Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
In the second episode of Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a maternity outfit for any type of occasion–their choice. Guest judge model/actress Rebecca Romijn said she was interested in a silhouette that suggested “pregnancy chic.”
For the rest of the season’s challenges, I’ll be switching models. So who did I pick this time?
I was a little disappointed when the challenge for the first episode of Season 6 of Project Runway was a red carpet look that showed innovation and the designer’s point of view. The last real design I did for Summer was a red carpet dress for the Oscars. Tim suggested that I visualize her at a much different awards show, and I realized that it was time to add a little bit of rock and roll to Summer’s look. So I took down her hair, grabbed some leather and tulle…
Can’t wait for Lindsey’s opening tonight, and it’s also the return of Project Runway. I don’t know if anyone else will do the challenges for dolls this year, but as for me…
The show has moved to Lifetime. Check your local listings, because tonight, there’ll be a two-hour All Stars show featuring previous designers. Then the first episode of the season airs, followed by a new thirty-minute show featuring the models of Project Runway.
Do you love dolls? Like to sew? Have some fabric and sewing notions lying around? Check out the LiveJournal group: LJ Runway Monday.
With a LiveJournal account (it’s free! you only pay if you want to upgrade your account), all you have to do is watch Project Runway (on Lifetime or online), complete that week’s challenge for one of your dolls, and post a photo of your doll wearing your design to the community. There may be “judges” dropping in to make comments, but there’s no win or lose.
All are welcome to submit photos and make comments. See you on the runway!
Saturday I was running errands when, for some reason, I found myself at a resale shop in the Heights. I was shooting pictures for another web site and found a few stocking stuffers (be afraid; you know who you are). A couple of little boys digging through some bins of toys were having such a noisy great time that I started watching them. And that’s when I realized that tossed into those bins were all kinds of goodies for me.
Of course I’m not planning to share them all today. Today you get my latest Mystery Barbie. I’ve put her in my Mystery Doll set on Flickr, where other doll collectors have been enormously helpful identifying dolls I don’t recognize.
Someone had been chopping at her hair. She was dirty and naked. I gave her a bath and shampoo. I dried her hair, cut a few random wisps, and added some product. This afternoon I made her a Little Black Dress of her very own. One thing I like about Barbies is that unlike the Top Models, they can wear the original Barbie shoes. I think when a doll has some bite marks on her ankles, that’s the least she deserves.
So here she is:
Model by Mattel
Fashion by Becks
Art by Timothy J. Lambert
From $1.50 to a million bucks.
Mattel and little girls’ moms, that’s who. Since Barbie celebrated her fiftieth birthday this year, I thought I’d bring out some of my vintage fashion for Mark G. Harris. In honor of your birthday, Mark, though you are much younger than Barbie, my Twelve Top Models want to remind you that being a classic has nothing to do with age. Poise, nerve, style, maybe a dry martini, and you’re set.
I’m putting photos of each outfit behind the cut, but anyone who wants to read more about the clothes–all of them are from the 1960s–can see descriptions on my public Flickr set.
Lynne has gone back to the Old Country for a few days (i.e., the Deep South), so we get to enjoy the company of the Green Acres dogs:
Little Blind Sparky and Minute the Great Armadillo Hunter.
Tom obligingly went through bins in the attic and garage looking for Barbie stuff OTHER than dolls. I’ll be posting about some of that later, but in the meantime, I found this scrap of honest-to-goodness 1970s fabric. I don’t know what I’ll use it for–it’s not much material–but I’m sure you’ll eventually see it on one of the Mattel Top Models.
Last week–or maybe two weeks ago–Tim and I were running errands, and I unexpectedly discovered a trove of fabrics for WAY cheap. (In fact, when the associate checked me out, she was exclaiming over one of the remnants that she’d missed when she was going through them. She and some others use them in quilts they make for the children at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Since I always run into the kindest people when I shop, it seems like I’d enjoy shopping, but I don’t.)
The picture below doesn’t feature the fabric she liked, but is one I bought that night. I decided to use it for a Barbie dress from a pattern circa early 1960s. The price is vintage, too: I made this dress for less than fifty cents. Doesn’t Tamala wear it like a million bucks?
It’s back! I listened to the three or five hordes of people who missed HDH the last two weeks, so here we are.
Poor flat-footed Barbie. My intention to cobble her some shoes hasn’t yet found a way into my schedule. Still, she has something to be happy about: this groovy little sofa and pillows I made for her and her friends.
If you respond in comments with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, Barbie–or whatever her name ends up being–will flip through 14,000 Things To Be Happy About for you.
As soon as I wake up.
Meanwhile, Marika seems to want me to sew again. Look what she sent!
Remember when I posted a photo of the Lime Slice Chick on the card that Marika sent me? A couple of days ago, she sent me another of those cards, this time the Orange Slice Chick, and it arrived on the same day that I got a card from Lynne of a glittery orange slice. Synchronicity! They now hang over the window that my desk faces, so I can enjoy them all the time. Thanks, y’all!
Since I was asked, ETA: The cards are from Papyrus and are actually “Mai Tai Girl” and “Margarita Girl.” There are several other “Girl” sets with flowers, food, and fashion. You can see many of them in various categories on their web site.
In the early 1990s, I finished some very significant things that taught me that I really can do it. But I backslide now and then, so I’m sympathetic to non-finishers–like Jandy in A Coventry Wedding, who isn’t an Aries but does share my affliction.
Sometime in the mid-nineties, when I finally unpacked and counted my dolls, I decided it would be a really Great Idea if they got all new clothes, especially since so many of them came to me naked from other people. To this end, I enlisted Lynne, who sews and is a longtime craft buddy. She doesn’t like to lay out patterns and and cut fabric, however, so once I found some patterns and chose a couple of dresses, I did that part. And then I got distracted Lynne came up with some crazy notion like, Why don’t we sew together, so I can teach you, then you’ll get twice the doll clothes!
I screamed on the inside, then for fifteenish years, those cut pieces got moved from one bin to another as I needed fabrics for other projects that didn’t involve sewing. Now and then I’d look at them and shudder, because I DON’T SEW. The patterns got wrinkled and torn. The fabric started looking like something Greg’s cat might have thrown up.
A few days ago, in some kind of ridiculous organizational frenzy, no doubt brought on by sleep deprivation, I was consolidating fabrics and doll stuff. Even though, okay, I do sew now, I had NO INTENTION OF DOING SO, at least not until August, when Project Runway resumes. I have other stuff going on, like writing and watching the drought destroy my yard.
Then I saw them again, those poor battered fabrics clinging by a few remaining straight pins to the pattern pieces.
I should just throw that stuff away, I thought. I can put the patterns back in their envelopes. Then I won’t be forever taunted by something else I didn’t finish.
A funny thing happened on the way to the trash…
Hope springs eternal for that half-finished cross-stitch project that’s been in the back of my closet since 1993.