Guess, which series fan I am…..Isn´t there a little bit of “Phryne” in every woman? 
Author: ragmin
Going to the ball…another rag-princess tale
“Stop!” yelled prince charming.
The rag-princess, just pacing down the castles stairs in her brandnew amazing coat, made of a 1960´s velvet-curtain, froze, one foot in the air.
“What´s wrong?” she asked.
“I hate to tell you, but I must insist on you changing your coat!” said the prince with cumbrous politeness.
“Why? What´s wrong with the coat?” asked the princess baffled.
“It seems, you can´t sew anything that´s not more or less ridiculous, but THIS COAT tops it all!”
“I don´t know, what you mean!”
“Not only it´s ugly…you see…..it´s GREEN! Have you ever seen a princess in a GREEN coat?”
“Well….Actually I saw Cinderella last week in this fabulous green…….”
“Stop it! You look like a FROG!”the prince yelled.
“ME? FROG? You call your wife a FROG? I think, you´re in the wrong fairy-tale!”
“I don´t want to show myself in public with someone, who looks like an abundant amphibian!”
“But we´re invited to the neighbor-king´s ball! And we should be on our way now!”
“Yes! And that´s a very good reason, why you should hurry and change your coat!”
The rag-princess counted to three and hoped, her fairy-godmother would appear and have a word with this headstrong husband of hers, but nothing happened. She had to face the situation on her own.
“Where are those fairys, if you need them!” she murmured to herself. Then looked at the prince.
“This coat….” she tried again.
“NO! As Long, as I drive the coach, I will not allow you to get in there, looking like this! I´m afraid, the horses balk!”
“And YOU call yourself a MODERN prince? Now look, I can´t be late….I promised snow-white and the evil queen to show them how to make a skirt from rotten old scarfes and…..”
“Green coat, no ball! That´s all I have to say! Now go and Change, or we stay at home! You have five minutes!”
Sometimes a princess has to accept a lost fight. So she ran up the stairs, took of the coat an got another one, just as rediculous as the frog-coat, but a red ragy-riding-coat with a fancy hood and hurried down again.
Prince charming stood at the bottom of the stairs, padded impatient with his elegant feet and rattled with the coach-keys.
He gasped as he saw the red coat, but said nothing. At least better to step out with a heap of red rags, than a frog.
And so they drove to the ball, where the princess kept her promise and bored all the Ladys half to death with her scarf-skirt project, while prince charming found his solace by walking around the extended park of the neighbors castle in solitude, disturbed only by a flock of yarn-bombers.
Curvy dress
For this project, I wanted something curvy, flowing, like some of the dresses from the 30s have. But not to much! So I used some old lace-borders, a vintage cushion (including closure and mother of pearl-buttons as you can see on the front of the dress) and fabric from a damaged duvet cover. I dyed everything, as usual and turned it into a slightly curvy Dress.
Curtain-Tunic
Vintage curtains are fantastic items for clothing projects. It doesn´t matter, if you use the heavy kind with rich patterns or the tender lacy ones.
For this long summer-tunic, I used pieces of vintage art déco curtains. The sewing-pattern had to be simple, because the design of the fabric speaks for themselves.
To use or not to use….
To use or not to use…That´s the question!
Sometimes you get vintage items and ask yourself “should I use them for a project or just collect, so they can be preserved?”
Usually I decide to use them, if the items are not too rare and precious or so delicate in condition, that using ist out of question.
In this case, I got a vintage display-sample from the 30s or 40s with some beautiful Plauener-Tüllspitze (net lace from Plauen in Germany).
The old rose items in the middle are acctually the two parts of a collar, but I thought, they would make fantastic embelishments for a bra…..
I was right, as you can see in the picture.
So it you decide to work with your vintage treasures, be gentle and respectful and don´t forget, they where once made for use and there is no reason, why they should not come back to light and shine!
Cellophan-Hat
Last year I got a heap of vintage millinery items, including two strands of white cellophane-braid. Braided cellophane was popular for hats between the 1920s-50s. Today it´s nearly impossible to find.
Unfortunately the material is delicate and don´t get along with sunlight or dampness. Accordingly to this, both strands where in a poor condition, parts of them half rotten. However, I tried to make a hat in a 1920s style, to practice the handling of difficult material. I had to damp it, keep it wet in a cloth and sew it carefull with needle and thread over a hat block, without ripping the braid or dissolve it. After that I stiffed it with starch and millinery wire at the edge.
To my own astonishment it worked! The hat may be a little eccentric and every touch makes a crackling sound like withered leaves (no wonder, cellophane is made of cellulose), but it is wearable at all!
No fur please!
We shouldn´t use fur. I think, the times, when animals had to suffer and die for things like fur-coats and collars should be over and never come back again.
No human being can ever look as good in a fur coat as the animal does, that had to die for the coat.
When winter comes I use “Furry”, my fake-fur-collar. I didn´t sew it myself. Actually I found Furry years ago in a second hand store. It was dirty, the lining had holes, seams where lose, only a half tail remained and one glass-eye was missing.
But it was obvious, that someone long ago made the collar herself from simple materials like satin and a fur-like fabric, usually used for teddy bears.
I cleaned and mend it and bought a pair of new glass-eyes. Now we´re both happy together.
But what is there to see on the picture? Some real fur! Is this woman a pharisee?
No, I´m not. But Furry´s tail and ears are real fur. I think, the woman who made it, used some bits from a genuine fur-collar and I didn´t have the courage to remove it. But I also never repaired the half-tail.
Furry will remain as it is and I use it as a reminder for myself never to use fur.
