meet me at the market for new frocks

~belle and burger will be back out at the Barton Creek Farmers Market this saturday ; march 26th with lots of new dresses ....here are some peeks.


These dresses are all made from vintage and recycled material except the green one.hope to see y'all out there.....
**if you are not from 'round these parts and are interested in a dress, email me ( bellesouthgirl at yahoo dot com) and let me know I can stock the dress you like in my shop....or make you a custom one.

sew busy ; pretty and yummy stuff

happily. ....i am covered up right now! I am gonna say hi and blurb about a few bits....very quickly. Let me say I am so looking forward to a nice spring tutorial...any suggestions? a skirt, shirred dress, apron, or something else?
but back to the blurbs
~I have been completely wrapped up in making 5 dresses for a brides maid party.

pre-orchids

post-orchids
I am just this side of done but here are some more peeks. They all have orchid inspired appliques. The blue coat is the brides something old I added cuffs and the appliques.

~I have been busy also maintain my every weekend Market promise to myself ( at least till it hits 100) I will be at the market tomorrow march 11Th
In addition I am having a booth during SXSW
belle and burger will be behind Guero's on march 18Th from 12-9pm
hope to see y'all there~one last thing ....some new food I am obsessing over@ local eateries and one book
the Odd duck trailer is A MUST EAT if you are in Austin ...such a taste sensation real culinary creativity; you must check out the daily menu
Also the La patisserie is a sweet treat...burger and I are enamored with the macarons ... he and I both love the lavender!?
....and on that note I leave you with this lovely read I checked out of our library
It actually has a very simple macaron recipe we plan on trying sooner rather than later

we have spirit animals on our clothes...

~So I have made quite a few custom works with people's spirit animals as part of the design. It is usually a bird or a horse or something equally majestic. Not all the clients call it that but that is what I think in my lil brain when I am making it. I think of their love and connection with the animal. I even checked out a book , at the behest of a client while I was working on her humming bird skirt.
Personally I had never consider myself as someone with a spirit animal; and really had always thought it to be quite hokey( even though I did subscribe to the idea -closetedly). What really renewed my interest in this concept is that burger has seemed to identify strongly with elephants since before he was even 2! Anyway I was frustrated that after all the research and self examining I still could not identify my spirit animal ... I felt myself adrift with no animal to spirit me a long for months. Then it came to me the CATFISH;kinda gross and not so majestic but.....I love those buggers. This affinity is anchored in my swamp fishing days of my youth. My daddy and I spent quite a few summer days in a flat bottom boat on the a Okefenokee. Also I am quite fascinated noodling.
So here you have my bottom feeder Appliqued T shirt . I have worn it a little almost everyday since I made it( last Friday)...have not even washed it; also ew gross. I use heat and bond lite on paper thin vintage fabric, an altered jersey knit white t shirt, fabric pastels and machine embroidery. alalalove


~Speaking of spirit animals,I made a pegacorn dress for one of my favorite friends to wear to a wedding. The dress is altered from the kimono dress pattern from this book.
* If you are looking for a new summer clothing sewing book this book is stellar. I do wind up alteringmost of the pattern but I do that with most patterns I use that are not mine.

~Any who.. She might have mentioned that her spirit animal is a pegacorn...or I inferred it. I must say I am pleased as a peach cobbler....I love it! I have not finished stitching the applique yet which always adds dimension to the designs. For the applique I used the technique it this tutorial

~On a side note. If your gonna be doing SXSW here in Austin, I will have a booth at the Guero's market on Friday March 18Th from 12-9pm . I will of course remind you again.

fabric scrap cards

~I had some fun with fabric and paper a few weeks back and I wanted to share them with you. I simply used heat and bond lite and hand torn paper. Sometimes you have fabric that needs showing off. This was such an easy fun way to showcase some scraps. This cotton(?) woven snow bunny fabric is sew amazingly sweet. It was given to me by an amazingly thoughtful client of Kg's. From the history I am guessing it is pre- 1980...have not tried to locate its origin online, has anyone ever seen it before?


