Or rather, the case against DIY instructions. I’ve noticed a lot of posts lately like “make a clutch by folding fabric into thirds”, or “make a poncho by cutting a hole in fabric” or “make a ponytail by putting your hair into a ponytail” – whole sites, even, dedicated to instructions that seem completely redundant and even vaguely offensive in their simplicity – I’m sure we can figure out to fold fabric in half to make an envelope, thanks - and I just want to encourage you to really, actually – DIY. Try it! Next time you want to make something, don’t run to Google, just try to figure it out. It feels GOOD to figure things out! I’m working on a somewhat complex bag for summer, and I really had to sit down and think about how the lining will sew to the different compartments, and how I’ll be able to turn it right side out after I sew it, and it took time. It took spatial thought. And when I figured it out? TRIUMPH.

Go forth and create!

{edit: thanks to everyone who took the time to read and reply thoughtfully! I love that some of you are saying that you just didn’t know how simple some things are until you saw the instructions, that’s something I would have never thought of.

The gist of what I want to get across is not that DIY is bad – a fact that seems shockingly obvious to me if you actually read this blog – but that 1. I totally think you (yes! you!) can tackle anything, especially the small stuff and 2. Obviously there will always be skills we need to look up. Open source knowledge is awesome. But, when we start playing and inventing outside of instructions, magic happens.}

A lot of flax in the back yard + a wee scrap of cream silk charmeuse = a dyeing experiment.

A little known personal fact: the 1st two years of my college career were spent studying textile design. I did weaving, dyeing, repeat pattern design – I loved it, but wanted to have a broader range of study. 16 years later, and I’m still bad at dyeing! (Seriously, though, I cannot get consistent color to save my life.)

I made a paste with the flax and vinegar, tossed it all in a pot with some salt, stirred over heat (yes, dunked silk charmeuse in hot water. It seems to be ok.) & this is the result. I like it! There’s just enough fabric for a relaxed tank or a pair of tap pants or a little cap sleeve tee. We shall see.

More of these totally delicious and amazing and mindblowing photos on the blog of the photographer, Libby Lewis.

I can’t believe how many details she has that we have also planned! Like hankies for guests, and birch pillars. Witchling family weddings! I am so excited to see them both at my wedding, and wish I could have gone home for this one. I haven’t even looked through 1/8th of the wedding photos she sent (the whole gallery) and my eyes are filled with beauty and wonderment!

I just keep getting more and more excited to the point of almost crying when I think about seeing all my friends — so many people have moved to far-flung places, getting them all in one place requires a dang wedding.

I’m impatient, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet and you know you’re invited: STOP READING THIS. Seriously, you will ruin the surprise and then you will be terribly sad.

We wanted something that went beyond just a sheet of paper with details that people would scan and toss. I love love love all the fancy letterpress invites kicking around these days, but holy cow are they expensive, and in the end, still something many people won’t save.

I was fixated on this idea of our guests feeling like they are starting on a little journey with us! It’s a big deal for most people to come all the way to Vermont, and only 30% of our guests are local. Sean kept referring to it as “a press kit for our loooveeeee,” which was silly but kind of accurate – a way to lead up to the wedding weekend and the feel of the wedding itself.

We have a really, really small guest list – just 60 people. We both have tiny families & small friend groups. Also, between the 2 of us there’s only one grandparent left (this is the worst part of getting married when older) & not that many people can take time off and travel to the woods! So that made this manageable – we made 30 boxes. We also did traditional envelopes/cards for guests who were really far (like Germany) & for my Nana, who would be really confused by this box.

Parcels packed into Orabelle and ready to go!

The boxes were custom made by a place in Maine that “provides meaningful employment to the area’s citizens with developmental disabilities.” The price was quite good though the shipping was a little spendy. They also came back about an inch bigger all around than we asked, but it worked out well. The boxes are wrapped in waxed gray linen thread, sealed with gold sealing wax, and the name tag has typed names, using my late uncle’s script typewriter. I still have 3 more to seal and I have no idea where I left the wax and the seal. Wedding brain.

We’d originally wanted to gocco right on the sliding lids, but it did not work at all. Picture me sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes and gocco, scrambling to find things to print on in a state of panic!! I grabbed an old book page, printed on it as a test, & it looked great. S. went into the other room and pulled out a stack of book endpapers that had fallen out of old books that he’d randomly been saving. Seriously. And they were all the perfect size. I am SO happy with this accident – we left the torn sides as if our wedding invitation was torn from an old book.

When we first printed them, I had a little residual ‘handmade shame.’ I know the handmade trend is raging around us, but when I look at amazingly designed multi-color perfect letterpress invitation suites I feel a little twinge of “oh, my little gocco’d card is so shabby.” Silly but true. I think they look really lovely, though. Lee-Ferro? Leaf Arrow? Get it? SO CHEESY. SO GOOD. I’m not actually changing my name, though. Still, pretty dang cute.Each parcel had slightly different things – trinkets were handpicked for each guest and include fancy pocket knives, brooches, necklaces, bracelets, bow ties; a box for a family of 4 had 4 trinkets. That’s a tiny carved wooden mushroom, and a little notebook in our green color for travel notes. An RSVP card & info card finish off the box.

