one of my students sings "champignon" all the time.  he doesnt sing a song about mushrooms--just the word champignon (i teach English to native french speakers).  he cracks me up.  ive always been drawn to mushrooms and often get teased about photographing them in our romps in the woods.  so this year, i decided to be a mushroom. 

there's no way i can afford fabric here, so i buy sheets at the salvation army for most of my sewing projects.  i can find really nice quality linen sheets sometimes, which is what this dress is made of.  i cut the pieces and, before sewing them, dyed them with coffee along with some lace i bought.  i wanted the ensemble to be uniform in tone but not in shade so i let the pieces soak for different amounts of time.  i made bloomers, a dress (i used the bodice from simplicity 2648), a tiered half circle skirt, a fishtailed half circle overskirt, a sort of ruffly dickie from an old buttondown and a jabot.  plus my mushroom hat.  i learned a lot about sewing hats.  lots of math.  the mushroom gills were made from a tree skirt used to protect our green friends in the swiss winter.  in fact, that was the inspiring bit of the costume.  i walked into the hardware store, saw the tree skirts, and promptly tried one on my head.  much to the horror of one of the shop employees.  underneath it all, i wore a red and white polka dot tulle petticoat i made last summer for our wedding. 

i find myself missing things from the US, and california in particular.  like taco trucks.  thus, this year for halloween, i decided to pay homage to one of my favourite things: sugar skulls


inspired by a vintage look, i bought a few sheets at the salvation army and started working.  i drafted the patterns, dyed, sewed, added ribbon, and embroidered. 


to fashion the embroidery, i spent time researching traditional mexican embroidery flowers and techniques.  i drew on the design with pencil and had a good time playing with my embroidery thread.  it had been a long time.


the roses were also made with fabric from the salvation army.  i ripped strips, cut a scalloped pattern and then burned it, gathered the straight edge, sewed the layers together, and used my handy glue gun to attach each flower to a hair clip.   

my boyfriend and i met in china, so i felt it was appropriate for our bedroom to wink at the middle country.  thus i decided to put some bamboo on our walls.  we cant paint, so i needed to do something that can be easily removed.  lo, contact paper is my friend!





it's a work in progress--got more to do in there, obviously, but it's a start.

i went to a comix festival in luzern and could not resist making a costume for myself even though my boyfriend assured me over and over and over that no one in switzerland does that.  well, im not swiss. and he proudly held my hand as i got shocking and/or stern look after shocking/stern look.  


106_9345 by cornie, on Flickr

i made the cape using the Easy Lacey Capelet on ravelry as a basic guide.  the face mask was born after i made my friend a hat for her cat using Sara Thomas's design and saw pure gold.  i improvised the hand mitts

106_9350 by cornie, on Flickr

random tourists photographed me, and i got raised eyebrows and a hubba hubba from some geek inside the show.  i generally enjoyed myself. screw those disapproving stares!


106_9329 by cornie, on Flickr

i recently moved into a glorious flat with an even more glorious bathtub.  i'd been sans bathtub for quite some time... 

i decided to make a bath pillow for my partner and i.  he takes long baths, reading and such, and i thought i should make us a present.  i decided to use some bathy ingredients--towels--and some waterproof heroes--fused plastic and duck tape. 

i fused a garbage bag and stuffed it with a folded towel, sewing the whole darn thing closed. 


i took another towel and, after folding it in thirds, sewed it like an envelope pillow cover. 


i cut off the edges of the fused plastic pillow insert and tucked it in to make sure it fit how i liked



next was putting a duck tape edging around the seams. i cut the tape corners to make sure the edging was tip top


flipping the cover flap is a little tight, but i designed it that way for more towel layers o' softness


aaaaaaand, voila!

(but no partridge in a pear tree)

tshirts for everyone!


12.10.10: holiday gifts by cornie, on Flickr

there has GOT to be a way to do this that's easier than what i've tried.  and prettier.  and, well, successful. 

my oven is small and wonky.  but i was determined to make pie.  what to do? use a jar!


mosaice3b783fe076e9 80ee313318cdedeb7a6 6f6fde5a by cornie, on Flickr

mosaicf63e380058ca9 7a1020963d3b5aaca19 52421270 by cornie, on Flickr

i got my inspiration from here: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html

i think my dad would be amused that for his birthday this year, i didnt take down all of my day of the dead altar but left up the part about him and lit a candle.  i'll dismantle it tomorrow.  my dad was an atheist. more than that, when he was young, my grammie went through a church phase--fire and brimstone protestantism, not catholicism.  but i've always been one for mix and match.  i mean, i have papers from china's tomb sweeping day on my altar too.  寿 can hang out with guadalupe.  it's fine with me. 


106_5404 by cornie, on Flickr

this year i made two sugar skulls--one is paper mache and the other is fabric (to be specific, a tea towel i got at the Armee du Salut).  my friend shawneemonkey inspired me to make the fabric one.  i printed out her pattern for the fabric skull and...

i pinned and sewed

stuffed it with scrap left over from my 
owl costume

slathered it with gesso

drew out my design

and painted it


he's a cute lil fella
 

why, im an owl

the dress and wings are made from thrifted sheets and pillow cases.


i made the mask based on an owl i randomly happened upon--he's the reason why i made the costume.  i thought he was rad. 


i wrote more about my ensemble in the costume contest zone....