Blog Renew: 18

I finished the skirt! It was fun to make and I like it.

It's made entirely from recycled t-shirts... I suppose that's obvious.

There are four panels and each has two layers. I cut the front layers shorter than the back layers so there are different colors and prints along the hem.

That tree print is from a t-shirt that I got at the Magritte Museum in Brussels. It's inspired by his painting The 16th of September. I love the image, but the shirt just didn't fit quite right.

I hand sewed the entire skirt. I also chose the turn the seam allowances out for interest and texture. 

For the waist, I folded the top over a strip of elastic and sewed through all the layers using the cretan stitch.

I especially like the weight of the skirt. It lays nicely since it's two layers of knit. Plus, it's super soft. But, it's not perfect. The fit isn't quite right and I almost wish I'd mixed in more prints or patterns. Also, I set aside the tag from the Magritte t-shirt which includes a logo with the artist's signature. I was going to add to one of the side seams as a subtle embellishment, but I forgot.

I was inspired very much by Jupiter Girl's skirts. I'm setting aside more t-shirt for future skirts...

Blog Renew: 13

Ok. I've decided I'm skipping weekends. I was thrilled to be a part of Sarah's blog hop to promote her awesome new dvd on Saturday, but then Sunday slipped away and I didn't post. Clearly, the universe is saying it's ok to take a break. I'm listening.

By the way, you've commented on this post to win a copy of Sarah's dvd, right? You have until Thursday!

I've also determined that I'm probably not going to finish the living room quilt in time to enter Art Quilt Elements. Three things pulled me away from that deadline.

First: Some opportunities are popping up for me to do some workshops and programs for local quilt guilds and arts groups. I love teaching and sharing my ideas about art. So, I want (and need) to spend some time preparing to pursue those opportunities. Hey, you should check out the Programs page on my website. Please let me know if you'd like me to come speak to your group! I'm totally up for it! My email link is there is the side bar. I'm still working on the quilt, but I'm not working quickly. And I still haven't found the right red.

Second: I've been pinning skirts made from upcycled t-shirts on Pinterest. I finally just had to pull out my stash of tees and cut into them. I try not to get sucked into crafty or sewing diversions too often, but I just couldn't help it. Here's where it stands at the moment.

You can see some of my inspiration on my "Converted Clothes" board on Pinterest. I'm really excited about the skirt so far. Next I'll be sewing the side seams and then I need to figure out how I'm going to rig in some elastic at the waist. So, I've been spending more time on the skirt than the dining room quilt. 

Third: There are a couple of local shows that I'd like to enter some work in. I really like to try to show my work locally at events where I can attend the openings, meet people and find a place for myself in the local arts community. So, rather than entering stuff in Art Quilt Elements, I can enter them locally. Anyway, that's my plan.

Bird Skirt

Nearly every spring/summer I get an urge to sew some clothes. Sometimes I am able to resist and sometimes I actually do make something -- with varying degrees of success. I'm pretty pleased with this skirt I whipped up!

Isn't this fabric super fun? (It's from Joann's.) You're not getting a shot of the back of the skirt because the fabric is upside down on the back...

because I am generally impatient and cheap and I didn't spend much time really looking at the pattern or the sizes. So, I didn't buy enough fabric -- which meant I couldn't line up the pattern pieces on the fabric properly. Rather than go back and buy more fabric, I figured upside down on the back was fine.

But that still didn't leave enough for the waist band, so I had to go buy more anyway. But I didn't buy enough to recut the back side. Seriously, my process was so convoluted and ineffient.

Then it ended up being too short anyway! (Remember I said I didn't look too closely at the pattern -- or even hold it up to see how long it would be. Ahem.) So, I began searching for options for various hem treatments and came across this ruffle tutorial. Perfect and I had enough fabric from the bits I had used for the waist band and finally... I cobbled together something I think is super cute.

I actually made two other skirts. One I did before the bird skirt which was a disaster. And another I did after the bird skirt after learning from all my mistakes. It still needs to be hemmed.

Boro Continuing

I've been stitching a bit on my reclaimed/boro scarf. Not too much since I was working on some holiday projects, but it was nice to return to this project in between.

I added this square from a sweater I cut up. I had intended to turn an oversized men's sweater from the Goodwill into a cute asymmetrical cardigan. I was not successful, but the sweater was so soft and I like the color, so maybe this tiny square is the only good that will come of it.

Melly has taken her Rockstar Boro in beautifully detailed and artful direction. I've stayed very basic and simple. That's what is working for me in this project. No design decisions, just keep stitching. Just feel the fabric.

I would like to wear this scarf someday, so I need to think logically about the length. Here it is tied just once. This might work as a simple neck warmer.

It's pretty short. Too short to fold in half and loop the ends through the fold. Maybe it's too wide also. It looks more like a shawl here.

Yes, I think it needs to be just a bit longer and just a bit narrower. That's about all I can manage at the moment as far as creative decision making. And maybe adding another green sweater square or two.

Stitching with Melly

Melly is working on an amazing project she is calling her Rockstar Boro Jacket. She's blogging every day during December and inviting others to work on similar projects and share their ideas and stitching.