Some trinkets are in envelopes, some are tied to cards. There’s a story! Read it! We wanted people to dress up and get into the idea of a fancy woodland picnic without saying “DRESS UP, YOU SCHLUMPS!” so we thought this would be a fun way to do it. (None of our friends are actually schlumps. That’s not even a word.)

Some of the book pages have writing or printed book bits on the backs, which I think is really charming. The block at the bottom which keeps being out of focus says “Woodland picnic reception following immediately afterward.” The ink can be REALLY shimmery in the right light.

The invite card, trinket envelope and RSVP layouts were worked on by Laurel Barickman from recspec design – her offer to prettify my layout was amazing and much needed, and she dealt with my “change this! and this! no, change it back! wait, how about this?” for WEEKS and I adore adore adore the final design. The calligraphy is by Linea Carta – it was interesting because I recently saw a completely calligraphic invite in a wedding magazine and the cost was prohibitive – but just having our names and the save the dates master done by her was totally affordable.

The RSVP cards are old Vermont postcards, gocco’d as well. We’re hoping people actually send them back. I blocked out our address in the photo just under our names, but you get the idea. I’m kind of formal when it comes down to it, so classic wording worked best, though I have seen some really dang cute RSVP wording out there!! We chose with brown ink on these for less post office confusion.

Extra thanks to elly for helping with word-smithing, Kate for lending her big gocco and supplies, as well as showing up magically with the packing straw, and Holly for company and support in the whole process!

So that’s it! The invites! A crazy project that took longer than I thought. In the end, with shipping both ways, all the trinkets, & the calligraphy – still much less expensive than a letterpress suite. Ummm, now I need to start making that dress of mine…

]]> http://www.verhext.com/wedding-invitations/feed 75 http://www.verhext.com/dorilandia http://www.verhext.com/dorilandia#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:32:35 +0000 verhext http://www.verhext.com/?p=3893 This is Dori! She is a witch. A little witch!

Dori recently moved from San Francisco to New England – her blog from her new house is perfection – whitewashed walls, wide plank floors, spiral gardens – & bears in the backyard!? She is a spiritual counselor, magic apothecarian (that’s not a word) & I can’t recommend her potions, bath treats, & magical honey enough! She is a perfect healing balm for a world-torn heart & helped me through some hard times this winter, for sure. She makes elderflower mead and violet jam and tiny gardens and houses for gnomes! Magic!

Before she left, commissioned me to make her a wedding dress for her outdoor wedding in August. We looked at fabrics & sketched, and like Myra, eventually said “just do what you like.” So I did. And she is happy! Maybe I have a future in spirit wedding dresses for tiny, tiny girls? They’re both under 5 feet tall!

So, this is the part where if you’re going to her wedding, you stop reading!! On the way home we dropped off the dress at her tiny cottage, & I can’t resist showing you a tiny slice of Dorilandia before revealing the dress.

Kitchen table bench. I always joke about the New England tradition of kitchen sitting and how much I miss it in the Bay Area. I need a giant kitchen where people can just stop by and sit for hours and drink wine and chat. Yes.

Good morning! Dori has promised to write me a long gorgeous daily list  of my very own once I have a routine down that makes me feel good! I struggle with this all the time so a prettily written reminder would be a good thing to have.

Note to self: next house needs a sun porch. Look at those windows!

Corner of the apothecary room.

Guestroom! Don’t you just want to curl up there with a book on a rainy day?

The white washed attic bedroom is a dream of light and texture.

Ok, ready!? Wedding dress time!! Pale dusty pink silk, antique trims, a row of mismatched antique buttons, and a swish-bustle of tulle & glitter. Everything is pink and gold, with dashes of hot pink. She’s asked people to wear pink to the wedding, too! I wish I could get back before MY wedding to attend it!

Heart-bits – antique laces, ribbons, and rhinestones. I don’t use patterns, but drape on the person & refine from there.

She says; “thank you again so much for your channeled spirit dress making. i love it so much i freak out just glancing at it.“

I think she looks AMAZING & hope my own turns out as well!

So after all this; the gorgeous house, the dress looking stunning on her, she’s like “Let’s take a walk to this crazy old cottage place!” and we walk through the woods to a 1930s Methodist summer camp turned tiny tiny house land. There’s HUNDREDS of these gorgeous old cabins, now owned by individuals but sharing the facilities of the camp – imagine hosting parties in an old dining hall! So fun! Anyway, at that point my head exploded with all the amazingness.

I really want to build something like this on my cabin. Rocking chairs on a porch, iced tea, books. Sigh.

Let’s all start our colony now, ok!?