Sprites and Fairies

As I began working on "new" renaissance-inspired designs, my mind started to wander toward the other things often found at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

My own personal style leans more toward the boho-eclectic look - which to me of course means that I like a lot of vintage, odd, and earthy things that don't necessarily "match" each other but blend well.  I feel that renaissance faires and festivals embody this feeling well, with a variety of handcrafted items, art and jewelry that are made by the basic elements which people have been crafting goods from for thousands of years.  

Stone, wood, leather, glass and metal wire are all staple items in my jewelry supplies.  The focal point on this necklace consists of green Australian jasper, glass and wood beads all wound together with gold wire.  It hangs from a suede leather cord and fastens with a handcrafted hook-and-loop closure.    

  

Fairies have also wound their way into renaissance festivals across the United States.  This flower fairy was captured near my flowerbed.  Since she glows like a firefly, I stuck her in a jar on my window sill.  In reality, I hand-sculpted her face, neck, arms, legs and wings from polymer clay and attached them all to a soft cotton-filled body and dressed her in white chiffon flower petals.  She comes shipped in her capture jar, complete with air holes drilled in the lid.  Unlike real fireflies, her glow (which comes from an under-shift made of special light-activated material) will last night after night.  So yes, she really does glow in the dark after she's been exposed to bright light.

The leather corselet, waist cincher, hip belt - whichever you prefer to call this item, has also become a commonly-seen apparel item during fair season.  This belt is reversible, with decorative hand-stitched detail at the back seam which is visible from either the suede or smooth side.

Ashley is wearing the belt over a handmade handkerchief-hemline skirt
with a drawstring waistband.  The skirt is a 100% cotton print, and can be made-to-order in any size or fabric.

She's rather sprite-ish (is that even a word?  Maybe spritely?  Elfin?) in her funky tights and the Rock Prairie Designs skirt and belt, but I think the Washington t-shirt is a dead giveaway that she's a human teenager.




The inside seams are all finished to last a long time, and the drawstring eyelets are all reinforced on the inside and overcast by hand.  These eyelets will not pull out or rip apart after repeated wearing!






With renaissance faires and festivals quickly approaching, I have time open for new custom costume orders.  I can sew from your existing pattern and materials or work with you to design something original.

Feel free to visit my Etsy store, Rock Prairie Designs, to browse my current stock or to request custom leather work or sewing.

Prom 2011

Prom 2011 - My son and his lovely girlfriend in her new Rock Prairie Designs gown.  She drew a picture of her dream gown, and two trips to a couple metro area fabric stores and two fittings later... voila!

This spaghetti-strap gown is black satin, and laces up the back with a 1-3/4" red satin ribbon.  The belt is silver metallic vinyl and embellished with a ruby crystal cabochon.  The top of the gown is spangled with Swarovski crystals.  The separate underskirt is black satin and tulle, which is just barely visible at the hemline.  The white angel-wing shrug she's wearing is sheer silk chiffon and trimmed in a double-flounce of black lace.

Special event dresses are truly one of my favorite types of sewing.  If you can't seem to find exactly what you are looking for in retail stores and have an idea in mind, or even if you have a pattern but no time to sew, feel free to contact me via my Etsy store, Rock Prairie Designs.  

With Renaissance faires and festivals coming up, I will be adding historic attire to my Etsy inventory within the next couple of weeks - so check in often!          

Custom Penguin Patches

A customer wanted some patches made from these penguin appliqués that were on a seat cover (I did not ask the reason, I just did the sewing).  Almost any embroidered piece can be turned into a patch for a motorcycle jacket.  With the right tools, even an old car seat cover can become a memorial patch.

The "Bite Me" Patch was moved from the vest to the jacket.  Due to old damages on the edges of the  patch, I repaired the embroidered border before reattaching.

And of course what biker doesn't need an occasional rally patch sewn on?  In addition to motorcycle leathers, I also sew patches onto letterman's jackets as well.

Once again, feel free to "Request Custom Item" from my online shop, http://www.rockprairiedesigns.etsy.com/.

Renaissance Festival Costumes

Between going to school full-time and "family stuff" I've been keeping pretty busy over the last fall and winter.  Not to say that all that hasn't included sewing!  Below are some pics of costumes I've made for wear at the MN Renaissance Festival.  I will do custom gowns as well as sewing from patterns - if you're in the market for a new gown, please feel free to convo me at http://www.rockprairiedesigns.etsy.com/!

(All of the pieces below are spoken for, but I can duplicate these dresses in other fabrics)

The Tudor gown shown below was made with the customer's fabric and notions.  Shown without the hoop-skirt underneath, the skirt on this gown expands to almost 4' across.  The blue is heavy upholstery-grade velvet, the gold on the sleeves is also upholstery fabric.  The underskirt is embroidered gold dupioni silk. 

Jobless? Maybe Not...

I was fired from my job last Tuesday.  Evidently, my efforts were not what the new supervisory staff thought they should be.  At first, I was devastated; not only did I not see it coming, but my income was the only income for my family of five.  By the time I got home that day, I had a different perspective, so it really doesn't seem so bad now.

I have been truly blessed that each time something bad has happened in my life, God's grace has made a way out of the problem, and often times the window opened was far better than the door that had been closed.  My first day was spent applying for unemployment and reviewing financial changes that we would have to make.  My second day I planned on getting some serious house cleaning done and working in my garden (Uff da, my back!  What was I thinking?!?).  By the time my husband came home from work (he does handyman work with his brother - which is great when he has work, but as of late he had only a few jobs) the phone started ringing.  Non-stop.  Within that one evening, he had enough work lined up for both himself and his brother that they would be busy for at least a few weeks steady.

So now my garden is about three times bigger than it was before.  I may be unemployed, but I will not be out of work, and we will not starve!  My house is much cleaner than it was, and I have more time to sew.  When I look at all the positives and possibilities, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I guess if I were to boil it down to the bare elements, I'd much rather be working to sheer exhaustion for my family and for myself than to put in an eight-hour day making someone else rich.  Does that sound odd?  Of course there are far more risks involved in being self-employed than working for a steady, established company.  Obviously, I am going to keep looking for my dream job where I can work in a low-stress environment, utilize my creativity a lot more than at my old job (which the lack of made me want to cry some days) and get a really nice paycheck each week.  But I will definitely have more time to work on my own thing now.  Here's a photo of the purse I will hopefully be finishing today for my Etsy store:

And a closeup of the crochet:

It's not done yet, which is why it looks a little odd at this point.  When working with leather, binder clips are a great way to hold things together.  When sewing fabric, I would use either pins or paperclips; pins would leave permanent holes in the leather, and paper clips don't open wide enough to accomodate three layers of leather.  I used strong white acrylic yarn to crochet the body of the purse, which I will line with a tan acetate that is similar to the color of the suede leather strap.  The top will close with a matching tan zipper.  Barring anything weird happening during the assembly process, I hope to have this on my Etsy shop by this evening.