things

2010-12-23T03:28:00.001-05:00

Time to go out and get the last of the gifts, wrap them all up and let good enough, be good enough.

In Germany, this time of year is quiet. Small village quiet, for many days. Things slow down on the 24th and all the stores close at noon. The 25th and 26th are holidays here and the only place open will be the pharmacy.

However, there's still time to make and bake. My friend Maya's Chocolate Bark looks incredibly delicious. All of her recipes are wonderful and she always has a wealth of ideas for last minute gifts, tutorials and patterns. Many of her projects can be easily done with children and her holiday posts have the flavor of a northern European winter experience. More of her work on mayamade.com.

For gift wrapping I'll visit Charissa's The Gifted Blog. Her Woodland Gift Box is beautiful and so simple that it makes a phenomenal last minute gift. She offers wonderful ideas and free tutorials for gift toppers and wrappings using diverse and often recycled material including food packaging and t-shirts.

More gift wrapping ideas can be found on Etsy, which was so kind as to include me in their How-Tuesday: Last Minute Packaging Round-Up.

I'll still be making more stars today with my wooden board, nails and reeds and help prepare hering salad, a special tradition in my family that dates back to the 19th century.

Have a great weekend!

How to make a lined Garbo Hat

2010-12-22T03:54:00.001-05:00

Here is the fully lined deluxe version of the "Garbo Hat". The first version was simple and fast, wonderful if you work with felt. However, lined hats do feel more substantial and are recommended if fabrics other than felt are used. This is what you do: Sew a hat according to the instructions here, but cut the band only 1.75 inches wide (instead of 3.5 inches).

Sew the hat until the last step where the band is folded. STOP. Sew another hat the same way, which will be the lining, exactly like the first with a band 1.75 inches wide. The two parts are now ready to be joined together:

The outside of the hat above is heavy tweed fabric from a recycled suit and the lining a considerably lighter cotton fabric:

To make things clear, let's call the outside of the hat "tweedy" and the inside lining "flowers".

First step is to make sure, that "tweedy" is turned with the right side out and "flowers" is turned with the wrong side out. Place "tweedy" into "flowers" as shown in the picture below. Or in short: "tweedy" right side out into "flowers" wrong side out. The pictures below should help. See the seams of "flowers" on the outside?

Pin the two together, leaving an opening on the top big enough to pull "tweedy" through. But first, sew "tweedy" and "flowers" together leaving the opening.

Pull the hat inside out through the opening:

Sew the opening shut with a slip stitch. Done. Your very own lined Garbo Hat is ready!

Possibilities are endless. One of my favorite hats right now is one sewn from t-shirt fabric. It's not only soft, but completely reversible. (BTW my favorite is always the last one I make.)

Ideas:
- Decorate the trim with a ribbon or top stitching.
- Make some fabric flowers using the leftover fabric.
- If the hat is too big, gather the center top to your desired size and sew together with a few stitches.
- Use thin cream or white linen fabric for a Vaudeville summer look.
- Decorate the outer shell before lining with embroidery.

Most women wear many hats. Let's make it fun. Be sure to enjoy the process.

Greta Garbo and How to Make a New Hat

2010-12-20T03:52:00.002-05:00

What does Greta Garbo have to do with annekata? Nothing, really....except, we wear similar hats. And if you want to look like Greta this winter, here's a little holiday gift. Make you very own "Garbo Hat". To finish it off, just add some red lipstick. (To the lips, not the hat.)

This hat can be easily sewn in an afternoon without a sewing machine. Don't mind the washed out quality of the images below. Let's pretend I used some old color film which was stored in a cupboard for 50 years. As always, this tutorial is oriented toward exploration and experimentation and not a fixed recipe. The measurements will change according to your preferences.

Supplies:

- fabric (felt is good, old wool coats, t-shirt, once you get the hang of it, or linen for warm weather)

- a dinner plate (approx. 12 inches, depending how big your hat should be.)

- tailor's chalk

- scissors

- pins

- needles and strong thread

These instructions are for an unlined hat. I'll add the lining steps later this week.

First trace the plate onto the fabric and repeat, so you have two circles. Cut a donut hole from in one of them of 6 - 6.5 diameter (depending how big your head is). Start small, you can always make the opening bigger. Try the "donut" on for size. Don't worry, you are not trying to look like Greta yet.

Measure around your head (where the hat will sit) and cut a band your measured length plus 0.4 inch seam allowance, approx 3.5 inches wide.

These are all the pieces needed to make the hat above.

Pin and sew the two circles together. Felt has no right or wrong side. If you use printed fabric, place the right sides together. Sew completely around the circles, as shown below.

