jcaroline

Love the Web!

I saw these paintings on Jessica Jones's Etsy Shop "How About Orange" and had to have them.  And now, a few days later, I possess them!  I love the web!  And ironically, they are resting on the orange couch in my office until I find them a proper home.  Check out her shop- she's a graphic artist who creates paintings and other decorative items.

In fact, she shares the tutorial on her blog for making fabric-covered thumbtacks.  Once we get the correct size button covers in, I'm going to make some myself.

Also on her blog, a pdf download of these same vines on a birthday card and envelope to print on your color printer. Isn't sharing grand?

Sew What! Skirts

I'm on a mission to learn to make "real" apparel patterns.  Not "real" in terms of industry standards for manufacturing purposes, but real in that they fit together properly and I understand what adjustment does what to the fit.  I grew up sewing with commercial patterns (my mother only liked Vogue patterns) and adventurous to me was taking a different pocket style from one pattern and using it on another.   But I want to be able to take a pair of pants or a blouse out of my closet that fits well and make another one like it.

To that end, I ordered this book that I've been reading about on other blogs Sew What! Skirts by Francesca Denhartog & Carole Ann Camp.  Their concept is awesome- measure your waist and hips and determine your skirt length and you can make any one of the 16 skirt styles they feature.  You can either make a pattern or cut out the fabric directly.  And don't panic if you are a beginning sewer- they cover basic sewing techniques such as darts and finishing raw edges in the first chapter.  They cover a variety of skirt styles and the nice thing is, most of them are something I would actually put on my body.  (They don't use every decorative stitch on their sewing machine, for example.)

I will definitely be making one or more of these skirts once I get Mona sized.

Meet Mona

I've gotten all the new fabric on the web, put a bunch of stuff on sale, so I'm hoping to have some time this week (oh, it's Thursday already) to work on some sewing projects.  I'm inspired to sew more apparel, which I haven't done in ages.  Therefore, when a certain unnamed craft store (okay, Joann's) had their dress forms on sale, I felt I needed one.  So this is Mona, before any fitting adjustments.  I'm a little scared to measure myself and adjust her accordingly as I may have to strap hams to her rear end.   But it will be nice to have a  cooperative model and will prevent me from sewing in my underwear between fittings, which is not appropriate here in the office.  (Really not appropriate in the privacy of my home for that matter!)

I already feel a bond with Mona as she will share my sewing triumphs and disasters.  Hopefully, next time you see Mona she'll be clothed!

Fabric Everywhere!

I'm overwhelmed!  But I'm excited!  We've gotten in Urban Garden and Chelsea Morning, which I did get on the web last weekend.  But that still leaves the new Alexander Henry and Robert Kaufman!  And I'm so busy thinking about what fabrics I could do what with, when I really should be concentrating on getting them on the web!  No one can buy it if they can't see it!

And yesterday, Mod Girls from Jennifer Paganelli came in. Exciting... overwhelming...

I will warn you, I went a really different direction with Alexander Henry this time.  A few darling children's prints and a few "adult" prints:  construction workers, girls on camouflage, flames, skulls and some other "unique" designs.  A bit of a departure from the colorful florals and graphics we normally get from them.  But I can't help but think you could make some real conversation piece totes from those.

I promise these will ALL be on the web by Sunday.

(Update: A day late, but they are all on the web Monday, 5/21)

Etsy Update

Check out this customer's site on Etsy,  C.B.Stitches.  Darling belts from fabric very reasonably priced.  I had to order two for myself! I love what she did with Michael Miller's Disco Dots.   

Wear an Apron Day

May 14th is National Wear an Apron Day.  Don't know who came up with it, but I felt compelled to participate by making an apron on Saturday.  The Anna Griffin's Calorie fabric from the Elsie collection was just made for kitchen and dining accessories. The pocket is out of the coordinating Red Double Dot fabric.  The ties in the back and the top are 7/8" Lemongrass grosgrain ribbon.

