Catch me if you can- this costume rocked!!

the safty card is located in the pocket in front of you!

don’t know about this one.

In all her beverage cart glory.

Great flight attendant hair!!

I really like the justapostition of this shot.

I guess Elvis made an appearance.

Here are some stills of the Flight Attendant costume I recently made and posted about here.  It is for a web commercial for Expedia… I don’t know much more about it except that I had a lot of fun doing it and would love more work like this 😉   I guess if this goes over well they will use this character for more of an ad campaign.

Model wannabe- cool vs. cruel fashion show

Last Thursday night I had the pleasure of modeling an AWESOME outfit in the Art Institute of Seattle “Cool vs. Cruel” annual fashion show.  The idea is to not use any animal based products of textiles and to be inspired by some current and cruel looks on the 2009 runways.  The show is sponsored by the Humane Society… hmm… or it is to promote the Humane Society.  It is a regional competition for all of the Art Institutes and then there is a National Competition in New York.  I was a little surprised at how small the show was.  My designer, Cindy, won the competition here!!!!  Her outfit will be shipped to NYC for the big show there.   Not only that…. she totally slipped me a Nordstrom Gift Card in all the craziness that I forgot about and surprisingly opened the next day.  Totally unnecessary… but WOOT WOOT!

Things I love…. the franc-o-philes.

This post is inspired by some new (old) sewing things that we got in at the store.   OMG-  I f**king love haberdashery… especially if it is beautiful!  I don’t even wind thread and I want one of each.

 

 

 

Sajou– A nineteenth century French company that was recently resurrected.  I cannot really find pictures of some of the most awesome old graphics they use on their thread winders- twenties hats and such but here is the story of Sajou I found over at Silver Needle:

 From 1830 to 1880, Jacques-Simon devoted his time and inventiveness to fancy needlework, starting la Maison Sajou in 1830. His goal: to sell supplies for all types of the Needlearts. With the creation of his pattern albums, he reached intense fame in France and all of Europe… his original albums are very valuable and intensely sought-after collectibles today!

The trade name ‘Sajou’ fell into oblivion some years later, presumably after Jacques passed. It had not been used since 1954, and therefore, under French law, became available in 2004 for a new owner!

Frederique Crestin-Billet is the new owner of Sajou, and promises to present the vintage designs and articles as they were — without edits. Relying on the excellent name of Sajou, she is producing product using modern production methods, while maintaining a world that reminds us of the haberdasheries of yesteryear.

Another one of my french favorites is Lesage (here is an article about lesage) which does not have a web page.   They don’t need one!  They are the beading and embellishing house for all of Paris’ Haute Couture.  The Sewing Divas are on my blogroll and I found this great video on their site.  Only the second half is Lesage but the whole video is yummy.

 

Annual Sale Time.

In a week from today the 31st ANNIVERSARY SALE starts at my day job (Nancy’s Sewing Basket).  It starts at 25 % off all fabrics and works its way up to 31% off on the last day- Sept. 20th.  Yes we do take mail orders.  This is a frenzy- and regulars usually come in in advance to make a game plan as to what they are going to buy.  I have my eye on a creamy silk knit, a silk and cotton broadcloth with a brown circular design, and a super soft plaid shirting from Italy.

I am frantically trying to finish a garment before the sale starts- and (of course) I decide to use leather which is something that requires more patients and less frantic-ness then I seem to have at the moment so I am taking a break to vent about it.   My boss had this lovely idea back in April or May that we could all use the same pattern and interpret it any way that we wanted.  We landed on Vogue 1036, a jacket,  not because we all loved it but because it was generic enough that we had a lot of room to interpret.  The pattern was (for me) large through the shoulders and tight through the elbow.

Nancy’s gave us $75.00 dollars worth of fabric- which I promptly spent and more- leather. . . Sheesh!  Our customers will then have the opportunity to see if they can pair the right jacket with the right employee.  Sound fun and exciting right?   Now we are a week away from the sale and we are (and have been) all up to our eyeballs in all sorts of things (moving, wedding dresses, traveling, costumes, family) none of which have been the JACKETS.  As you can deduct- we are all frantically trying to finish our jackets.  

Speaking of finish- I have finished the flight attendant costume and it was pretty rad if I don’t say so myself.  I am not posting pictures because I will post the video from Expedia when it goes up.  I don’t even think they start filming until mid-September.

Hint! Hint!