The others fabric is from a sixties full on poly shirt that I am refashioning into a scarf for a friend. I just loved the little bush, those sweet deer and the majestic lion
*I have a much more involved tutorial on making fabric scrap cards ....but if you are short on time or patience these are super simple and way fun!!

the rush of spring or a girl and her frock

~so with temps near 80 all week and a lulling warm southerly wind blowing through these parts, a girl must rush to enjoy the her spring. In central Texas springtime can be quite fleeting and this lass's bones are telling her this year's spring will be extra hasty. So I will be at the Market as much as possible before the heat drives me to cool, spring-fed, watering holes and dark, air conditioned caves serving very cold beer. Another lifesaver of my summer is a cool versatile frock. I always start them out in the spring with a light cardigan then slowly I end up in 110°temps and a strappy lawn dress ...maybe flip flops. This weekend at the market I will be previewing several of my spring frocks.
~there is the secretary boat neck dress. I can also shir the waist or it can be belted.
This is a mock wrap that I designed for a bride maid's dress
~ my favorite dress from last summer seen above in front of the pick-up is this strappy number...
this particular one is a little small in chest for me(DANG)......as you might notice. I would say it is better suited for a B-C cup...good thing or I would be keeping it! All of its fabrics are re purposed( bottom sheet) and vintage( bodice vintage beauty).The back of the bodice is shirred along with the waistline.

~this here is a new knit tunic dress that I will have several of this weekend! I try to make these out of the softest knit I can find...love them!
hope to see y'all a the market Saturday

Potato Printed Valentines tutorial

~ this week I was asked to come up with a fun, easy, non-comercial kids valnetine project as a guest blogger over at Live mom, a cool local blog for Austin mommas. Live mom's post will cover her frustration with the commercialization of valentine's. I will link to the post when it goes up. But for now here is the craft kiddie project

materials
heavy paper like poster paper or cardstock
hole punch
ribbon
washable paint
brayer ,brush, or sponge
potatoes
small cookie cutters


process
***mama prep #1-3; depending on how young your rascals are you may let them help you
1.Make a heart template, then trace your heart onto your heavy paper and cut out your hearts.hole pouch around the outer edge of the hearts .
2.cut your potato stamps. you can look at my belle and burger blog post about potato printing to get In depth instructions. I found a sweet little valentine cookie cutter set for under 3bucks at the Grocery.

3.set up the work area. Put your paints in a tray, let the kids chose but keep it simple maybe just 2 mixable colors. Cover your work space with paper. Have and area that will be ready to hold the potatoes between printing.
4.Let the printing begin. For the younger artists this need only be a process oriented project. Its fun to use food in art and fun to make a mess. Once all your hearts are dry.You can either move on or add another layer of color. Clean all potatoes gently.

5.Message of love. After the printed images have all dried you can add a message if you like. We used some stamps we had but your could use printed words from magazines or your computer. You could also use stencils or just hand write them on. what ever tickles your fancy.
6.Lace your cards. Tie a bow or leave a hanging loop at the top of your valentine.

7. send out your valentine wishes

total denial..spring is coming soon

~So today we had frozen raindrops on the car. It was 49 at midnight; 44 at 4am; and now it is just noon and it is 21 out side. I know it is much colder in many places but was it 6o yesterday there? and also I do not have a winter coat....So I am gonna maintain my total denial and coast on into the spring that I know is just around the corner here in Central Texas! I will be at the market on Saturday because it will be 65 on Saturday...my mantra
Until then we will keep sewing, drawing, making snowmen
and snow ice cream...
BODY ART ~burger has spent the last week covered in body art just like this( those are "meat feet" )
I am busy sewing up a Lil storm ...working on this custom adorned vintage coat. something old and blue for my lovely bride to be.
I am also fully in spring mode making these tiny skirts ..a custom variation on a longer design
i also made these~ "arm warmers that units might have sold", had they sold arm warmers
so I will see y'all at the market ...i will be loaded down with pretty things to wear and sweet things to give on valentines