Lettergirl

Quilted jacket.

I started this jacket at last year's Craft Weekend, but just sewed the binding & buttons last week.  In theory, I love it, but in reality the fit is a little off.  I wish I hadn't been in such a rush to "make progress" that weekend, I wish I'd known more about fabric dyeing, and I wish I had known how helpful a dressform can be.  (I brought Purnah to Craft Weekend this year, and she helped me with four different tops.)  Lesson learned!  And in truth, when I think back on the first year of the Mentor-Protege program, this is one easy way to assess how much I've gained:  dyeing and draping being two of the many things I've learned.

New work.

Remember this?  I finished it.

Or maybe I should say, I've finished it enough to wear it. 

The first time I thought I was done, I went back and added some darts to the collar.

Then the movie we were watching wasn't quite over, so I added some detail to one of the sleeves.

I can see this piece as the perfect canvas for trying out new stitches.

Recycled Friday.

 

One of my favorite-est skirts, with fabric by Martha Negley.

Recycled Friday.

 
 
I sewed this wool coat two years ago, but hardly wore it because 1) I didn't get around to sewing the buttons on the front; 2) last year fall lasted about two weeks; and 3) it got buried in my closet. With that wide lapel, having buttons turned out to be essential, and now it is a very comfortable coat to wear...perfect for the farmer's market on a Saturday morning.

Patterns.

I've been dwelling on patterns lately -- where ideas come from, how to develop them, how to integrate patterns + words.  Nature seems the best place to start.  My study of tree rings in reverse applique:

 
 

Before.

 
My first fabric printed at Spoonflower.  The bottom rung on the creativity ladder...but today I'm meeting with my mentor for another dye-date with this cotton voile and some cotton lawn I picked up to overdye.  Here's hoping the results are worth sharing!

Getting back to it.

A few months ago I shared a table runner I had started -- and promptly abandoned.  I shared the beginnings of my project with my mentor/protege group in May, and was inspired to alter the design into four placemats instead of one long runner.  In June, I had dinner with another protege and we both patted me on the back for having such focus within the program:  hand-stitching! hand-lettering! knits! done.

Then I attended the SDA conference and my focus got all fuzzy ("but I could do this...or this...").  Always trying to find my voice, be true to it, use it.  Yesterday I dug out the table runner again (now, placemat #1), and I loved it all over again.  Home again,home again, jiggity jig.

 
 
 
 

 
Do you ever feel like you're better at thinking about art than doing art?  While it hasn't stopped me from working my way through a list of techniques I want to try this summer, that nagging feeling is definitely taking its toll.  Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the morning working with my mentor (painting on silk!) and then a couple hours in the afternoon cleaning my studio -- thinking a clean slate would help.  And maybe it will. 

Meanwhile, I'm going to just keep putting one foot in front of the other with my textile experiments.  Here's one I worked on last week -- and so far the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.  I enjoyed finding quotations to use and writing them out, I loved seeing how they looked printed on fabric, and I don't mind the tedious cutting and piecing.  But when I got it all together, it wasn't so exciting.

 
Another technique for my toolbox.  I'm trying to keep an open mind about ideas that don't work now -- but may be useful in the future.

My morning so far.

Last week the proteges in my mentoring group got together for an incredibly colorful & delicious dinner and thoughtful conversation, and someone mentioned the commitment we had all made by joining the group.  I wondered to myself, "Have I really honored that commitment?"

Every morning I wake up about 6am so I can get in a couple hours work before the kids get up.  I wondered...couldn't I spend that morning time on textile work?  I am a morning person, after all.  Why not commit to using my most vibrant energy on my emerging art?

I've also set a goal to experiment this summer, and to that end have made a list of techniques I want to try.  One of them is stenciling on fabric (instead of freehand painting, which is what I usually do).  When I paint with a brush, the paint itself needs to be somewhat thick in order to keep crisp lines.  With stenciling, the paint can be a bit thinner.  Sometimes I like to have the weight of the handpainted lines, but I'd like to have an option with better drape in my toolbox too.

 
I started by drawing a stencil, loosely based on a motif in the Designer's Guide to Japanese Patterns.

 
I made a copy to be sure the stencil could be repeated to create a balanced pattern.

 
I traced my design onto Friendly Felt, a stiffened felt made from recycled plastic bottles.

 
The felt was easy to cut through with an xacto knife; I trimmed a few rough edges with sharp scissors.

 

 
I sprayed the back of the stencil lightly with spray adhesive, then practiced stenciling on an old tshirt.

 
Earlier this morning I had cut my favorite fitted tank pattern from a black XL tshirt I found at Goodwill.  I had originally planned to make the tank as a single layer with embellishment on only one panel...but the stenciling was so easy, I just might have to modify that plan.

 

Recycled Friday.

 
At the foot of Forest's bed (home to light sabers and tattoos)