thift store holiday.

this is just a quick post because i'm busy but pretty excited. i went to the thrift store the other day and found four strands of this vintage pink + cream ball garland for $2 each! i'm not doing a xmas tree this year because things are a bit hectic and we'll have one next door at my mom's haus, so to at least get a little bit in the holiday spirit i draped a few strands around the dining room:
oh my beloved hutch:

also, i tried to 'distress' some beautiful fabric that i had and ended up totally screwing it up. so now, instead of 15 yards of rosey, toile-y fabric i have yards and yards of yellow fabric with a print on it that's barely visible. i've gone through 3 boxes of rit color remover trying just to make it almost white but it just stays yellow. today's attempt will be with a little purple dye to try to neutralize the yellow to a tan. and then maybe just an overall wash of brown. i'm working on pantaloons for spring....i wanted everything shades of cream and white (i already have some made from vintage frilly curtains) so maybe i'll have to have some earth tones mixed in. i'm excited to share the pantaloons with the public....i've been wearing my own pairs for years now and they're great for shows and even just doing around the house because you can bend and move and never worry about anyone seeing up your skirt. it took awhile for me to draft the perfect pattern; everything i did kept turning out too narrow. i finally bit the bullet and made a pair that looked huge (HUGE!) but once i put the waist band in and tried them on they were simply billowy and magikal:

i thought sewing with cotton voile would be alot more difficult, but it turns out if you use the proper needles and thread size it's a piece of cake. i love voile....i love sheer fabrics that you can layer and layer. i've sewn these with french seams for durability and they have a nice wide elastic waistband that doesn't roll or get twisted in its casing. i wore them all weekend at wheatsville and they were a hit! they have a lot of fabric in the seat so you can really move around and it feels just like wearing a big petticoat but with the advantage of being able to do cartwheels and not show your skivvies if you so choose.

i'm very excited about 2011....lots of delicate, sparkly jewelry with old bits and bobs mixed in and a definite edwardian feel to the clothes i'll be stitching up. everything will be a little bit frilly, a little bit punk. of course, the apron slip dresses will still be in full force if you lean more towards the kitschy side of things. ♥