Preparing for Easter 2014
Marusya

This is by far my least favorite time of the year. Between giv­ing up dai­ly plea­sures dur­ing Lent, doing tax­es, and the gloomy weath­er, I dread March and ear­ly April! Despite all these things, there’s one thing that does light­en the mood…sewing my 2014 East­er dress! Again I’m design­ing an East­er dress inspired by my babcha. This time I’m using some of her old fab­ric rather than spend­ing count­less hours doing...

Le Velvet Smoking Jacket: Gomez Addams & Chirp Thing
Marusya
Black Maroon Velvet Smoking Jacket Gomez Addams Family Lace Dress

We all know the most inter­est­ing man in the world drinks Dos Equis, but do you know what he wears? It’s a shame smok­ing jack­ets are no longer pop­u­lar and rarely seen on men today. These mid thigh-length vel­vet & silk robes are bad ass!  Just imag­ine how lux­u­ri­ous & relax­ing life would be if men wore smok­ing jack­ets dur­ing their morn­ing cof­fee or evening read­ing by the fire. Per­haps,...

Long Floral Jacket with Genuine Leather Details and Pockets
Marusya

Think Spring  Even Though It’s Winter I made this spring flo­ral jack­et while cooped up dur­ing last week’s bliz­zard. The space heater, fin­ger­less gloves, hot choco­late, and fleece socks kept me warm in the ‑14 degrees! Con­tact me if you want a spring jack­et for your­self (you can pick the fab­ric)! ______________________________ Join my Marusya Marusya sub­scriber list and you’ll be entered for future contests! If your part­ner is not...

Ukrainian Wedding Attire
Marusya
Ukrainian wedding embroidery

“Some Will like you, Some People Won’t like you, So What. Next!” (SWSWSWN) This is a phrase my dad heard and passed on to me ( and it con­tin­ues to echo in my head). When I first stepped into the real world after col­lege, I was hard on myself each time I dropped a lead, par­tic­u­lar job, or client. But over time and expe­ri­ence, I’ve come to under­stand SWSWSWN and...

Traditional Maltese Lacemaking
Marusya

Recent­ly my dad took a busi­ness trip to Mal­ta & Gozo, islands off the coast of Italy in the Mediter­ranean.  Mal­ta & Gozo are well-known for their tra­di­tion­al bob­bin lace called “bizzil­la.” So when my dad first told me he was trav­el­ing to Mal­ta, I imme­di­ate­ly request­ed that he return home with Mal­tese lace and video footage of the Mal­tese lace­mak­ers in the streets! Many years ago, I remem­ber an old­er...

Gifts: Floral Silk Scarf and Block M Genuine Leather Purses
Marusya

One of my favorite scarves is acrylic. How­ev­er if I wear it for too long, it makes me sweat and agi­tates my skin. So when I was out shop­ping for gifts (in par­tic­u­lar scarfs), I searched for ones made of nat­ur­al fab­rics, but they were dif­fi­cult to find. It’s a shame because there were some scarfs with beau­ti­ful design! So instead, I bought some silk and made the scarfs myself! I...