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I am very suspicious of anything that claims to make you 'an expert in minutes' or that calls itself a 'miracle holder'. Miracle schmiracle. But, lo and behold, it's true! I'm a believer.
Similar to my reluctance to try diy snaps and eyelets, I had always been suspicious of self-covered button kits but this one works like a charm. I finally tried it out in order to make buttons for the Clara neckwarmer and was delighted with the results. And it was so easy to do - baby bear was watching me make them and then she was putting them together herself. I needed to do the actual pushing to get the button back to snap into the shell, but otherwise, yes - a two-year old can manage them. And the results are fantastic, crease free, expert, miraculous even!
And what's more, here is the, ah, less than delightful scrap of 1980s decorator fabric that I used for the buttons. I had this in the stash - it came in plastic bag of several decorator fabric scraps that I bought at ... Value Village I think ... for another piece that was in there. The colours in that corner were just right for the neckwarmer and abstract enough that the overall pattern wasn't obvious!
I can think of so many uses that I could put these self-covered button kits to. I have heaps of cross stitch-decorated vintage linens that would make the sweetest buttons.
In August this year I took a class in block printing at the Kirkland Arts Center. This is located in a lovely old red brick building near downtown Kirkland and offers a variety of classes in drawing, painting, printmaking and ceramics. They also have a gallery space.
I had done some linocut prints before but was introduced to the Safety-Kut block - it's a flexible rubbery block that is very easy to cut and can be cut on both sides. There's less chance of injuring yourself, too (the last time I made a linocut I cut myself; that's why it was the last time).The centre also hangs and displays a selection of student work in the halls and my piece which is currently on display - 'Stormy weather' - a block print on recycled linen fashioned into a child's dress/sleeveless top. The design is adapted from the endpapers of an old book that I have (back in Melbourne - not even sure what book it is).Although the effect is just what I wanted, it was very difficult to get the fabric printing ink (designed for screenprinting) to be tacky enough to succeed with a block print. I had to put a lot of medium in to thicken it up and am not sure how this would affect the colour fastness of the ink, were I to wash it. For the moment I'm calling it a prototype.
That's Finnish for gold (according to the online dictionary - if you're a Finnish speaker, please correct me). Yes, today I struck gold at Value Village - Marimekko!
Brasilia - definitely enough for some children's clothes.
Kioto - again, kids' stuff.
Lumimarja - my favourite, possibly enough here to make myself a dress!
I am absolutely delighted with these finds! (Can you tell?! Can there be more exclamation marks?!) I have a genetic connection to Marimekko (apparently there was a Marimekko shop in Melbourne in the 70s and that's according to my mum, who worked there) and I love their designs.
I'm also quite fascinated by Finland. I spent a couple of weeks there about 10 years ago (ten, already??) and really enjoyed it. I also really like foreign languages and would love to try Finnish. Did you know that Finnish has some fifteen cases (that is, form of a word to indicate its function in the sentence)? It's a member of the Finno-Ugric language family and is most closely related to Estonian. It is not a Scandinavian language which is why, I have heard, Finland is not part of Scandinavia. Again, please correct me.
Ok, so we've all heard about Isaac Mizrahi for Target and Comme des Garcons for H&M or whatever, but what about Ralph Lauren for Ikea? Well, maybe just at my house.
I've put some more of my recycled fabric stash to work making cushion covers - there's the Ralph Lauren bedsheet in there and the Ikea floral one side, coin spot the other. I just cut the sheets up to the dimension of the cushions, which was 26 inches square (actually, no I didn't, I didn't even cut them, I just ripped them) and sewed them up with two fabrics overlapping by about one-third of the width on one side. No zips, no buttons. Each cushion cover features all three fabrics. The fit is a bit wonky here and there but hey, the cushions are wonky too (two from the op shop, four from a garage sale) so that's fine. They will create a nice little reading corner in baby bear's room to snuggle up on and, dare I suggest it, to even take a little nap - please, pretty please?
ps - I started the slip stitching on the roses quilt last night. It's going to be a long haul but very satisfying.
