Episode two – design an outfit to represent a Marie Claire woman.  Prize would be your design on a model on a billboard in Times Square.  Um yeah, I guess some people don’t read Marie Claire because those outfits were scary – scary bad.  I quite liked Valerie’s zip up the front red dress and I think that would have photographed very well and looked great on the billboard but the judges went with Gretchen’s weirdo jumpsuit thing which to me did not look “fashion forward” but more retro 1980s.  Anyhoo, she won, and two people went home – Jason of the clockwork-orange-I’m going-to-psych-everyone-out-by-wearing-this-thing-bowler-hat and Nicholas who really has no idea and had a good cry, poor love.  Both outfits were awful, Nicholas with a backless blouse and a “day” cape to cover the gap, and Jason with his “infinity 8″ concept dress tastefully held together with safety pins.  Mmmm nothing says Marie Claire like safety pins and shiny capes boys!

Pretty

Pretty awful

oooooh it’s back!  I get so excited when this show is on and so inspired to run upstairs and do some creating of my own or at least some sewing.  Generally though, I end up watching the show and then by the time it’s finished there’s no time for me to do anything or I just lose my momentum.

Back in New York again at Parsons, and back in the Atlas apartments, the rag tag bunch of misfit designers are all raring to go and show what they can do.  There were 17 of them in this first episode and Heidi dropped the bombshell that this was actually still part of the audition, so one unfortunate got to straight back home again without ever unpacking or seeing the funky apartments.  I really felt for one of the contestants – Carlos Casanova (call me Casanova) who stupidly pulled his $1000 Dolce and Gabbana pants out of his suitcase for the first challenge, only to discover that he had to give them to someone else to CUT UP and make into something else – yikes!  Maybe that’s why they didn’t send him home on the first challenge – they felt sorry for his loss – as the creation he presented was seriously lacking in taste and skin coverage.

All in all, they were all pretty average but then what do you expect for something knocked up in 5 hours using something from someone else’s suitcase! The winner was not memorable – I can’t even remember who or what won at this point – so let’s move on.

Heidi has a bit of a dodgy haircut, Nina Garcia showed off her bilingual skills when she had to translate a question Heidi asked Casanova, and Tim Gunn as always is the star of the show – go Tim!

Roll on episode two and some serious sewing.

Reposted from EW.

Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup credited with helping to spark the next decade’s sexual revolution, died in Los Angeles yesterday from pneumonia. She was 85. In honor of the passing of this treasure from a bygone era, an excerpt from EW critic Owen Gleiberman’s review of the 2006 biopic, The Notorious Bettie Page:

“It has often been said that Bettie Page, the legendary ’50s pinup with the pert features framed by those famously severe black bangs, was the rare American sex goddess who was equally at home projecting the image of a good girl or a bad girl. Frolicking, naked, in the ocean foam, her leg extended with playful pleasure, she was all dazzle and sunshine: the girl next door who said yes yes yes. In her scandalous underground bondage photos, where she posed as a dominatrix with a whip held high, or as a masochist with a ball in her mouth, she vamped like a pussycat from hell, her eyes narrowing with mean delight — or widening in mock terror. Yet the mysterious alchemy of Bettie Page isn’t just that she could turn on a dime from light to dark, saint to sinner, virgin to vixen. It’s that she was somehow able to project both qualities at once. In the bondage photos, so shocking for their time, her warm, spirited, peekaboo vibrance doesn’t disappear; it’s there just beneath the surface aggression of her poses. As for her all-American cheesecake shots, they have a quality of delirious, laughing abandon, as though she were winking at the she-devil inside. What Bettie Page conjured — always — was the promise of pleasure without limits. She was a one-woman orgy in centerfold form.”

Good night, Bettie. Although it’s a cliche, there really is no truer summation than to say, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

More Bettie Page:
Movie review: The Notorious Bettie Page
Book review: The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups
Bettie Page weighs in on Notorious biopic

Read original article and comments to it here

Arrived yesterday. Not sure what I’m going to do with it but it’s a great colour and really supersoft. Kitty coats? A Michelin man suit for me to protect against the cold?  A range of quilted bags?  Still undecided at this point.  I will have to mull it over and keep looking at it some more.  Of course that tends to happen and then I run out of time to make anything.

Other fabric arrived yesterday.  Had to pay customs handling charges for it and wait an additional three days for delivery which made me a bit less enthusiastic about it, but the fabric is great.  I got 8 yds of fabric from fabric.com which btw has a 30% sale on now on fabrics that they only have 20yds or less of, so a great time to pick up a bargain.  Just remember the costs if you are ordering from outside the US.

I spent some frustrating hours last night working on a new purse.  The frustrating part was caused by the fact that it’s tiny and very fiddly and if I charged by the hour the purse would be unaffordable.  After breakfast I’m going up to finish it off but I’m already hating it and I have two more of the little buggers to do today.