You don´t own fur-coats or collars and you also don´t want to buy such things and why did this woman need to write about it, because fur is mega-out for years?
Don´t think your save. Fur lurks everywhere, even if we don´t realize it!
Those pretty miniature- animals you can buy on fairs and markets or in cheap stores, are often laminated with the fur of cats. Millions of them are killed every year. Or where does the genuine trim fur on your new, stylish purse comes from? Or the piece of fur on this in-boots you just admire in a shoe shop?
It may not be mink or sable. But does it matter, which animal it is?
Ask yourself in wich way the animals, we use for industrial products like clothing and shoes are raised and how they die at the end.
Try to avoid products with genuine fur and if it´s not possible, buy your things from eco-friendly companys.
The web is full of alteratives to “common” industrial products!
Ask questions. And if they don´t give you the right answers or try to dodge them, go and buy elsewhere!
Happy ever after?
After prince charming married the rag-princess, his life didn´t turn out “happy ever after”. It became quite the opposite, because a princess, who is always in the middle of recycling projects, can drive a modern prince half insane…….
“Dear princess,”, prince charming says. “When will dinner be served?”
“I don´t know. Ask the servants!” she answers.
His feet scratch bashful on the floor. “We don´t have any. I´m a modern prince!”
“Oh… Well, in THAT case make yourself some sandwiches. I´m busy!”
He gives her a beseeching look. “Busy with something much more important than serving your beloved husband a good dinner?”
“Much more important. I´m in the middle of a new, exiting recycling-project!”
“There is no project!” growls prince charming. “All I can see is a huge, ugly pile of rags on our dining table instead of food!”
“I hope you don´t mean my precious textile fragments?” the princess asks confused.
“No. I mean those RAGS on the table….We really need a much bigger garbage can!”
“Nonsens, garbage can!” the princess yells. “What we need is another armoire for my treasure-collection…..That corner over there would be great…..”
“That corner is mine! It´s reserved for my throne! Now look, why don´t you just go to that sewing-cave I arranged down in the dungeons for you?”
“The dungeons are dark. And much to small. I can not even turn around in there!” The princess whines.
Prinz charming goes downstairs to the dungeons, opens the door to his wifes 60 yards sewing-cave, avoids a collapsing stack of vintage fabrics at the last moment and closes the door hasty again.
He runs up the dungeon-stairs quite angry.
“Why can´t you go to the next fancy boutique and buy yourself some nice, overpriced clothing with a colored label on it, like all the other princesses do?”
“Because I´m a RAG-princess, remember? I even made my own wedding gown !”
“Yes…..THAT I remember!” moans the prince.
He rolls his eyes, turns his back on her and disappears, wherever moderns princes vanish to, if they are really frustrated.
And what does our rag-princess do? Sits down in front of her sewing machine and creates THIS jacket!
You can´t always succeed….
No, you can´t always succeed in millinery. I made this hat two years ago and wanted a abundant flower-decoration. I worked for days on the embellishment and used some of my precious vintage ribbons and a veil from a 1949´s never used (but partial sun-bleached)stock.
After finishing, I really didn´t like it.
Some month ago, I decided to end the tragedy, because the hat is acctually really pretty and I love the midnight-blue color and velvet trim on the border.
So I removed parts of the decoration and made a new start. This time I created an Art Déco glasbead-decoration from a picture, I found on the web.
After finishing, I really didn´t like it again.
Seams, the poor hat have to wait another two years, until I embellish it for the third time….If I have the right idea than…..
So, if you have your little defeats, may it be millinery or whatsoever….don´t worry. Just try again. And again, and again…..One day you will succeed!
Modern Romance
Some lingerie, I sewed over the last moth. It looks like vintage items, but actually I used some modern sewing Patterns and combined vintage and new fabrics with antique ribbons and appliques. I wanted modern convenience, but a high quality in material and also a vintage look.
To make the long drawers, I used a white cotton-lace, primarily ment for a wedding gown. Instead of silk-satin, a fabric that´s really beautiful, but expensive and intricate to wash, I use cotton-satin. You can find some good qualitys in the web and it´s cheaper and also much more expanded in size per yard.
There are good shops in Germany, where you can get some high-quality fabrics for lingerie: www.naturstoff.de oder www.florence.de. Naturstoff provides you with some Eco-and GOTS-certified-fabrics.
But my favourite fabrics are vintage or second-hand, such you can still find in good amounts on flee-markets, in second-hand-stores or social departments.
Nice patterns for modern and vintage lingerie are available in sewing-stores or in the web: Burda, McCalls, Butterick, Etsy, www.neheleniapatterns.com or the German lingerie-specialist www.sewy.de….
But good books don´t grow on every tree. Most of them don´t include comfortable patterns. You have to increase, convert or print it on a plotter….(If you have one…..)
Rather circumstantial and time-consuming. 
Therefore, I´m glad I found this in 2014 published book “”The secrets of sewing lingerie” by Katherine Sheers und Laura Stanford.
Real patterns are included! You can find classic and modern patterns for knickers, pantys, thongs, a tap pant,slips, suspenders, garters and a slumber eye mask.
Apart from that, there are some patterns for bras, a thing most of the other books and even pattern-providers avoid. Sizes go from xs to xxl, so “big girls” can share the fun!
I made some tests and it works! The instructions give you some alternatives in closures and you learn, how to work with non-stretchable fabrics like cotton-satin or batiste. The authors use also some antique ribbon and lace.
By the way….did I tell you, the pictures in this book are marvelous and the items classy?