On "Bill Peet: An Autobiography": A Book Review

Title: Bill Peet: An Autobiography
Authors: Bill Peet
Genre: Autobiography, Children's

About the Book...
The autobiography of Bill Peet, known for his colorful and creative children's books and his work on Disney films, that spans from early childhood memories and into the 80's when it was written.  It was winner of the Caldecott Medal, the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text, and the  Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction.

What I Think...
Bill Peet has always been one of my adored children's authors/illustrators, and cartoonists for that matter, and while I know I've crossed paths with this book on many occasions, I couldn't remember actually reading it in full.
 
Even though this was written for children, it's still incredibly informative and very enjoyable to read as an adult. He doesn't sugarcoat how hard he worked to get where he was as a children's author and illustrator, which, as an adult, after reading this has left me with a greater appreciation for both him and his work. 

A good portion of this book focuses on his time working at the Disney Studios from the 1930s into the 1960s, which being a fan of Disney history, I really enjoyed reading about. I felt like it offered an honest reflection of what it was actually like working in the studio, showing the amount of work and effort that went into Disney productions, including Snow White, Pinocchio, and a number of cartoons, were like to work on from the artist's perspective. I also found reading about his experiences and encounters with Walt to be very interesting.     

The whole book is peppered with illustrations to go with his life story, which really add to the text. The only disappointing thing about this book is that none of the illustrations are in color!

To Sum it All Up...
If you're a fan of Bill Peet in any capacity this is a must read!♥

On A Martian Saucer: A Photo Post

In honor of the anniversary of Orson Welles' infamous 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, here are some martians in their paper plate saucer!

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On a Wednesday Look for Tuesday

Posted on a Thursday!

I've been wanting to make a spiderweb collar for a few years, but never seemed to be able to get around to it. This year knowing I wouldn't have time to finish either the spiderweb dress or spiderweb skirt that have also been on my "to sew" list for awhile before the month was over (not that I ever feel spiders should be limited to October), I went for the collar. 

I thought about a few ways of going about making this and ultimately, which is a little hard to see in the photo, decided on a white gauze base to give it a wrinkly look with a sheer layer for the top to give it a little sparkle. Then I machine stitched the web on top of both layers with metallic thread! To finish it off I opted for a snap and a round pearly button sewn on top.

Paired with a black shirt, a spider necklace, and a mirror in need of cleaning, this is my official Wednesday on a Tuesday posted on a Thursday look.

                 ♥ ♥ ♥

On a 60's Secretary Skirt

Or at least that's what I'm referring to it as. 

Finding that over the past eight months that most of my clothes have become too big for me, one of the go to items in my closet has become one of the very first items I made from a vintage pattern in 2009 or 2010, a drawstring  polk-a-dot skirt from the 1968's McCall's pattern 9398 (which while I've certainly thought about it, I'm now realizing has never made an appearance on this blog). Last month it occurred to me that given how often I was wearing this skirt, I might want to make a few more.  

Given that I've hardly sewn anything with knit since I first started sewing clothes, I was excited to see what I'd find in the flat folds section of the outlet fabric store I frequent and ended up with what I deemed two very 1960's appropriate fabrics. This one is a synthetic, which I try to avoid, but the texture was so perfect I couldn't resist it!

There's nothing fancy about this pattern, it's just two basic rectangles sewn at the side seams with a folded over top to create a casing for a drawstring, two holes for the drawstring, and a hem. I decided to forgo the fabric drawstring and substituted a ribbon. 

Because I have extra fabric, I'm thinking of eventually making the coat from this 1967 pattern and spent some time trying to figure out if I had enough fabric left to do so.  

 

Since I'll need to grade down the pattern to a smaller size and will also need some fabric for lining and the collar (leaning towards white with large red polk-a-dots!), it probably won't be for awhile. 

 

Meanwhile, I think it pairs perfectly with my black bolero, white t-shirt, and the sunglasses that were my grandma's to give a perfect 60's look! 

 

And for an October extra, since I'm trying to be better about remembering to take pictures of them, my spiderweb brooch! 

♥️ ♥️ ♥️

On Oh So Many Pumpkins!: A Photo Post

The past two weeks have involved oh so many pumpkins...

Plastic pumpkins!

Oversized pumpkins!

And a wonky little fabric pumpkin patch that goes with one of my wonky little mice!

♥ ♥️ ♥