Books and Looks

Yesterday was the Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles meeting. A good day where we found out a bit more about each other. some amazing work being done! Good connections happening as we discovered who might be an expert in what we want to know about to accomplish something in our own work.

Kate Findlay showed some work in which she is experimenting with fibre optics. So, cool! I have had some ideas about lights in garments for sometime, but haven't had the time or even perhaps proper reason to focus on working how to start. This may call for a collaboration! Anyway, she has loaned me a book that she found helpful - Fashioning Technology - and passed on the title of another.

On the Been There, Done That table, I spotted a few interesting books. This time I actually had time between running things to have a look. Apart from Kate's book, the others in the photo are now mine! Ideas and Ideas!

And when I came home shattered, I found my thoughtful husband had fixed M'Lady's leg! So, now it won't be such an ordeal to photograph garments. No propping or taping or lying on the floor to get a photo that doesn't include the strange contrivances that are keeping her up.

Christmas outfit in January?

This week has been a bit of a meeting week. But I have been able to get on with some sewing.

This fabric was passed on to me - almost as a challenge. What would you do with it? Normally I would pass this by altogether. In the first place, it is a bit (well more than a bit) of a shout "Look at me!" and secondly, I have managed to avoid doing much sewing of stretch fabrics.
But, if you think Christmas...maybe.

So, anyway, here is a fabric story.

...at the beginning of December I usually go to a Ladies Christmas Lunch. Believe me, this is about the only place where this fabric would go down well. I thought it would be fun to do a circle skirt. However, if you recall, I did the refashion contest in November and was finishing off in the wee hours the morning of 1 Dec. So, I didn't have enough brain left to make it for that weekend. especially enough brain to get my head around a circle skirt! Easy to sew and hard to do the maths and workout the layout.

Now that I am trying to use up some fabric, I figured I would get ahead of the game and make up this Christmas skirt now. During the time I was trying to get my head round the layout, I chopped the fabric at what I thought was the right place to make it. Well, it wasn't quite.

Eventually, I gave up trying to work it out and just did it by instinct. This usually is the best plan for me. If I over think it, it doesn't get done. The circle skirt came together well, but because of the chop thing, it was only going to be just the right length.

I was totally chuffed though that I worked out how to set the overlocker to the right settings for sewing this stretch velvet. Know I know why so many ladies love knits! (I still prefer wovens and more traditional methods of sewing.)

The other piece of the fabric was going to be plenty for a shrug I saw on the internet. I never did a shrug before and wasn't even sure one would look good on me, so here was this fabric - let's go for it! That turned out great! Although, in reality, if I sew it again, I will rework the pattern a bit to make it go round the bosum a bit more, but it works.

and that left about 1 yard. SO, I dug out the circle pattern I used for ruffles on Midnight Dance By Moonlight. I worked out that the bottom of the skirt was about 180 inches and somehow the maths seemed to tell me I needed 12 circles where the centre circumference was 12 inches. I can't remember how I worked that out. I managed to cut 14 circles - 2 for just in case. I split each circle to the centre, opened them up and stitched them together to make a ruffle, overlocked the outside edge and then overlocked the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt. Voila!

front

Not too shabby and used 4 yards of a questionable fabric! :-) and suitable for a Christmas ladies do.

back

Please excuse M'Lady's prop. She has a broken leg.

Worn to be Wild

Yesterday I went up to Henley to see the Exhibition called Worn to be Wild. A friend told me about it near the end of November, but I have been so busy I didn't get up there. and it finishes today.

It was SO cool. Kate Plumtree has made costumes from different historical periods, using techniques and silouhette of the period, but with a twist. She assigned different animals or birds to each costume. So that you have a late Victorian with overtones of a fox, or Modern period hedgehog, and so on. It is fascinating. There were swatch samples you could handle to see how the fabric felt. Also there were photo albums with photos of the different costumes at different stages of construction.

You weren't meant to take photos, but I bought most of the postcards. The Tudor Badger postcard was sold out. Here are a few of them. Spot the fox getting into the rubbish bins? and the Kingfisher?

