Pret-a-Papier, Couture Paper

I had the great good fortune to see the exhibit Prêt-à-Papier at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens last week with a good friend who also loves to sew.  Artist Isabelle de Borchgrave has created a wardrobe of couture garments and accessories entirely from paper.  Employing techniques from painting to crumpling and pleating, each garment is a masterpiece.  Based on historical garments from the late 17th to early 20th centuries, each one is crafted with details likely found in the original.  Borchgrave uses a number of different types and weights of paper, some as fine and sheer as organza, others with the texture of fine brocade.  Here are pictures of many of the pieces in the exhibit which runs through January 24th.

The tour begins in the Visitor Center with a video about the artist and samples of the different papers she used.  These colorful caftans were part of the exhibit.

The bulk of the exhibit is housed in the Adirondack House.  This is the first piece that greats you on entry.  The inspiration was the coronation gown of Empress Josephine, 1804.  Jewels and beads are simulated with glitter.  There is even paper piping along the neckline (some of you know how much I love piping!)

Based on a court dress from England, c. 1755.

A French-styled dress inspired by the works of painter Jean-Antoine Watteau.

This gown is based on the one worn in the painting Self Portrain with a Harp by Rose-Adelaide Ducreux, 1791.  The underlighting was particularly effective on this piece.

The gauze-like scarf and layers of lace on the sleeve are created from very delicate paper painted with a lace design.

I took this photo to show how perfectly the stripes match at the center front.

Inspired by the painting Le Bal Pare, c. 1760 by Auguste de Saint-Aubin.

Even the elaborate jeweled closure is made from paper.

The blue stitches were actually sewn on the garment with thread.

Based on a 1777 engraving of Marie Antoinette by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune along with matching shoes.

Madame de Pampadour dress, from Francois Boucher's Portrait of the Marquise de Pampadour, 1756.  The dress has more than 120 applied paper roses.  The sleeves were absolutely stunning, the painted paper closely mimicing real lace.  Note matching purse.

Changing directions at bit, these three gowns were all inspired by Mariano Fortuny, who designed pleated gowns in the early 20th century.  Close up shots of each show more detail.

This gown had a beautiful, soft green pleated underdress and a sheer, beaded over dress.

More pleats and beads (made from paper, of course).

Three early 20th-century dresses, inspired by the flapper era.  The black dress on the right was embellished with glitter resembling ornate beading.

The garments in the Adirondack House were accesible up close.  It was possible to see the detail very clearly.  The remainder of the pictures come from the garments in the main house which were all roped off, so it was not as easy to get a close look at them.

Based on figures from the tapestry hanging behind them, these garments showed lovely detail from the sheer fichu (scarf) on the lady's gown to the buttons and bound buttonholes on the gentleman's ensemble. 

I truly wondered if this piece was a permanent part of the house decor.  The "fabric" looked so much like just that it was hard to believe it was paper.

Based on an evening dress from 1866.

While I did not care for this garment (based on a portion of the painting behind) I did find the jewels and headpiece remarkable, all created from paper.

This gown was commissioned for the museum, based on one of the resident paintings, and will become a permanent part of its collection. 

Note the lovely sheer "lace" and the jewel-encrusted "leather" belt.

There was a coordinating shawl with the most spectacular "fringe".  My friend and I were marvelling over what precision cutting was involved in this.

All in all, this was a wonderful and visually beautiful exhibit.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  If you ever have the chance to see these garments, do.  You will not be disappointed.

A New Year

I don't think I've ever taken such a long break from blogging.  Christmas time came and went at my house and, though I completed lots of projects, I hadn't the time to get them posted here.  At least one will have to wait until next year, but I've got the tutorial mostly written so I'll be able to get off to an early start.  Christmas with a four- and six-year-old in the house was pretty exciting and busy.  Here is our Christmas card from this year.

It only took about 300 tries to get one shot with all four of us looking at the camera (sort of).

I was busy in my kitchen this year, making some little goodies for friends.  I tried a recipe from Food and Wine magazine for homemade Mulling Spices.  I tried them out myself over the New Year's weekend and they have a much more complex flavor than any I have ever purchased.  I dried the orange slices in my oven

mixed them with other spices

and then packaged them in paper tea bags tied with kitchen twine.

I packaged them up in glassine bags with a tag printed with instructions for use.

I also made Chai Latte lollipops, based on the recipe from Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook.  I modified their recipe to suit my own needs by using chai latte mix stirred into a basic sugar lollipop.

I packaged up the lollipops and mulling spices in white bags with some little paper flowers I made which I think conjur up a poinsettia.

Here's how I did these.  I cut three layers from red kraft paper (have I mentioned how much I love kraft paper?) using a die to cut the two larger ones and paper punch to cut the smallest.  I then gave each layer a little dimension by creasing the petals.  Then it was assembly line time.

I glued the three layers together with white glue

then glued three gold beads in the center using Jewel It glue.

The last step was to glue a mini clothespin on the back of each one.  I made about two dozen of these, all told, and used them to adorn all sorts of packages.

Last year I posted that I wanted to sew more garments in 2012 and also spend a little time each day doing some hand stitching.  And, while I don't think I accomplished that every day, I did do an awful lot of hand work last year.  I think I could still sew more garments, but the ones I have been making have been very time consuming.  Combining those two goals, I completed my Alabama Chanin blue dress and have been trying to find the time (and warm weather) to take some pictures.  I promise those very soon.  My blog is now three years old and I hope to add lots of interesting projects to the pages this year.  I hope you'll check back often.

