Malvena Pearl's Emporium – Page 5 – for the costume and vintage enthusiast

A Large Dog Bed

Completed and delivered to a very kind client who has five tiny dogs. (my stuffed animals represent the scale of her canines on this dog bed.)

V-Day 2012 Oakland, Benefit Show at the Uptown

As foretold by our guest blogger, Lady V-Jay Jay, the fund-raising performance of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues will be held on Wednesday March 14 and Thursday March 15, 2012, at the UPTOWN NIGHTCLUB on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA.

VM cast with flash 2012 — 2012 Vagina Monologues Performance, Oakland, CA

Come on by the UPTOWN on Thursday night for a chance to bid on some great Silent Auction items from these local businesses and individuals

All profits from this event go directly to Bay Area Women Against Rape. Thank you to our generous sponsors:

* THANK YOU! *

Costume Academy 2012

Malvena Pearl’s Emporium participated in the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild’s Costume Academy as a vendor this year on Sunday, March 4.

Jan brought her amazing, costume jewelry to our table and Ais helped us out a great deal with set up and customers. We had caramels from Bequet Confections, lots of printed inspiration, some hats, The Tarot of the Tailors and a nice selection of Mrs. Greenbalm’s products.

The other vendors were friendly and as always, gracious and fun to work with.

A hearty “Thank you!” to everyone who helped us out and who stopped by to say hello!

What is Gallifrey?

I escaped my work for a few days last week with a visit to the 23rd Annual Doctor Who convention hosted by Gallifrey One Network in Los Angeles. I was in my role as “minion” to my Wench Posse team members and boy, did we ever have fun! I got to meet two members of the Wench Posse, Alisa and Nell, who live far outside of California. And I also got to spend time with the lovely Glynnis, whom I met at Costume College in 2009, when I met the lovely Laura Ulak.

We all got along so very well it was our first time, ever, at this particular convention. We had a fabulous time. Alisa has written a nice summary of her Gallifrey experiences here.

I enjoyed meeting other Doctor Who fans from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Pittsburgh, the greater Los Angeles area and even a few from San Francisco to whom I gave my card. Hopefully we’ll connect through the Bay Area Browncoats (Joss Whedon fans.)

Some of my favorite times at Gallifrey were sitting with the Wench Posse in the audience at panels and feeling what actor Mark Sheppard described so well: the shared love of the creative process that makes Doctor Who. You can tell that it’s really a labor of love on the part of the production folks, actors/writers, etc. That they become like a family and have all these in-jokes. It’s fun to see them banter together and to share these moments. The shared love and gratitude for the show that brought us together was so much “in the air” during the last couple of panels, it was almost overwhelming. It was like going to a really good concert or a wedding, where the entire room was having fun. Even when the question was awkward or silly, it kept moving and somehow, some of the youngest questioners inspired some really great discussions on the part of the panels.

The gratitude — or whatever it was — was a third entity, apart from the speakers (actor/director on stage) and the fans in the audience. I could especially see it/feel it when the eldest cast members encouraged each other, with humor and kindness, during panel discussions. It was there when Mark and his father Morgan and Camille Coduri (who played the character of Jackie Tyler) talked about being recognized while walking down a street in London, and kidding each other about being tough. And when Louise Jameson (actress who played Leela in the 1970s Doctor Who series) shared about her near-death experience, it was really amazing. I got a little teary.

The journey home for me was pretty unremarkable except that a very generous convention-goer named Mike helped me out with the shuttle transfers from LAX to the “Fly Away” bus that goes to the downtown Central train station, and then helped me find my way to the Gray Hound bus station. We shared our experiences of conventions, Doctor Who episodes, the writing of PG Wodehouse and travel. Since I haven’t heard from him via e-mail, Thank You Mike for giving me a hand in a city that was strange to me and for being a friendly and generous non-stranger.

Keep Calm and Have a Jelly Baby.

The Amazing Drapo vintage short film

Here’s how the Amazing Drapo makes dresses without sewing!

Brought to you by YouTube and the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild:

How To Make Dresses Without Sewing

Happy Friday!

V-Day festivities 2012

Greetings fellow earthlings! The Proprietor of Malvena Pearl’s Emporium has asked me to do a “guest blog” for you tonight.

I’d like to tell you a little about V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Why would you talk about that? Well, I’ll tell you. V-Day is held during this time of year. It’s a time when groups of women get together to volunteer their acting skills, their production skills, their fund raising skills and their sense of humor to make it possible for women’s stories to be shared and for awareness to grow among many people. They raise funds for local non-profit groups who help out women and girls who may have no resources available to them and who need help. It starts with one woman’s story.

As the poet Muriel Rukeyser once asked, “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open, show it’s anger and call her a lunatic.”

Writer and performer Eve Ensler interviewed a very large number of women about their lives, their bodies and their experiences. She created The Vagina Monologues and many groups all over the world perform these pieces and raise money for local non-profit organizations. We raise awareness of women’s experiences, specifically, awareness of violence against women. We believe it must stop.

I participate by dressing up in a giant, pink suit that I made, and I call myself Lady V-Jay Jay, or Lady Vagina. I talk to people and tell them where they can find out more information. In this role, I am a “lady” who wears pearls, sensible shoes, gloves and carries a purse. I hand out free condoms and dental dams. I ask local merchants to donate prizes to our raffle and/or silent auction. Here’s yours truly posing with the directors of the 2011 show at Brava Center for Women in the Arts:

2011 Vagina Monologues show in San Francisco

I know what some of you are thinking. ‘What’s a nice girl like you going around doing, talking to women about DOWN THERE?!’

