Remember when I made the first one, and said that the "dusky lavender" colorway of the fabric had been my first choice, but it was sold out? Well, the very next day I got an email from Hawthorne Threads that it was back in stock, so I quickly ordered enough to make a second dress.
When I received it though, I was awfully disappointed. First off, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, it's not lavender at all! It's more of a deep taupe. But the most disappointing thing was that this one is not printed on Swiss dot like the yellow version. I was complaining about it to Andrea after I got it, and she told me she'd heard that only the first run of this fabric (way back in 2009) got printed on Swiss dot, and after that ran out, reprints were done on voile.
It took me about a week to get over my disappointment and make the dress. And it's OK. I don't like it as much as the yellow version, but I don't hate it either. And you have have noticed that there's plenty of room to expand in the tummy region of this dress, so it was a good one to wear to brunch!
I also wore a whole lot of other stuff I'd made. I carried my phone and cash in my Vanilla Clutch (which gets a lot of use), and wore several pieces of jewelry I've made over the years. I decided to share those too.
These are my Droplet Rings. They're a set of three stacking rings with formed discs soldered on. I really love these because they can be worn in many different combinations. And you can't tell here because the light was dim when I took these pictures, but they're quite bright and shiny.
And from left to right are some simple earrings made from chain and blue chalcedony; a set of simple bangles made from silver wire formed into a circle and soldered closed - one of which has a couple of charms dangling off; and finally, one of my all-time favorite me-made pieces of jewelry, a PMC and CZ pendant. I love this one because it has a very nice heft and is feminine and vintage looking. I made it by making a mold from a vintage button, and then using that mold to form the clay.
I've said before that my day-to-day dress is pretty plain and unadorned, so it was nice to put on a bunch of pretty things and go out with friends, and even nicer knowing that I made most of them!
Such talent! I adore the rings.
ReplyDeleteI like this dress a lot! I bet it will grow on you over time. And I'm blown away by your lovely jewelry! You're super talented!
ReplyDeleteI do like it - just wish it were dotted Swiss! I have kind of a dotted Swiss fetish!
DeleteGosh, Gail, you never cease to amaze me. I love pendants and charms and on my right arm are a set of bracelets that I never take off (including a set of gold bangles that my mother gave to me at age 12 to mark womanhood -- an old Chinese tradition). This is all to say that if I had the set of bangles that you made with the charms, that would go straight onto my arm and happily join the others!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Evelyn! Wearing all these things made me wish I had been able to continue with metalsmithing after we moved here. Maybe some day I can get back to it!
DeleteYour dress is lovely! Nobody outside the sewing community would ever know about the missing swiss dots - and taupe is a lovely colour too! And jewellery! I keep meaning to have a go at making my own but haven't got round to it. LOVE the earrings!
ReplyDeleteTaupe is a lovely color! I'm sort of considering this one my cloudy day dress, LOL! I always feel like bright colors are out of place on a grey day :-) This type of earring is pretty easy to do - check out www.fusionbeads.com for some good tutorials!
DeleteAs I said, multi-faceted talent.
ReplyDeletelove ya, gal
hugs
Hugs back at ya!
DeleteYou really are amazing Gail and the dress is just fabulous. I know what you said about the color, but I think it looks great on you. And the jewelry? Wow!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tracey!
DeleteYou made the jewellery? That is so ultra cool :) My favourites are the beatiful earrings and pendant! Shame about the colour and fabric not being what you wanted. I am very picky about colours and prints myself. But it still looks great :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's not bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting, so I got disappointed. I'm over it now!
DeleteThat pendant is AMAZING!!! wow! I can't believe you made that! I've never heard of PMC before. Very interesting although I am still a little intrigued.
ReplyDeleteI like the dress too, but I must say that I prefer the yellow one! I looks just so pretty on you! Yay for wearing Me-made stuff!
Merci! I prefer the yellow one too :-) PMC is a really interesting material; I worked with it for years before going into metalsmithing. Lots of fun!
DeleteGail,
ReplyDeleteI like this one better than the yellow one. I like dusky colors.
Oh, I just realized my daughter wrote to you above (Emilie). And she liked the yellow one better.
Anyway that dress looks perfect for a day like today (hot and humid...can't stand it).
Claire
It's perfect for this weather! We're having it too!
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