Poupee de Mode with Erte Flair.

Toile La La's Fleur, boating.

Here's Fleur - one of the small-scale toile models for the little garments produced in my down-scaled sewing pattern practice.  For quite some time, Fleur appeared in the header photo of Art Fashion Creation - she also oversees the home page of the Toile La La blog:

Toile La La's Fleur.

Cavorting outdoors in a 60s pantdress, Fleur, of Toile La La and Art Fashion Creation.

My brother sent her to me from Germany a long time ago. Originally, Fleur wore a navy blue pierrot suit, a hat - glued to her head, and a ruff of chicken feathers.

I like her sleek, androgynous figure.
 
Doesn't she look like a 1920's or 30's Erte fashion illustration?

If you're not familiar with Erte and you love fashion, then his illustrations are a must-see. Erte's real name was Romain de Tirtoff, but he called himself Erte (the way his initials would be pronounced in French). He created illustrations for Harper's Bazaar, for the theater, sculpted, and seemed to thrive on design in general ... producing so many beautiful things.

When I first began sewing reduced-scale toiles - or practice garments, it was not evident that Fleur was really too small to be an ideal poupee de mode or fashion doll.  The purpose of a toile is to serve as practice for the true garment - so a garment reduced to Fleur's scale (she's 15" high - with tiny arms and legs) necessitates miniature seams, collars, pockets.  Any garment detail becomes more time-consuming - even more than true-scale - when down-scaled to that extent.  

Nevertheless, I like Fleur's appearance in the 60s pantdress/romper/salopettes/playsuit toile. 

There's another romper/salopettes toile post here.  That pattern would also be spectacular as a vintage or retro-style sunsuit for beach or poolside.  There's more information available throughout the earliest posts from 2010 - to see them, simply select "2010" from the Art Fashion Creation archives, at right - then begin with the "July" posts.  

Here's a link for photos of all the small-scale toiles (sewn as mockups or practice), from my Toile La La blog.

Looking through old sketchbooks and scrapbooks, there was a postage-stamp-sized portrait of Fleur sitting in a window.  Enlarging it created a bit of blur, but one at least has an idea of Fleur's former appearance.

Fleur, before her streamlined style.

Lions, Books, Peace: My Cup of Tea.

This crowned tea package lion delicately sipping from his own cup brings to mind the multitude of lions guarding Piazza San Marco of Venice... topping columns, adorning doorways - with a permanent, carved gaze forever observing passersby.

My favorites there are the lions with their paws on books including the inscribed words "Pax tibi" - in Latin, meaning "Peace be with you."

Piazza San Marco: Looking South, Caspar van Wittel - 1690s. Biblioteca Nazionale, Rome. Wikimedia.

If you drink tea - and you like to travel - and you like to correspond the old-fashioned "snail mail" way... here's a link with a letter-writing idea for you to try the next time you're having tea in an exotic locale.

In addition to the Royal Cup Pekoe tea pictured above, and the spicy orange Constant Comment mentioned in the link, powdered matcha green tea is another favorite.  For several years I've given the matcha a new spin... which you can read about here.