Sew the two ends of the band together, right side on right side (if applicable).

Last thing to attach is the band. Take a look at the picture below. First pin one side of the band into the opening (right side on right side) of the circle by selecting two opposite points, pulling them and then pinning them. Repeat on the perpendicular points and pin so the band is attached at four points. Finish pinning by adjusting the band into the opening. This can be a bit tricky depending on the fabric you use. Relax. As long as the headband is wide enough, the hat will fit.

Sew the band into place. It'll look like this:

The only thing left, is to fold the band over and sewing it over the seam. I have no good image of this, because, after all, I'm on vacation, but once you are at this stage, it's obvious.

Turn inside out and voila, it's ready. I top stitched the upper seam with a red running stitch, because it keeps it nice a flat and I like how it looks.

This hat is my daughter's and the softest wool ever. The plate I used was 11 inches, which makes the hat a bit smaller. The step toward a lined hat is really easy and makes the hat reversible. The band has to be a bit narrower and you stop before folding over the band to finish the hat. I'll have the pictures later this week.

As usual: experiment. There are a million variation to make these.

Istanbul Fashion in Koeln

2010-12-17T04:52:00.000-05:00

Viewing the familiar from a new perspective has always been one of my themes. Here's an example:

Ten years ago I lived in Cologne. The city has a wealth of wonderful museums; however, the "Museum of Applied Arts" was not on my radar. Now, I wonder, how on earth could I have missed it. The architecture is phenomenal, the permanent collection exceptional. On display was "Istanbul Fashion", an exhibit of Contemporary Fashion from the metropolis where Europe meets Asia. I was very fortunate that the textile conservator and curator of the exhibit gave me a phenomenal guided tour. Thanks again, E.

Click here for images from "Istanbul Fashion".

"Istanbul Fashion" was quite surprising. I didn't know what to expect, but was amazed by the variety, humor and uniqueness of the designs. It was also beautifully curated. Most of these designers are unknown to the west.

It was an interesting combination of familiar and unfamiliar ideas. The ideas and concepts of Bahar Korcan, a designer I really liked, results in clothing wild, beautiful and playful. The image below is an example of her more conceptual work.

The visit was a reminder of how important and refreshing it is to constantly question one's perspective which includes one's aesthetic and ideas.

If the hats from Bahar Korcan are a bit too large for you to wear, there's always my humble hat. Tutorial to come next week. Stay tuned.

Enjoy your weekend.

Gruss aus Kreuztal

2010-12-13T07:46:00.002-05:00

This is the village where I'm staying right now, and thought it proper to send you all a postcard. Unfortunately Kreuztal is not that bloggable. Though there are a few pretty houses, the rest of the town is either reconstructed or never looked good to begin with. Maybe I'm also a bit hard on my hometown.

While the town itself is not pretty, the area certainly is. Many of the old houses are a style called frame work houses and well documented by Hilla and Bernd Becher.

The home I'm staying at is certainly wonderful. Flowers everywhere, holiday decorations, great company and wonderful food.

Blogging while traveling is hard. With so many habits being tossed around it seems hard to follow the routine of living, browsing, editing and blogging. Let alone thinking.

I did however want to give you one more gift inspiration. The pillows above are hand sewn and embroidered with french knots. It was of those rare projects where I followed instructions, but the process was enjoyable. Social stitching. If you want to make your own, Purlsoho has the instructions right here including how to make the french knots.

Off to some lunch and social life.

Szomorú Vasárnap - Gloomy Sunday - 3 Interpretations

2010-12-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

To paraphrase Cornel West, "I have a cheerful disposition and a melancholic soul."

Every time I come to Europe, it amazes me, how quiet it is. In winter, it's not only quiet, but also dark. Maybe that adds to the melancholy which seems to infuse everything. This sounds rather sad, but in fact, I love this feeling, greatly fueled by my own imagination. It includes sad music and poetry. One of the special songs which reflects this mood perfectly is one of my favorites: "Gloomy Sunday".

The song was composed in 1933 by self taught Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress to a poem written by László Jávor. The original Hungarian title of both song and poem is "Szomorú vasárnap". Urban myths connected the song with a large number of suicides allegedly involving the song. These claims were later confirmed to be unsubstantiated, but as it happens with most urban legends, they stick around and are difficult to get rid of.

The above clip is taken from the small, but successful movie "Gloomy Sunday" by Rolf Schuebel, a German Hungarian co-production from 1999. It's a fictional story inspired by the song taking place in Budapest in the thirties, starring Erika Marozsán, Joachim Król, Ben Becker and Stefano Dionisi.

