HP Deneuve Heirloom Shirt – Final!

I’m so happy that I finally finished this up last night! With all of the other things going on it felt as if I’d never have time to get it done.

I added a Swiss insertion at the side seam for fun.

My original plan had been to have a gathered sleeve but I didn’t like the way it looked during fitting so I opted for a tuck on each side of the opening instead.

I was going to start on the new HP Kaleidoscope blouse next but I think I’ll make a quick dress first. It’s unbearably hot right now and I’d like to have a cool dress or two to toss on.

Things have slowed down on the landscaping front. We are exhausted and just enjoying the fruits of our labor. When I came home last Friday, Bryan was waiting for me with a surprise: a double Christmas palm that had been on my wish list for this corner of the house! I’ve planted it with Coontie (Zamia pumila) which is a Florida native and related to the Cardboard Plant that I love so much. I was kind of limited here because of the meter but I think this is going to look really nice when the plants mature.

I have some pretty flowers blooming too! Here’s the “Drunken Sailor” (quisqualis indica) in the courtyard:

and the beautiful Siam tulips (curcuma) behind the waterfall out back:

Parting shot: Someone’s very mad at her mother! Jess’ girlfriend, Dr. Kelly, gives her long-haired cats a lion cut every summer so I let her shave Ricki too. Ricki is not happy about it (but how cute are her little Ugg boots?)! We’ll just call it payback for what she’s done to my couches…

Vintage Jacket Patterns

As if I didn’t have enough patterns already, right? I like to look at vintage patterns for inspiration as they often have special little details that you don’t see on modern patterns.

At first glance, this Vogue Young Fashionables (how cute is that?) is just a nice, basic jacket. The Etsy seller only showed a photo of the front of the envelope but when I read “center back pleat and back belt” in the description I had to hit the Add To Cart button! If the seller had included a back photo it probably wouldn’t have ended up in the clearance section.

Two of my favorite details, an inverted pleat and a back belt!

I couldn’t resist this one from McCall’s either. I love the front and back Princess seams and all of the little details. I do want to alter the mandarin collar so that it stands a little farther away from the neck, though.

Check out the wonderful seaming on this vintage Nina Ricci.

Last, but not least, I want to thank you all for your wonderful comments about my jackets! You’re all so nice. 🙂

Parting shots: Two weeks ago, Bryan and I were sitting on the couch and he turned to me and said “either I’ve had one too many beers or there are two Winnies in your backyard”. Sure enough, my neighbor’s kitten (whom I’ve now nicknamed “Mini Winnie”) was visiting!

She was back again yesterday morning and stayed long enough for me to get my camera. The one with the collar is my Winnie. She will be 13 this year and is such a petite little girl. It’s so funny to see her interact with a strange cat since the only other cats she knows are the ones that live with her.

Kwik-Sew 2935

This week I have been feverishly working on a couple of shirts for Bryan for Christmas. Naturally, I procrastinated as I always do but I finally finished (except for sewing on the buttons) about an hour ago. The first one – and my favorite – is a salt and pepper linen. Notice Pam’s cigar pocket which is a really lovely touch when using a simple fabric. Now if I could just take flat photos as nicely as Pam does – mine always look so wonky.

The 2nd is a cotton batik. I’m a little nervous about this one because he doesn’t usually wear a wild print but he said he wanted Tommy Bahama-style so that’s what he’s getting. 🙂 Notice that I didn’t match the pattern across the center front as I always do. I just couldn’t make it work with this print as it’s too irregular.

Tomorrow I will sew the buttons on. The linen will get charcoal mother of pearl from my stash and the batik will get coconut. Thank you again, Gail, for sending them to me! I had misplaced them last year and found them just in time.

I bought 150 coconut buttons on Ebay today. That’s what TB uses on all of their shirts, isn’t that convenient? It’s getting near impossible to find good-quality MOP buttons and I don’t want to dye them every time so I’m going with coconut from here on out. They are two-hole (I would have preferred 4-hole) but I guarantee Jess and Bryan will never notice and, if they do, will not care.

Greetings of the Season from Ricki Ricardo. Bryan bought this little kitty Santa hat for Winnie Pooh but Ricki was the only one who would wear it. She’s one of those cats who will sit still for anything so this isn’t the first time she’s been dressed up. Last month he put her in a little Santa suit. Silly, silly man.

Vogue 8196 – Planning stages

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered that I had about 5 yards of black wool gauze in my “collection”. I thought it would be perfect for this Vogue pattern:

I decided that I’d like to use Cluny lace (vs. a more delicate lace) to keep it from being too froufrou. Since I couldn’t find anything of good quality locally I decided to take a chance and order online. I found what looked to be some really pretty vintage laces at Deb’s Lace & Trims for a very good price. Well, the laces came today and I am very pleased! These are exactly what I had in mind – they weren’t sold as coordinates but I thought they went together very well.

Parting shot: The past few days, I’ve noticed that my old girl Kanga has been pushing the decorative pillow/sham off of the regular sleeping pillows for her daytime nap. She usually sleeps in the chair next to the bed but I guess she was ready for a change.