Hello friends!
Ack, is Thanksgiving really just around the corner? S has the Christmas songs on steady repeat already, and my ears definitely perked up when she told me a friend’s family has a “No Christmas music before December 1” rule. I am strongly in favor of this since, without Thanksgiving to signal the start of the “Christmas season,” Christmas gets a very early start here. I guess it does in the states, too, despite the Thanksgiving holiday.
In any case, I’m trying to get a head start on planning so we actually manage to accomplish the parties and things we’d like to do. What about you? What traditions and celebrations are you hoping to accomplish this year?
The kitties are resting up in advance of the festivities. Or maybe they’re always resting. It’s difficult to distinguish between the two.
Pinterest Picks
Last year we had a Christmas party at our house and hung newspaper snowflake garlands from the ceiling. Everyone loved it. This year I might add some white or gold paper vines like on the left, below. But these colorful linking garlands are so intriguing, too! Maybe I’ll save that idea for Valentine’s Day or for spring.
Here are two sweet ideas for little girls’ holiday dresses. Isn’t the Liberty patchwork dress a great idea? The pieces are sewn together with lace in between, which is also incredibly sweet. And of course you could use our Building Block Dress book to make the tulle dress on the right, edged with satin lace.
A much-needed reminder (to myself, if no one else) that color and winter aren’t mutually exclusive.
Thinking ahead to the make-your-own gifts concept for the holidays, I still love this easy yarn-wrapped pot idea for little kids to make. (I want a pot and don’t have a little kid to make it for me!) I also love the idea of giving someone a collection of carefully-selected books and wrapping them to coordinate. I might do this for S, who loves to read actual paper books. (I read largely on my Kindle these days, I confess.)
This weekend we’re getting a head start on the holidays with a gingerbread house we found at Ikea. When we lived in the States my mom would send us a home-baked house to decorate every year, so this is my closest approximation of that history. And S needs a fun project to distract her from studying for a bit; the parade of exams she needs to take between now and Christmas is daunting. Can’t wait to draw with icing!
Weekend Reading
- I really enjoy The Cutting Class posts, and this one that highlights details of the muslin, or toile, at Christian Dior is no exception. Have I ever told you about how I almost took a job as a draper at Carolina Herrera’s studio after I graduated fashion school? That would have been a really interesting career direction, I think, since it would have been a job exclusively developing toiles.
- It does, indeed, seem as though the suit is losing some of its draw as a status symbol and becoming more of an item to be worn when you’ve lost power.
- Crowd-sourcing to complete a quilt project that wasn’t finished in one lifetime. So sweet!
- This is so true. We’re all part of the problem when it comes to sustainability and apparel. Even if we sew most of our clothes!
- This made me laugh out loud. An etymologist reviews the accuracy of ant emojis. (“This ant moisturizes.”)
- Here’s a fascinating story about how the space suit came to be made by a company best known for making bras.
- Equally fascinating: costume design for the world of animation. Or, what will Elsa wear next?
- Here’s another one that made me laugh out loud: William Carlos Williams poems for introverts.
- How much do you know about culottes? I hadn’t really thought much about their history until I read this.
Have a great weekend, and we’ll be back next week. Masha will be featuring some of your sewing as well as something special that she made.
No Comments yet.