Crepe crazy

So, the Colette Crepe dresses are just everywhere now. I love dresses, I love wrap dresses, and I love this dress too. But, I didn´t pay too much attention to this particular pattern, until I saw Laurwyn´s version! I´m so amazed by her variation, and the way she looks in her Crepe dress! I really really want to make myself one of these. The truth is, the pattern itself is pretty expensive for me (and it gets worse with the shipping price). So, I thought that I would try to make a similar dress with different pattern - probably the same one as I made the Josephine dress with, as the bodice is quite similar to the Crepe bodice (I think). I´m certainly not very good at sewing, but I hope I could accomplish this. I´m going to look at Gertie´s sew along for some tips and help. I don´t really know how to make the skirt yet - it seems like an A - line with a seam in the middle...? The top of the skirt is probably curved then... Hmm, to make things worse I plan to make this dress out of my husband´s old caftan-y shirt; very long and big (funny story will follow! stay tuned :).
If you have some ideas or knowledge that could help me, please share! I´m grateful for any kind of information :).

oh, birthday...

It´s my birthday today! I turned 28. Wow! Nobody´s getting younger, right? :) I´m fine, I think. I enjoy doing what I want - in the evenings (during the day I have to care about my daughter, but she´s a great kid so I´m ok ;). I want to try so many new things: I started to make my first quilt yesterday, and I want to try embroidery (I did that when I was a child and loved it), but the store didn´t have what I needed, so I´m waiting (it´s not very easy for me to just go to another store or town. or just go to a shop, really). I´ve seen many great films recently, few older biographic films about painters, but some new ones, too. Which gets me to... painting! I´m very inspired to paint, but realizing it is somehow difficult. I´m a bit frustrated, it´s almost the end of february and I haven´t finished anything... I have to make some progress real SOON.

Josephine dress

I made this dress recently, it was such a quick project. I wanted to make a sweet pinkish flowery dress for a while, so this is the result (I love pink lately). I bought the fabric mainly because of the name :). A collection of fabric called Josephine? I had to have one of those. I loved this pattern in recent Burda (101/2/2011), but I´m a bit dissapointed by it. But maybe it´s because of the fabric choice... I´m afraid the fabric is not quite right for the dress, but I´m not sure. The biggest issue is, that it´s quite roomy around the neckline and kind of "stands out". I didn´t follow the instructions and simply made facings everywhere, so maybe it´s my fault? Anyway, I think by all means the neckline is very low... and wide. I´m probably going to wear some kind of nice camisole under the dress, otherwise I feel odd. I´m not used to this kind of dress: the neckline and waistline are low; the other dressed I made had neckline higher and different waistline (more like an empire waist). But, I would probably like it on someone else, so maybe I´ll get used to it. The sleeves are too short for my taste, too. If I make this pattern again, I´m going to make them bigger.
I altered the dress so that it is a bit looser in the bodice, because I didn´t want to add the zipper. I like that I can simply put it on over my head and actually like the looser shape better (I think!). This is my first spring dress. It´s snowing outside and really cold, so into the wardrobe it goes. I´m looking forward to wear it with my brown military sweater for nice contrast.

Frida

I´ve seated my Frida on the piano! It´s the perfect place for her :).
photo by my husband.

project living room

As you know, I was very unhappy with our bookcase. I started to hate the dark colour and planned to paint it, but... then I got another idea! I simply turned the painted side so that it faces the wall, ha! :) Now only the bare wood is visible, and it looks much better. I emptied the whole bookcase (so many books! exhausting!), vacuumed every single book, cleaned the bookcase, took some of the LP records to the attic (we don´t have record player anyway) and put the books back.
I love our yellow lamp - I found the shade in my grandmother´s garage. She never got a stand for it, therefore she never used it (for 20 years!) and gave it to me. I bought the lamp stand in Ikea and this lamp is what I love most in our place (I mean, in the furniture and decorating area ;).
night view

my first leather bag!

