dewy morning light

Call me completely obsessed with Pinterest, but these are a few of my latest pins and there's something I love very much about how they look together. They reflect my style perfectly. A little bit of pink, some sheer, dip it in sparkles, beautifully natural and fresh floral arrangements, a sweet and nostalgic air, some reading - and you've got me swooning.

It's turning out to be a cold weekend but I am daydreaming of spring, sheer dresses and cool afternoon breezes.

Lately 05: Instagram edition

Happy Friday! Today I bring you some snapshots from my instagram. These are a few of the little things that have been brightening up my days lately.

Have a lovely weekend. ♥

Illustration: Recent work

This is an illustration that I was commissioned last month. It was created based on a poem by an up and coming poet called Lydia Beardmore about a ten day silent meditation retreat she went to in India. This drawing was created to serve as accompanying visuals in a a poetry and modern word project featuring up and coming spoken word performers and short story writers. 

I shared some photos (1, 2, 3) on instagram while I was working on this project.

Happy Friday!

Pretty Things 01: Hand Sewing Antiques

{ one / two / three / four }

A little obsession has sparked within me this weekend. I was making my jacket and a 6 hour power outage right when I was planning on sewing drove me to the idea of sewing the collar by hand. I had already done all of that pad stitching so, what the heck! I went for it.

So there I go. One, two, three back stitches. Twenty back stitches and, I am loving it! It felt like every single stitch was just as important as the last, that my attention and care to each one of them would ultimately make up a polished and strong seam that would hold the collar in place. I didn't feel rushed or any pressure to get it over with. It didn't feel tedious or boring either. it felt... special. I say special because, during every stitch, I was thinking about seamstress back in the day who used to make whole garments by hand with so much care and grace. Also, it made me feel a little bit more connected to my grandma who used to sew like nobody else I've ever seen.   

This experience made me even more excited about making well-crafted, good-quality staple garments that have a longer life than a trendy piece that doesn't last as long both fashion and quality wise. It also got me a bit obsessed about antique sewing items and I ended up finding some stunning treasures! 

{ five / six / seven / eight }

Cherry-blossoms

I don't do this on the blog very often but I had to post this gorgeous cover and editorial for UK Harper's Bazaar June 2013 Featuring Carey Mulligan and photographed by Tom Allen. 

The moment I first saw the cover online my jaw dropped. Most times, magazine covers don't resonate with me very much because they are not usually my style. What tends to happen is, either I'm not really into a cover or, I think it looks nice and then move along to the inside. But this, THIS is perfection to me. I love how ethereal, sweet and pink it is. 

This whole Great Gatsby fever (I'm totally on board, by the way) has me crushing on Carey lately and this editorial just took it to the next level. It is ridiculous how much I love it. But gushing aside, they did a much better job than Vogue's recent cover. That just spelled out train-wreck to me. They did make it up with the beautiful editorial, though. But I still think they went a bit overboard with the eye makeup. That's one thing I love about Harper's Bazaar's editorial - the minimal makeup. Carey looks stunning! 

These are my favorites from the Vogue issue:

But Harper's Bazaar's wins my heart with that gorgeous cover. Now, if only I could get my hands on this issue.

Happy Friday!

Chloe Jacket Sewing Update

You might remember seeing my first post about this project last month. I have been slowly putting together this jacket. 

Here's the muslin I made to try the pattern that I drafted for this jacket. Once I did a fitting I moved on to cutting the fabric and interfacing and underlining all of the pieces that required it.

Is it normal that the unpressed welt pocket in the picture is driving me a bit mad? I pressed it after taking that photo so it doesn't look that ... weird anymore in person, but I just can't look at that photo. ha!  

I did a lot of padstitching on the collar and lapels. I wish I could have used hair canvas for those sections but I couldn't find any so I went into my trusty stash and looked for a replacement that might work. That's where I found that white fabric that you see above. It seems to have served as a relatively good replacement but I will know for sure once I sew the collar and facings.

I'm sorry if I'm being a bit brief here. I've had a lot going on today and I am a bit tired but I really wanted to get this update up because I've had the photographs sitting in my computer for over a week! There will be some sewing going on this weekend so I might have another update next week. might.

P.S. Ignore my weird dress form. It has a much bigger back than I do so the jacket does not fit well on it, which is why the shoulder on the muslin looks sunken in. I do love a good bargain but, remember kiddos, sometimes you get what you pay for. 

{You can keep track of this jacket here.}

Anto Discovers Succulents

There's this plant outside my window. Every time I look at it I wonder how it got there. Nobody ever planted it, it was never watered, most of the time there hasn't been anyone around to care for it (which would be very evident if you got a glimpse of the rest of the sad plants) yet this unidentified plant grew all on its own in a very dry climate. I am still bewildered by it whenever I look at it. I guess that's the beautiful magic of mother nature.

Recently, I read Harriet's Thirty Ways To Save A Pound post, where she linked to various other posts about succulents. I love plants and I dream of incorporating flowers and more greenery into my living and work space but I am not currently in a time or space to commit, I guess. Therefore, the idea of pretty succulents has been very appealing. 

While reading all of those posts I noticed that a few of the succulents looked quite familiar and I thought of my unidentified friend outside. I analyzed it a bit this afternoon after my workout and I even pulled a few leaves out because, as Rachel writes, you can easily propagate your own succulents. How perfect! 

As a disclaimer I should tell you right now that I know very little about plants, so this is certainly new to me. Now, I am not 100% sure that this is a succulent - other more knowledgeable ladies can correct me if I'm wrong - but it looks and feels like one to me. Even the conditions under which it has grown scream succulent to me. So, I'm going to give the propagating business a try. Maybe, if I am luck, I will have a couple of pretty babies to decorate my studio. Is it nerdy how excited I am to do this?  I'll let you know whether I succeed.