Antique Shopping

Yikes! It looks like the Alaskan summer is over! It was a really nice 80-something degrees for all of June, but as soon as July hit it went right back down to 50-something with rain and a cold wind.

Joe and I found an interesting antique shop a few weeks ago with a whole bunch of native Alaskan type things. It was pretty cool. I love these old photographs...

Look at all those vintage furs! You could never get away with wearing fur back in California. Not that I really want to... But it's a shame I can't enjoy wearing a vintage fur without feeling guilty (I would never wear a new fur. That's pointless.)

Joe was in love with those duck decoys and wanted to buy one. We get obsessed with certain animals like pandas, owls, grizzly bears, and now ducks. Those things cost hundreds, so of course we didn't get one, but we will be scouring thrift shops for ducks in the future!

Yellow Dress

I've been working on this dress for a few weeks now. Well, more like I worked on it for about two days and then let it sit around for two weeks before I picked it up again. From the looks of it I think I might make this same dress again with different fabric! I'm doing version B, with the sleeves, which is coming out really cute so far. 

The sleeves were a little tricky because I couldn't understand what the pattern was trying to tell me to do. By far the most annoying part was trying to put in the pockets! I made the mistake of using a french seam on the curved pockets instead of a mock french seam, so things got a little funky. Trying to figure out which parts needed to be sewn right sides together or wrong sides together was tripping me out as well. Eventually I figured it out and the pockets turned out okay. Luckily I discovered that I could place pleats strategically over the pockets so the seams that got a little messy wouldn't show.

I'm happy with the colors I picked out as well. I'm already scheming which fabric patterns I will use for the next version of this dress!

Textile Love

I've been interested in textile design for quite a while now, from classes in college, internships at textile wholesalers, learning to knit and to crochet. However I have never tried my hand at weaving, that is, until I read this DIY Wood Frame Weaving Tutorial by The Darling Ewe. I had to try it! I set two work removing the fabric off of a canvas to use the wooden frame. I got myself a hammer and some nails and embarked on my weaving adventure. Although I weaved too tightly, I think my first try is coming out pretty nicely.

I stopped in the library and picked up a book on textiles for inspiration. There are so many great pieces of work and styles out there. Many textiles look like they are telling stories. Check out the very bottom photo... I'd love to know what that story was!