Mary's Paris Couture

Design Team Member (DT) Alda presented us with another great sketch at Pages In Time (PIT).  Just click on the PIT sketch in my sidebar which will take you right to it.  If you wish to play along, post your layout on the Pages In Time site by joining the Thursday Sketch Group.

I used the sketch to complete DT Maggi's March PIT Challenge to challenge ourselves. Here's what you need to do:  Describe what you think is your most typical SB style.  THEN:  Challenge yourself to do something completely different from your norm!!  Why would you want to do that?  Well to expand your abilities, it makes you a better artist to be able to embrace more than one style.  The mastering of different techniques allows you to include them in your repertoire and enables you to use them in your own style. I decided to challenge myself to add journaling.  That always is a tough one for me. I usually go with a picture is worth a thousand words.  But sometimes I have to actually explain the rationale behind the layout.   Today's layout is a typical example of how journaling explains the photos.  And I'm not fond of my hand writing messing up a layout, but that's the only way I could get all those sentences on those tiny strips of paper. 

I live in the Land of Lincoln and did a layout of our town's new Lincoln statue.  I thought I should give Mary Todd her own page.  I actually got to see the display of her dresses at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield.  The photo card of her that is used in my layout was purchased at Tinsley Dry Goods (since 1840, where the Lincolns probably shopped since it's next door to Lincoln's law office).

Mary Todd Lincoln was quite a fashionista.  Historians say she loved to shop and her extravagance included spending $2,000 for one dress.  She had a lavish wardrobe and jewelry.  Washington society thought it scandalous that she presented herself in the latest European fashion of off-the-shoulder low-cut bodices, as made popular by French Empress Eugenie de Mortijo.  Dresses made to the First Lady's specifications were sewn by Madam Elizabeth Keckly, former slave turned successful seamstress who also became Mary's friend/confidante.  The small photos in the layout are of Eugenie and Elizabeth. (Note: Elizabeth wrote a book about her dressmaking for Mary Todd Lincoln.  I found her life fascinating and would like to read the book.) (Information and 2 smaller photos found on the internet.)

I chose pink flowers and pearls to complement the dress and jewelry in the photo of Mary Todd Lincoln.  Websters Pages and Petaloos from the Pages In Time store.  Thankfully, Karen's paper pack included two pages of each design because I used the second one to cut out the butterflies, flowers, leaves, and mannequin for a 3-D effect.  White flower, black felt frame, and pearled ribbon are from Pages In Time monthly kits.  This is my first layout done for my gig as Designer of the Month.