For the Love of Textiles

It's no secret that I love all things textile. While studying art history in college, I was fascinated with the preservation of paintings and textiles, and would spend a lot of time looking at all the vintage clothing in the theater department of my university. Preserving textiles can be complicated to do on your own as you can imagine, and this is why after Caitlin's wedding we wanted to make sure this wedding gown and veil got preserved in THE best possible manner.  We wanted to be able to do this as a gift for Caitlin and Cyrous. I remember after our wedding, we never seemed to have the funds to take my dress to the cleaners and so it got put in a garment bag and forgotten. Caitlin's dress is gorgeous and has two layers of silk lining along with  Alencon lace, which is sometimes referred to as "the queen of lace." The veil also has this lace, and in itself is an heirloom.  The process of choosing a wedding gown, then going through numerous fittings and then to not take care of such a investment, when the big day is over, is a crime in my book! Last week I contacted Marina Morrison where Caitlin bought the gown and veil, to ask where the  best place was to have the gown cleaned, preserved and restored. They sent me info to contact J. Scheer & Co. (click on the name if you would like to read more about them.)  After spending time on their site, I placed the order to start the process. I received a phone call immediately and spoke with a very nice woman, who walked me through the steps and what they do. I must say though, that shipping the dress and accessories, via UPS, had me a little nervous, and as you can imagine, Caitlin was too!! Today I'm happy to say it arrived safe, and now the process begins. They will test all the fabric to find which organic solution they will use to clean the dress. I'm happy that they will be able to mend the torn tulle as well. The process will take up to three and a half months.  They will clean the belt as well, as Caitlin got a little bit of honey on it from the Persian ceremony. I was panicking about that since the satin ribbon was so thick and lustrous and worried how something like that could get cleaned.  The really cool thing about how the gown and accessories  will be boxed, is that it will not be sealed like most cleaners do. They encourage you to open it and look at your gown once you get it. Included with the box are white gloves to handle the dress, as to not get oils from your hands on it. Even if the dress never gets worn again, it will be a treasure and memory of the most beautiful day, which I cannot believe was now 10 months ago! Speaking of which, you should clean your dress no later than six months it said....oops.....Luckily Caitlin didn't spill anything on her dress and only has light soiling on the hem.
When the dress returns, I'll snap a picture of it.  All wedding pictures above were taken by Erin Prado, for JBM photo  Incase you are wondering who Caitlin's dress is by, it is Liancarlo  and her veil was by Homa Bridal (click on names to go to the sites) Belt was Anne Barge
This is our anniversary gift to them, and I sure hope it arrives close to the actual date!!
Seriously though, if you love textiles, go on the J. Scheer site and read all the fascinating things they do for Bridal, Couture, and historical textiles.

Caitlin's Wedding Shower

 We played guess how old Caitlin is

Persian treats

 Bridal bow bouquet

 Our florist for the wedding made a beautiful bouquet for the shower

 Caitlin with Vanessa. Vanessa is one of the brides maids.

 Caitlin and Brooke. Childhood friends since first grade!

 Bridal bouquet builders! They did a great job.

 Caitlin with her cousins, Isabella and Natalia.

There are lots more pictures of course, but I hope these give a good example of the day.  We put a lot into it and I think everyone had a good time! The maid of honor of course lives in London and we missed having her here, so some of these photos are for her.   It was so fun to see some friends that we haven seen in a while and to meet Zarin's friends. The weather was lovely and Zarin's garden is so beautiful that we got enjoy being outside while we built our mimosas.
We let Whole Foods do all the work for our food for the day, but I made the cupcakes. You can't see it very well in the pics, but I found the cutest sprinkles that were tiny, tiny gold stars and hearts!!! Then I topped them with edible rose petals.

It's scary how close the wedding is now! All the planning will soon come to a close and then the next chapter of Caitlin and Cyrous' life begins.  Looking forward to it all unfolding soon.

While planning the wedding and shower, I have been a busy bee with the shop as well. I made yet more  special order capes and have been selling made stock as well.  I will soon be putting the shop on vacation mode, because I will be making two flower girl dresses soon, and finish up all the small details left for the big day!

My post is going to be short, since I'm tired beyond right now hahah.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of the shower!

Flower girls!

Wake Me Up When Summer is Over!

