exploring PDF patterns for sewing

A friend of mine for over 30 years sews her own clothes.  She's a definite pear shaped plus size so finding clothes that fit is a significant challenge.  And she's a lawyer so she pretty much had to learn to sew her own clothes to have professional clothing that fit and wasn't just a boxy suit.  She often shares patterns she thinks I'd like and that led to me looking at some websites and then joining a couple of FB groups because of the free patterns.  Now that my studio is mostly functional, I'm starting a couple of projects using these PDF patterns.  One is the Relaxed Raglan shirt from Patterns for Pirates and the other is a wristlet wallet to replace my teal leather one I loved that was stolen in June.  

I've of course continued to buy patterns and some fabric even tho I haven't made my own clothes in decades.  One of the fabrics I bought is the lovely feather print next to the patterns in the photo below.  I'm going to use it for the sleeves on the raglan top and go get a nice blue knit in a similar weight for the body.  

So, what's a PDF pattern?  It's a PDF file that you can download and then print out on printer paper or have printed at a plotter shop if you don't want to spend the time taping/gluing the pages together.  Some of the newer ones are even done in layers by size so if you don't need to modify the fit, you can print just the one size you need.  Here's a shot of the sleeve for the raglan top after I glued all the pages together.  I printed all the sizes since P4P has no problem with people selling things made from their patterns and I have an etsy store and some plans to make fabric and sell both the fabric and clothes made from it.

So once I buy the blue knit for the body of the shirt and wash it, I'm ready to cut out the shirt and see how long it takes to sew.  The general comments on the FB group are that the shirt is really easy so the only issue I should have is remembering how to sew knits.  

While I'm cutting, I may also cut out the fabric for the wristlet.  Again, this is a possible item to go on my etsy store besides being something that I want for myself.  The fabrics I'm using for the wallet are to the right of the pattern picture.  I also have some scrap turquoise leather that I may use for the next one once I've done one and decided if I like the pattern.

The batiks I've picked are a different color than my beloved teal wallet but these are certainly colors I have a lot of in my wardrobe.  I'm planning to get both of these projects done over the long weekend so maybe I'll show the finished pieces in the next post.  

Happy Turkey Day to everyone and I hope you're doing something you enjoy as much as I am.

Now what? More lemonade...

My back surgery was in August 2013.  It's now October 2014 and the pain has started up again.  *sigh*  So, I am making some changes in what and how much I do to lower my physical stress.  This has meant moving out of my Georgetown studio so I can rest and heat my back as needed.  And this has been very sad for me, to leave the shared space and have to rethink my work.  But today, Lisa Call blogged about resetting life goals and feeling untethered.  Great timing!  What a good way to reframe what I'm going through right now.

I particularly liked this quote:   "Great big audacious dreams take time to germinate."

I will remember that when I feel like I'm floundering.

So, what lemonade am I making now?

I'm taking an excellent course on writing & illustrating children's books taught by Dana Sullivan at the Kirkland Arts Center.  Learning lots and pushing myself to broaden my ideas on art.

I'm expanding my accessories to more than scarves for the 2 gift shops I'm currently working with.  Inspired by the origami exhibit at BAM, I'm trying out some 3D fabric flowers.  Here's a pic of my first batch of tryouts.

And I'm doing a lot of thinking and germinating.

In between doctor appointments.

I hope to have some new goals by next spring.  And less back pain.  *cross fingers*

Quick bolster cover with novelty sushi cats fabric

Yes, indeed, I said sushi cats fabric.  I've been ruminating about my direction as an artist while reorganizing my home studio.  So, I 've been finishing up some easy projects while letting my brain work on what to do next.

Hence, this quick bolster cover using the novelty fabric.  (Yes, I like novelty fabric.  Some of you will remember the Betty Boop motorcycle quilt I posted about here. )  The pillow is supposed to be 9" in diameter and 20" long.  I think they measured after it was wrapped and compressed a bit.

I am particularly amused by the goldfish being held in the chopsticks here in the closeup shot.