The song traveled the world and became popular in the US in 1941 in a slightly different version (a third verse was added) which was sung by many great artists from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn to Elvis Costello. Listen to Sarah Vaughn, first.

And here's Elvis Costello looking like a bug. I like the simplicity of his interpretation a lot with just his scratchy voice and the guitar (close your eyes, the live video quality is awful.)

Isn't it astounding how different these three are? And yet in all of them the melancholy is palpable. It's a perfect example how no two people look at something the same way, be it a song, a painting or Europe.

My Sunday is anything but gloomy, but I never get tired of listening to Gloomy Sunday!

Cookies in a Jar, Ornaments and Gift Tags

2010-12-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

When my stitched ornaments were featured on Sew Mama Sew last week, I thought it would be nice to give an idea of how they would look dressed up for winter using felt or wool fabric.

The cookie jars above were gifts I made last year with my daughter. The cookies were made from the world's easiest recipe courtesy of my dear mama, who makes an enormous variety of baked delicacies every year. This one is perfect for kids, because they can do the baking all alone. I'd say 6+. The dough never gets sticky and it's easy to handle.

Unfortunately the measurements are all in grams, but if you don't have a metric kitchen scale Mr. Google will help you....

Here's what you need:

300 g (10.5 oz) flour

200g (7 oz) cold butter or substitute like Earth Balance)

100 g (3.5 oz) sugar

1 egg or flax seeds would work, too. 1 egg = 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed simmered in 3 Tbsp. water, just let it cool, before you mix it in. And there's always egg replacer. Just follow instructions on the package.

Mama says, that's it's also good to divide the flour into 200g of flour and 100 g of hazelnuts. I've never tried that, but I will.

Bake at 200C or 390F for 10 minutes.

Decorate the cookies (or not) and you're done. One in our family likes burnt cookies (me) and the others like them ghostly pale.

Fill a nice jar, make a gift tag, fix some greenery in place and you have a sweet homemade gift. I made the tags above from an old Anthropologie catalog and some heavy weight paper by cutting two squares of the same size (or any shape for that matter); one from decorative paper and the other from thin cardboard, so that it's possible to leave a note. Place the two together (wrong sides) and hand-stitch around the edges.

To make the ornaments, just follow the tutorial here and use felt instead of linen.

My next post will be from Germany when I finally get over my jet lag.

Slow Down or What are We Missing?

2010-12-07T08:35:00.003-05:00

Seemingly this story was all over the web in 2007, but I hadn't heard of it before. When my good friend send it to me yesterday, it really struck a chord. There was a lot of criticism directed at the experiment, mainly because it was conducted at rush hour and, of course, people are focused in getting to work, not listening to world class music performed by a master.

This is not just about slowing down. Maybe more of Washington's subway riders would have chosen to be a few minutes late, if they had any idea of what to expect. It's the habit of perception, which is obstructing here. We don't usually realize how much of our life is spent on auto-pilot. Being prepared for beauty to happen any moment of the day is a skill. One can learn it. Art helps. Travel also helps. When I'm removed from the "rush-hour" of life, I'm more likely to perceive unusual concepts and ideas and be open for the new and unexpected.

But there's still one question remaining for me: Would I have rushed by? My friend was wondering, too.
What about you?

Here's the entire article by Gene Weingarten from the Washington Post.

Making on the Road

2010-12-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

It's cold in Boston and as much as I brought my sewing supplies, it didn't occur to me to pack some fabric bits. How clever! Refashioning one of the six t-shirts I packed immediately reduces my wearables to only five. Have I mentioned that I travel light because there are washing machines everywhere?

Luckily, what's easily available where I am here is wool of all weights and colors. When I was a kid I used to knit. Complicated stuff. With math and counting and paying lots of attention. But I have to be alone for that, because I'm easily distracted. Social hand craft is better for me. Therefore I've started to crochet and make only the simplest things. Like these hand-warmers.

You go all the way around and just leave a slit for the thumb.

They were the perfect project to bring to the birthday party. You sit and talk, make a stitch or two and enjoy a cup of tea. Minimal counting, no math. I did this after hanging the time line heart garland, which was a great success. It stretched across the entire room and we encouraged the guests to place important and relevant events on the timeline, which they did.

The time line was almost twice as long as pictured above.

It's always a challenge to make something on the road. But whenever I do, whatever I make is usually very special, because it holds a memory of a place. These will always be my Boston hand-warmers and will remind me of a grey cold New England afternoon every time I wear them.

Do you make things "on the road" or do your creative projects come to a screeching halt?

