Little Red

The pattern

Next up on the sewing list is this "Very Easy" Vogue pattern.

I have made the dress several times because it's a style that works well on my body, and it IS easy! It only takes a few hours. But I haven't yet tackled the jacket WITH buttonholes. Buttonholes scare me. My mom use to sew them by hand, but now with my new machine I am going to experiment.

I bought the fabric last season with the intention of making a dress, but the fabric ended up on my dining room table as the overlay for my Christmas Eve party last year. Now a year later .... dry cleaned and ready to go, so am I!

It's a wool plaid with a gray & white striped silk lining with an exposed red zipper and raw hem edge. 

A coat for the Bou

I started making this coat at the beginning of summer. Before the temperatures reached record highs.  It was going to be fun. I had been given 4 yards of beautiful light blue wool by a friend of mine, Rosanne.  The fabric reminded me of "Alice in Wonderland."

Sadly, my dog, Mr. Boutte` became very ill. So I would sit sewing while he slept.

He passed away on July 1, and the coat was not finished. 



Mr. Boutte`

I thought I would never be able to finish the coat because of the memories it held so far, but as I spoke with a friend and told her about the coat, we came up with the idea to make it the "Boutte` Coat." When it's completed I will embroider his name in the lining.  

 Here is the coat so far, almost complete and it has a matching above the knee sleeveless sheath dress.



Lining

Wrapped in a Bou (Bow)



Summer sewing

With summer brings a layoff at the theater so... what is a girl to do, but sew!

Costume for Cars & Stars
James Bond/Austin Powers

Crazy kids! aka Danger Dancers!

All finished. It brought in $3,000.00 for auction!



Details

Mommy's little helper.

Quantum of Solace

For Cars & Stars 2012, thanks to Spoonflower.com, I am making a quilt that will be auctioned off on the night of. In honor of the theme "James Bond" the quilt will be called "Quantum of Solace."

If I had know how hard it was to make a quilt in two months I might not have done it. I understand the difficultly. I bow to the women who have for century's done this by hand and one day I hope to make one in that traditional way. So in my attempts to make this quilt I was going to enlist a machine quilter to do the quilting until I found out that there is a two month wait. I figured I would just jump in feet first and try to do it myself. How hard could it be?

I had had the fabric made, I sewed all the squares together, I put together the batting and backing,

then I started to sew away. I didn't know you have to sew from the middle out to the edges.

Needless to say, I have spent days riping out stitches. 

I also found that I don't like invisible thread.

Cotton quilting thread is wonderful.  A few more days and it will be ready for the auction.

Flower Power

I am working on Music Hall's Cars & Stars 2012 

James Bond and Austin Powers join forces to fundraise for Education. 

I am creating two party spaces and am currently working on Austin Powers.

Fur and Fleece what a lovely mess they make, but the fleece is a blast to sew.

The high top tables will be dressed in brightly colored satin with large flowers as overlays. All the fabric was found at Haberman Fabrics (Michigan's finest)  http://habermanfabrics.com/

Overlays- 

Dr.Seuss stripes look a lot like Austin

Peace out, baby yeah!









And what is a flower with out the mojo? I wanted to create the male symbol for the smaller tables that would sit under the floral bouquet. There will be four one in each color fur. Groovy, baby!

 

Mama has a new baby!

I arrived home today and there is was ... my new Singer sewing machine!

I have never bought a machine. So here are my two Singers!

The FELA! dress

Coincidence or crazy!?! The night before the big opening gala for FELA! I was finishing up some detail on a dress I wanted wear. I had found the fabric at Haberman's (just 4 days before the event) and I thought a simple sheath with a pocket for my phone, as I always lose my phone at events, would be perfect. 

 

I thought the pattern on the fabric was great for all the talk about art through the process of creating the Big Top Tent we called "The Shrine," but unbenounced to me (becasue I had not yet seen FELA!) the copy on the dress was a line from the play. "The Time is Now" 

The compliment was when the NYC Producer Ruth Hendel asked where I had bought the dress... Whoo hoo!   or Yeah Yeah!

Fela Kuti

My latest project is a big one. On February 14, 2012, Music Hall will open a 3-week run with the 3-time Tony award-winning musical FELA! and to start it all off there will be a Fela!-bration Gala opening in a big top tent fashioned after "The Shrine" in Lagos Nigeria. My project is to throw a Nigerian/Valentine's Day party for 400 people!

The musical is based on the life of Nigerian musician and political activist,
Fela Kuti. Look him up!

This weekend's project was to make 24, 32 and 48 foot runners that top layered tables of satin and Nigerian fabrics. The theme is Unity. The pictures here are of the black burlap from getting it home in my little car (yes, the almost 30 yard roll of 60" burlap rested gracefully out the window)  to cutting it and painting it.

Here are the sections cut... 

Now that they are cut...

Time to paint!

I have been learning a lot about the different symbols of Africa.

But my favorite symbol is a heart, because throughout Fela Kuti's life all he was really fighting for

was his love of humanity. This heart represents Hope & Faith

The symbol for children

The finished product....