more Little Women: Beth

A Plaid Dress for Beth

For this dress, like Amy's, I also needed to make undersleeves.  Also, the skirt was too short, so I lengthened it by adding a wide strip that matched the new sleeves.

more Little Women: Amy

A Sweet Dress for Amy

This dress had the odd set-up of a (worn-out) velcro closure on the front, and a (broken) zipper on the back.  Let's just say, it was pretty hard to wear in its original state.  I took off the old velcro and closed the front seam.  I replaced the zipper in back.

Then, it came to restyling the dress more in keeping with 1860s fashion.  I took off the lace.  I took off the sleeve cuffs.  I found a super good match in a remnant fabric.

more Little Women: Aunt March

Here's Aunt March wearing the vintage black lace blouse discussed in a previous post.

(And yes, the actress is really just 13 years old.....)

I Never Really Did Like That Pattern

My longtime friend Leigh Gaitskill used one of my quilts to illustrate a recent post on her blog.  Thanks, Leigh!!  Leigh is a yoga and spiritual teacher with many years of practice and healing and learning.  You can read her post, about how we may have hidden the diamond heart, our central spiritual essence, at:  http://bluegrassnotes.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/living-from-essence/

I Never Really Did Like That Pattern

Here's my artist statement about the quilt.  Yes, it certainly has many similarities to the concepts that Leigh is describing.

A Beaded Wedding Dress

Here's a vintage dress I worked on for my friend's Etsy shop, Basya Berkman Vintage Fashions - http://www.etsy.com/shop/BasyaBerkman

This beautiful, 1940s beaded wedding dress is in nearly perfect condition, save for some snags in the net yoke.  Rather than try to remove beads, replace the net, and re-bead, we decided that I should try adding new beads to cover the snags.  The rolled edge neckline was a bit tattered as well, and I decided to roll it once again.

For the Record - Photographing My Quilts

I photographed my marvelous bog quilt, in the hour or so between the sky clouding over and the winds and rain beginning.  I get the best results by photographing outdoors in natural light.  That means, I have to wait for the right weather conditions to materialize, and then be ready to drop everything else and head outdoors.  I need:

1. a day that's overcast, so the lighting is diffuse (minimizing the texturing of the quilting so the design of the quilt shows well)

It's Done!

It's done!  It's done!  The fen quilt is all finished!

It will be hanging this coming weekend at the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Botanic Garden up in Glencoe:  http://www.fineartoffiber.org/.  That's what I needed, a deadline, and now it's done.  Nothing like a deadline to make things happen.

In celebration of this great event, here is a tour of my rendition of the landscape and the creatures who dwell there. I am so happy!