Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing

My Backyard Gone Wild

Just for fun!!!  I'm sharing the most recent snapshots of my garden gone wild.  Even though I've not been tending to it, Mother Nature is on the blooming job!!!!


















Vegas in May ---The Most Beautiful Time of the Year!!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!


Thank you Lord!!!









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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Sew Many Memories

Vintage Trash to Treasure

Sometimes, if you are lucky, you’ll find other peoples trash in unexpected places, in a drawer of an old dresser you picked up at a yard sale, in a box marked free stuff at an estate sale, or maybe even from a friend who happened to be on cleaning-out frenzy when you stopped by her house just to say hello.

Often times, you pick up things for a song at a garage sale and if you are like me, you say to yourself ‘one day I’ll use this or that for project.’ And occasionally something else you are involved in inspires you to get creative and the scattered pieces turn from trash and stuff into a keepsake treasure--and something you can share with others.

That’s how my “The Makings of a Garment” display box came about. After months of planning, promoting, and organizing a major fashion exhibit at the Charleston Antique Mall in Las Vegas, it was finally time for a small team of my fellow dealers to join me for the installation. It took us days, a lot of energy, and in my case, total focus on the job at hand. Oh, did I mention loss of sleep?

I really needed to relax, at least when I got home in the evening. Still unable to just drop the total mind-focus experience, I decided that a small creative project just might be the therapy I needed ---and there went my thoughts right back to the fashion exhibit. Garments! Garment makers! !  The small but important items that contribute to the making of a garment! Yes, I had these items at hand, well somewhere close by that is.

They were the type of items familiar to me as far back as I can remember. My mother, Jean Moretti, and my godmother, Angie Muli, were both skilled garment makers. So whether I was at home or visiting at my godmother‘s home, there would always be a sewing machine, spools of thread in all sizes, good quality scissors, measuring tapes, straight pins, cards of special buttons, button tins, ribbons and lace, small packs of notions, patterns, trims and all the necessities a good seamstress would have ready to complete a garment.

When I was about 13, my Mom sent me to classes at the Singer Sewing Machine Center. I was a real novice so be assured there were no accolades given for the first dress I made. So much for that. Over a decade later, as a young mother on a small budget, I was motivated to try threading the needle once more. And I did that using the 1940’s sewing machine my dear mother handed down to me in the 1960’s. I still have it.

As it turned out, my gatherings of garment making items are all treasures from my own past life or someone else’s. Someday I’ll do something creative with this stuff  I’d say over and over again. It almost sounded like an excuse for not letting go. But, as I worked on my “comfort project” it became very apparent that the years of squirreling away vintage sewing items, the pincushions, the old zippers, thimbles, notions and such , served a duel purpose for me ---one, to hold onto memories, and two, to fulfill at least one of my “someday” dream projects.

I felt a sense of pride and contentment seeing The Makings of a Garment collection boxed and on display in the exhibit . To me, the final product spoke a tribute to my Mother, my Godmother and all those who labored to create and complete the fabulous garments featured in the 20th Century: 100 Years of Fashion Exhibit held in Las Vegas last Spring.


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