“V-Day’s mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. To do this, once a year, in February, March, and April, Eve allows groups around the world to produce a performance of the play, as well as other works created by V-Day, and use the proceeds for local individual projects and programs that work to end violence against women and girls, often shelters and rape crisis centers. What began as one event in New York City in 1998 today includes over 5,800 V-Day events annually.

Performance is just the beginning. V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and campaigns to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women” — V-Day web site

If you would like to attend a local production of this show, or would like to support efforts in your area, please e-mail me, visit the V-Day web site, get in touch with us on Facebook. I will be at two performances in my area:

March 8 – 10, 2012 at the Women’s Building in San Francisco, CA

Note: special pre-show fundraising events include February 8 night at ELIXIR

February 25, 2012 At Mills College, Lisser Hall, Oakland, CA

There are as many ways to get involved as any of us can create.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lady V-JayJay aka Lady Vagina

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interior design project: custom pillow covers

We recently put in a request to the elusive batch of House Elves to do some overtime, assisting with the pillow covers for a client’s sofa. The client provided all of the materials and requested biased piping, using a cashmere blend that will match her sofa. It turns out that the House Elves were on sabbatical, so the Proprietor completed all the sewing, research and musical accompaniment selection, herself. Soon, the House Elves will return, but until then, I’m on my own. With some limited assistance from Hercule, who eats his dinner in the Malvena Pearl Studio and sometimes naps there, this project is now COMPLETE. And as my thesis mantra became, Done Is Good.

Any road, here are pictures that Mr. Acorn was kind enough to take for us.

NOTE: The musical accompaniment that assisted in the completion of two pillow covers are listed below the photographs. Happy New Year!

Music that helped me complete this project:

The Band (the brown record)

Mel Torme sings Songs of New York

Frank Sinatra Songs for Lovers

Robin Williamson Songs of Love and Parting

Bruce Springsteen Unplugged

Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown

Mr. Cinders (1983 revival original cast recording)

K.T. Tunstall Live in London 2010, in which KT does her impression of an audience member: “MORNING LOVE. I’M OFF TO WORK, NOW.” in her Biggest most Boring Voice, ever.

hair ornament

I showed my work on Facebook and got some nice responses:

This yellow, red and orange piece was for C. at the lovely wedding of R & R.

So, another friend wrote and asked me if I could make something to go with a festive tropical dress she has, that she wears to a holiday party each Christmas season. Here is what I came up with. This piece did not work for my friend’s Ensemble. It is now For Sale on the Malvena Pearl Etsy web site:

tosnog-013a

Happy Birthday Laura Ulak

My friend Laura is an inspirational seamstress with a great sense of humor. This photo above was taken at Costume College in 2009, when we first met. She’s on the right.

The Costume College experience was overwhelming to me. It was the first time I’d attended and the folks I knew there were all caught up in different aspects of it: the classes, the events, preparing for the events and taking day trips to local museums and schools around Los Angeles. I didn’t know I was going until the last minute and most of the classes were filled by then, so I sat in on several workshops and presentations and met lots of new people.

I met Laura in a board room in the hotel that was set aside for Costume College attendees who needed to complete a sewing project. We needed space outside of the room we were sleeping in to “make it work,” as they say on Project Runway. It was also a place to show up and get help, if you needed help. It turned out that we spent hours in that room and stayed up very late. There were many people sitting around the table. I was assisting a young woman who had talked her mother into flying in from Canada to go to this weekend-long event. She needed help with a lovely 1870s-era dress (a la Anne of Green Gables) for the Gala the next night.

Meanwhile, Laura was sitting down the table from us, making very funny remarks and completing a truly amazing outfit. Laura’s outfit was a Tudor era woman’s costume made in modern fabrics out of camoflage-patterned parachute silk trimmed in reflective tape. She said she had a posse back home that usually offered a lot of help and I think she was missing them. I would have been missing them, if I were her. So we ended up in this room, working side by side with other costumers. I really liked her approach and her friendliness. That feeling of “we are all in this together.” If it isn’t fun, let’s find a way to make it fun, or heck, just move along. Let’s remember why we are here. She looked great at the event the next night. But the best part was the process: making something and sharing that experience with someone who laughs with you, is willing to help and share stories while you sew.

We kept talking all weekend, into the wee hours. She even let me crash in her room and we found that we shared a love of science fiction. It turns out that Laura had been making costumes with –and for– her friends for many years. They had a regular “Day of Wrong” tradition at their Renaissance Fair:

Laura said her group also attended the Dickens Fair in their area and were active in organizing costume events. She said she’d been making a living sewing Santa Claus outfits and called herself the “accidental seamstress.” I met a lot of people that weekend but Laura and I kept up our dialogue.

After Costume College we kept in touch via e-mail, shared our stories and tales of what was happening in our costuming and creative lives. She made me an “honorary member” of her posse, even though I live several states away. She and her husband came to visit California and we got to have dinner and enjoy a great visit. Her blog is called the Eleanora Project and she’s documenting her birthday and all the creative hoopla leading up to it, as well as her ongoing costume projects.

Here’s the latest photo of one of Laura’s recent creations for a holiday Steampunk event:

Now that I no longer have a Feline Overlord named Roo, I am an official Minion of the Wench Posse. We have found that we have a lot of fun talking, planning projects, sharing materials by mail and just egging each other on. Through Laura, I’ve gotten to know several other incredibly creative, weird, fun-loving and fabric-obsessed people. In 2012, we have plans to meet up at two different costume conventions where I will get to meet several of Laura’s Wench Posse in person. I plan to assist them them with the assembly of a project or two. I am so looking forward to that!

Laura is a kindred spirit. And I am very grateful for her friendship. Happy Birthday, Laura!