Ok, so finally, after much procrastination and thinking about it, I got around to the binding on my quilt. It also took me a while to psych myself up for it. Above is a not-quite-finished shot of the one side that I have done so far. It is not quite finished in the sense that still I need to slip stitch the binding to the quilt back (the dusky rose).
I started by cutting out my strips of binding fabric - Essential Dots from Moda in sage green. I am delighted with this fabric, it is exactly what I envisioned when I thought, hmm, what binding does this quilt need? A good shade of sage green and the dots are not quite tan but maybe a light beige, instead of a stark white, which tones nicely with the quilt top.
And then I used my trusty 2" Clover bias strip maker to make miles and miles of binding. As the quilt is square I didn't actually make it on the bias but on the cross grain instead and where I sewed the strips together I took care to try and match the dots up.
Then the tricky bit - sewing the binding on. I always find myself doing a few mental gymnastics about how the binding should sit to do the first seam and inevitable end up having to place it down a couple of times. Anyway, the drill is that you enfold one edge of the tape and line the raw edge up with the ray edge of the quilt, right sides facing, and sew along the fold line. To get this:
I am thinking though that it might be advisable to line the raw edge of the binding up with the raw edge of the quilt, but slightly overlapping it. This is because the next step is to fold the binding on the seam and wrap it around the edge of the quilt to the other side and you want the edge of the binding to cover the stitches on the back of the quilt. I think that with a little coaxing mine will be fine.
That's one edge almost down, three to go. I am not going to mitre the corners of the binding on this one, just overlapping will suit it fine. So, I'm not actually in a bind about anything at was moment, it just the only title I could think of. It could have been 'the ties that bind' but then I would have ended up writing about my family's recent visit and that is a whole other story ...
Here it is, the low down on the roses quilt and all that has gone into it so far:
darning/free-hand quilting foot
This was the first time that I had used a foot any different from the regular one I think. And it was heaps of fun. With this you can move the fabric around freely underneath the foot, stitching in any direction you like. It requires some practice because the length of the stitch depends on how fast you are sewing and how quickly (or slowly) you are moving the fabric. I did practice a bit but inevitably improved as I went. However, I did enough of the quilting late at night after I was too tired to do it anymore so there is pretty consistent quality throughout!
quilting needles
No idea how these are different from regular sewing machine needles but really, I don't need any excuse to buy sewing stuff. They have a nice green dash on them to distinguish them from other needles.
batting
I chose a 100% cotton backing which you don't need to pre-wash. And as it is bonded (I think that's the term - just means that the fibres are stuck together and don't pull apart from each other as you work with it) you don't need to quilt too closely.
backing
I chose a plain colour fabric as I wanted the freehand quilting to make a pattern of its own on the backing.
basting pins
These pins are great. The curve in them allows you to pick up the layers of the quilt quite easily. I bought two packets with 60 pins in each but still don't think that I had enough for my size of quilt. The layers really do need to be pinned at quite small intervals, otherwise the backing tends to bunch and pucker which happened in a couple of spots for me.
quilting thread
This is special quilting thread, although I can't remember if it was special for hand- or machine-quilting. Regardless, I used it for machine-quilting, in both the bobbin and the needle. One 800m spool was enough for the entire quilt.
As I think I have mentioned previously, for a $4.00 quilt top, this all cost rather a lot of money, although a lot of the items are reusable. For the planned vintage fabrics quilt I want to do something different for the batting (backing is easy enough, just more sheets). I was thinking about a double layer of cotton flannelette sheets or perhaps some kind of cotton waffle weave blanket (like the one from the yard sale). The only difficulty I foresee is finding something large enough - the quilt is going to be 87" square (I can't help it, the Omnigrid is in inches) - and what I want to avoid is having to piece the batting. Queen-size flat sheets should be ok, or a queen-size blanket. I must get into the habit of taking my tape measure along when I go shopping.
tape measure
I shop there a lot.
