The marriage of VELVET and Leopard...

Sewing IS art. For me -- it's always been the thing that lights me up AND the thing that relaxes me. It's all about being creative. Making something with my own two hands. And isn't that what art is about?
What I love most about sewing is that it's such a unique hobby...it's different things to different people. Some of my sewing sisters love to quilt, others enjoy designing their own patterns or making intricate tailored garments...
For me -- at Thanksgiving -- it becomes all about the recycled LEOPARD.  and VELVET. I've been teaching Lillian about how special velvet fabric is...her little outfit started out with a brown velvet bodice and layers of beige that swirled around when she spins...

Then -- AS RITALUCK would have it -- for Emily, I found a brown velvet one-piece jumpsuit at the local Goodwill store. ON QUARTER DAY. Unbelievable to me that nobody beat me to this bargain...it's tht wonderful, soft, stretchy, washable velvet...

Since Emily is 8 months pregnant, a jumpsuit is out of the question...but I knew all I had to do was CUT IT APART...

PERFECTION. I simply added a casing in the top of the pants -- and they became the PERFECT maternity pants...

The REAL FUN was cutting apart a leopard blouse to create the maternity part for the brown velvet bodice...Emily liked it layered over black silk....and it was her idea to gather the side seams up a bit so the black silk would show...STUNNING...

JUST WAIT until you see what I did with Lilly's dress. YES, I KNOW -- LIFE DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS...