Author Archives: lholy

Giveaway winner!

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Hello! It’s now May 27 and I guess you’re all wondering who won the giveaway. First I want to say a big thank you to all who took part in it and left nice comments. I was happy to see that most of you took the time to leave a little something book related. I read each of your comments as I received them and it was really fun to read about what you like to read, which authors you recommend or the little stories you shared. Some books and authors I know and love also,others I don’t know and will check. So thanks to all!

It was my very first giveaway and I have to say it’s hard not being able to send the cover to each one of you. ^^; But it’s how it works (and I don’t have enough of the two fabrics to make another identical one), so here is our winner as decided by random.org:

I contemplated going with little papers with your names on them, and having my husband pick the winner from a hat while I was taking pictures, but even if Random.org is less fun we thought it best so that we wouldn’t waste paper. Commenter 27 is Snoodles:

Congratulations! :) I love old books too, love the smell and the nice covers. I have to say I’m more drawn towards sewing or fashion related old books though. I’ll send you an email to get your shipping info.

Now as promised it’s my turn to share something, since you all did. If you can understand French I advise you to go read the French version of this post (just click on the French flag at right), since I’m talking about a book I loved. This book is only published in French, so it didn’t seem fair to talk about it here, since you can’t read it. Instead I’ll give you a very happy book-related memory. Reading is something we love in the family. And both my father and I really like science fiction books. When I was in highschool a friend of mine’s mother was working with an antique dealer. One day she tells me that he received what seemed to be the whole content of someone’s library, with only sience fiction books, and maybe we would be interested. You bet we were! We took an appointment with him, and since it was during the week I was allowed to skip school (something my father never allowed!) and go with him to check the books. We came back home that day with the car chock full of boxes, themselves full of books. We removed the back seats, so you can guess that even if the car wasn’t very big, it was still a lot of books. We spent weeks after that browsing through the books and choosing which ones we’d keep and which ones we’d give away or sell. I got to keep many books that my father wasn’t interested in. I still haven’t read all of them. ^^; It is one of the best book related memories I have!

I hope you liked this story, and again a big thank you to everyone who entered! And if you sew yourself you might want to come back next week as I might have something interesting concerning this book cover…

New page: pattern brands list

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Thank you to all those who entered the giveaway so far, leaving nice and interesting messages. ^_^ You officially still have until 5p.m. Pacific Standard Time tonight to enter (that’s about 2a.m. here in Paris…).

Today I’m adding a new page to the site, which provides a list of pattern brands I know. A colleague and friend of mine recently started sewing. We have sewing sessions at my place every wednesday, it’s really nice. It’s fun to have a sewing buddy with whom I can talk about blogs, patterns, outfits, fabrics and all without being afraid of being boring, and to go fabric shopping with during lunch break sometimes. Since she’s new to sewing she doesn’t know much about pattern brands and was asking me for some info and some links. I thought it would be nice and useful to have such a list here. I can give the link to her, go back to it later if I’m looking for a pattern company’s website and anyone who stops by can read it and maybe discover new interesting patterns! I tried to organize them by types for easier search. I’ll add new pattern brands as I discover them. And of course if you want to share a pattern brand you know that isn’t in the list, please leave a comment on the page. You can even add some background info or customer feedback.

The link to the page can be found just under the header image.

Giveaway Day!

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Edit from 27/05/2012: the winner is Snoodles! Go check the full post here.

Edit from 26/05/2012: the giveaway is now closed! I’ll draw a winner and announce it here during the week-end. Thank you!

Here it is! Today is May 21st, also known as Giveaway Day! It’s also a big day for this blog as it moved and just got its own hosting and domain name. :) It had been in my mind for some time. At first I was thinking about doing it for it’s third birthday next week, but when I discovered the date of the new Giveaway Day I decided to rush things a little. It will be much easier to read, as the French and English versions are now separated (but it’s easy to switch between the two with the language buttons!). There might be a few things to tweek still, but I think I solved most minor problems that appeared after the move and this blog is ready for you. ^^ So, in honor of my blog getting back to life before its anniversary and getting its own domain, and also just because it’s fun, here is my giveaway for Giveaway Day. My first giveaway!

I’m offering a book cover that I made especially for this occasion. The pattern was inspired by similar book covers I saw in Japan. I’ve been using one myself since last summer (when I first drafted the pattern), and I have to say it’s very useful. I go to work by train each day, so I always carry a book in my bag, and they are now nice and protected thanks to this.

It is meant for small books (paperback books I think in English, right?). It’s based on French books but since the british/amercian books I own are smaller than my French ones, it should be okay for most books. The size is adjustable: there is a flap that you fold around the front of the book and then maintain with an elastic. That way you can still use the same cover even if you have books of different thicknesses. There is a bookmark that match the front fabrics so that you can find where you stopped easily. The cover can be washed: it’s made of different cotton fabrics (even the inside lining) and all have been prewashed to prevent shrinking.

So how can you win it? It’s very easy: just leave a comment on this post. Any comment will do, but if you want to leave something nicer, I’d love to read anything book-related: a book or author that you recommend and why, a book-related memory, when you enjoy reading the most, what style of litterature you prefer, a book-related accessory you like… If you do I will also find something book-related to share when I announce the winner. ^_^ Comments are open until early morning on the 26th (since it’s UTC+2 here) and the winner (randomly chosen) will be announced by the 27th. The giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world.

And make sure to go check all the other giveaways on Sew Mama Sew’s blog!

Event : Giveway Day

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I wanted to make a small annoucement about an interesting event: next Monday (May 21) is the next installment of Sew Mama Sew‘s Giveaway Day! If you don’t know Sew Mama Sew, it’s an online fabric and pattern shop. They also built a community with a forum and an interesting blog full of information and tutorials, and host giveaways there regularly. And twice per year they organize a worldwide event called “Giveway Day”. Anyone anywhere in the world can organize a giveaway on that day, and they will list all participants on their blog so that they can be found easily. It has to be related to crafting of course, and to follow their guidelines. So head on over there on Monday for chances to win lovely things and discover new interesting blogs. And if everything goes well, there might even be something to see around here too…

Pocket mirror pouch

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Hello! Before I continue with another longer post with more things to read, I thought a picture sewing-related post was in order! Sadly I didn’t have enough time at the end of 2011 to make lots of nice handmade Christmas gifts, but I did manage to make one: a little pouch for a mirror I was giving to my sister for Christmas.

The shell fabric is a medium/heavy weight cotton for durability and sturdyness. The lining fabric is a Liberty Tana Lawn (I don’t know this print’s name), so that it’s pretty on the inside and soft against the mirror. The lining folds on the main fabric at the top to add a decorative band.

The front is embroidered and adorned with two buttons. One is purely ornamental and the other is also functional: the pouch closes with a loop that goes around the central button.

It is based on very simple shapes: both the shell and lining are made of one fabric rectangle folded and sewed on the sides. The lining rectangle is longer in order to make the band. I used the mirror package, which seemed quite tight, as a guideline for my measurements. Here is a picture of the pouch with its mirror:

My sister seemed quite pleased with her present, it made me happy. And because I’m sure your wondering where the cute little mirror came from: it was designed by Adolie Day for La Marelle.

Back to a normal life

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Hello there! See, I haven’t forgotten this blog, my tiny crafty place of the Internet. I’m really sorry I haven’t been around for all those months. It’s not that I didn’t have anything creative to talk about, far from it. But time seemed to disappear so fast I didn’t have any left…

I feel it’s not that easy to come back after being away for such a long time. Of course, you can’t help but wonder if there will be anyone to read those words at the other end of the ethernet cable of Wi-Fi waves. Because sharing supposes a recipient. You’re unsure of what to say or how to say it. Should I explain? Should I start as if nothing happened with my latest project? I’ve decided in favor of going back smoothly, with something that would relate to what I talked about last summer. You might remember this beautiful gem I found at a backyard sale, the collection of a 1898 fashion & beauty magazine. It’s a real pleasure to browse and read and I’d like to share an excerpt with you tonight. Of course the magazine being in French, unless you can read this language you won’t be able to appreciate the original text. You will find an English translation after the scans, that I hope will be understandable. The language is probably a bit too modern, I lack knowledge in English from the end of the 19th century, but I hope it will still be enjoyable. A little glimpse of what they though was proper conduct then, and a clue as to what as occupied me those past months and kept me away from here.To the english translationOriginal text :

