Van Gogh

I found this vintage smock at an estate sale.  I bought a bunch of craft supplies and doo-dads at this sale, all the while wishing I had somehow known the woman whose house I was in.  I think she and I would have been good friends.

The Key to Myself

So, now it's summer, and while my quilt repair biz keeps me busy enough, the costuming biz is pretty well on hiatus until the next season begins.  With the "extra" time, I've begun sorting and organizing closets.  It actually feels marvelous on the inward, emotional level.  It's great to jettison stuff and see how I'm moving on with Life.  It's great to feel a bit (every little bit helps) more in control of Everything.  And the walk down Memory Lane is really fun.

A Lovely Crazy Quilt

This great Victorian crazy quilt was brought to me as a top.  I replaced one missing corner area with a brown silk, covered several worn pieces with crepeline to protect the fraying fabrics, backed it with a black cotton, and bound the edges with a brown silk.

Here is a square with several crepeline-covered pieces - the white piece on the left, the two central light pieces, and the one on the lower right, where the broken silk is very easy to see.  From this photo, you can get an idea of how nearly invisible the fine crepeline silk is.

Lovely Tablecloth

This lovely tablecloth was rescued from the bottom of some huge piles at an estate sale. Hooray for salvage operations!

I'm finding myself drawn to all sorts of textiles and other art with a multi-color, full-spectrum palette.  So this cross-stitch embroidery is just the thing for me, really cheerful and pleasing.

Unique Vintage Dress and the Fashion Originators Guild

Here's yet another really cool vintage clothing item I have repaired for Basya Berkman Vintage Fashions.  It's a two piece outfit, a wool dress with matching wool and fur jacket, dating to the 1930s or 1940.

   

There are three stand-out facts about this outfit:

A Resting Place for Mr. Spenalzo

Remember reading recently about my adventures making the dead body for the recent production of Arsenic and Old Lace?

Well, I made him as a stuffed body that could be dressed differently and used again for some future production.  So on our recent costume put-away day, his clothes went back into the costume boxes along with the things worn by all the other actors.

Costume Put-Away Day

Last Tuesday, we, that is the Thin Ice Theater costume crew, held a big Costume Put-Away Day.  Our costume (and props) collection is stored at 3 houses, mostly in big plastic bins with some special items on hanging racks. You can read about the origins of our collection here.  And you can read about about how we've re-purposed costumes for each show:  The Importance of Being Earnest, You Can't Take It With You, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Little Women: Beth, Amy and Jo and Meg, and An Ideal Husband.  

Our task was to sort and store everything from the past 3 shows - Witness for the Prosecution, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Arsenic and Old Lace.  Lots!