Featured Artist: Natalie Ferguson of A Frolic Through Time

If you are someone who loves vintage materials and vintage themed designs, I know you will be inspired by Natalie Ferguson and her blog, A Frolic Through Time. Natalie does what many of us would love to do: she designs and sews period clothing for actual wear.

In her words: “Fashion is fun, but period fashion is more fun. Period clothing speaks volumes about a culture and evokes memories and ideas close to the heart. That’s why I enjoy researching and constructing period clothing and accessories; the feel of the process and the drape of the result open doors to another time and place…[I] am still reading and writing but now joyfully testing what I read on real fabric. Here are experiments and essays - and trials -  in costuming, shared with you.” (Natalie is wearing the feathered hat in the previous 2 photos.)

I learned about Natalie’s designs because she purchased some tiny vintage flat back chaton rhinestones from Bumbershoot Supplies.  She told me she planned to attach them to tiny pieces of fabric, then sew those embellished fabric bits onto a petticoat she was designing as part of a 1795 Full Dress Ensemble for the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville this July, at which she planned to volunteer.  Well, I had to know more and I knew I’d have to share this with you.

See the rhinestone in the center of the goldwork on the finished petticoat…

And here they are again on the buckle…

Every time I visit A Frolic Through Time, I can get lost there for hours, hours that seem to pass by in minutes. This is because Natalie’s designs and her blog bring together so many things I love: good literature, period fashion, living history, fabric, embellishments and accessories, the traditionally female arts, and an attention to detail and authenticity that I greatly respect.  

Plus, a bit of theatre too.

I am also in awe of Natalie’s generous spirit – she provides an incredible amount of detail about the sources she uses to create her designs, the designs themselves and her creative process.  Indeed, Natalie’s blog is a very rich source of information, links and resources on period fashion and I definitely recommend a visit just for the resources alone.  Her blog posts are true gifts.

I hope you will be inspired by a visit to Natalie’s blog for your own Frolic Through Time!

Featured Artist. Elizabeth Wise of 3elizabeths on Etsy

Want to brighten up your day?

Pay a visit to Elizabeth Wise's shop, 3elizabeths on Etsy.

Elizabeth sews market bags, wristlets and tiny bags out of the most colorful, eclectic and quirky fabrics imaginable.

She describes her fabric art pieces as “unique, one-of-a-kind confections”.

Elizabeth embellishes many of her bags with vintage crystal and rhinestone buttons from Bumbershoot Supplies - that is how I came to learn of her work.

I love the sense of fun and playfulness that Elizabeth communicates with these designs. The cheerfulness of these bags spills over into how they are presented. I don’t know what those eyes are but they make me smile. And take a second look.  So do the penguins.

I've focussed on her smaller bags in this blog post. In addition to these bags, at 3elizabeths you will also find handmade aprons, bows, collages and collaged blank journals. So for a pick-me-up and some wonderful design, color and pattern inspiration, consider a visit to 3elizabeths on Etsy. Say hi to Elizabeth while you are there!

Featured Artist. Liz Hammel's Hoop Dreams

Welcome to Liz Hammel’s Hoop Dreams.

I learned about Liz’s art when she sent me a link to her website. Liz has used the vintage mother of pearl sequins available at Bumbershoot Supplies and kindly shared her designs with me. I was pretty excited because Liz is the first featured artist I have located who is using our vintage supplies to embellish stitched canvases.

Liz is a retired art historian, in her words “happily creating whimsy in thread and objects”.

There is a strong presence of nature in Liz’s work, both in the materials she uses (silk, mother of pearl, linen, jade, amber, and many others) and in the designs she draws with her needle.

Some of the pieces with heavy threadwork remind me of the grain in the bark of trees. They also remind me of the heavy swirls of paint impressionists like Van Gogh laid down on their canvases.

I found lots of inspiration in these beautifully stitched meditations on color, line and texture.

I hope you will enjoy a visit to Liz’s website for a view into her world of stitched whimsy, her Hoop Dreams.

Featured Artist. Deborah Blut of Garter Mademoiselle and The Pink Birdhouse on Etsy

Wedding season is rapidly approaching and just in time, I have met Deborah Blut of

Garter Mademoiselle and The Pink Birdhouse on Etsy.

There may be others out there, but Deborah is the first artist that I know of who is using supplies from Bumbershoot Supplies in some of her garter designs. Cool!

Garters are commonly thought of as a wedding tradition. Deborah was kind enough to provide me with some information, and I also did some research on my own and here is what I learned about the history of wedding garters. Apparently the tradition began back in the 14th Century in Europe. It was thought that having a part of the bride’s clothing would bring good luck. This resulted in some boisterous practices, as guests escorted the couple to the bridal chamber and then determined to obtain the bride’s clothes. Eventually, over time, the tradition has evolved to occur at the wedding reception, in which it is the groom’s task to remove the garter and toss it to the single men in the crowd, the idea being that the one who catches the garter will next marry, a tradition similar to the bridal bouquet toss.

If a bride chooses to follow this tradition, she will often purchase a pair of garters, one to toss and one as a keepsake. You can see how Deborah has designed beautifully complementary garters with this tradition in mind.

Of course, garters are functional items of clothing that were historically used, and sometimes still are used, to hold up stockings and socks. This pair is inspired by garters from the 1920’s, during which women would wear garters on each leg to hold up their stockings.

