Giving It the Old College Try

When I told people that I was going to Penland, I got a lot of positive reaction.  "Wow, you're going to Penland?"; "I wish I was going to Penland"; or "I went there and it changed my life."

 

Dining Hall

I didn't feel any big change while I was there; except for eating salad for almost every meal.  But then I also had three huge meals cooked for me every day, so who was I to complain?

School tuition, supplies, room and board; and all the other things I needed were stretching my bank balance had me wondering was this really going to be worth it?

Then I walked through the doors of the Lily Loom Building and I knew that my leap of faith had paid off.  I was among artists and people who were serious about what they created and I was going to be a part of it.

I had been making handbags out of recycled materials and wanted to start using more leather; not the skirts and jackets I got from a thrift store.  Combine that with a short course at Tandy Leather learning a few techniques and I was ready to up my game.

My class was Upper Textiles Accessories.  Our teacher was Leigh Ann Hilbert from  Overlap Sewing Studio in Asheville, North Carolina.  She was very giving of her talent; a fun person to be around, knew her stuff like nobody's business.

Our studio assistant, Meri, was a gem.  She works with Leigh Ann at The Dry Goods Shop, a United Craft Front (a collection of makers, builders, and designers).  Besides handling all the paperwork for our class, she tirelessly cut fabrics and leather; got any supplies we needed; and was the go-to person for just about everything.

I so appreciate both of these women.  They made my week.

My space BEFORE it all started.

Our workspaces AFTER we got going.

Our first day was spent learning about the different types of leather.  The first project was a belt.  Confidentially, I wasn't much interested in making a belt since I don't wear one or know anyone who does so I just fiddled with all the different ways to tool, burnish, and dye the leather (this is not my tooling).

 

Each day Leigh Ann gave demos on what we would be doing for the day like cutting strips of vegetable tanned leather for purse handles.

This was also my first experience using waxed canvas.  I brought some that was waxed with beeswax.  I was the envy of the class with my waxed linen.

We spent hours creating, laughing, and learning.  There were incredible artists there.  Two or three had never sewn before and made some amazing bags.  I loved watching their faces as their handbags came together.

The Bags

Our Crazy Class

Here are links to  a few more of the artists from my class:

S Tector Metals

Morgan Hill Creative

I brought a camera but  didn't take any pictures so thanks to Michelle Eason, Lori Pickering and Sarah Tector.  I hope you don't mind that I cut and pasted pictures from your Facebook pages.

Besides all the basic skills for textile surface design and working with leather and waxed canvas, I learned to try new things. I have a thirst for learning more about using dyes, and stamps, and different ways of manipulating fabrics and leather.

I'd say I have the foundation now to be more fearless and I hope my new bags will reflect my week in the mountains.


 

Inspiration

One is supposed to use a picture as inspiration.  I thought I could get away with copying; thinking that mine would look totally different because of the color.  It sure did.  It looked totally awful.

A few blogs back I showed some batik pre-cut squares and fabric that I had forgotten what I was going to do with.  Cutting and putting the squares turned into this:

I wasn't satisfied.  I wanted to make an art quilt. My plan was to make two diagonal cuts but how could I take a perfectly good quilt top and slash it?  Several days passed but I knew I wasn't going to leave it like it was.  Closing my eyes a little I took the first snip and off I cut.  There was no going back. I only had the courage to make one cut.

My idea was to insert hand-dyed purple spikes so it would kind of look like, I don't know, an exploding star or something.  What it looked like was a BUG, a walking stick.  Somehow my spikes didn't make it into a nice circle like I had planned.  Maybe wedges would have been better.   Luckily I could print out a picture of the top and play around with the cut up paper to see what it might look like before cutting the real thing again.

Does that say walking stick to you?

I've been holding on to this material for at least a year and didn't want to let it go.  Inspiration needed to come, and come soon.  Since I had cut a perfectly good quilt before I bravely held my rotary cutter in one hand and made strips.

The cut up paper didn't work this time but it gave me the idea to to make different sized strips in a row across the middle of the quilt.  While I was joining the strips good old inspiration took hold and said "why not make a butterfly?"

I haven't quite decided how I'm going to quilt this.  I'm thinking of outlining the butterfly and then quilting around it.

For now, it's going on the back burner. I'm headed to Penland School of Arts and Crafts for summer camp.

I look forward to blogging about waxed canvas, leather, and the new techniques I'll be applying to some accessories I'll be making.

With a Little Help From My Friends

We were tasked with bringing in our UFO's (unfinished objects) at my recent Modern Athens Quilt Guild meeting.  I got two great ideas from the other members that I'll blog about later.

My friend, Marybeth brought in one of her quilt projects that screamed at me.  She didn't like it and wanted to give it away. When she held it up my brain immediately flashed with a picture of what I could do with it.   Something in me said take it.

 I didn't think to take a before picture but it was a rail fence pattern made with jelly roll red, orange and pink strips.  The squares of turquoise intended for cathedral windows just didn't sit right with me although other members liked them.  Talk about embarrassing myself with my dismay when I found that out!

My Random Harvest quilt popped into my head.  I followed a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company for the jelly roll squares.

I flirted with the idea of making another Random Harvest in a different color but wasn't quite in the mood for a queen-sized quilt.  I have too many UFO's of my own that are begging to be finished.  My friend, Sylvia Schaeffer's, just finished a baby quilt using the same method, so my path was set.

