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.

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.

One of a kind

I have recently put a couple of one of a kind scarves on etsy.  I have had them around a while and they need homes!   Both are experiments, which are always the most interesting.

This is one of my favorite fabrics, a very textural woven silk.  I dyed it a mustardy gold color and printed on it.  On the lower side edges I have attached beautiful glass beads strung on linen.  They add a nice weight.  I also scattered the beads on both sides of the bottom, and left the lower edge raw.

You can find it for sale here

I also experimented with indigo earlier this year.

 I dip dyed a length of charmeuse, and then discharge printed it.  The effect is very subtle, it's hard to see in these photos, but in real life you can see the plant forms.  I lovingly hand rolled the hems and applied beads along the bottom edge.  They are a beautiful blue but I can't remember what stone they are.

You can find this scarf here

new listings on etsy

 midnight-blue silk chiffon scarf

lithium sunset silk charmeuse scarf

pretty pale purple poppy scarf

purples

I picked this beautiful bouquet from my garden last Saturday, perfect for photographing purples.

I am in pursuit of the perfect purple, which is hard to reproduce.

 These items are in my West Branch shop, and the pillows are also in my  online store.

It's been pretty quiet lately in the land of retail.  I am taking the long view when I'm not worrying and getting ready for the christmas rush.  I am making pillows.  Many, many pillows.  Most are this cute 12x16" size so they are easy to ship.  I will be putting them in my online store soon, I think they will make nice gifts.

I also decided to renew my ads on Iowa's public radio, but I need to work on my ad's text.  I am not good with words!  If you are reading this and like my work and are good with words and think you can help me I will give you a prize.  Feel free to e-mail me at sshinnick@mchsi.com.

I haven't sewn clothes in over a year but I have some linen that I will be sewing into simple long tank dresses.  Look for them online in a week or so.

My daughter Izzy and I visited one of Iowa's few remaining remnants of native oak savannah prairie, Rochester Cemetery in Cedar County.  There is an informative article from the Des Moines Register here.

We were a little early for the spring wildflowers, but I found a great source of oak galls for natural dyeing under the huge scraggly trees.

We also met the neighbors.