Flashback Friday: World War II Navy Nurse Re-Enactor

This Flashback Friday comes from an article Marilyn wrote for The Bride Guide in the Prince George's County Women's Journal in 2009:

Reference: Couture Allure Vintage Fashion Blog

The next project to deliver this summer was a World War II Navy Nurse uniform for a re-enactor. Working from period photos, my assistant developed a pattern that was an exact replica complete with the very extended lapel and notching.

My client ordered fabric from the very company that made those uniforms (yes, they're still in business! and still making uniforms from what I understand).  Lots of detail work went into re-creating this uniform and the results were spectacular! At the final fitting my client arrived in jeans and t-shirt.  She went into the dressing room to change into her new uniform and stepped out transformed. It was like a momentary time warp. Needless to say, we were both very happy with the uniform!

Flashback Friday: Afro-Centric Wedding Ensemble

For this Flashback Friday, we're harkening back to a post Marilyn wrote for the Price George's County Women's Journal Bride Guide:

Early August 2009 was centered around creating a unique, Afro-centric wedding ensemble that incorporated traditions from several cultures and countries.   This bride and her mom brought me beautiful white embroidered cut-work fabric to work with.  Early on we agreed to line it in a platinum silver to reflect the metallic embroidery.  After studying a number of photos of traditional and updated Nigerian dresses, I was able to work out a design that pleased everyone.  The white fabric had a distinctive shaped border on both edges and I was able to cut that off in long strips and use it as the hem on both the bodice and the skirt.  To highlight the shaping, I made the silver lining of the skirt just a tad longer, sweeping both layers back into a train.  When the bride walked in for her final fitting, it was waiting for on my dress form and looked breathtaking!  So another happy bride walked down the aisle and that makes me very happy.

Flashback Friday: The Anti-Bridezilla

From a Bride Guide Marilyn wrote for The Prince George's County Women's Journal in 2009:

There are lots of stories about Bridezilla but I have one about a beautiful and generous bride.  She came to me with a photo to use as a starting point for her gown.  The final design was a bias-wrapped strapless bodice going into a dropped waist, a body hugging skirt flowing into a mermaid train and accented by a sash I custom dyed to match the aquamarine jewelry she would wear on her wedding day.

The gown was breathtaking on her and at her final fitting she said, "I hope you won't be upset with me when you hear what I plan to do with this dress after the wedding."  Since I have had brides who asked to have floor length gowns shortened to tea or cocktail lengths after the wedding and a couple of times have been asked to dye the gowns I kind of looked at the gown and tried to picture it shorter. What she said instead made me love her even more. She planned to donate the gown to Brides Against Breast Cancer, and organization that hosts sales and auctions of donated gowns to raise money to fund memory-making wishes for women (and men) who have little time left with their families.  The auction was scheduled for several weeks after she returned from her honeymoon so she was able to help at the auction as well as donate the gown.  She let me know afterwards that the gown was the most popular and brought in a wonderful donation for Brides Against Breast Cancer.

Flashback Friday: Quilting Bee

Here at the studio, we're gearing up for the March 15 Laurel Board of Trade Business After Hours event that we will be hosting (it's from 5p-7p and is open to the public, so feel free to stop on by!)

We're excited to show off the studio and hang out with some great business owners in the area. We don't often host parties, but Marilyn teaches group sewing classes on the weekends and the studio provides a great space for communing and creativity, as you can see in this week's Flashback Friday! Here, Marilyn reminisces about a good, old-fashioned quilting bee she hosted here for some clients.

"I was contacted by a woman whose family was scattered around the country, but several generations were gathering 'home' for 'mom's' birthday. The idea was to have a quilting party at my studio, where all the women would gather to make memory quilt blocks that would be sewn into a quilt for 'mom' to keep.

I helped her design the size and block style for the quilt and gather the materials. On the day of the party I had work stations set up around the studio. They brought in refreshments and we had a PAR-TAY!

Tons of fun, each block had a special meaning between the creator and mom."

The pioneers had it right: there is something wonderful about getting together and sewing or crafting in a group. Somehow having one's hands busy, especially if they are busy working on a labor of love, can make the room more welcoming and the flow of conversation never feels strained or awkward. The result in the end is something with even more sentimental value, because you worked on it together.

Have you ever participated in a sewing or quilting bee? What other kinds of "labors of love" have you worked on with a group? How did you feel afterward?

Flashback Friday : The Bride Guide

Hello all! This week's Flashback Friday is an excerpt from an article Marilyn wrote in 2009 for The Prince George's County Women's Journal. This was one of three stories about different brides who have walked through our doors and the unique challenges and ideas they brought with them.

