Rose Mille

March Cachette du Mois

March is an exciting month, especially where it is cold and snowy in the winter. However this year not so cold and not so much snow. Since living in the upper Midwest, I have learned that March is when we dare to start thinking about Spring, my favorite season. It may sometimes be the "snowiest" month but hey, Spring is just around the corner!

The birthstone for March is Aquamarine, so we chose this gorgeous silk taffeta ribbon, that was found in France, for the box ties. Some of the earliest flowers coming up are Violets, which are featured on this month's post-card.

Violet and aqua, with lots of green are this month's colors. Still cold outside we have velvet Violets, and antique crystals for what's left of the sparkly snow.

Yards and yards of ribbons, trims, a generous piece of my coveted favorite linen fabric, a fat quarter of Aquamarine silk tissue, Lilac glass glitter and vintage chandelier crystals.

Spun cotton plums, velvet leaves, vintage millinery netting and braid, a poesy of velvet violets and sparkly rock candy stamens in aqua.

Assorted "Dresden" embossed paper embellishments, including a pair of "in like a Lion", Lions and four "Good Luck" vintage appliques.

Tucked inside this month's Cachette du Mois are:

A quarter yard of grey roses on aqua, linen fabric

A quarter yard of aquamarine silk tissue fabric

A bunch of velvet Violets

18 Moss green leaves on wire

An aqua Dresden assortment

Three Large double sided horse shoes for luck

A dozen four leaf clovers in gold

A pair of Golden Lions

Four "Good Luck" vintage appliques

One yard of fancy flower trim with pearl centers

2 yards of aquamarine vintage rayon ribbon

3 yards of vintage green Soutache cord

A one ounce jar of Lilac German glass glitter

One yard of tubular aqua and violet millinery braid

3/4 yard of vintage French silk netting in violet

Ten vintage chandelier crystals

A bunch of rock candy stamens in aqua

A bunch of spun cotton plums on wire

A dozen gorgeous March post-cards

A hand made Tarragon band box with;

One yard of French silk taffeta ribbon ties

 

You can order it right here or go to our Web-Shop where you will find more information.

Offered at $100

If you would like to order a  subscription, to ensure that you will be first on the list to receive a cachette, to be automatically sent a new "Cachette du mois" every month, with a surprise gift, until you request to opt out in writing (Minimum of 5 months commitment). Please include your phone number in the notes box on as you check out, so that we can call you to set up the automatic subscription.

xo

mi

 

 

 

 

A Change of Venue for the Hat Workshop

Breaking News!!!

I am teaching the straw hat workshop on Saturday, February 4th from 1:00 to 4:00 at French General, in Los Angeles, California!

If you are in the area, and want to sign up, go to frenchgeneral.com or call (323) 668-0488

Do it now!

Run!

xo
mi

Pretty Straw Hat Workshop!

Spring always comes early in California, so my first hat workshop of the year is going to be held at my dear friend Cathy Mogull's casa in Carpenteria,  Summerland Mercantile. February 4th, 2012.

This is my uber popular, basic blocking millinery class for everyone. We will block the crown on a mold that fits your head, stitch in an inner ribbon to keep the size, slip a wire in the brim and trim with ribbon and vintage flowers. Everything is included in the class price to finish your hat.

I've heard rumors we may have some surprise students showing up....

Please join us!

xo

mi

 

Karuna Balloo

I would like to share this wonderful "horticultrice textile artist" Karounah Balloo, of Paris. Shes makes Dalia like flowers out of hand dyed silk organza and our vintage flower stamens.

Enjoy:

{bonne}

Wouldn't it be great if she teaches?

Comment if interested

www.karunaballoo.com

xo

mi

 

 

Skirt Transformation

We got these rather plain, and too short if you ask me, skirts in. But i kept thinking, maybe if I sewed some trim on them they would be much cuter.

 I found some Ethnic Euro (my term) striped fabric in my stash and cut and sewed some on the hem, or lack of.

{What's with this manufacturing trend of just cutting off the edge and calling it a hem?}

MUCH cuter! 

And 3" longer.

I happened to have purchased a tray of vintage Millinery flowers at Junk Bonanza, and will pin these to the new "hem". I had just the right amount for the 5 sizes of skirts.