The next morning I took apart the 24 squares and set the turquoise aside for another project.

The quilt went together pretty fast.  Now comes the task of figuring out how to quilt it.  I'm taking Creative Quilting with your Walking foot from Jacquie Gering on Craftsy and wanted to try a spiral.  I thought it would give the pinwheels on the back some movement.  I wasn't sure, however, if I was up to the challenge and thought I might do the wavy lines like my two previous quilts or just plain, straight lines.

Enter the quilt label.  I very seldom have names for my quilts before they're finished but I also wanted to try sewing it into the design on the back.  If I ever wavered on how to quilt, this would keep me honest.  Circle Of Friends was my chosen name, considering the inspiration I got from my friends; and thinking of the "it takes a village" style of raising children, I thought it fit just right.

It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish

That line from the Broadway show "Seesaw" is my quilting motto.  I can probably count on one hand the quilts I started with one idea and finished with the same plan.

For instance:

I was giving a demonstration for the Modern Athens Quilt Guild; the above quilt was one example of a disappearing nine patch.  It served it's purpose but when I pulled it out a while later I was struck with pure boredom.  Maybe it would get cute cuter when I quilted it, but I doubted it.

So, I took the squares apart and added some red polka dot and bright yellow strips. 

This baby was waking up!.

Now for the back.  What could I do with this pile of leftovers?

What do babies play with?  Blocks.  At first I tried the rows of blocks with fabric between them.  The blocks didn't look stacked.  Luckily I decided this before I sewed all the blocks together.

I used a crosshatch pattern for quilting.  I chose some leftover yellow and red bias binding from two other quilt projects that matched perfectly to finish it off.

 Now I can imagine a baby spending many happy hours playing on this quilt pointing out the bears, bunnies and trains.





My next challenge is to use yet another set of disappearing nine patch blocks from this same demonstration--a smaller version.  First, I need to take them apart.

Repurposing Project Journal

Last night I participated in the Olives and Wax Repurposing Fashion Show with Josie as my model. 
I love the challenge.  Maybe more than I love trying to decide what to do with a whole piece of fabric.

Each contestant was given a bag of clothing with a silk flower as a mystery component.  The rules said you needed to make one outfit from the clothes. This is what was in my bag.

The pencil skirt was really long so I was sure I had enough to make a jacket.

Although it looks like enough, I had already decided to use the sleeve of the shirt if I ran out of skirt.  When all of it was cut out, I had to use most of the shirt.  I lined the shirt pieces with a flannel sheet I got from Goodwill and then quilted it to give it the same weight as the skirt.

I made a skirt from the embroidered dress and used the waistband as a contrasting yoke.  For the fabric Josie and I decided that a corset-like top would be the best option.  Since the fabric was a plain off-white cotton I dressed it up with cotton lace from a dust ruffle and used the buttons from the man's shirt lined up on the bodice front.  Josie and I both thought that the top should not be dyed.

Once the jacket was finished I wanted to dye it to match the skirt; even though I liked the blue and the yellow jacket.  Trying to be earth friendly I put the jacket in a pot of beets and cabbage.

It sat and it stewed for several hours until I looked at the shirt label and realized it was a polyester blend.  No way would it absorb any of that rich beet color.  As my sister might say, this is probably the only good use for a beet.

Off to the craft store I went and found some dye that worked on polyester.  The skirt must have been all polyester because the beautiful shade of violet washed right out, but luckily it stayed in the shirt part.

I still had some dress left and the embroidered part of the waistband was a focal point of the dress so I thought I'd better use it.  A small quilted purse was my answer.  Off to the ReStore where I found a blue macrame belt.  I tinkered with the idea of leaving it blue to match the jacket but then it might not be worn together so I used some more violet dye for that.

Getting Josie ready for her modeling gig was a lot of fun.  We bought her some new espadrilles and a little make up but not much was needed for this beauty.  Originally the hair stylist said she should leave her hair down but the night of the show, they styled it.

 Mission accomplished!

Goodbye Goodwill

I've been following a blog called Goobye Valentino where a woman has vowed not to buy any ready-to-wear clothes for a year.  Actually, I think she's been doing it for a couple of years.

The only designer duds I've ever owned have come from Goodwill unless you consider White Stag from Wal-Mart high fashion.

There's really no excuse for me not to sew my own clothes.  I used to do it all the time.  Sewing for customers has been my excuse for the last few years.  Now that I'm retired I can sew full steam ahead.

I belong to City Wide Couture in Atlanta; a group who has inspired me to make new clothes for myself.  This is my first attempt. 

My second attempt to leave Goodwill behind was a coat using the quilting techniques from a Mary Ray Craftsy class.

 

Just yesterday I finished what I call the bandage dress.  My wardrobe is growing.

Like Goodbye Valentino, I plan to replace all of my Goodwill finds with clothes that I have made.  I may not be as speedy as she is, but I'm probably as determined.

I've finally realized that Goodwill is just the right place for my perky, petite daughter but unless I want to dress like an escapee from a nursing home, it's not quite the place for me.   Besides, I'm a talented designer I just don't have a big name label.

My next project is to re-make this blouse.  I love the fabric but it's too overwhelming a print, at least for me.  If I can find some matching solids, I'm going to make it a color-blocked top.  I was told that everybody in the South knows what challis is but when I went into Joann's today, they tried to sell me suede cloth thinking I was looking for chamois.