Little Pieces of Me

The other day I was rummaging in a box for something else and found a length of 12" white flapper fringe, some green and blue ombre dyed fringe and a 9 inch long incomplete tassel that I had completely forgotten about. I seem to remember buying the fringe at Designer Fabric Outlet in Toronto and making the green tassel sometime in the  last  century. I love tassels. OK, you can get on with all the jokes that come to mind. I'll wait. Better now? Good. As I was saying, I love tassels. I love their silky strings and the way they move. I have used them as decorations on things as diverse as gifts and window blinds and I routinely use them as pendants for necklaces. I like them hanging from door handles and cupboard knobs. If I had drapes with tie backs, I'd probably use them there too. I have a shoe box full of small ones, just waiting for their call to duty. And I like making tassels. Especially big luxurious ones. You can make these from any kind or yarn or...

With February just about over, it is appropriate that I have finally (finally!) finished my February Blues project. And it has been a long time coming. I'll cut to the chase. Here it is, an Alabama Chanin inspired skirt. This is a self drafted 4 panel A-line boot length skirt made in French Terry for winter warmth. The surface design was stencilled onto the same fabric, cut out, arranged and painstakingly hand stitched in place. And that's where all the wintery days of the past month have gone. The hem is finished with dyed-to-match cotton lace - that I did not crochet myself. This work is very different for me. Not only is it far more labour intensive that most of my projects, it is also by far the most decorative work I have ever done. I don't usually even wear patterns, but the idea for this outfit popped into my head pretty much fully formed. So what could I do but make it? I had to get it out of my head somehow. I am pleased with the finished skirt...

Well, that's a darn good question. The answer is nowhere (more's the pity), but that doesn't really explain the 3+ weeks since my last post does it? I've got lots of excuses, such as being busy with the needs of family and friends, wintery weather and school stuff. And all of these things are true. But what it really comes down to 3 things: The fact that I am very poor at compartmentalizing The re-realization that I really am a bit of an instant gratification kind of girl when it comes to making things The February Blahs Let me start by talking about the compartmentalization issue. I wish, oh how I wish, that I was one of those people who when faced with a problem or difficult situation can deal with it to the extent possible at the time, and then firmly put it out of their minds and get on with other things until it is time to deal with it again. This is something I have never been very good at. Instead life, and especially work stuff hangs around in my he...

Here's the thing about being on sabbatical. Sometimes you can just say yes to a slightly ridiculous notion and run with it. I woke up one morning in December with the idea of making some little felt birds. 3D, fully hand sewn tiny birds.  I've no idea where the notion really came from, but the form of them was pretty clearly worked out in my mind before I even got out of bed. The first one I made was roughly the right shape but way too big. Which is a strange thing to say when you consider that I had no idea what I was making the bird for in the first place. The second one was much (much!) smaller, but too fat and a bit lumpy. The third one, like porridge for bears, was just about right. Patten refined and with tail options,  and with the correct stuffing medium in hand, I started sewing little birds. And sewed, and sewed, and sewed. About  a dozen birds later I had a nice little flock rolling around on the kitchen table. They were colourful. They were funny. ...

Following on from my previous post, I have also been working on some samples of the appliqué methods shown in the lovely book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design: A Guide to Hand-Sewing an Alabama Chanin Wardrobe by Natalie Chanin. Reverse Appliqué I have a little experience with reverse appliqué - which is when you have two layers of fabric, a stitched pattern and then cut away some of the top layer to reveal the bottom layer. I remember doing some sweatshirts with this, way back in the 80's. Yes, that was in the previous century. So for that reason I didn't do an Alabama Studio style sample of this technique. At right is an example from the Alabama Chanin web site which shows it very well. Essentially, the process is the same as I was discussing earlier, but in this case you cut out some of the stencilled design. Changing how much you remove, how you have done the outline stitching and the colour of the two layers creates many variations that make the pattern be sub...

This past week I've been quite absorbed by a new book - Alabama Studio Sewing + Design: A Guide to Hand-Sewing an Alabama Chanin Wardrobe by Natalie Chanin. Maybe absorbed isn't quite the right word. Possibly obsessed. Natalie is the founder of the clothing line Alabama Chanin. You can check out the company site here , but you'll actually see a lot more images if you just use Google Images. The clothing is quite remarkable. Although the actual garment designs are relatively simple, they are all completely hand sewn by women in Alabama, made from organic locally grown cotton, and feature a range of embellishments that are stunningly labour intensive. Here's a montage to give you an idea of what the surfaces look like. And these lovely things are every bit as expensive as you would imagine. But in an interesting turn, Chanin has made the clothing potentially available to a wider market by not only selling completely customizable sew-it-yourself kits and supplie...