Introducing TeraBliss

Last week I had the great fortune of being the featured seller for the Inland Northwest Etsy Team. Many of my teammies made great treasuries to feature my new shop. As a thank you to these gals, I want to highlight them here, and introduce them to you.

Here is Tera's Etsy profile: Thank you so much for stopping by my etsy store! I am so excited to be a part of this amazing community. I am inspired by dancers, performers, vaudeville, burlesque, and all artists that find passion in their lives thru creating and performimg. I am a belly dancer myself and love to experiment with all styles of dance. I love costumes, jewelry, make up, and hair...new and vintage. I love beautiful things that sparkle, shine and move. I've been a jewelry and costume designer for most of my life. I am excited to finally become a member of this amazingly creative community of etsy. For me this is just the beginning!! Peace, love, and art!! ♥☺♥

Antique Dealer Video Portrait

Every once in a while there is a sweet video portrait posted on Etsy's blog that I turn around and share here. Watching a video like this, I am mindful of the day a filmmaker will show up and make my life look fascinating. This is for my friends who love to treasure hunt. You know who you are. Enjoy!

Thanks to Tera more team Love

Several of us from the Eastern Washington Team were featured this evening on Etsy's front page. Nice vintage collection!

This dress makes me feel like...

This dress makes me feel like...
Originally uploaded by studiocherie

Amazon woman.
I can't believe he just took that picture!
(Secretly glad he did though.)
Now for the pattern review... Simplicity 7707 from 1976. I just read on the SewMamaSew blog, in this great post from Mena Trott, that you want to pay attention to the era when working with vintage patterns. She likes the 1940's patterns for their judicious use of fabric. This dress called for over 3 yards of fabric (I might have been arrested in war time for using that much fabric on myself.) I made it with 2 yards. (Note to self: need older patterns - not more fabric.) The pattern was really easy and I made it in a couple of hours.

Before you try this at home, here are few things to consider:
1. It may look like a sundress, but it's not.
- Your entire waist as well as your thighs (except in Sumo-Mode) will be covered in a double layer of fabric.
-If you make it according to the instructions (which I did not - this will not surprise anyone who knows me) you will also have a double layer of fabric on the entire bodice. This will make the layers on your waist total 4. Not lining the bodice saved me about a yard of fabric.
-It has full coverage on the back as well. Not very sundressy.

2. You will want either a matching bra (because it will show a little on the sides) or you will want to wear a blouse underneath. More layers! I think this is a great dress for a woman who works in an office with the A/C running full blast. You can look breezy while keeping warm.

3. The mid calf length is just too much for all of this fabric. I took 5" off the pattern. I will probably take another couple of inches off to modernize it more.

4. There is a totally unnecessary seam in the middle of the bodice. I set the stitching line on the fold and cut it out on the fold instead.

5. Unless you want to look like a dork, you will have to change the neckline. (Did I just say that? It's the end of the day, and my powers of delicate speech have diminished.)

Overall, I think this dress is a neat idea that I will re-work again soon. Much lighter fabric than this heavy linen blend (I swear it must be linen blended with goose down, it is so hot.) I am on the lookout for cotton lawn with an old fashioned french vibe. Gotta have me some of that je ne sais quois.

Vintage

I was with some good friends last night who didn't know that Etsy is a great place to buy and sell vintage. This post is for you. Maybe it will get you started. Several of these sellers are here in Spokane. Ragnazidnar uses vintage books to create hard back journals like the one I use. FortheLoveofPete uses vintage barkcloth in some of her bags. The rest of these are straight vintage finds. I think denisebrain, jessjamesjake, and bythewayside are among the best on Etsy at photographing their goods. You can click on any of these items to be taken to the item and the shop. I am sure you will find your own favorites as you browse Etsy's vintage category. I recently found some gorgeous vintage luggage that I will be featuring in my shop soon.

Owl Anatomy

One of the things I love on Biddy Brain, one of the blogs I read, is when Ronnie shows her process of putting a painting together. She inspired this process post.

First, I liked this vintage pin. I think I must have seen it on Etsy's front page.

I sketched it in a tiny corner of a scrap of paper. I didn't photograph the whole paper because it contains important information like my grocery list and the dimensions of the bag I was making that day. I will leave you to guess what the 428 stands for.

Next it became a pillow plan. The one on the left is for the love birds. I'll post a photo of that when it's done.

Full sized sketch on pattern making fabric.

The first three pieces of the applique on the kona cotton background.

Stitching the details.

I went for non realistic eyes because I wanted them to show up.

Quilted around the outline of the owl.

I used tailors chalk to draw my quilting design on the back, and I quilted it from the back. Next time, I am going to make 6 pillows at a time and quilt them all together from the front on the Gammill. I like the ability to be more freeform than I can on my Viking. My hands get too tired to use the free motion stitching on a quilt this size.

After the cording and the back were added, here he sits. Gabrielle says he belongs to her, but I think he is destined for the aircraft carrier. Rory really likes him too. I think he looks great next to the patchwork pillow. When I put this out in pattern form, the instructions will obviously be more detailed. Check out my favorites for more vintage owl brooches.