Hi everyone. I really couldn’t wait to share this with all of you. For many months, I have been working on designing a small collection of sewing patterns! They aren’t quite ready yet: the patterns are all designed and graded (and will be available in sizes 0-18), but I am still working on the instructions, packaging, and printing. The goal is to make them available in January.

I really think the designs themselves are wonderful. They encompass many things that I love: buttons, dresses that use more than one fabric, really flattering feminine cuts, linings where appropriate, and best of all - pockets! I’ve been wearing the samples I’ve sewn up, and I get tons of compliments, which is incredibly exciting.

So, why am I announcing all this before I have anything to show you? A couple reasons.

First, I’ve started a new blog over there, appropriately called the Colette Patterns blog. I will certainly still be keeping this one. I anticipate that I’ll be posting more helpful sewing and craft things, like tutorials, free patterns, tips & tricks, and fun things related to the new business over there. I’ll continue to post about my own personal projects and life here. I think you’ll really like both of them, so go subscribe!

The second reason is I wanted to see if any of you lovely sewers out there would be interested in testing the patterns for me. I would give you a choice between a few designs, you’d sew it up in whatever fabric you choose and let me know of any problems. You could feel free to write/blog/whatever about the project, if you’d like (or not). Don’t worry too much about your sewing skill level, a mix of people would be great.

If you sew and you’re interested, please just write me a note, let me know you’re interested, how long you’ve been sewing, and what you consider your skill level to be (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

Thanks so much for all of your kind words on this blog over the months. It has been so encouraging to see how many people appreciate my little projects.

Update: I have gotten a ton of responses, and truly appreciate it! As of now, I’m no longer looking for pattern testing volunteers. Thanks everyone!

Just a quick, belated note that I wrote a short little piece for The Storque on vintage bridal style, for their Handmade Wedding series.

The Storque is Etsy’s ezine, and right now it’s full of ideas for DIY weddings. Reading about DIY weddings makes me want to throw more parties.

{And thanks to Rhiannon for letting me use this gorgeous photo of her!}

Anyway, the photoboof was awesome. They can project the images in realtime, print duplicate copies, and give you a CD with all the images on it. Here are a few strips, with many more in my wedding photobooth set on Flickr.

We’ve recently received our photos from the wedding from our amazingly talented photographer, Jillian Kay, and I had to share some of them with you.

Our wedding was pretty casual, but we did ask everyone to wear hats. We also had a photobooth, since we figured hats and photobooths were bound to be a good combination. I’ll post some of those photobooth pictures later.

This was the venue, The Brazilian Room in Tilden Park in Berkeley. It’s a really lovely Arts and Crafts hall surrounded by gorgeous hills and trees. Very Berkeley.

The Brazilian Room has a ton of rules, and you’re basically not allowed to hang anything from the walls or big exposed beams. Since it’s a rather large, empty space, we needed something for color, so we rented some potted trees and hung paper lanterns from them instead. That’s my mom and I doing some of the hanging.

I bought tons of bud vases and bottles from Save on Crafts, stuck some of the flowers in them, and tied nametags to the vases with ribbon in various colors from Britex.

Extra hats, for those that needed them.

I told you Jillian was a great photographer. Believe it or not, I was totally rushing to slop on some makeup before people started showing up, but she made me look like a tranquil diva.

Here you can see the table runners and table numbers I made.

Our friends are amazing. In addition to making the dessert, handling the music and sound, helping with transport and loading, officiating the ceremony, and doing the video, many people came early to help us set up.

My adorable little sister, and my dad.

Ruth Ann won for best hat. Next to her is my gorgeous mother, my Nonna, and my Aunt Yole.

Catering was by Trumpetvine, who were also amazing. The food was seasonal and delicious, and everyone who works for them was so kind and gracious.

Tasha also had a great hat.

We walked down the aisle together to The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Just Like Honey,” and were married by our friend Stacy, who did a fantastic job.

Pictures from the photobooth were projected on the ceiling.

Small cakes were made by our friend Jojo.

Dancing to Tom Waits’ “Long Way Home.”

At the end of the night, we pointed the photobooth camera outward.

Wow, that is probably more than enough photos! If you’re actually interested in seeing more, I have a gazillion of them up in my Wedding collection on Flickr.

Our wedding was pretty much exactly the way we wanted it to be. We were surrounded by wonderful friends and family, it was relaxed and fun, and much of it was handmade. It made me feel very grateful and blessed. Also, it made me want to throw more parties.

Ok, I didn’t make my own wedding cake. But we are lucky enough to have a very dear and generous friend who is also a pastry chef. Jojo was just amazing through the whole thing. And we are also lucky enough to have a couple of other friends who live nearby and were willing to let us use their kitchen for most of the cooking (though these photos were taken in my own kitchen, as Jojo was finishing up).

Originally, we proposed cupcakes, but we pretty much wanted Jojo to do whatever she wanted. She decided on individual cakes, and we chose the flavors: lemon-raspberry, chocolate with ganache, and coconut.

Ah, the flowers. What a pain in the ass. But I’m glad I did them!

I ordered the flowers from Fifty Flowers, who have very reasonable prices and were wonderful to deal with. They let me know that the flowers would need a few days to open, so I scheduled delivery three days before the event. Our tiny apartment was full of buckets of flowers and smelled quite nice.

I did some very simple arrangements in inexpensive vases I’d ordered from Save-on Crafts. I also had individual bud vases for each guest, and attached name tags to those for the place settings. I’ll share some photos of that when they’re back from the photographer!

This idea came from my mom, who discovered a similar vintage display piece (for stockings!) at the vintage clothing expo in LA.

These were easy to make, and not as time consuming as I thought they’d be. Which is lucky, because I think I did them the day before the wedding.

I found the ladies in vintage fashion illustrations and ads on Flickr and used Photoshop to crop out any background noise, though I mostly chose ladies with clean backgrounds. Then I cut them out with an x-acto knife and mounted them on rings of card stock with a slit in them. I used stencils to draw the numbers, and also cut them out with a knife. I glued these on some skewers that I cut to size with wire cutters. voila!

I’m back! I hope you enjoyed some of my old project posts while I was gone.

The wedding went better than I could have ever hoped. It was absolutely lovely, filled with so many of the people I care about. I can’t wait to get the photos back so I can inundate everyone.

Italy was gorgeous, particularly Capri. It was magical, and I mean that in a very real way. All my life, I’ve had such a fascination with the Mediterranean, and to actually swim in that historic blue blue blue sea was just incredible.

People seem to act as if I should be depressed coming home from such a place, but that isn’t the case at all. Despite being dead tired, I was absolutely blissful after we returned. I suppose traveling always gives you this fresh perspective on your life and priorities, but this time in particular, I just felt so incredibly relaxed and blessed and had this giant surge of creative energy. There’s so much I want to do and accomplish now, and everything feels so ripe with possibility. Not to mention how lucky I feel to have such incredible friends and family.

We took many many photos! Take a look:

More photos from Naples

More photos from Pompeii

More photos from Capri

More photos from Sorrento

More photos from Amalfi

More photos from Atrani

Our wedding was just about perfect. More details on that after the honeymoon!

I’m off to Italy’s Amalfi Coast for a couple of weeks! sigh.

I’ve lined up some posts on past projects of mine while I’m gone. I hope you enjoy! But please understand if I don’t answer any comments or email as I will actually be as far from computers as I can get. ;)

Only two more days until I’m a married lady. eek.

I never knew planning a party could be this much work. I am excited for it to actually come off!