Well, it should be evident from the previous post that my favourite place to buy craft supplies is the op shop, that is, the thrift shop here in the US. I have been haunting the bed linens aisle of late:
Top image, from the left:
- dark purple self stripe queen-size doona cover (or duvet cover in some parts of the world) - Value Village I think - destined for the vintage fabric style quilt
- Ikea single bed doona cover, floral on one side and coin spot on the other - $1 at a local yard sale - perhaps big floor cushions for baby bear's room
- deep red doona cover - thrift store - destined for the vintage fabric style quilt- curtain swag (as mentioned in the previous post), floral on one side, blue and white stripe on the other - thrift store - vintage fabric style quilt
- Ralph Lauren floral queen-size sheet - Value Village - vintage fabric style quilt
- blue doona cover - Goodwill - vintage fabric style quilt
- red floral pillow shams - thrift store - I really like these, I think they may escape intact!
Lower image, from the left:
- length of fabric, white with floral - thrift store - undecided fate
- length of fabric, polished chintz with a check - Value Village - vintage fabric style quilt
- two small pieces of fabric, hemmed - thrift store - undecided fate
- two purple pillow shams with a geometric floral print - Value Village - vintage fabric style quilt
- blue floral pillow sham - thrift shop - vintage fabric style quilt
- dandelion sort of print cream and black fabric shower curtain - thrift shop - vintage fabric style quilt
- pale green waffle weave cotton blanket - $2 at a local yard sale - could this be batting for the quilt?
Of course, there are some great shopping stories behind a couple of these purchases, particularly the two from the yard sale. I was walking baby bear to child care that day and came across the sale. A woman was negotiating a price on a great floral doona cover and I was very disappointed to have not left the house five minutes earlier. Ok, I thought, there will always be more and continued on.
I was, however, of course, drawn back to the sale on my way home and there was the great floral doona cover. It turns out that the other shopper decided that she didn't want it at the last minute, leaving it there for me to come back to. And the cotton waffle weave blanket? Same yard sale, found the day after I decided that was what I was looking for. Kismet, I say.
My blog seems to be in a bit of a slump at the moment, it's all a bit random, rambling, lacking in focus. In this sense it is actually a very precise reflection of my life in general. I finally came to my senses and withdrew from that second uni subject - sigh, bittersweet - and was rewarded with a great sense of relief and wellbeing. Nature, however, not liking a vacuum, swept in with a million little things to fill the void and I somehow seem to be further behind myself than ever.
Part of that is of course a whole new slew of craft ideas and perhaps that's where I should focus on the blog, at least for the moment. Difficulty is that I haven't taken any photos (despite this being on my daily list of things to do. I completed the first thing on my list at 5:45pm today, just before the garage closed at 6:00, if that gives you any idea of what things are like). Might have to use some stock footage:
I love this book - Vintage Fabric Style: Stylish Ideas and Projects Using Quilts and Flea-Market Finds in Your Home (isbn: 1841724165). Love it. It's one of those books where almost every page has me wanting to dig out a doily or an old pillow case or go shopping at Value Village for second-hand bed linens, which is precisely what I did yesterday.
One of the things I love is that quilt on the cover. The simplicity of it - big square blocks, the bold colours, a bit of floral. And now that I know how easy it is to make a quilt (well at least by machine) ...
(intermission for update on roses quilt)
Quilting complete - hooray. Did it free-hand with a darning foot and loved it. Need to trim the edges now. Bought some fabric for the binding - green with small tan dots - and realised after the fact that I had bought the wrong colour (I wanted sage and somehow settled for moss). So I have ordered the sage online, having had no luck finding it in the Seattle area, and hope that it will be a good shade. If not, I can always go with the moss. Have also bought a Clover 2-inch bias tape maker gadget in preparation. I love the accessories.
(return to normal programming)
... I am planning my very own version of that very quilt. Yesterday I picked up a queen-sized fitted sheet, Ralph Lauren no less, blue and white stripe background and some pretty rose bouquets. Another fitted sheet - deep red. A curtain-type attachment thing (I think) - blue and white stripe on one side and floral on the other. I have a lovely blue floral pillowcase and a deep purple doona cover in the cupboard (but what will mum sleep under when she comes to stay if I cut it up?). And some lovely polished chintz somewhere, and two purple geometric floral-type print pillowcases. I'm excited.