{Told you I would share some of my Junk Bonanza purchases!}

We have the skirts like this in XS, S, M, L & XL, but not for long!

xo

mi

A Bottle of Brown Rit Dye

It's amazing what one bottle of Dark Brown liquid Rit dye can color. A week or so ago, I boiled, in a big big pot on my stove, these hat hoods, in order to turn them a dark brown. They looked very dark in the pot but by the time they dried the color came out more of a milk chocolate than the desired dark chocolate.

{70% Cocoa}

The color is still pretty, and will work up into a lovely hat. This one is still on the block and has a hand shaped brim, ready for wire. Note the large rubber band holding it on to the block.

Not wanting to waste any of the dye bath, I decided to throw in some vintage linens and trims. While I do love these pieces of history, most of the time the color leaves much to be desired. The beigey, ivory color of a lot of laces does not do that much for me. So into the pot they go!

I did get more items with a nice darkish brown, but then after a few batches, the color lightened to a lovely plum or lavender. All this was from the same batch of Dark Brown Dye.

So I rummaged around my studio for more dingy old lace items to give them new life.

I even dyed the bright Aqua tunic I was wearing.  It turned into this lovely shade of grey/plum.

{Those light spots is the sun peaking through the clouds.}

Finally this vintage two-piece crinolyn, that my cousin Charlene gave me for my birthday went into the pot as well. So much better!

I spent a good part of my Sunday ironing this lot, and then shooting the pics on the back yard lawn.

I used to not like to work with liquids. But this was so much fun, I think I will try for a dark black next time. Maybe the residual color will be a blue?

xo

mi

 

Lauren Laliberte - Artist

Lauren Laliberte has been frequenting Rose Mille for some years now and every time she comes in she brings her gracious spirit and generosity. She usually finds something that inspires her to create. On one such trip she found feathers and flowers, and created this adorable fasinator headband.

She also replaced the fabric of a tattered Victorian purse with some vintage and new upholstery fabrics she found in our stashes. I have personally used both of these fabrics in projects, and it is really fun to see them in a new way.

 It's amazing what can be done with pieces of this and that.

{My dining room chairs are covered with the green fabric.}

 

xo

mi

 

 

A Re-Styled Vintage Hat

This is the after shot of a vintage hat that has been re-sized to fit today's larger heads, and freshened up with a cleaner look.

My latest project (or one of them) is to do something with all the vintage hats that I have accumulated over the years.  Time for some Spring cleaning!

Wish I would have taken a picture of it before.......

xo

mi

 

The Straw Hat Workshop - Bloom 2

Such talent, such skill! Watch out world a new batch of Milliners is upon you.

A dozen women spent a perfect Saturday afternoon making hats, while the sky's were raining out-doors. But as they made their way home, the sun shone on their new chapeaus.

We sprayed, we shaped, we stitched and we trimmed. Everyone started out making the same hat, but no two were alike in the end.

 

 

 

I love it when women get together to create, (men are welcome too)! I have found that no matter where you go in this small world, that when we get together to create, we are all at our best and everything is right in the world.

For a few hours anyway. 

And we all lived to see the sun rise another day.

{Yes, I am looking at the calendar to schedule another workshop, stay tuned.}

xo

mi

Dying Hat Materials

Today I am getting ready for my basic hat blocking class, by dying natural color hat bodies into an array of colors!  I am appreciative of this sunny "what happened to Spring" summer day. {It's over 80 degrees!}

The bodies, also known as "hoods", "cones" and "capelines", all start out in a "natural" color and take to the dye process very well. You just never know the color they will produce.  When choosing the color, the warm ivory color of the hoods must be kept in mind, because it will affect the end result. 

I am not a very experienced dyer, and doing many colors at once I am not recommending, unless there is more than one person.  The wind blew some blue and pink dry dye, {okay maybe I was splashing too much} on some of them while they were in the dye causing some spots. Aarrgghh, And because I could not constantly stir each one, the colors are spotty. 

But they are still pretty and very interesting.  I even dyed some white grosgrain ribbon to match, but.... of course they don't match!

Not to worry, I have lots and lots of colors of grosgrain ribbon we can use.

There is still room in the hat class, to be held on Saturday, May 21st from 10-2. Check it out.

This is a sample of what you can make! {But in a different color perhaps?}

xo

mi