Hello, is it fall yet? Not by the looks of the thermometer out side sadly. Last Monday I pushed the season and made a fall dish for the family, NOT the one I have pictured above, but a real hearty dish that really isn't a good idea to make on a hot day.  Today I cannot get away with doing this as you can see above, it's in the hundreds today!
The invitations were all sent out last Monday and that was quite a feat unto itself! Looking for the right stamps and then assembling them took some time. Caitlin did all the hard work though, as she did all the addresses in calligraphy! It took a few weeks, as there were over 80 of them to do.
Next thing up is Caitlin's wedding shower. Since the maid of honor lives in London, she cannot put one together for her, so the groom's mom and I are throwing the shower for her.  If it were not enough to plan a big wedding with 250 guests, lets just throw on a shower as well hahahah. It will be a lot of fun and I'm actually looking forward to putting all the little touches on that little party as well.

On another note, I finally ordered my dress for the wedding. Everyone was giving me a hard time because I was dragging my feet on getting one. Why you ask? Well, I really hate trying on dresses first off. Can I just rant here a little bit on how annoying it is when you have a  hour glass figure, but there really are no dresses to fit it? Dress makers assume that if your hips are a certain width, then you must have the bust size to match it. Wrong! I went to three department stores hoping to try on a dress that I liked. They either had ugly colors, or not my size. Customer service doesn't exist anymore either, no matter how fancy the department store. I finally tried on a dress of the designer that I liked just for the sizing, and went home and ordered the style I liked on line. Same for the shoes! Remember when Nordstroms specialized in fitting shoes? Well, they don't anymore. I guess everyone on the planet has a medium width foot. If you have a narrow foot or a wide foot, then you best be at home scouring the internet because there will be no shoes for you to try on. I asked the salesperson at Nordstrom why they don't carry ANY shoes in a wide width( except for those god awful Munro shoes), because surely there are others like me. His response was, " They collect dust." Really?! Somehow I don't believe this, but then I started to think. Perhaps the reason why they might be collecting dust is because women are so vain with shoes that they will cram their feet into a shoe that doesn't fit for the sake of fashion, and not bother to demand that they carry other widths. I finally found some online that didn't scream old lady, and both the dress and the shoes will arrive soon. I'm praying that the dress looks good on me, or I'm going to be annoyed!

We went for Caitlin's first fitting and tried everything on at the salon. She looked so beautiful, and reminded me of how I will be a crying fool on the day of the wedding!!!  

As for my little Etsy shop, I have been making special order capes it seems all summer! I was thinking that people were getting ready for fall, but all of the capes were rush orders for parties! A couple of them went to some states that are quite toasty this time of year, and I could not imagine having a party with a wool cape!   Because of all the wedding chores, it has taken me away from finishing that last garment that I photographed. The heat also makes me very unmotivated, but I'm going to force myself to get it done, as I have two flower girl dresses to make for the wedding.
I had planned on making up a batch of the capes and just selling them and not taking special orders, but I think I'm going to do the opposite, and then put the shop on vacation mode the second week of October.  

I'll keep you posted on my dress dilemma. If anyone out there knows of a good on line gown/special occasion site they like, let me know!

Special Order

Hello!  We had a lovely weekend I hope you did. On Friday when we met Cyrous' parents for dinner to sample some of the food that will be at the wedding. After the decision for the caterer was made, we made a date to go taste the actual dishes that we have decided on! It was very good, and we are excited for the guests to have a Persian feast! This will not be typical wedding food choices of chicken, beef or fish. Those items will be served but in Persian dishes, and they are tasty. I want that to be a surprise, so no photos of the food hahah.
Saturday we went on a jaunt into the city to get a battery for my watch. Why the city? Well, about 12 years ago, on my 41st birthday, my sweet husband gifted me a Cartier tank watch. It's one of my prize possessions and wonderful memories of living in France. In the twelve years I have owned the watch, this will only be the second battery I have had to put in it! The downside of owning such a beautiful watch, is that anything that you have to do to it is EXPENSIVE! I also have a casual watch that I wear to knock around in, and it too needed a battery. The cost of that battery was only 20 bucks. The Cartier watch........$65.00!!!! While I was waiting for them to put the battery in, there was a guy there wanting his metal watch strap replaced.....the cost....$2,000 Yikes!!!! I was thankful at that moment that my strap is alligator, BUT to replace that, it will be $365.00!!! I'm not happy about this, but the strap that I have now has seen better days, and does not showcase how pretty the watch is, so Happy Mother's day to me I suppose. I could have a new hand bag for that price :(    Oh well, hopefully it will last another 10 years!    We decided to stay in the city for dinner and a movie. We had such a nice time at a restaurant in the SF mall, that I thought would be generic and not great, but it turned out to be so good, and I would definitely go back. It is called My China, and it was opened by Martin Yan, of "Yan can Cook."  Wonderful flavors and very different than the normal Chinese restaurant that is prevalent around San Francisco.  If you follow me on Instagram, I posted a photo of one of the dishes.   We then saw "Age of Adeline."  It was a sweet movie with lots of eye candy, and it was suppose to be set in San Francisco. Given that this is our city, you always know when a movie is really filmed here or they use stock footage of the skyline and other famous shots of the city. The whole time something felt off about the scenes and when I got home and looked up the info on the film, sure enough it was mostly filmed in Vancouver. Vancouver is San Francisco's fraternal twin hahaha. It has hilly streets and similar architecture, but I know my city too well, and I just knew it wasn't San Francisco! Anyway, its a fun film and it was such a pleasant evening!
The mouse was a special order for Cyrous' mom and was fun to do but I can surely see why I don't want to make more for the shop. They are extremely time consuming, and if I charged for all the time it took me to make this, I don't think it would be a good price point. The one and only that I put in the shop, I way under priced! If anyone really loves these and wants to inquire about them, send me a message through Etsy and I might consider doing one as a special order.