I finished my leather bag! Wohoo, I´m so happy. I really wanted to make a leather bag myself. Very practical one, with zipper and adjustable strap. I was very inspired by rennes and reMade USA - couldn´t decide between two designs, so I took ideas from both :). I wanted to make a recycled bag, and as I´ve written earlier, my friend gave me old leather pants (quite narrow ones) to do that. I didn´t love the colour at first (I´m more into darker colours), but than it grew on me (and, isn´t it a kind of a fashion "rule", that "older" women should wear more light colours? ;). I struggled with the shape and construction for a while. Than, I just decided to let the material do what it wants! I cut it all apart again and made it differently, and simplified the design. It´s a very simple shape, but, believe me, it was a lot of work... However, working with leather is easier in some ways - no need to finish the edges! That´s great, just the straight stitch all the time :). I´m so proud I made the adjustable strap with the same material - the first I´ve ever made, and the zipper (zippers are difficult for me). The short handles are mainly decorative, but they can be useful sometimes I guess. Another great thing is that I used almost every bit of the leather. That´s satisfying. I had some problems with the lining, I can use some tips how to attach it. In the end I sewed it in by hand. That round badge I got for free from one seller at fler.cz with another puchase. It´s not my style (and maybe not right for the bag), but again, I started to like it with the time. Also, lately I´m very much into girlier things and clothes.
Next, I plan to make a bigger black leather bag out of a jacket I already have! I hope with thicker needle and thread I will be able to sew it with my poor machine...

Frida doll finished!

I finished my Frida Kahlo doll! I´m so happy :). I´m a little bit obsessed by Frida and wanted to have one of my own :). This was so far my most difficult doll to make. The face took me a lot of time to paint. She´s quite tall (taller than my previous dolls), has high heels and red nails. And a tear... I bought the small female deer toy few days ago (I love deers), and then realized it´s perfect for Frida (she had a baby deer as a pet). The clothes are quite shabby... I tried to recreate the traditional mexican style dress, but the bodice was hard to sew.
I´ve been at a big Frida Kahlo exhibition in Wien last October, and it was so great. There were her dresses and jewellery on display, too, and I loved to see them! I´m a big fan of Kahlo´s paintings (and they inspire me at my own painting, too).
To make this doll I was mostly inspired by the wonderful Duh buh duh dolls, as well as some other artists all around the blogs. I´m not sure where to put her... the doll can be hanged, but I have to figure out the right place. I´m planning my next doll, but the sewing part is so discouraging. There is a lot of handsewing included, and it just doesen´t look right, when the dress is more complicated. But I´m very happy with the hair! There is a braid too, but can´t be seen very well.

Play

We went to a great interactive art exhibition "Play" by Petr Nikl (and co.). It´s an exhibition where anyone can touch anything, play with things, move them, make sounds... it´s made so that you can use all your senses; touch, see, hear etc. I loved it! It was HUGE, there were so many objects and little "playgrounds", where you could sit and play with various materials, you could place things on the walls and write there, there was a huge round mirror, that could be moved around... incredible! So many playful things, so much creative energy in one place. Sadly we didn´t have that much time while I was there with Marie, and she was tired soon. There was one particuarly lovely "object" called "The snow queen"; few small white "hills" that you could lit by turning them (see last picture). I would want to go there again, as it was really too much for one visit (and there were so many people and children... maybe afternoons are less crowded).
And we went to our friend´s art exhibiton´s opening - Michal Novotný aka MICL; this time he painted a set of nature themed paintings - river, cows, fields, flowers... My favourite painting is this one. Peaceful! (The photo turned out somehow yellowy.)

Sandra´s new flat

Have you seen Sandra Juto´s new Berlin flat? It´s so amazing! I just love all that dirt, shabby walls and floors, old doors, the colours, and most of all, the whole energy of the place. It´s like it´s waiting eagerly to be cleaned, tidied up, painted, decorated... I enjoy looking at these "before" photos as much as I´m looking forward to seeing how will Sandra and Johan renovate it. Who doesen´t want an old, romantic Berlin flat? I certainly do! :) These pictures are so inspiring to me. Some time ago, I´ve painted our living room walls a nice gray, but only a half of the room (the rest is filled with bookshelves and a piano whis makes it super difficult to move and paint). I have to get it done some time! Also, two of the bookshelves are painted in not so nice dark gray, almost black... I liked it at first, but now I would really like it to be painted in some nicer, brighter colour. And the last thing I want to do, is to have upholstred our two chairs. They look awful because of the fabrics, but otherwise are so nice. It´s a shame we haven´t done that yet. So, these are my plans... I´m not one of those people who like to renovate all the time... or get new things often... but I like to change paints and fabrics, when they feel sad and ugly to me.
It will be a while till I get to this, but wish me luck! :)

few bad photos

My dirty palette... I like to let the colours from previous painting on the palette for some time and enjoy that the work is finished. Right before I paint a new one, I clean the palette and it feels great :). Sneak peak of my bag... beige and navy zipper. I hated the beige at first, as I´m more into darker colours, but I like it now. We borrowed this cute horse from our friends! Marie loves it. And I like to look at it, it´s just the perfect accesory to the room :).

sewing...