My mom made the pattern, which I will put on our how-to's this week.  The apron took about an hour to make and takes 1 yard of fabric for the apron and you can vary the pocket size based on how much fabric you have.  Great gift idea!

(5/25/07: Finally, the instructions and pattern are on the web. Click here.)

Mother's Day

This is my mother circa 1950 on the California beach. How glamorous!  My mother was a huge influence on my creativity and she did it all while raising children, working and going to school for advanced degrees.  She did some very clever things while I was growing up for myself and my two sisters:

1.  She made virtually all of our clothes growing up, our dressy clothes and play wear.  There was no Target and therefore, no easily accessible and affordable cute clothes.  One summer she made us "track shorts" with the contrasting trim and elastic waist by the dozens!

2.  She always decorated our rooms herself.  Her most creative venture was using sheets as wallpaper in my sister's room.  Genius!  She used sheets a lot for comforters, curtains and tablecloths.  There just wasn't cute fabric available in the 70's and she loved the extra width.

3.  When she wallpapered my sister's and my room, she didn't want us sticking nails or tape on the wall, so she found pieces of cork board 7 feet by 2 feet, trimmed it in the leftover wallpaper and we each had our own jumbo bulletin board.  This was in 1973- way before Pottery Barn!

4.  She made all our formal dance dresses, many of them based on pictures we found in magazines.

5.  She learned to reupholster furniture from a book out of desperation- the local upholsterer retired.  My favorite upholstery project is the old wingback chairs she reupholstered for me.  She used a striped fabric that she made match everywhere and this was in an un-air conditioned house in July in Missouri!

She taught me to try anything (creatively, that is) and most of it you can make work.  So Happy Mother's Day to my creative Mother!

A Perfect Mess

I've been vindicated!  Well, I don't know if I have or not, because I haven't read the book yet.  However, based on the reviews, my messy office (and bedroom, den, project room) is making the world a better place.

I'll read the book as soon as it arrives from Amazon and report back.  If I don't read it immediately, it will get put into a pile and won't be seen for six months.

Etsy

I may be years behind, but I just discovered Etsy!  It's basically Ebay for handmade items but the designers post a price for their items instead of accepting bids.  You'll find fabric items, glass items, beaded jewelry-- anything that can be made by hand.  A great place for unique gifts and for things you don't have the time or patience or ability to make yourself.  Each designer has a separate "shop" within Etsy and the site has a variety of ways to search within the shops.

One shop that caught my eye was Busy B Boutique.  Their signature item is a fabric headband that looks very nice.  Of course, I loved identifying the fabrics they used.  They even have one headband made out of our custom jcaroline black & white fabric.  (My first foray into fabric design which we used for purse linings.  I really like the fabric, but I did get tired of looking at it when we had 500 yards left of it and we were no longer making purses!)

If, like me, you just heard about Etsy, it is definitely worth spending some time browsing. There are some beautiful things and the items I saw were very reasonably priced.

Wedding Centerpieces

My niece is getting married in three weeks and I've been working on the wedding centerpieces for a couple of months.  My sister (the bride's mother) came to pick them up last weekend, so she helped me finish them.  My niece saw the idea in a wedding shop- it's a 6" styrofoam ball with white silk gardenias glued to it. I started with a 6" clay pot, which I "washed" (paint mixed with water) with white, gold, then bronze until I got a shimmery, coppery color that I liked.  I used a 12" x 1/2" dowel rod, which I painted with gold metallic paint and stuck into the styrofoam ball.  I then filled the clay pot with plaster of paris and supported the dowel until the plaster hardened.  I wanted to ensure that the topiary wouldn't fall over in the wind. I taped "tendrils" made of various size white satin ribbons underneath the ball.  Finally, I filled the pot with spanish moss and tied a satin ribbon around the pot.

I'll be sure to take pictures of the centerpieces at the big event for the full effect.