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Los Olivos, California, United States
You can reach me at fool4fabric (at) gmail (dot) com

Monday, February 24, 2014

SICK LEAVE...

It's been THREE WEEKS since my last post! After the triumphal unveiling of my Isobel Marant wanna-be, I was exposed to the latest cold/flu/etc. and came tumbling down to real life, only worse. I don't get sick very often, for which I'm
exceedingly grateful, but when I do, it's a doozy. Anyway, I'm almost back to what passes as normal, and have some things to show and tell!

When I was in Santa Cruz in January, I bought some beautiful fabrics from Harts. Among them was a very interesting black knit with irregular "bobbles" on it. I was auditioning patterns for another jacket I want to make, and used this fabric with Vogue 8893, a Clare Schaffer jacket. The bobble fabric was a bear to sew, but I love it and I love the jacket...it's like a soft, very stylish cardigan.





I used plain black ponte knit for the bands. The collar sits away from the neck a little bit, and is very flattering.


Although I won't use this pattern for the jacket I have in mind, I'm delighted to
have discovered it, and I'm sure I'll make it again.

I also made another KS 3601 tunic out of a very lovely cotton fabric I got at 
F&S Fabrics in West Los Angeles when I was down there several weeks ago. It's a black/ivory window pane check;the
hang tag read 100% cotton, but it does not wrinkle, washed beautifully, and reminds me of that very high quality wool challis that used to be available. It was a dream to sew and I have a couple of yards left.


I am wearing one of my favorite pairs of earrings, ever...

Once upon a time, many years ago, I collected, among other things, doll eyeballs (trust me, you don't want to know WHY) and my friend, the artist Charlotte Valestra, made me a snappy pair of earrings. I named them "don't it 
make your brown eyes blue" and I love to wear them and see the look on people's faces when they see them. Yes, I'm weird....

Since it's still Monday, and I'm still visible, I am linking to Patti's Visible Monday
and joining more than 115 other visible women, SOME of whom must be weird, too...

29 comments:

  1. I was all, "are those EYEBALLS?!?" ;)

    Beautiful jacket and tunic. Love that windowpane fabric.

    Ah yes. My daughter has a super immune system. I have to steer clear of her when she is sick because if she is down it will take me OUT. Glad you're on the mend :)

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  2. What an enabler you are! I am bound and determined to have that Vogue pattern, and off to see if your fabric stores have an online presence...meanwhile, from what I've heard, 3 weeks is actually a pretty good recovery period for whatever it is that's going around.

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  3. I love that jacket - you're right, the neckline is insanely flattering! The earring are AWESOME! Just love the idea of people spotting them...and looking away, haha!

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  4. Oh, that jacket came out great, Margy! Too bad it was a bear to sew, but it was totally worth it! Your top looks great - I bet you will grab for it again and again. I am so glad your health is back!

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  5. Oh wow, that cardigan is AMAZING. As is the tunic. It's so rare to find that kind of beautiful fabric in off-the-rack pieces.

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  6. glad that you are on the mend, and OMG what fantastic earrings. You have not only superb inspiring sewing skills, but I keep being just astounded by your jewelery. Am I remembering that I saw a bracelet inspired by The Dark Is Rising some time back on your blog?

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  7. Seeing your finished projects is so inspiring. Beautiful as always. Glad you are feeling well now!

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  8. Glad you're feeling better - being sick is so exhausting! Lovely jacket and top, I always enjoy your fabrics so much.

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  9. Your jacket is beautiful. So stylish and classy!

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  10. All wonderful as usual. Sorry to hear you have been sick.

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  11. So sorry you were sick! That's such a drag on one's joy, isn't it? Love the jacket and tunic. Thanks for sharing with Visible Monday, you look marvelous.

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  12. I love the jacket on you! It's described as "loose fitting" on the pattern I believe, but your version looks absolutely perfect.

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  13. Welcome back to the world of the living, Margy! Thank you for this post. It's very timely for me, I'm doing the slow run up to making a little French jacket and this puts more amo in my tool belt.

    And, of course, it looks gorgeous on you! I like the idea of a jacket feeling like a soft cardy.

    And those earrings...yes!

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  14. I'm glad your back. I missed you. I love the jacket, the fabric and the neckline. Looks wonderful on you as does the tunic.

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  15. Beautiful jacket. Looks great on you.

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  16. Weird or not, I'm very glad you're feeling better:).

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  17. I have that pattern on my wishlist and now that I've seen yours, guess I better get it! I love the neckline as well. Your tunic looks great, too; heck everything you make looks great ;-). Glad you're feeling better.

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  18. So happy to see you back and feeling better. Your new pieces are gorgeous, as always. And the earrings are very interesting and unique; I can see why they're your favorite!

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  19. Welcome back to the land of the living, Margy! Your jacket is very nice - I want to touch the texture! And the earrings are very fun. If you're weird, I guess the rest of us here are too, huh?

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  20. Hope you are feeling better Margy! That California sun looks like it is being very kind to you. I'm loving that textured jacket; I've bought fabric in the past that has been difficult to sew. I try not to fall in love with the more challenging selections, although I am hungry for a lovely heavy lace to make a simple tank.

    Sounds as though you have access to some of the choicest fabric stores. The selection seems to be less and less up here in Vancouver.

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  21. Glad your're feeling better, Margy! Love that pattern - I have it, but haven't gotten brave enough to sew anything :) Your jacket turned out very nice!

    The tunic is great, too! Bought that pattern based on your recommendation from an earlier post. What did you use for the white edging? Great job!

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  22. What's not to like here? Absolutely nothing! You're brilliant

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  23. Weird maybe, but with mad skills and delicious taste! Both pieces are quite lovely, and you look fabulous in them.
    I'm so sorry you were ill. Every flu season, this evil bug gets nastier. Stay well, and enjoy your spring. Glad you're bace!

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  24. These pieces were worth waiting for!!! Love both of them!

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  25. Hope you're feeling much better. That fabric worked really well, and the finished project looks great.
    Those doll eye earrings are fun and fab.

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  26. So happy you are on the mend Margy. Love the Soft cardigan and the windowpane tunic. We are Slowly moving in a northwestern direction and making our way toward Oregon.
    Texas has been interesting.

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  27. Margy - So glad to know you're feeling better. That jacket is perfect on you. I can tell that the fabric isn't the most user friendly. You did a wonderful job... and I love the details on the tunic.

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  28. Margie, glad your back on deck. Love your new jacket - I bought this pattern last year and had that feeling 'this is sooo conservative ...why' feeling. Your post has completely turned that around.

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  29. This jacket is exquisite and I don't know when I last saw someone dressing so perfectly for her coloring. I can imagine it was difficult to sew but you did an amazing job and the fit is perfect. When my hair was brown but frosted, I knew my perfect colors. Now that I am graying, I am really thrown off because I am so pale and look dreadful in black but without brown in my hair, my beautiful rose browns don't work so well.

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