Field Trip!

A few sewing pals met up last month to hit the San Jose area for a few sewing/design highlights.

First, we visited Fabrics R Us.  It's a whacky, stuffed to the rafters store with everything from Ice Capades costume fabric to cowboy flannels.  Needles to say, we found stuff we couldn't live without.

Here's a trunkload, just a few.

Here's a mermaid piece that Lisa found she couldn't live without.

And then, we all found this cool "Vegan Leather"...yeah, that's the new name for pleather!  Cut out, black, yep!  And on the way to the checkout we found this black garter strip.  I've decided I'm coming back as a dominatrix.  We'll see what everyone does with this stuff.

Then we ate, gotta eat!  Landed at a wonderful downtown Vietnamese restaurant named Vung Tau.  I highly recommend it.

After that we visited the San Jose Textile Museum for it's new show on the history of Wearable Art.  It's worth seeing.  Here are a few photos from the show.

Mandala-like sculptures by Isaac Amala and Liz Simpson made out of ties.

Here's Lisa enjoying a huge tent made of ties by the same artists.  Just amazing.

Another wall sculpture.

Copper wire knit into long garment sculptures by Laura Raboff.  The lighting created the most magical shadows that reminded me of the Ruth Asawa corridor at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco.

THEN, we just hadn't had enough so we went up to Mountain View to FabMo for a one day sale of 100+ bolts of designer fabrics.  We had to wait in line for about an hour.  We waited behind this cool gal.

She and her friend were dressed in their own creations that were mesmerizing.  We all had a blast.  Found lots of fabric at $1-3 a yard!  Even though we entered the warehouse about two hours after the sale opened we still found some great stuff.

I bought 5 yards of a green wool to make a Chanel-style altered jacket.  Will try to figure out how to make it look French while still looking edgy.

It was the best day.  Hanging out with my sewing design pals eating-looking-buying.  Doesn't get any better than that!

More posts to come soon.  I just returned from DOL Santa Barabara with Diane Ericson and Kay Khan.  Inspiring and productive, as always.  So that will be one post.  Another will be on some necklaces I've been making lately.  Talk to you soon!

Stretch Denim Jacket

I wear a lot of tunics and never seem to have the right coat or jacket to wear with them.  I previously made a version of Katherine Tilton's B5891 (you can see it on my Coats and Jackets page) and liked it very much.  But it is too short to wear most of the time.

So, I lengthened it by 4 inches and gave it another go.

It looks a bit denim colored in this photo but it's a wonderful black with white threads running through it.  It has just enough stretch, totally bulletproof.

Sorry this photo might be a bit dark.  It's a hanging pocket I learned in a recent class with Sham's.  I love the shape.

This is such an easy  jacket to make.  I encourage you to give it a try.  The collar and shaping are so flattering, too.

Polartec Lined Raincoat

Until about a week ago it's been unusually cold on the central coast of California.  I kept going into my (very stuffed) coat closet to find something warm enough to wear.  There was not one piece I felt like putting on.  All of my choices were lightweight for our usually mild winters.

Last week I finally got time to begin my new winter coat.  Problem was, we were having a heat wave!
And my little studio isn't insulated so the indoor thermometer read 80 degrees!

But I forged on, sweating all the way.

My fitting guru, Jenny, helped me shorten Marcy Tilton's V8934.  I used a Seattle Fabrics DWR Supplex 100% nylon in a grey/black.   I lined it with a very thin Polartec in black.

It doesn't look like much in the photo but I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this coat.  This fabric will travel well.

I vacillated on which front band closure I would use.  View A showed buttons and view B was a fly front with hidden buttons.  I went with View A.  I worried about making buttonholes on that rainwear...in fact, all night one night...stupid, right?

So I went with the idea on the pattern, using little patches of fabric to highlight the buttons.  I used a stretch black and white denim.  Worked great.  It gave a little detail that the coat needed.

I waited on which fabric to use for the collar lining.  I figured I wouldn't want the Supplex against my neck but wasn't sure how the black would look on the inside of the collar.

When I got to that point I auditioned both fabrics and the black looked fine.  So glad.  Feels wonderful.

There's not much to the back of this garment but I had the photo so why not show it?  Those two little white spots are just the sun peaking in from the window, not a design element!

I like this pattern very much.  I'll make it again.  The coat took longer to make than I had figured.  About 20 hours total.  But I'm a slow sewer and I took my time since I hadn't lined a garment in 38 years!  Most of my clothes are knits.

I don't usually count the hours I have into a garment...not the point, right?  But I was curious about this one and so I counted.  20 hours well spent listening to Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch.  They both took around the same amount of time!

More Cashmere

Here are a few more items I've made for Many Hands.

This sweater was made from several over-dyed cashmeres.  I still love the drapy look because it's so attractive on so many figures.

 Back view

I forgot to take photos of this scarf and sweater while they were in my studio so I took them at Many Hands.  Sorry, not great photos but since I started this blog to document what I've made I wanted to get them in here!

Another scarf that didn't get shot in studio.  There's nothing like cashmere around your neck on a cold day!

Small Stuff

It's All Small Stuff

I've been compelled to work on only small items lately.  I keep dreaming of making garments but a combination of chilly weather, holiday buying and I don't know what has driven me to make one little bitty thing after another.

All are off to Many Hands for holiday presents, I'm sure.

I took a fun eco dye class from Lorri Scott several months ago.  I came home with a collection of silk hankies, one velvet piece and a cotton jacquard tablecloth scrap, all dyed with various flowers, leaves and rusted bits.  I've been wanting to make them into something but couldn't figure out how to make all the disparate pieces come together.

So, I went into my stash and found some bits and scraps that I've collected and been given.  It all came together nicely.  Looks rather Japanese in a way, I think.