A Busy Week, Paper Flowers and a Winner

This week promises to be a busy one for my blog.  I’m starting the week with some spring decorating and picking the winner of my Amy Butler giveaway.   Along with my usual garment post I am also planning a new tutorial for later in the week, something that will appeal to everyone whether you like to quilt, machine embroider, or any other number of crafty ventures.  Then on Friday I will wind up the week by participating in a blog tour showcasing a newly released sewing book, hot off the presses.   My blog is one of five that will be participating in this tour, sponsored by Clotilde.  Please make sure you check back regularly this week for all of the items I have planned.

For today I’ll start out with the winner of the Amy Butler sewing kit giveaway.  Congratulations to Tara who left me a comment late last night.  I used Random.org to generate the winner.  There were 14 comments but one person asked not to be included so out of the 13 eligible entries, the computer picked #13.  Tara, I hope you enjoy your new goodies, and I would love to see what you do with them. 

 

Spring officially arrived yesterday and I was motivated to change out some décor in my dining room.  For the winter holidays I love to put out a set of paper magnolias that my mother-in-law gave me years ago.  The supple paper reminds me of aged leather, and each year they darken just a bit into a warm, glowing champagne color.  I was long overdue to pack them away.  In their place I’ve added some paper blooms I recently made myself.  Clover has a clever new product called Flower Frills, templates that allows you to quickly make fabric and paper flowers in four sizes.  You simply fold your fabric or paper using the heavy weight paper template, cut and string together to make your flowers.  I used some handmade scrapbooking paper I had on hand and made seven different flowers.  These went together quickly and were very fun to make.  For each of my flowers I used about 8 petals – the weight of the paper allowed for a very full flower (the instructions suggest using 15-20 petals for fabric flowers).  One note:  both sides of the material used are visible in the finished flower so choose your fabric accordingly.  A very interesting affect might be achieved with double-sided scrapbook paper.

I’m currently displaying these on the sideboard in my dining room.  I placed the largest blooms inside two oversized brandy snifters and placed the remaining flowers on individual ceramic spoons by CB2.

I can imagine so many uses of these flowers in both fabric and paper.  You just might be seeing a lot of these on my blog in weeks to come.

Welcome spring!

Christmas Cookies

This was my last big project before Christmas (if I don’t count all of the wrapping I still have left to do).  I wanted to make my boys’ friends at school a little gift.  Last year I made embroidered bag toppers filled with M&Ms.  This year I decided to make cookies and give each child one packaged in an attractive way.  I am not going to go into any detail about baking or decorating the cookies.  There are lots of great sites that can do that much better than I (two that come to mind are Sweet and Bake at 350).  I do want to tell you about two products I used during this project and about how I packaged the cookies. 

I was really in a time crunch by the time these cookies rose to the top of my to-do list so I decided to take a short cut and I am really glad I did.  I used Trader Joe’s fabulous DIY (Decorate It Yourself) Cookie Mix.  This was a truly inspired idea.  TJ packaged together everything you need to make a batch of Christmas cookies:  cookie dough mix, icing, decorating sugar and even the cookie cutters.  All for $3.99.  I wish I had bought a bunch of these as little holiday gifts.  (Note:  I went back today to buy more and they had been marked down to $0.99!  Unfortunately, one of the store employees told me that this was not a popular item and probably won’t be coming back next year.)  You add softened butter and 1 egg to the dough mix and that’s it.  They taste fabulous.  I made my own batch of royal icing and stirred in the icing from TJs.  This icing looks pretty and is easy to use but doesn't taste like anything but sugar.  I piped the icing around the edges and then filled in with a thinned down version of the same icing.  Sprinkles finished them off.

The other product which contributed to the success of my cookies was a nifty little kitchen gadget I purchased from King Arthur Flour called Rolling Pin Rings.  You slip a pair of these rubber rings onto the end of your rolling pin and roll out dough of a uniform thickness.  No more thin edges on your cookies which burn when you bake them.  These things work great and fit a variety of rolling pin sizes.  I love them.

Once I had finished the cookies I had to package them.  I used paper CD sleeves (the kind with the clear plastic window on the front) and gussied them up a bit with some paper tape and a holiday-themed brad.  I slipped one cookie in and sealed the back with a sticker.  I added another sticker with a Merry Christmas message and my child’s name.  I think these look cute and were really easy to make but here is what I would do differently next time.  I would put a piece of greaseproof paper under the cookie because the grease stained the back of the CD envelope.  This made it difficult to keep the sticker on that sealed the top.  Also, the hardest part was putting the brads on and next time I would just use a sticker.

I hope this gives you some ideas about gift giving for next year.  Change the cookie theme and you could use these for a birthday party favor or even for a wedding.

Gift Enclosure Cards from Moo

I've posted before about how much I love my Moo cards.  I had a set of mini cards made and use them as promotional material for my blog.  Everyone I give them to loves them and wants to know where they can get their own.  Today I received an email from Moo telling me about a 30% off sale on their products going on through Sunday night.  This is a great price on a great product.  While browsing this morning I came across one of their stock designs that I love.  Wouldn't this make the cutest enclosure card for gifts that you make?  You can customize the cards with different graphics (including your own images) and different text.  Don't miss out on the great sale this weekend.