I love to stitch... so I could certainly add a little lap project to my pile. In the spirit of "boro," using reclaimed fabric to repair and/or create something new, I chose to begin with this polo shirt. My husband bought it earlier this year and loved it. He's picky about color, fit, length, shape, style, etc and this shirt fit all his requirements. Then it got splattered with some kind of grease. He tried to clean it -- he's usually very adept at laundry and the like. But, he had no luck. In fact, it actually got bleached out in a spot. You can see the offensive area to the right of the buttons.

He was really bummed. Seriously. There was a bit of moaning and groaning when he shuffled through the remaining shirts in our closet. Knowing the powers of e-commerce, I was able to find one online and ordered it straight-away. It came a few days later and we was quite surprised and pleased. Just simple, right? Order a new shirt. But, it was a sweet little series of events that tells a story about how well we know each other and how simple it can be to make each other happy.

So rather than just throw away the stained shirt, I put it in my stash of unexpected fabrics to use in fabric collage, or whatever. Then Melly's boro project came along. The shirt seemed perfect. I've been lusting after interesting hand-made, upcycled and re-fashioned scarves lately. So, I am creating something scarf-like. I began by cutting the shirt into strips about 7 inches wide then I put them right-sides together and started stitching.

I'm thinking the scarf needs those two layers for some body. Other than that, I don't have any plans really. I'll need to add more than just the fabric from the polo shirt to get to a reasonable length. But for now, just stitching the pieces together. I'm not sure I'll stitch or blog every day during December. I'm not even sure I'll finish the scarf before winter has come and gone. But, that's not really the point, right?

Oh... and I didn't cut away the stained area. It will make the scarf more interesting.

Active Chaos?

I took a workshop with Lisa Engelbrecht years ago. One thing that stuck with me was her comments on "active chaos" versus "passive chaos." If you're working and creating and generating ideas, then the mess is ok. Right?
You might see...

• beads and jewelry bits because I am always drawn to the idea of creating mixed media necklaces. Pliers for that same purpose.
  
• a small pad of tracing paper, which reminds me that I need to shop for some larger tracing paper.
• a bit of my brown/sage/blue 12x12 piece in-progress.
• a bag of left over Valentines that needs to be stashed for next year.
• and empty box of Godiva chocolates because I like to use those boxes to store little beads and other goodies.
• a bit of purple ribbed-knit leftover from the circle skirt that I made for Claire. It has a yoga-style waist band.
• various bits of tulle, organza and chiffon because I am obsessed with sheer layers.
• my Christmas coffee cup that I painted for the Frayed Edges years ago. I use it year round because it reminds me of them.
  
• my iPhone on which I have been listening to The Story.

The mess is probably ok for another day or so. Then, I will need to get it under control.

Footwear

I visited the rumdum (that's what Mrs. Mel calls the thrift store) with a friend this week and look what I found!Those are almost brand new Merrill loafers -- for $5! I will admit that I searched for them on Zappos and discovered that you can still buy them at full price, which is much much much more than I paid.

What's that you ask? "Are they my size?" Well, they're close.

Luckily, my friend Sarah just sent me some fabulous, thick, purple, hand-dyed socks!

... and Feet!

After all those pictures of hands, I thought I'd share some feet. I'm loving my new green tennies.By the way, my hands were in the second picture below. More painting today but not the fun mixed-media, canvas, arty, messy, inspiring kind...

I'm painting Claire's room. I did some cutting-in yesterday and will continue today. I'll be listening to podcasts including The Moth! Podcast lovers: you do know about The Moth, right?!

Springy!

As usual, every Spring I get itchy to make clothes. Sometimes I am able to resist the urge. Sometimes not. Last spring I made a cute simple skirt out of some fabulous fabric. We won't talk about the times I've cut into a pattern and ended in complete failure.

I really wanted some new blouses this year. Something unique and flattering. Nothing which could possibly construed as maternity -- which is so "in" right now. Ug. I shopped a bit at Anthropologie and found lots of really arty pieces and I even considered the spendy prices, but nothing was just right.

I skimmed the pattern books at Joann's when McCalls were on sale for 99 cents and picked out this one.

I knew I wanted try a patchwork look by mixing some fabrics. I found several lines I liked on ReproDepot and settled on this line called ZaZa! So here is the finished blouse.

My mom helped me with every step along the way. She and my dad were visiting last week. We did lots of fun stuff including getting this shirt made. I don't like to follow a pattern, so it was very helpful for her to keep me on task. Thanks Mom.

We played with the sleeves a bit. The pattern has a sleeveless option and another option with 3/4 length sleeves. I didn't like either. But I did like this shirt I found online at Nordstroms.

It was easy enough to replicate that cute cap sleeve. I think I like the neckline better in the Nordstrom blouse. The band on my blouse actually sits up on my neck. Very Asian. I like the deeper V in the white blouse. But plain white? How boring!

I'm not sure if Benjamin liked the blouse or not. But he wanted to join in the photo shoot.