Just a quick hello from me. I have nothing new to show you, but I´m busy working on my leather bag and a new doll. Everything is coming together so slowwwlyyyy, and I´m afraid the results won´t be as I imagined... but I´m trying and enjoying it. Besides that, I make illustrations for two small magazines, once a month per magazine. It´s not much work, but still takes up quite a lot of my limited free time, so it takes me so much time to finish my own projects...

diy necklace with a bow

A friend of mine bought beautiful necklace (beads) with gorgeous bow. I like bows, they´re so feminine. Her beads were tied in lace, and with the bow, it looked very romantic. Unfortunatelly, I couldn´t find anything similar in shops... so I decided to make it myself. I bought simple pearl necklace and I got a beige ribbon in haberdashery (is that even a word?) and made this necklace. I sewed the bow in place so that it won´t untie. We are going to a ball tomorrow and I plan to wear this.

skirt and paintings

I finished my skirt! Hurray! I love it, the fabric is so beautiful. It´s perfect with my red tights. I can´t wait for warmer weather to wear it... It took me a while to make it, because I´ve been doing so many other things. I have to say, I hate zippers, and changing the machine´s feet. More about this skirt in my burdastyle studio :).
I´ve been to two great art exhibitions recently: czech artists Pavel Brázda and Václav Boštík, both pretty famous. I loved both, they were completely different. Vivid, neon colours, figures and relationships by Brázda; lyric, abstract, light geometric paintings by Boštík. They both inspire me so much. Pavel Brázda is still alive, 84years old, and yet he makes so youthful paintings, he´s hardworking, uses computers and digital technique... impressive.
(pictures: first two Boštík, other two Brázda, my skirt :)

snail

I got this beautiful shell from my husband. I call it "snail". I love it :).
I´m on a hunt for a perfect leather bag... I got an old pair of leather throusers from a friend, cut those apart and I´m trying to sew this leather purse/bag from it. But it´s difficult and there is not enough material. Also, a friend bought me a leather jacket (I just told somewhere I want a leather jacket, this man went to Hamburg and bought one second-hand jacket for me there! Incredible :), but so far I don´t want to cut into it (as the first one is still in process). The jacket leather is quite thick too and I don´t know if I´m able to sew it with my sewing machine.
I´ve seen a great bag on etsy recently, but it´s a lot of money... And it would be kind of a failure for me to buy the bag, when my first goal is to make it :/. I´m inspired by rennes bags, too, but I want mine to have an adjustable strap (it´s more practical in winter and thick coats...).
The pictures: rennes bag, bag from etsy I love, reMade USA bag (great bags made from old leather jackets)

František Skála

Ok, I can´t say how much I love this guy. There´s so much to love about him that it almost can´t be thrue. I would send him an email to say I love him, if it was possible. Apparently, this man doesen´t have an email adress (good for him! this way I can´t spam it! :), nor a website of his own (you can find his work online, but that´s not the same...). Also, if it´s still thrue, he refuses to own a car, a cellphone, and a computer, I guess :). These facts amaze me. How can one live like that these days? However, he´s successful and famous in spite of this strange lifestyle, and even says he couldn´t make the kind of art he makes if he lived differently (the way most people live). In his opinion, if you manage to not "use" all those cars, computers and internets, you will be more creative and sensitive to art and its ways. Years ago, he WALKED to Venice biennale (an international art exhibition), all the way from Czech Republic to Italy. This journey took him many many days; he slept mostly outside and carried just his backpack. During the way, he wrote and illustrated a diary, which he then showed at the exhibition... and they loved it there, of course. I only found one decent picture from this diary, I wish there were more online! It´s not only the art, but a whole way of life, philosophy, everything he does and makes is connected. Besides sculpting, painting, illustrating, F. Skála is also a musician; he sings, playes a guitar, dances, is actor in a theater, and looks great! :) (He also participates in few groups and clubs...) Concerning his sculptures or objects, he mainly creates them from found old things and materials, and also sculpts them from natural materials like sea weed or palm leaves. There are many combinations of unexpected things, times, materials and ideas with nostalgic and playful spirit. But there´s certainly more than that (and it´s not possible for me to write about it in a proper way), this art reminds us that this life (or world) won´t last forever and it´s so fragile. It´s just full of kindness and love for life.

Also, he has two very talented children, František Antonín and Alžběta - I envy them badly :). I wish I could study art, too, and paint, illustrate, create for living. Well, at least I can paint, draw and create, just for myself and my friends...