Christmas Wreath for Children of Shelters

About two years ago one of my clients brought a wreath he had made for Children of Shelters charity's event Jingle & Mingle to my workroom. It was so beautiful and unique that I couldn't stop thinking about it this whole time. Finally, this October, I emailed him and asked for the charity info. I was so happy when I was given an opportunity to participate! It was a unique chance to make something that I love and help other people.
Of course I wanted to showcase my sewing skills. I picked some scraps of linen and silk in the workoom and started working.
Decades ago (not telling how many), my mom had made me a dress for my prom with the entire front elaborately hemstitched. She was working on it for about 6 months. And the hemstitching was done on crepe georgette! Well, my fate was sealed: it was difficult to do (I love challenges), and it is impossible to find hemstitching done by hand these days. I had spent weeks sitting on a sofa in front of TV working on strips of fabric, turning them into very special part of my future wreath.

















I lined each strip with green silk so hemstitching would pop.
Next, I ordered a "donut" made from firm foam and glued layers and layers of Dacron to create a shape of a wreath.

I reinforced the back of the wreath with plywood that I cut with a jigsaw.

 

My hands looked pretty sad for several hours after using spray glue

 
Then I covered the body of the wreath with fabric and stapled it on the back, covered the back with same fabric, and glued two rows of gimp to conceal all staples. A simple set for hanging picture frames- two screw eyes and a wire will keep the wreath on the wall.

A bow cut from scraps of lining that I can trim and change helps me determine the best size for it.  

About forty hours of work later, it is done!

Creating a custom laundry bag

So many times when a conversation comes to interior design, we say "It's all about details". So true, and it never gets old. But when we say that, something rather glamorous comes to your mind. Well, last week we had a quite different experience; we had a lot of fun designing a laundry bag! The photo below shows a drawer of an usual shape: the drawer goes under a bathtub and reflects a configuration of that space. It's a bathroom for 2 little girls, and obviously it'd be very unlikely for cloths deposited by kids into this drawer to stay IN the drawer. You can imagined that their clothes would spill out of the drawer into the opening. So we took the matter into our own hands. First, there was design #1, with a flap that would go over the lower part of the drawer and fastened with Velcro. But the problem was still there; clothes would fall over the edge. Then there was a revelation that you can see in the photos that show you the installation step by step:





















Voila!



The opening is small enough to hold everything that was placed inside and yet big enough to let you "shake" the contents into a washer. The bag is made out of a sturdy canvas used on sail boats. It is pre-washed and has the "loop"/soft side of Velcro on edges so it doesn't damage your garments.

Birth of Impressionism at de Young

Finally I am ready to do my first post. And it’s dedicated to one of the most impressive events of this year- a tour to de Young museum to see the Birth of Impressionism. I would like to thank Philip Bewley at Therein & Co for inviting me!
Well, 1.5 weeks later I still can’t stop thinking about it.
The curator of the exhibition was telling us about every artist and every painting with a personal input.
I couldn’t believe that I was standing next to some of the most famous paintings in the world. It brought my memories back to being a student at art school when I was about 12. We were studying impressionists, and I was looking at paintings in art books and thinking that I might never see them (I grew up in Soviet Union, and traveling abroad was rare). So here I was at the de Young, trying not to step over a guide line painted on the floor craning my neck and bringing my face as close to the surface of the painting as possible without being busted my museum workers.
Just a few of my observations:

Manet- I could not help but go from The Fifer to Asparagus to Flowers in Crystal Vase again and again. How different his style was from one painting to another!




























Caillebotte- The Floor Scrapes- I have no idea why but I just love this painting as long as I remember.

Monet- The Magpie- Living in Bay Area for the past 14 yards, I already forgot that show casts blue and violet shadows. Beautiful!

Renoir- Algerian Landscape- It mesmerized me! I kept going back to it no less than 6 times.

Whistler’s Mother- Sorry I can’t be serious when I see it: Mr.Bean’s face blocks the view!