With the invention of elastic and pantyhose, they are not used as much, although since I am Canadian, I feel compelled to note that hockey players still use a type of garter to hold up their socks. Plus, garters and garter belts are still often worn for fashion purposes.

And you can completely understand that when you see Deborah’s garters. When I was a bride, I chose not to follow the garter tradition. I didn’t even know I might want a garter until I visited Deborah’s shops and saw her wonderful creations.

Part of the appeal for me is the quality of materials Deborah works with, including vintage laces, silk, and many different vintage glass pearls, buttons and baubles. The other part of the appeal is Deborah’s extraordinary design sense and craftsmanship, including her stunning ribbonwork silk flowers. They are just so pretty!

I hope you will enjoy a visit to Garter Mademoiselle or to The Pink Birdhouse to see all of Deborah’s beautiful and gorgeously crafted garters. Who knows, you might find yourself wanting one too!

Look What I Found. New Fabric by Tracie Lyn Huskamp of The Red Door Studio

I am pretty excited about the new fabric designs by
Tracie Lynn Huskamp of the Red Door Studio.

I am fortunate to own 2 originals by Tracie: a beautiful goldfinch pin cushion, shown in this blog post, and this wee chickadee painted on muslin shown above and below.

When I heard Tracie had available fabric created using her original designs, I headed right over to her Etsy shop to get me some!

Nature is so much to me, an inspiration, a comfort, a place to heal, a continual source of wonder and beauty and joy.

I love Tracie's work because it reflects how I feel about the magical beauty of the natural world.

I'd love to take a class from her one day, or even just to meet her so I could tell her in person how much I love her art.

I don't know yet what I will do with these wonderful fabrics, right now I am just enjoying them.

Floral Tribute. Mixed Media Monday, Earth Laughs in Flowers

This is my piece for this week's theme at Mixed Media Monday, Floral Tributes.

My tribute is to our Earth, which during this time of year, as Ralph Waldo Emerson so famously said, is laughing in flowers.

This is a 6x6 inch mixed media art quilt. The base is some of my hand dyed fabric.  I have stamped and layered vintage buttons and vintage and contemporary trims on top of the base fabric.

Studio Snapshot. Packaging Tips, Use a Big Needle

Nestled in with the nature collection, hand crocheted flowers, bits of beautiful glass, is a very, very big needle. Easy to locate, I use this needle every day to package up jewelry for customers at Bumbershoot Designs.

I love to wrap packages and Bumbershoot Designs, being a boutique with unique and limited edition jewelry pieces, offers wrapping as special as the jewelry.  I use this very big needle to "sew" the tags, paper flowers, and vintage bead onto each package. Usually the bead is a vintage teardrop bead, or as I think of it, a Seattle raindrop.

Seeing Stars in Seattle. Artist Trading Card (ATC). Three Muses

This is my entry for the Three Muses challenge this week, "Seeing Stars".  It is an artist trading card (ATC) made with my hand dyed fabric, sun printed with stars, stitched and embellished with handmade paper, vintage dictionary paper, sequins and my latest vintage delight, rose montees - tiny crystals set in metal settings that can be glued, or wired or sewn through the channels on the back of the setting.

I am always astounded at how many stars we can see in Seattle, just from the back porch. You'd think that the lights of a big city would wash out the night sky, but (when it is not raining!) I see lots and lots of stars. It always makes me wish to be somewhere well and truly dark, where the city light would be removed, like a curtain lifted, and the true radiance of the heavens revealed.

Mothers. Mama A Rainbow. Mixed Media Monday

This is my entry for this week's Mixed Media Monday theme of "mothers".  This art quilt is my attempt to capture a very special moment in my life, a unique Mother's Day present from my son Eric. We're not big on Mother's or Father's Day, we basically try to approach every day as Mother's Day and Father's Day and Children's Day. So it was a real surprise when Eric sang me this song (lyrics below) on Mother's Day a couple of years ago... I still get a bit teary every time I read these lyrics as I hear his incredibly beautiful clear boy soprano singing this song for me.  I deeply value my role as a mother to Eric and my daughter Emma, and I can't think of anything that has blessed me more in my life than the presence of three very special people, Emma, Eric, and my husband Jim.

Hand dyed fabric, ribbon, transfer of Eric's heart drawing, then stitched, photo transfer, stamping, crystal, vintage rhinestones.

Mama A Rainbow 

~Jim Nabors

What do you give to the lady who has given

All her life and love to you

What do you give to the reason you are livin'

I could window shop the world

Before I'm through

Mama, a rainbow

Mama, a sunrise

Mama, the moon to wear

That's not good enough

No not good enough

Not for Mama

Mama, a palace

Diamonds like door knobs

Mountains of gold to spare

That's not rich enough

No not rich enough

Not for Mama

Mama, a life time crowded with laughter

That's not long enough

Not half long enough

What can I give you

That I can give you

What will your present be

Mama, young and beautiful

Always young and beautiful

That's the Mama I'll always see...

That's the Mama with love from me

What can I give you

What will your present be

Mama, young and beautiful

Always young and beautiful

That's the Mama I'll always see...

That's the Mama with - love - from - me...

Vintage Children. Art Creations Friday

This is the first time I've participated in Art Creations Friday.  I could not resist these two beautiful children, especially as the image is French and I have been working with some recently purchased antique French seed package labels. 

This is a tea stained tag, with stamps and rubons, over which are laid a copy of one of my French seed packet labels, trimmed around the flowers.  Also stitched, and embellished with vintage French ribbon (from 1943) and vintage flower cabochons.