DIY: It's a Small World Painted Bag

Outfit details: necklace: DIY from last week; sweater: Anthro label, thrifted; dress: vintage, thrifted; belt: dunno; tights: Target; shoes: super duper Anthro sale ($9, people!)

Ya'll, Ima gonna be honest. For once in my life, I'm not in much of a talk-ie mood. So this here might be one of the most short-winded blog posts to date. Think of it as an early Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Winter Holiday gift from me to you.

You. Are. Welcome.

Anthropologie debuted these lovely painted bags last year. They had the look of being from actual vintage paintings and I really really wanted one...but I also really really couldn't drop that much coinage (I believe they were well over 100 bucks). And, just like all the rest of my Anthro-knock-offs, a DIY was born.

When I first spied these, I thought, well, I'll just start scouring the thrift stores for paintings and use those to create a bag. But that proved to be problematic. Firstly, I couldn't seem to find any decent paintings that weren't on black velvet. Which I actually thought might make an awesome bag and then what tiny amount of tact I have left spoke up and made herself heard with an: Um, NO. Secondly, when I did find a painting, I realized I'd probably bust needles trying to get threw the thickness of the canvas. So I shelved the idea.

Geesh, could I look more excited about this bag? I look like they just called me down to play on The Price is Right. Which I totally wouldn't be happy about because that's gotta be the suckiest game show ever.

When I stumbled upon this nondescript number at my local thrift spot, I scooped it up for a dollar and decided to paint my design onto a bag. P.S. doesn't this kinda look like a face? Tell me I'm not the only one that sees a winking man with a big beard and a wee nose.

After slathering both sides of the bag with a couple coats of gesso, I struggled to come up with a design for the thing. At the same time I was working on this necklace which, with it's colors and patterns, had Mary Blair's illustrations of It's a Small World on my mind. Which, if we're gonna be honest, is always on my mind.

I happened to pick up a batch of postcards of her work on a recent trip to Disneyland. I decided I needed this sketch of Small World by Blair on my bag.

I drew the whole thing out with light lines in pencil and proceeded to fill it in, paint-by-numbers style. I used the exact color palette as my necklace, because as I've stated before, these are The Best Colors in the World.

Painting this took longer than I'd hoped mostly because I had to give some of the painted sections multiple coats. They were cold.

I had several balls to spare, ahem, from my necklace, so I used my very limited knowledge of jewelry making and added them to that little metal piece on the bag. Because it's a boy bag, it needed balls.

And here's what the other side of my bag looks like. I'm not sure which side I like better. This side is definitely more bold. But less ballsy.

Once both sides were complete and my pencil lines were erased, I covered the bag with matte Modge Podge. I might go back and give it another coat just to insure that it doesn't get too stained or dirty. I'm not known for my cleanliness, as you can imagine. I'm a little sad that the bag appears wrinkly which I'm guessing has to do with the inflexibility of the gesso. Do you happen to have any thoughts on that? 

Okay, looking back, I guess I totes lied to you. This post was just as wordy as the others. My bad. Maybe next Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza you'll do a better job behaving and you'll fair better. Just a thought.

Read more »

DIY: The I-See-London-I-See-France Dress

I am a bit of a haphazard seamstress. So I have this fear, when I wear my own sewn dresses, that  some rogue seam is gonna come loose and the end of the phrase "I see London, I see France..." will actually become my reality.

 Bonjour, compadres! What you are looking at here is an example of Pro-Cass-tination. Oh, you didn't know I was the Queen of Puttin'-Off-Everything-'Cept-Candy-Eatin'? It's true. And this dress is no exception. After months of sitting on this half-finished dress, I finally knocked it out. And just in the nick o' time, as me and the wee artists are about to be neck deep in all things Paris, France. Oui oui, ya'll.

Um, did you know I have a bit of a Mary Blair obsession? Have you seen the movie Single White Female...? Just kidding, my therapist and I have it way under control. As long as I take my meds. This photo of It's a Small World was taken last Christmas at Disneyland.

 So I picked up the Parisian-themed fabric over the summer. I knew I'd be taking the kids on European adventures in art and wanted to create a dress for the occasion. When hubs said, "that fabric looks very It's-a-Small-World," I knew I'd made the right choice.

If you are thinking this dress design looks  familiar, then you might be thinking of my Empire Strikes Back dress and the Presley Poodle Dress. Yep, all three are from the same vintage pattern. I'm a repeat offender.

 After sorting through my mountain of dress patterns I went with the same ole dress pattern I've used before. I really like this pattern for a couple of reasons: that giant band around the waist is super slimming and, because of the three parts of the dress, I can have fun playing around with fabric combinations. For the top half, I decided to go with my two favorite colors, salmon pink (with polka dots?! yes, please!) and turquoise blue. The skirt fabric is from Hoodie's Collection "L'amour de la vie" for Timeless Treasures Fabrics.

You remember my embroidered poodle from my traveling DIY? Well, this was also completed on that same trip. For this I used an embroidery design from Stitcher's Revolution.

Now if only Mary Blair paintings were made into fabric designs, I'd be oh-so-happy.

To top off the look (like literally), my friend Jen of Peachy Tuesday created this awesome Eiffel Tower headband. I love it! And I know the kids are going to as well. You can find Jen's shop here...and you can preview her designs before they go up for sale on her Facebook page. Merci, Jen!

The gorgeous Mary Blair. A little bit of history on her: she and her hubs joined Walt Disney Studios in the 1940's where she worked on concept art for movies like Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella. The designs for both are beautifully published in childrens books, along with a couple others she illustrated (if you have not seen the adorable I Can Fly book, please check it out). She is most famous for creating the designs for It's a Small World. Sigh. If I could live in that sweet world, I totally would.

Now that I think about it, this seems like the perfect dress to wear the next time I ride It's a Small World. Given I don't experience the dreaded butt-blowout before then.

 

 Oh, look, there's me attempting my best Mary Blair pose. Yeah, I'll keep workin' on it. The beautiful portrait of Mary was created by comic book guru Michael Netzer.

 Whew, I-See-London-I-See-France-Please-Lemme-Be-Wearing-Clean-Underpants Dress complete! Next up on my sewing table: my Halloween Horror Movie Dress to be worn at the countless haunted houses we'll be attending this fall (yes, seriously). When I mentioned that upcoming dress to hubs, the following convo ensued:

Hubs: I know you haven't started on that dress yet.

Moi: Oh yeah, how do you know?

Hubs: Because it's not the night before you need to wear it.

Hey, they don't call it pro-Cass-tination fer nutin'.

Au revoir!

Read more »