After I took the pillow out of the wrapper, I measured its circumference as 31. The piece of cat fabric I had was 20 inches wide and 40 some long so I cut it to 32 inches long on a pattern break so the ends matched up.  Then I cut a 9.5" circle out of the trim fabric for the closed end and a 12" wide strip for the open end.  I sewed the strip on the end and trimmed to it was the same length as the cat fabric.   Next, I sewed it into a tube and hemmed the trim end.  Then I put the circle in the other end, using lots of pins to spread the gathers evenly.  And made a tie out of the scrap cat fabric.  Total time, about an hour and a half.  If I were to do it again, I would make the trim on the open end a couple of inches wider so the tied part wasn't so scrunched and the circle would be 10" in diameter.  This lovely bolster now sits on our brown leather couch and brings me a bit of joy every time I sit next to it.

Marbling magic continues

Having survived back surgery and the resulting months of recovery, I started marbling on silk scarves in the last month.  I am really excited about the marbling.  It took a period of experimentation to work out the right combination of marbling surface, paints and fabric process and I now feel like it has all fallen into place.

Here's a shot of my latest batch of marbled scarves, which are now at my newest shop, the Gift Shop at the Columbia City Gallery in Seattle.  And of course, some are also available at The Gallery at Town Center in Lake Forest Park where I have been selling my work for almost 2 years now.

I used the same palette of paints for all of the scarves which gave me a useful guide to my transparent paints.  I particularly liked the results on the light yellow scarf and have put a closeup view of it below. I used 4 different shades of blue and one opaque yellow.  The yellow is the stronger yellow swirl in the lower left corner.

I've ordered some opaque fabric paints and will be experimenting with them in the near future.  And I am still searching for a red that won't fade to pink or fuchsia when it spreads on top of the marbling surface.   

New accessories go to a new store

Having gotten tired of deciding whether to keep tryout samples and where to put them, I've been using scarves and pillows as ways to try out new dyes and new screens.   When I heard the question "Where are you selling these?" from a friend for the third time, I realized they were right.  So, this last week, I dropped off several different silk scarves in coral, teal and a lovely silvery gray at The Gallery at Town Center in Lake Forest Park, a part of north Seattle.

Here's the coral scarf, screened with a design of cascading laceleaf maple leaves.  I *adore* this leaf for some reason and it's a very popular landscaping tree here in the Seattle area so I've been thinking of using it in my art for years.  I'm really glad to finally have done something with it.  I started out trying to work it into an artquilt but never quite got that going.  Now, of course, having put it on some samples and played with it, the art ideas are flourishing.  This only confirms that doing these accessories is a really productive way to try out some of my design ideas.

The art ideas will probably use this color combination below, the silvery gray with burgundy leaves.  To me, that's classic Seattle fall colors.  All the Japanese maples that turn that lovely color just stand out as the cloud cover comes in and starts us toward our winter grayness.  This particular scarf will probably not be repeated as the dots were an accident.  I was screening too fast on the leaves and the thickened dye mix splattered onto the scarf.  Oops.  Okay, we're going with dots!  So, I added more.  Of course, two people have said they love it so I may be speaking too soon to say I won't do it again.  There was a certain wonderful playfulness in making all the dots since I did it very quickly and without analyzing where they should go.  Just started dabbing away and I like the result even if it's nowhere near the subtle dramatic effect I was going for.

The teal scarf below was done using a discharge agent rather than a thickened dye.  It went almost completely white which is somewhat starker than I was wanting but really creates a dramatic contrast with the lovely teal.  I will be using this teal again, and I'll be experimenting with different methods of creating the leaves.

I'll also be putting future scarves, and the accent pillows I'll be doing later this month, on my newly reopened etsy store, LizCopeland.etsy.com.  I wasn't expecting the store manager to take all of the scarves I'd done so far but apparently silk scarves, especially in the $45-65 price range, sell quickly and she was very glad to have them.  I'm glad I've found a way to try out new dyes and screens without drowning my studio in samples!