Oh, and all the yard pictures....I sure hope you are not tired of them. Every time I go out there, I see new things or beautiful changes to some of the plants. Cyrous recently realized that there is a loquat tree in our back yard. That is the photo of the yellow fruit with the prehistoric looking leaves! What isn't in this yard!!! I sure wish the owner had planted some peach trees or pear trees hahah. Oh well, I'm very happy with what is out there, and I cannot wait for those candy like grapes to mature, as well as the figs!!  In the front yard there is a rhododendron bush with one red bloom. This plant I think does better in cooler climates like up north were I went to college, although it's healthy enough and is starting to bloom.  I cut some roses and and brought them in for a little color in the main room.

Off to do some sewing.......Catcha later!

My Blog Just Turned 8 Years Old!

My blog anniversary was on February 12th and it slipped my mind completely to do a post on that day! I can't believe I'm still at it hahah. So many blogs are slowing down or shutting down it seems. Most prefer Instagram or other formats, but here I am, still documenting my little corner of the world. I must admit thought, that I too have slowed down in posting and ideas for posts. This little blog is for me to look back on what I and my family have done each year, so I keep on going.

Did everyone have a fun Valentine's day? We had planned to take a drive out to Marin and check out a new store, that is a new venture of Steve Gordon, founder of Restoration Hardware.  Well, I suppose it isn't brand new, as I believe he opened in 2013. Mr. Gordon's  last stint was at Sundance Catalog, and I thought he was still there, until I saw someone on Facebook waxing nostalgic about Restoration Hardware, and we all launched into a discussion about the original store in Eureka Ca. It was said in a comment that his newest venture is a cool new store in Mill Valley Ca. called Giudeboat.  If you are a long time reader of my blog, you may have remembered the post on Restoration Hardware that I did, and how I  really don't like its latest incarnation. Steve Gordon's magic touch that gave life to RH, left with him and is now in this new place. Steve, always manages to get things right with retail. He has the ability to capture a lifestyle and turn it into a shop that you can't get enough of. He has such a great eye for finding quality and putting it all together to tell a story that you want to be a part of, if that makes any sense.  I must go out and explore his newest venture as soon as possible.

The yard is coming out of its short winter's nap and blossoms and leaves are starting to make their appearance. The quince tree is really going crazy with its beautiful velvet green leaves. The rose bushes are starting to awaken also. No wonder with all this sunny weather we are having. The front yard, has many beautiful camellia bushes, one with red and white streaked flowers, and the others plain white and red. Camellia flowers are so pretty, but so short lived. They seem to wither away and fall all too soon for my liking.  Check out all those Meyer lemons! Don't hate me for having a million of them!! A lot of them are just dropping to the ground,  I just can't keep up with all of them. I can't make any desserts out of them, since I gave up sweets for lent, I guess I have to keep incorporating them into my lunches and dinners.

After finishing the two piece outfit from my last post, I have now started on a baby linen top. Oh my the feel and drape of the linen is so wonderful that I'm using for it! I'm binding the edges with Liberty of London fabric, and it will close with that yummy silk satin ribbon that is pictured. I'm making little bloomers to go with it.

The last picture of Caitlin, well......that is NOT her dress,It's my 80's wedding dress. She tried to reenact my pose in the photo behind her hahaha. I can't even imagine her wearing this for real.! It was so lovely back in 1983 though :)   We are happy to say though that this past weekend Caitlin found her dress, at Marina Morrison in San Francisco.   It's a beautiful , and I can't wait for you all to see it, but you will have to wait until late October.  ;)  Now on to the flowers and cake and of course all the other millions of details that need to be done.

I'll try not to be a stranger on here, and post more goings on from my little corner of the world.
Happy 8th birthday to my little blog.