English translation :

Parisian life

Usage

Civil and religious weddings

Without a doubt, everybody is supposed to know, and everyone think they know what is to be done, what we should do when we get married, when we give our son or daughter in marriage, or when we’re simply invited to a wedding. However, how many mistakes are done by those exact persons who think they’re extremely knowledgeable in the worldly usage! It occurred to us that it would be useful and pleasant for our readers to remind them what they, their husbands and their sons must do, because it is usually women who are the guides and advisors in wedding ceremonies.

The civil wedding usually happens the day before the religious wedding. The fiancé go pick his bride at her parents’ home. She gets in the car with her parents, where she has the place of honor. The fiancé follows in a second car with his family. The bride and groom’s four witnesses then take a seat in cars supplied by the bride’s father. Besides, all of a wedding’s expenses are at the charge of the bride’s father. The bride enters the city hall with her father; the groom’s mother enters with him.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds exit together from the city hall and the husband brings the young woman to her car, where her parents are waiting to take her home. The husband goes with his father and mother, as he did on their way in.

Depending on the young couple’s wealth, even if the civil marriage is free, it is customary to give something to the city hall lads; this is the groom’s responsibility.

The religious wedding is the biggest ceremony. It occurs, most of the time, the day after the civil wedding. The guests, either through a letter or through vocal invitation, go to the bride’s parents place. Of course, the groom and his family arrived there first. The bride, who appeared at the last moment with her father and mother, goes into the first car. The groom follows in the second car with his own parents. The witnesses are in the third car. Young girls, even when there are two of them, shouldn’t go alone in the same car as men, except when they’re close family.

In the church, the bride goes with her father; the groom follows with his mother; then come the bridesmaids and best men, the witnesses and the guests. It isn’t necessary, of course, to remind you that ladies take the left arm of their partner. The father of the bride leads her to her place.

After the ceremony is over, the couple, together with their parents, receives their guests in the sacristy. Then the bride’s father usually offers a brunch at his house. The couple gets alone in their car, which should be, if possible, a coupé.

Bridesmaids and best men are chosen among brothers and sisters, cousins and intimate friends of the bride or groom. They are introduced to one another during the contract evening. The day after, the best man is to pay a visit to his bridesmaid family. The day of the religious wedding, the best man will go take his bridesmaid at her house, with a car. The same morning she would have received from him a pink bouquet with lace and white ribbons. In the company of an older man and lady, they will go to the bride’s place. The best men’s duty is to take care of the guests at the church and seat them properly.

The closest relatives of the bride among the bridesmaids and best men take care of the charity. The young man offers his right hand to the young lady, she takes it with her left hand and rests on it. The best man will carry her bouquet in his left hand. In the purse presented to the guest by the bridesmaid, only silver coins should fall.

During the week following the ceremony, the best man will pay a visit to his bridesmaid, in her family.

Cherished Collections: buttons and lace

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The moment I read about Casey’s project of a blog tour about collections, I knew I wanted to be part of it. I’ve always been collecting things since I was a little girl. I believe there is something that we could call a “collector mind or spirit” that some people have and others haven’t. Those who don’t can never understand the reason behind collections. And those who do tend to amass things. I have several consiously chosen collections that I have built over the years, and some that just kind of built themselves through gifts and unplanned buyings. It took me a while to decide what I was going to talk about. Of course just after my teaser post last Sunday I started a new sewing project that gave me a totally different topic idea. I actually started to write two versions of this post on totally different subjects. The more I thought about it, the more I felt the new version was a better match for this blog tour. So I’m switching subjects and keeping my first idea in a corner of my head for a future post.