Packing Frenzy

2010-12-03T05:46:00.001-05:00

I'm packing. And this is hard, because everything I want to bring is heavy and bulky. Berlin is known to be frigid. Siberian frigid. The capital of Germany is so broke, it can't even clear sidewalks when it snows. You might think someone should shovel, but no, in Berlin, that's the city's responsibility, and with the icy sidewalks, pedestrians "ice skate" their way to work.

Berlin's governing mayor Klaus Wowereit, said once during an interview that Berlin was "poor, but sexy". Isn't that a great way to attract tourists!

Should've been packing over the last couple of days, but instead, I made one more scarf in grey (as if I needed one).

Here are some ideas and projects, perfect for the road:

1. The petal scarf. My favorite right now. I will cut lots of circles, pack my sewing kit and bring them "on the road".
2. Fabric flowers: I will bring some elastic thread and buttons to make fabric flowers, using heavier fabric and winter colors.

3. Coin purses, because they only take an hour or so.

Projects involving glue will have to wait until I get to the destination. Can't picture me traveling with Elmers glue and explaining to security personnel at the airport that I make paper stars on the road. I'm even contemplating wearing some 4th amendment underwear.

However, Boston is first. Time to hop into the car to stitch more hearts. 75 to be precise. I'll let you know next week how the birthday timeline garland unfolded.

Enjoy your weekend!

Gift Giving, Catalogs, Inspiration and DIY

2010-12-01T09:46:00.002-05:00

Time again to think about what to make, get and give for the holiday season. Luckily in my family we have an easy agreement. One gift per person, inexpensive, homemade and re-used welcome. Kids are excluded from the one gift rule. As you can image, I enjoy making as many gifts as I can. Usually I have more ideas than time, because many of my projects require a lot of it. For ideas that don't take forever to complete, I often browse around on the web and get inspired. But with a myriad of sources to choose from, I find the Internet somewhat overwhelming during the holiday season.

Here's my holiday gift giving strategy for this year: First there are books and book related gifts, like book covers or book marks or audio books or note books. And then I make stuff. Scarves, decoupaged items, lockets etc. Food gifts are lovely, too. A cookbook and a dish made from a recipe in the book are always well received. If I can't make everything myself, and I never can, there's always Etsy with their collection of talented artists and makers. And last, but not least, some items just can't be made or bought second hand. These I do buy at a store; a small store if possible.

But as there's still plenty of time to make, I've been browsing these beautiful online catalogs to get inspired.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Anthropologie - Go straight to their online catalog. They have great stylists and their theatrical interiors are incomparable. A fantastic place for inspiration.

Toast UK - Beautiful, very British with great photography. Makes me want to eat a scone with clotted cream, right on the spot.

Gudrun Sjoeden - A Swedish designer whose is has been producing fashion and accessories sustainably since before it became mainstream. Their home collection is the quintessential Scandinavian feel.

Marie Claire Idees - You can browse for free or pay 1.50 Euros to access their entire how-to section. And it's well worth it. Even if you don't know any French, you can guess some of it and the rest goes into the google translator. Tres jolie!

Nuno Magazine (pictured above) - The feel of a catalog, but everything inside can be made by you. For US$ 5 you get 125 ad-free pages of doable projects of craft, sewing and knitting projects made from recycled and salvaged materials. The ideas are simple, and the execution marvelous. A reminder that beautiful things don't have to be complicated. Here´s a free preview with 4 complete projects.

As always, your dollar is your voice.

What I haven't told you yet, is we'll be staying in Germany for the holiday season, with trips to Cologne and Berlin! Can't wait to explore the museums, shops and coffee houses. I'll have a lot of inspiration from the old world, including holiday markets with Gluehwein, art, craft and tasty food. It's going to be so gemuetlich! Sound good? Wanna come?

Almost packing my suitcase...

Timeline Garland

2010-11-29T08:16:00.000-05:00

Are you wondering why the heart garland above is being featured as if it was Valentine's Day? Well, here's the reason. This isn't just a garland. It's a birthday time-line for a very special person who is turning 80 this month. But first thing's first.

Last year, when my "Oma" in Germany turned 96 and we couldn't be there, my daughter and I made a garland of 96 hearts, hand cut, painted and stitched together. The idea was to create a time-line and place important events on it; thus embedding the birthday "girl" into a historical context. The events on the garland included World War I and II, the landing on the moon and more personal ones: the birth of her children, grand and great grandchildren and her many travels amongst others. We kept it cheerful.