"One of the most challenging wedding gowns I worked on was actually custom designed by Judith Brooks of Anjoorian Silks for a DC bride. Judith suggested that the bride get in touch with my to fit the muslin and actually construct the gown.  After fitting the muslin, Judith arranged for the bodice of the gown to be hand-beaded in India based on her interpretation of a crochet pattern selected by the bride.


Here is Molly trying on the fabric before it was a dress.

"Several weeks later I received the beaded georgette, silk charmeuse and pattern. In order to sew the lining, close the darts, and create the scalloped hem, the entire bodice had to be sewn by hand so the beads weren't disturbed and went 'to the edge.' Fortunately, the skirt for the ensemble was not beaded and could be sewn using my machine!  The final results were well worth the effort of all the hand stitching and the bride had just the look she wanted in a truly unique ensemble."


Our bride sees herself in the finished ensemble

Flashback Friday: Vintage and Sentimentality

This week we’ve been working on a beautiful vintage coat that a woman brought in to be remade.  She loves the vintage style and fit, but the years have not been kind to the fabric or lining.  If we were to try to let the seams out per our client’s request, it would fall apart.  Instead, Marilyn will remake the coat, using a tracing off technique, to give our client the vintage look and feel she wants.

With that in mind, on this Flashback Friday we’re reminded of another vintage coat, this one fur.  This client had been very close to her grandmother, who had passed away. The coat was a hand-me-down from the grandmother but because of the wear and age, it could no longer be worn.  She couldn’t bear to part with it, but she felt leaving the coat buried in her closet wasn’t a proper way to memorialize her beloved grandmother.

We all know this feeling: wanting to hold on to an object from a person who is no longer with us, but being unable to incorporate the object in our regular lives.  This may be because we have different aesthetic tastes from our lost loved one, the article of clothing doesn’t fit, we’re afraid the object may break or fall apart, or we simply don’t like to dust that much.  Sometimes the best way to revere this object and remember your loved one may be to change the object in a way that will allow you to keep it with you in your everyday life rather than on a shelf or in a box.

Marilyn and this client were able to find such a compromise with this coat.  It was a gorgeous Persian lamb fur coat that had been custom-made in the 1920s with her grandmother’s initials embroidered in the lining.  Persian lamb, for those who don’t know, is a very textured type of fur that is almost geometric in shape, often looking like a topography map or a traditional picture of the brain.

For our current client, we are using her old coat as a pattern for her new coat. But in this instance, the sentimentality was connected to the fur, not the style. Marilyn found an area of the fur large and strong enough to create a clutch purse, and used the coat lining for the lining of the clutch.  When the clutch flap was opened, our client’s grandmother’s initials could be seen centered in the middle of the flap lining. The client loved it!  It was small and practical, as well as beautiful, and retained the sentimentality of her grandmother’s coat.

Have you ever taken a sentimental object and changed it to fit your life?  What was it, and how did you change it? Or if not, do you have an object for which you would do this?  Tell us in the comments!

Flashback Friday: Star Wars Cosplay

Hello all! We're starting a new regular feature here at Marilyn's Share and Tell Creative Diary, called Flashback Friday, in which we discuss some of our favorite past projects.

Over the past several weeks, we have been working on a set of cosplay costumes for a fan of Mortal Kombat (images to come!), which made us think of another costume we created for a fan some time ago.  This fan wanted a Zam Wesell costume (the bounty hunter in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) for a convention, and she went above and beyond in her research for the role.  She brought us a cardboard cutout from the theater so we could measure the stitch length on the costume, and even pictures of the actual Zam Wesell suit from the museum where it is displayed IN AUSTRALIA.  Now that's dedication!

Our final product!

Cosplay is extremely specific, from the fabrics, to the overall look and movements of the character. When I was at ComiCon in San Diego this year, I saw some of the most amazing costumes of characters that some of the wearers had worked all year to create. For the Zam costume, it took three months to determine the thickness of the neoprene alone! Then there were all the stitching tests, with and without backing. Neoprene... now that is one difficult material to work with. Doesn't anyone believe in cotton anymore??

Sourcing the exact thickness and shade of neoprene

According to Wikipedia, "cosplay, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction." And let me tell you, cosplay is no joke. The intricate knowledge cosplayers have of the characters and dedication to every last detail of their costumes is fascinating, and inspiring! Most of the cosplay costumes we get requests for have been for characters that appear in American games, shows, or movies, but I look forward to the day someone walks in asking for a costume from Final Fantasy or Zelda: Twilight Princess... those will be interesting, to say the least!

Just as long as it doesn't involve neoprene... we've had enough of that for a lifetime!

Our cosplayer... and the original Zam, side by side!

If you could pick any character in the world, who would you be? Is it because of the costume, the powers, or the personality?