The collection I’m going to share is a treasure I discovered unexpectedly, not a collection I built myself, which is why I didn’t think of it as a suitable subject at first. It is hidden is those old boxes and tins. Can you guess what it is (you can actually see a glimpse of the content through the plastic boxes)? I didn’t when I first found them. They contain a nice collection of buttons!

To understand why it is special to me I have to explain how I came to have those boxes. When we arrived back in France in 2009 we were very lucky to find a temporary lodging among relatives. The people our house belonged to got too old to live by themselves so it was left empty, but wasn’t sold at first. We were allowed to live in there for some time in exchange for taking care of it. Those persons aren’t really blood relatives but I’ve known them since I was a child. I should say that the house hasn’t been emptied before we got there, so it was still full of its owners things. When we left we did a big clean up of all the rooms, going through everything. That’s when I discovered the tins, in a corner of the kitchen shelves. When I oppened them and found out what was inside I really felt like a child discovering a hidden treasure. I instantly called my mother to ask if I could keep them.

Full size pictures: First box – Second box – Third box – Fourth box

Because of this it is a “cherished” collection in many ways. First because I’m happy to have those buttons to turn to when I need some. And the fact that they have a history of their own makes them that little bit extra specials. But what makes them really special is whom they belonged to. That lady and I have absolutely no blood in common, but she saw me grow up and I love her as if she was my grand-mother for real. Not being real blood relatives make things a little less easy now she doesn’t live in her house anymore, especially since she’s now at the other side of France. So I feel happy to have her buttons, it’s like a special gift from her to me because I’m the only one who sews. And of course the last reason that make those buttons so perfect for this tour is that they have been someone else’s cherished collection before. It probably took her some time to amass all those buttons. Maybe she took some out of old clothes, she bought others, and slowly it became this collection I inherited. Isn’t it great?

There are different sizes and colours, although she seemed to like neutrals (light colors and blacks), blues and browns. Some of them seem to be the exact same design with slightly different colors. I wonder if it could be the effect of time on them or if they were different from the beginning. I love how she tied similar buttons together with a bit of thread! I never thought of that. I might do it with my other buttons. I included here a few pictures of some of the decorated buttons.

I’ll leave you with more eye candy and less talk. I took the opportunity to share another collection with you: my lace/crochet doilies and motifs collection. Those pieces come from various places (the first ones I got in Japan), some are vintage, others are new. I think the thing that started this addiction is this book which gave me new ideas on how to use lace. I love lace, I love how delicate and pretty it is. I’d love to use them as decorations in sewing projects (that’s the excuse I give myself when I buy them, I only get pieces I think I might use later).

Edit: I’ve decided to include all the doilies pictures here instead of directing you to Flickr. ^^There are not so many so the post won’t be too long and it will be easier for you.

Thank you for your visit and be sure to go to Casey’s blog to check all the other wonderful entries to the tour. ^_^

Blog tour teaser

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I’m happy to announce that I will be part of Casey‘s blog tour “Cherished Collections”. So please come back here on July 22 (that’s my assigned date, next Friday) to learn more about one of my collections. I’m trying to prepare something fun and sewing related but still a tiny bit different from what you usually see around here.

In the meantime I suggest to those who don’t know Casey yet (is this possible?) to go take a look at her blog, Casey’s Elegant Musings. It’s always an interesting and inspiring read, with pretty outfits, vintage finds, tutorials, little pieces of advice and anything you need to get your sewing/styling fix. ^^

Lucky finds n°1

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The past couple of months I’ve been doing a few garage sales. I’m not a regular visitor of yard sales and flea markets, but I’ve been thinking about it more and more lately. Seeing all the gems people find at such sales (especially in the US it seems) has motivated me to go and look for old sewing related things. I was lucky to have several of such sales organized where I was spending time during the week-ends. My first “hunt” was on French Mother’s day, on May 29th. We went to have lunch with my mother, and just as we arrived in her town we saw a big sign for a yard sale happening just that day. We did a little family trip there after eating, and I have to say it was an excellent idea, as I came back with two wonderful items!

