My Weekend Adventures

Yesterday I had the pleasure of accompanying my friend Sica on a shopping trip. (She's my costume/fashion designer friend who's blog one wild and precious life I follow). We ventured on a quest for the perfect fabric to make a dress for the Oscars. She has been asked to make a dress for the wife of one of the nominees. She previously worked with him and he likes her work, so of course he chose her! Anyway, she asked if I wanted to go along on the search...how could I NOT go?!?!!!! I always love the opportunity to go fabric shopping, but for something so gorgeous, you bet I was on board for that adventure! After a failed attempt in downtown LA, we headed off towards Beverly Hills and found many beautiful and fabulous options...I can't wait to see the finished gown!




Then today, Craig and I went out for a bite to eat at a little cafe over in Studio City. Waiting in line behind us was Nathan Fillion of Firefly, Serenity, Castle, Dr. Horrible...need I go on??? I took the opportunity to let him know how much I enjoy Castle and mentioned how my sons are big fans of all of his work. I know that sounds like I don't like the rest of his work...I did word it much better at the time, letting him know I just never got into Firefly...I suppose that doesn't sound so good either...maybe I should have mentioned how much I really enjoyed Dr. Horrible???

We placed our order and headed off to find a seat. To my surprise, he and his lady friend ended up finding a seat right near us...although he did sit with his back to us, but I'm going to believe that was not on purpose! My eldest was rather excited to hear the news and tried to make it to the bistro before his departure, but failed in his attempt.

I managed to snap a few pics with my iPhone. I probably should have taken my HD quality camera out of my purse and use it, but was trying not to be obvious. Too bad I had such bad angles. Oh well, it was awesome meeting him, he is a very nice guy. Extremely gracious.

Living where we do and working the day job that I have, we tend to see famous people frequently, but rarely meet someone who's work we regularly enjoy. Week before last we saw Glenn Close and Finola Hughes at lunch...again in Studio City. I see people all the time on the lot at work...when I actually go out on the lot! I just don't usually make the trek out. Oh the adventures and tales I have...wow, that sounds exciting...too bad it really sounds more exciting when it is mentioned in such a vague way. The reality is, it may not be so exciting after all...or is it??? I guess it depends on your perspective.

It occurs to me I should be paying more attention to what the famous people I see are wearing. I remember Finola Hughes was dressed in a cute little dress and boots. She looked amazing! Glenn Close was wearing pants of some sort. Nathan had on a blue sweatshirt?!?!!! (Guess you can tell by the pics, huh!)

Anyway, Nathan Fillion was very nice, I am very excited to see the creation my friend Sica comes up with, and in the future I hope to pay more attention to what the famous people I see are wearing!!

Loving "Marc Jacob Collection - Fall 2010"

After checking out Marc Jacob's webpage, specifically his "Marc Jacob Collection - Fall 2010", I am in love!!! I love the fashions, the colors, the fabrics, you name it...just awesome!!! Check it out if you get a chance and let me know what you think by posting a comment to this blog post.

Marc Jacobs Collection - Fall 2010

Reminds me of Parfait...or Pehaps Sherbert...

Today I am serving up a delicious scarf I knitted. I incorporated ribbons, charms and beads into the fringe.

Bags I made...

I just realized I never posted pics of some bags I made. The first one was for a coworker. We sit near each other so I see this bag pretty much everyday at work, since she uses it all the time!! Pretty awesome when you can tell someone really appreciates the gift you have given them!

The second one was for my Aunt Connie. She was visiting and needed a bag to cart home all of the stuff she acquired while visiting. She was making some comments about needing to pick up a cheap bag at a thrift store or something so she could carry her stuff home on the plane. Of course I wouldn't hear of that!! I didn't have a lot of time to sort through all of the fabrics I have to find something really fabulous, let alone plan and make the bag. I was forced to simply grab the closest fabrics I could find which didn't completely clash and whip up a simple bag. I know, if it was so "simple", why the pockets? Blame my mother for that! She was here too and said Connie needed pockets on her bag...so mom was put in charge of pockets. I did the sewing, mom planned, measured and cut the pockets. Thanks for the help mom!!

I have a few projects I'm trying to finish up which I hope to post soon.

Thanks for checking in...

Cool Vintage Fabrics and Buttons!

I went to an estate sale yesterday and found some great vintage fabrics, lace trims, and buttons. Great pricing on some really nice stuff. The pictures really don't do justice to the fabrics. There are wools, silks, linens, rayon, bark cloth and cottons. The buttons have jet and Bakelite as well as glass. There are several other types of fabrics and buttons, but the majority fall into these categories. The camera captured different looking colors in some of the fabrics than what they look like with the naked eye. They are much nicer looking in person and feel so luxurious. I also got a knitting book from 1936 which has styles for Hollywood starlets. I hope you enjoy.

I'm not posting photos of all of the fabrics, but rather just a sampling of what I was fortunate enough to score!

These are some of the wools.


Some silks...

...still more silks.

Linens...

...bark cloth, rayon's, lace trims...

...cottons and misc. fabrics.

And now for the buttons...

The ones at the top are hand carved leather with the yellow ones to the right being Bakelite and brass. Below those are glass.

Several sizes and styles of Jet.

And this is the 1936 knitting magazine...

I hope you have enjoyed seeing all this great vintage stuff. Now to find time to do something with all of it. I am open to hearing how to best use my fabulous finds. Please leave me a comment to this post with your ideas.

More Interesting Blogs and Sites

Here are some more blogs and pages with items I find interesting which I hope you will too...

Understanding Thread Tension Comes from "Threads" magazine site. Good for understanding machine tension.



corsetiere.net Everything you ever wanted to know about corsets...ok, maybe not everything, but an interesting place to learn more about vintage lingerie.



Custom Fabric This is a blog entry about custom created fabric. What a great idea if you want something really special. All you need is some fabulous artwork of your own!



one wild and precious life
One final blog link for today...for those of you who either know or know of my neighbor Sica, this is a blog of her trip to Bali and beyond. She's a costume designer and world class globetrotter...well, perhaps she hasn't fully reached her potential as either, but her blog is a rather enjoyable read. Check it out if you get a chance.




Threadbanger Episodes And finally...for those of you interested in learning more about the various options of cutting tools available, check out the "Quickie" videos on Threadbanger. I was amazed to learn I really NEED a couple more pairs of shears/scissors!!! Who knew?!?!!!