At least I stopped to watch Come Dine With Me, Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas Cookalong (with Gok Wan pashing on with Gordy) and the IT Crowd.  Quality stuff.

Ha! I watched Heroes episode 12 last night.  I could have watched it yesterday morning but certain people demand that I wait for them *le sigh*  If you haven’t seen it yet then all I’m going to say is Sylar – lie detector – “there’s cake?”  LMAO  I am so making a banner with his face at that moment lol

Ok a few posts ago I mentioned I had ordered 3m of art deco silk taffeta.  It arrived this morning along with a gazillion other packages – it was better than Christmas.  Anyway after communicating with the seller about various fabric related and boring questions, he told me he didn’t have much left, so of course I then had to order what was left.  It was unavoidable.  I will now have 13 metres of silk taffeta to play with – ideas on the back of a postcard to…

Also arrived today was a big box of books from amazon (go Prime!) but unfortunately one of them is diabolical and has to die be returned.  I just wrote a reasonably scathing review of it on amazon which they may or may not publish but here’s some highlights just in case they don’t.  DO NOT buy this book under any circumstances

Creating Romantic Purses

I saw this book on amazon a few times and read the reviews which made it sound pretty decent.  It’s hard to tell from the cover but the two bags featured on there looked “ok” from a distance. Having now seen inside the book, I think you would have to have a screw loose to want to carry any of them around with you outside in public, let alone make them.  They are completely over the top, over-embellished, overdone and really reminds me of crafts you used to do as a child with lots of leftovers and scrap fabrics.  Truly appalling.  Less is more people, and if you are going to have more, let’s not have them looking like something your granny’s granny might have had stashed away. Lots of lace, fake flowers, buttons, beads, and lots and lots of fringing on everything. Another review mentioned that the authors looked like something from a Jane Austen movie – do not be fooled into thinking that must mean Elizabeth Bennett or Emma – they look like Mrs Bennet or worse Lady Catherine de Burgh (or her granny)  In addition to that, all patterns included in the book have to be enlarged at 335%!!!  They do have a website but it’s full of curtain tassles, fringing, fake flowers etc that really don’t need to be put on a handbag.  Don’t waste your time with this book.

Maybe the title and the cover might have given a clue to how bad it was going to be, but honestly at that small size what was on the cover didn’t look that bad and it got some positive reviews.  I did consider it a few times before and never clicked the “add to basket” button so I need to learn to trust my instincts where crappy books are concerned.  It’s being returned this afternoon :p

crafty photos coming up in the next post…

Yesterday I was sent a new sewing pattern for a handbag (purse). It looks lovely and I did actually think at one stage yesterday that I would make one that day, but one thing lead to another and I realise now 36 hours later that I haven’t even made it into the sewing room. After a quick check I can confirm that I have everything I need (that’s what happens when you stock your spare room up to resemble a craft shop) so there should really be no delay. It is very pretty, so my challenge for tomorrow is to choose some fabric (from the many options available upstairs) and get cracking on it. Of course I may well get distracted at the “choosing the fabric” stage of the plan.

Also yesterday I was put in touch with a site that gives you money if your t-shirt design gets voted as the best one of the week. This is all good, so last night I dreamt about t-shirt designs and woke up this morning with exactly none. I feel inspired to do this though since it’s a bit of a challenge to come up with something new and it sounds kinda fun.

I’m now watching reruns of the Apprentice UK season 4 with Jack who didnt see it the first time. I’m trying hard not to remember who wins. Roll on next season, I love watching these duffers make idiots of themselves while spouting off how brilliant they are lol.

Oh and also my True Blood bag arrived today. Can’t wait to take it out for a test run which should be interesting considering the show hasn’t been on yet in this country. heh!

I opened a Twitter account yesterday and started twittering like a mad fool lol Well not really but the fact that I have to write Twitter and Tweet makes me feel like TWIT!  I’ve linked it up to my main blog (on EOTC) so I can “Tweet”  from the blog to twitter or from twitter to the blog, or if I really feel the need, I can even “Tweet” from my mobile – but only if I feel the urge to share that I’m sitting on a bus or buying groceries or whatever similar exciting thing I might be doing when I’m out.

I did watch Zack and Miri Make A Porno last night (that’s a movie btw and not me spying on the neighbours lol).  It’s pretty funny and I like the guy that’s in it, he might be called something like Seth Rogen or something.  I can’t be bothered looking it up but he was in Pineapple Express and some other stuff, and he’s pretty funny too.  It was made by Kevin Smith’s company and Jay from Jay and Silent Bob is also in it as it Justin Long, whom I love!  There’s plenty of language in it and quite a lot of it crude but still funny and it’s kindly sweet in its way too.