Wonder n°1

This engraving (which I got with the frame) is from the old French magazine “La Mode Illustrée”. The frame isn’t in the best shape but it’s useful as a protection for the plate. I’ll see if I keep it or not. I think this would be lovely hung on the wall of my sewing corner. ^_^

Wonder n°2

 

This is a collection of magazines called “Le journal de la beauté” (“Beauty magazine”) going from November 28, 1897 to November 1st, 1898. The binding is a little damaged and some pages are folded or have small rips, but it’s a real gem!When I saw this big book with its unusual size and the year engraved on the edge, I instantly thought of the old fashion magazines collections I had seen at antique bookshops. And I was right! I was so happy when I opened it.

It was love at first sight. All those drawings, the old-fashioned texts and pieces of advice, it’s just perfect! I intend to take my time and fully enjoy this book, picking little bits of texts here and there, savoring the insights of what life was at that time and the wonderful outfits.And as if this wasn’t enough, I found a small bonus hidden at the end of the book: a piece of paper taken from “Le Petit Echo de la mode”, which seems to be from the 30s (although I’m no specialist of this time period, so I could be wrong). I don’t have any picture of it yet, I found it afterwards. I’ll show it later.The best part of this is that the whole lot cost me… 3 euros! Since I’m used to prices on Ebay or specialized shops in Paris I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve been so lucky!! I’m really happy I found those items. The only problem is to find where to put this wonderful but huge and fragile book. ^^; Of course this got me totally hooked on yard sales and I after that I wanted to go to more, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t get that lucky each time. We have an expression for this in French that says it’s beginner’s luck. I’ve done other sales since this first one and for now I’ve always found something interesting, although I have to admit not as impressive and uncommon as this book. But this will be the subject of a future post.

Ribbon skirt

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Today I’m sharing a simple skirt I made a few months ago. I didn’t want to post it for some time, because it’s not a totally completed project (I’ll explain why below), but since I’m wearing it a lot lately, I want to share it anyway.

It was a really simple project that I made without a pattern: a rectangle skirt with an elastic waist. The only trick is that since I wanted it to be really full at the bottom but not have a very thick waist, I made it a tiny bit more complicated that just a piece of fabric + an elastic. The skirt is made of two pannels cut in the whole width of the fabric. I started by gathering and attaching the skirt to a waistband about the size of my hips, and then added elastic inside this reduced waistband. It’s not as elegant as with a “flat” fixed waistband, but it’s more comfortable. ^^ The side seams are french seams and the hem is a machine-made invisible hem, for a nice finishing touch.

To make it a little bit fancier I decided to add a detachable bow of the same fabric. I think the shape of the finished skirt reminded me of the skirts japanese women tend to wear and that inspired the bow. It’s exactly the kind of details you see in japanese fashion that aren’t so common in western countries (I think). I love this girly touch, and the skirt looks different depending on whether I add the bow or not, more elegant or more casual. I’m really happy with this project even if it was quite simple. It’s a real pleasure to wear, I feel pretty and feminine in it. I wanted to make other accessories to try and create a whole look, but I haven’t done anything more yet. We’ll see if I add something in the future.

I got the fabric on sale in Japan a short time before I left for France, in 2009. The funny thing is that I was planning on using it quickly! ^^; I loved the embroidery/lace motif and the rich brown color. Since the fabric isn’t very thick (meaning it can be a little see-through) and it’s 100% cotton (meaning it will cling to my tights in winter), I had bought some lining fabric to go with it and line the skirt. And here comes the part where the skirt isn’t really done yet: I mixed up the steps when I attached the gathered skirt to the waistband, which made it impossible to add a lining properly. Since I didn’t want to undo everything, I decided to leave the skirt as is and make a separate petticoat/half slip (not sure if there’s a difference between the two words) with the lining fabric. And of course I still haven’t made it to this day. It’s not really needed for summer (the skirt isn’t that much see-through), so I guess I’ll make it this autumn if I need it. ;p

PS: the lovely shoes I’m wearing in those pictures come from Eram, I bought them on sale last winter. They’re made of three shades of brown (the last one being almost burgundy).