Wednesday, April 25, 2012

floral tutorial


This is sort of a tutorial!

I recently spent over a week making five linen jackets, and I needed a fast and easy project that didn't use my own printed fabric because it is so "precious" and things made from it have to be expensive.

I had this vintage fabric in my donation pile.  It reminds me of a couch from my childhood.  I must have overdyed it at some point.



You can see some pesky red dye dots, but I still made five simple bias short skirts, fitted, with zippers.  I hope to sell them to the fit women who shop at my local farmers market, starting in May.

I will now show you how I made flowers to cover up spots!

I roughly cut out different flowers from the scraps, and stitched around their petals.  Then cut around the petals about 1/8" outside of the stitching.



I used a glue stick to hold them to the fabric, and sometimes put another on top.



I stitched through all the layers, down the middle of the petals.


After clipping the threads, I washed and dried the skirt to create texture.



I also added some on the hems.



So my simple project has become more elaborate, in fact this could go on for a very long time.  I will take pictures of the finished skirts soon.

Monday, January 9, 2012

A new year, a new studio


I am in the process of moving my studio.  Instead of driving 10 miles I just go out the back of my house to the house next door.  You can see it in the picture below, beyond the huge native sunflower pods in my back yard.  (I can't remember their name, compass plant?)


It is a beautiful house, inside and out, lovingly cared for by my neighbor, Denise, who is off to an adventure in Chile.  It has wonderful light, which I am trying to understand.  Over the holidays I maniacally made a gazzillion hearts so I take pictures of them all over the house and try to really understand my camera.







I have started listing them in my online store.  If you are local just give me a call to see them 319-621-5515.

Something special also came with the house.  George!


She is 14 years old, and a very special calico.  Some of her spots are gray tabby stripes.