The garland was so long, it draped through the entire room and the youngest guests were very excited to find their birthdays on the hearts. Needless to say, they were impressed how old their great grandmother was and how young they were. It's curious, what a visual anchor will accomplish when it comes to the passing of time.

When I announced that grandpa was turning 80, the one thing my daughter really wanted was to create another time-line. This surprised me, because I had made the process tedious, including cutting every heart by hand, coloring and hand stitching them. It had to be hearts, of course. The reason I had made the process so slow, was to use the time to explore with my daughter grandpa's life and the times we all spent together. We sat for quite some time talking about grandpa, while cutting and painting. We also did some math ("how many more do we need, mom?") and had a marvelous time.

Now, she not only knows, but understands how old he is. After ironing the hearts we started to stitch them together in clusters of 5, so they will be more manageable when it's time to hang them. I used a red thread (of attachment), of course, and the whole thing is coming together. I'll show you, once it's finished.

If you want to make a garland, birthday time-line or not, here's how, if you are interested in slow things.

Material:
- brown paper (I used paper bags), or any paper
- scissors
- paint
- brush or sponge
- needle and thread

How To:

We used plain red tempera paint, which looks ghastly when wet, but very nice on the brown paper once it's dried.

Now stitch the whole thing together with strong thread:

I have 75 more to stitch together. The birthday party is on Sunday, but there's a long car ride with many hours to fill.

Wish me luck.

Tutorial: Super Simple Paper Stars

2010-11-26T09:58:00.001-05:00

It's Black Friday and time for my annual tradition: to stay home all day and avoid the stores.

After cleaning up the dishes from yesterday's feast, here's something simple to make in order to add a festive decoration to highlight the season. Who doesn't like an easy to make paper star? As with all simple crafts, they usually look great in a cluster and this star is perfect for hanging with others of different sizes and colors. You likely have the material at home if you use recycled paper. And kids love to do them without much adult help. Here's how to make your own:

Materials:

- origami paper or other square paper (mine was approx. 6")
- pencil
- scissors
- glue
- string to hang hem

How to:

Just follow the directions in the picture tutorial below.

Turn the paper over and fold as in the picture below.

Mark with a pencil a little less from the border to the middle. Do it on all four sides.

Cut with scissors from the edge to your pencil mark on all four sides.

Glue every other side on the folded flaps.

Pull the unglued side over the glued side.

One side is ready, but you need one more to complete the star.
Repeat previous steps to make another star.

Glue as shown.

The glue is missing in this image, but this is the way to attach the 2 stars together.

And this is how it looks, when it's complete. Isn't that easy?

I like mine so much that I actually haven't taken them down from last year. If you use cheerful paper, they look good all year round.

Variations:

Make stars of different colors and sizes. Cut one sheet of origami paper in four squares and make 2 small stars.
Make an enormous star as a focal point from just white paper.
Use printed paper from magazines or newspapers.
Make a star mobile using small stars, twigs and thread.
Use paint or glitter glue.

Enjoy and explore.

Time To Cook - 101 Ideas from the Minimalist

2010-11-24T08:12:00.000-05:00

Have you started to cook already? For last minute preparations, yesterday I found Mark Bittman's NY Times contribution of 101 clever ideas for the big feast, which all sound delicious. (Free registration required). He always comes up with unusual food ideas, and in our kitchen, we like to experiment.

Thanksgiving is understandably one of the favorite holidays here in the US: There's no gift stress and a lot of food. If you are lucky the food is good and you celebrate with your nice family. If you can't be with your nice family, or if your friends are nicer than your family, celebrate with your friends.

Wherever you are and whatever you do, have a great Thanksgiving!

Reconstructed Sculpted Fashion

2010-11-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

As I was looking through my posts of the last week, it became clear that in my clothing construction there's really no constructing without deconstructing because I almost always work with recycled material. It seems perfectly fine for me to cut into a functional piece of clothing whose aesthetic I don't like to transform it into something new; something which fits me and my style better.

A very sophisticated example of this process is found on Julia Barbee's website "Frocky Jack Morgan". She's a designer with a sculpting background using recycled material.

All images (c) frockyjackmorgan.com

The video below: How to Recycle Old Clothes into New Fashions : Tips for Sculpting Old Clothing explains her principle themes and techniques.

This is part of a series that explains her process ranging from "finding the raw material" to "how to sew beads onto old fabric".

It's almost Thanksgiving and many people will be on the road. They probably won't walk to where they're going on railroad tracks, but the image on top is wonderful and a perfect finale to my patchwork quilts and clothes theme for the week.

We're having Thanksgiving here and it's time to sort through the recipes. This is our first vegetarian Thanksgiving. Any ideas?