It drapes really nicely and because of the silk we be warm despite being lightweight.

This view has a piece of silk on top, dyed with who knows what, I didn't keep track…sorry.  The middle strip is a sliver of silk knit a friend gave me.  The bottom is the tablecloth.  The jacquard gave it a nice texture.  On the right side you will see a length of Talbot tie fabric.

This silk piece was dyed with eucalyptus leaves and safety pins.  Love the colors and shapes.  The netting is from a large piece I got in Morocco.  It's cut from a hamam scrubbing cloth.  I have several of these I bought in a Taroudant bazar.  They're in various shades of burnt sienna, burgundy and melon…love them!  The lower piece is the silk.  Takes the colors so well but is such a bear to sew.

Close up of the safety pins.

Another close up.  I think the plum color was…oh I give up, I can't remember!

Using my cashmere again.  I never tire of working with it.  And there are so many great colors available in second hand stores.  I'm trying different color mixes using various contrasting strips for accent.

Been using both my serger and sewing machine.  I like both looks.  

These are satisfying to work on because each one is a little painting.

A beret using a pattern that has a larger profile than I've used in the past.  I still love using vintage scarves and buttons for embellishment.

OK, here's a confession.  I just bought the new Baby Lock Serger with the big floor.  Oh boy.  It's wonderful.  It won't replace my old Baby Lock Evolve, I love that little guy.  But this one allows me to sew larger pieces together using the cover stitch.  Here I used it for the top of the hat.  Sorry, these pics aren't so great, you can't see the detail in the patched top and the vintage black buttons in the center of the "poufs"

More to come soon, I'm on a roll!

Hats

I made a passel of hats for Many Hands Gallery.  It gives me a chance to flex my right brain on several little projects at a time.  It's good for me to practice freeform sewing in quick-time; gets the juices flowing.

I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of the word creative.  But it's hard to come up with another way to describe what we do, right?  I just looked it up in Thesaurus, they didn't come up with any better words.

Anyway, off the point.  The point is, I got going on these little cashmere sweeties and had fun.  I use the sweaters that I can't use on larger garments.  And I also use colors that I don't think would work in larger garments.

I really had fun with this one.  But it took forever to make compared to the others.  These flowers are made with cashmere scraps that I stitched into with pearl cotton and added vintage buttons.  I swirled some...stuffed some.  I love all the color against the taupe background.  A few chiffon scarf scraps added in the background bring it all together.

Here's how I usually do my flowers.  I twist vintage fabric and silk scarves into little "rosettes".  More vintage buttons.  Gotta use them, I have trillions!

I over dyed this cashmere.  It was an off white that I dyed with green.  It's kinda camouflage.  The buttons are actually vintage mattress buttons.  You know, the coated metal ones that used to poke you in the butt?

This one is a tad "Miss Marple meets Little Lulu".  I can just envision the 50's coat that button came off of, can't you?  I think my grandmother had one.  The little striped bit is men's tie fabric.

This school bus yellow cashmere was given to me by a wonderful gal from Mendocino.  A hat is the perfect use.  Most of these fabrics were cut from vintage clothes.  The button is one I've never seen before, really unusual with some bas relief going on.

Heading back to the studio now to finish some sweaters.  More later!

Recent Sewing

Life hasn't allowed for a ton of sewing lately.  Guests, meetings, travel have all mashed together to keep me away from the bunkhouse.  But I'm back at it!  

I struck a pattern from a tunic my friend, Janet, was wearing last week.  I won't name the brand but it's one we all wear a lot.  I loved the assym lines and little drawstring at the hem.  I also love the funnel neck.  I cut it really wide so it wouldn't choke my drapy, wrinkled, very delicate neck…I used to wear tight turtle necks but ever since you-know-what I can't stand anything tight around my neck.  I know I'm not alone in this particular dilemma.

I used a fairly heavy knit I got from Marcy Tilton.  I've been asking myself why I bought it.  Seemed every time I went to use it the irregular stripes didn't work on the pattern.  But this time they were JUST what it needed to make the various aspects of the garment stand out.

Drafting top patterns has gotten so easy since I realized I could use the top part of a TNT tunic pattern for all of my new garments.  I don't bother to copy the new garment's upper part.  I just lay my TNT pattern on new pattern paper, trace the neck, shoulders, armholes and sleeves from the TNT pattern.  Then I lay the garment down on the paper, align it with the top and trace that part.  This time is was the lower body and the funnel neck.  Good 'ol masking tape comes in handy to tape all the elements together.

 This worked in one try.  I'm going to make this again and again, it's super comfy and I got lots of compliments the day I wore it.  Neve mind that I wore it BACKWARDS for the first two hours.  I finally caught sight of my reflection in a window and realized the little drawstring was hanging down in BACK!  OY.  No wonder the neck was feeling a bit tight, it was the back neck!

I'm sorry this is so dark.  I took the pics at the wrong time of the day.  Darn, because some of the details don't show up.  There is a lot of piecing of small pattern pieces you can't really see.  Maybe I'll take more and post those another time.

This vest was made with two grey tshirts I got at a trade show recently.  They are heavy men's shirts, just beautiful.  I've been wanting to copy an All Saint's vest I own for two years now.  This is the first go.  Most of the seams are on the outside, it has a big, drapy cowl neck and deep pockets that go down to the hem at the side.

I laid the All Saints vest over one of the tshirts and started cutting.  Then I draped the rest of the vest on my dress form, trying to follow the lines of the original.

This isn't truly a copy, it's very different from the original but I like it very much.  And I'm going to make more!

I'm working on cashmere hats and sweaters from recycled cashmeres right now.  I sell them at Many Hands Gallery next to the bakery.  Check out their website here.  I'll post them before I send them off into retail outer space.