When I came home I looked up her website. She has worked as a Costume Maker for opera and West End shows. The photos on the far right of the page on this link are of the exhibit at Henley. I found out the exhibition will also be on in other places around the UK. If you get a chance to go to it when it is near you, make a point of doing so!

This is definitely the sort of thing I would love to do. But somehow you would need a sponsor to afford the materials and you would really need to do as she has done and arrange places for them to be seen.

Carrier Bags

A few more things for the Stash contest. I had saved this fabric from the box of quilting cottons my friend gave. I like the quirkiness of it. But what to do with it besides save it? So, I thought it would make fun carrier bags for food shopping. There was enough to make 3 bags.

They have gussets and inside pockets made from the bits of fabric you remove to make the handles.

The pattern for the bag was one I made by copying a plastic carrier bag! It really holds alot and sure is more sturdy than a plastic one.

For Christmas 2007, I made quite a few of these from different fabrics for my friends. I may make some more later on, as they are quite easy to do.

brocade cushion cover

Part of this concept of using stash is also making space in my studio. I made a cushion cover the other day which got rid of a big puffy cushion. Another cushion has been lurking in here. It had pictures of the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle. It was a bit of a funny from my sis in law a few years ago because it had a cow on it. (I used to collect cows.)

anyway, like the other one, I never got round to doing it because I meant to use it to show how you could just make up a simple cover. But as the course never happened, I never made it. SO, I was sure I had a bit more green brocade left from a Tudor lady costume. I had used some for a cushion in prep for the course. So, it would also go with well for another cushion to go in the lounge.

I used the simple envelope back cushion construction, only I turned the envelope part to the front. I put hooks and eyes to keep it closed.

and then sewed some random buttons from my stash on the outside of where the hooks are. The buttons are for show.

and so another 1/2 yard of fabric used, but also a puffy cushion for my lounge!

Summer PJs

Still using up the stash. Somehow I aquired what seems like a large amount of striped lightweight cotton. Almost a seersucker. As I have a few ideas percolating about things with stripes, this was not a bad thing. However, the stripes/plaids box was becoming out of control. and did I really need over 10 metres?

anyway, it seemed like it would make summer weight pyjamas for my husband. When I unrolled it, I found it was pretty narrow, so I have used up 5 metres for the pjs. I haven't measured what was left yet.

I used his favourite pair and traced them off to make a pattern last Friday.

Yesterday I made the trousers and today I did the top. Not too bad a result! I hope he likes them.

I say summer pyjamas, but I am hoping he likes them well enough to wear in winter. He likes the flannel, but really he overheats. He still wears short sleeve shirts in the winter! Not me, I have layers and layers! If he likes these well enough, I have a good pattern now to make more. The favourite ones are starting to fray on cuffs and things.

Origami bags ...or not as the case may be.

So, since the one friend who is likely to get one of these and that I know reads the blog, is bound to see the ones other people get anyway...I may as well post them.

at any rate, I need to have them somewhere to link to for putting them up for the review.

They look nothing like the original plan. But if you are curious here is the original. You have to scroll down for the destructions. There was also something like it on one of the Quilting Arts DVDs. I did try the bits of the sewing which would make it more bag like, but it seemed too bulky and pouchy. and what would you do with a little cute pouch? put things in it and then fish around trying to get into it and find the stuff down in the corners? (oops, too many opinions clearly.) I also didn't sew the 2 squares together and turn through...which I tried. That made it even more bulky on the edges. I just overlocked the edges as you can see.

and opening it, you see the flaps you turn through to the inside are meant to work like pockets.

I hope they do.

What I think these bags will be good for is to put something like a sketchbook, a book or something like that in them. The little ones could hold those little tissue packs, with a blister pack of paracetamol and lip balm or something stuck in the 'pockets'
So, I am calling them bookbags.

Or maybe you have a better idea?

lessons learned? (besides 24 ways to resew a buttonhole?) yes it used up stash, yes I have 24 presents, but ...yes, I have used up my tolerance for sewing things which aren't garments or textile art. At least for now.