I also bought an Omnigrid 15" square template which is perfect because I have calculated that the 36 blocks need to be approx 14" square. And some black hat elastic ...
(intermission for update on recycled shetland wool tam)
I knitted the tam, then I blocked the tam, over a plate. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea because really, it has made the circumference of the opening way too loose. Dismayed, I cast it aside thinking, oh, I'll buy some hat elastic someday. Yesterday was that day - Hancock Fabrics was having a half-price sale (or half-off as they say here) on all their notions and threads and what not.(return to normal programming)
... so I'm just about ready to start cutting out some blocks. Which I'm going to do with my Clover rotary cutter and my Clover self-healing cutting mat (neither of which were purchased yesterday but as I said, I love the accessories).
Ok, I think that I have adequately put the craft back into the craft blog. On the right is a freebie arty photo taken at the Japanese Garden in Washington Park Arboretum. Those decorative carp are huuuuge.
Ha ha, this topic makes me laugh. A work in progress ... well, what's not? This life, this blog, this post ... all of it, a work in progress.
But oh, the crafty kind? A while ago I attempted to document my works in progress, all tagged with 'best intentions' but really, I couldn't keep up with all of the materials and ideas that I kept coming up with. There's a little list over there in the side bar which I will dash to update as soon as I have hit publish. Some of those things are languishing heaven-knows-where and there are others that I am halfway through which haven't even made it onto the list. Like this:
My quilt is coming along really well. My $3.00 quilt top, with some $25.00 of cotton batting, $15.00 of backing fabric, an $8.00 spool of yarn, a $25.00 freehand embroidery foot,a packet of machine quilting needles, and two packets of basting pins at $10.00 each keeping it all together! Oh well, some of those things are reusable. And I have an idea for recycling some cotton weave blankets that I came across at the op shop as filling for any future quilting projects.
I still haven't worked out how/why it is that some projects just grab you, harness your motivation and practically get themselves done, intruding on any number of other things that are on your to-do list. This is one of them. Perhaps because it is so big (204 cm x 219 cm) I felt that I just had to get it out of the way. I have been machine quilting it and am about three-quarters through. I'm really enjoying the process - the machine quilting is really addictive. Quick, instant results and you think, oh, I'll just do another line ... and another ... and ... (oh dear, I sound like a coke head).
Any ideas for binding it? I'm thinking something a bit whimsical so that it's not too twee - perhaps a sage green with small white or cream polka dots?
Where does the time go? March was quite a big blogging month for me - I try to post every four days or so and here it is a week has gone by. After the flurry of crafting activity in the lead up to the Stitches and Craft show I am slowing things down a bit and concentrating on my uni studies. Who would have thought that health economics could be so fascinating? Not being a business-minded person I have always shied away from that monolith 'the economy' and anything to do with it. But economics is proving to be very interesting, particularly in the context of health where the idealised competitive market model doesn't hold for all sorts of reasons.
Anyway, on to more important things like wonderful fabric design. You know sometimes you see an image and it just lifts you up inside? That's what this design, 'Wallflowers' by Atelier Martine, does for me. It's a printed velvet from 1923 and is taken from the book Art Deco Textiles: the French designers by Alain-Rene Hardy. I saw it first at the bookshop on Easter Monday when I was perusing and very nearly bought the book then and there for this one image. Good sense prevailed though and Monash Uni library delivered the goods. This design makes me want to draw and paint and colour in. I want to trace it onto fabric and make a huge fabric panel. I want to repeat print it and make a little girl's summer dress. I want to ...
And it's not just me - I've also done a colour printout and a couple of the blokes here at work have commented "what a lovely image". Hmmm? What - I'm blogging at work? Yeah, oops.
And what's more, here is the, ah, less than delightful scrap of 1980s decorator fabric that I used for the buttons. I had this in the stash - it came in plastic bag of several decorator fabric scraps that I bought at ... Value Village I think ... for another piece that was in there. The colours in that corner were just right for the neckwarmer and abstract enough that the overall pattern wasn't obvious!
