Art Threads

Silk Painting - Class 6

2012-02-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Silk just seems to have been made for shibori dyeing techniques! For this last class in the silk painting series, we'll be using arashi shibori. Arashi means storm in Japanese and is meant to look like a wind driven rain, so it's always done on the diagonal. It's always reminded me of rain coming down across a window pane.

If this is your first time in the class, see Class 1 for background and the classes on the last four Mondays for a review of techniques. For this project you'll need:
*one silk scarf, washed and ironed
*Seta-Silk paints
*brushes
*artist's tape - this is a tape that's easily removable and doesn't leave behind a residue
*a resist binding - I like to use artificial sinew in shibori. It's used in leatherworking and can be bought at various places like Hobby Lobby.
*a large, smooth cylinder, about 8 inches in diameter for the size of scarf we've been using (you want one that the scarf wraps around two or three times at the most). PVC pipe works great, but is hard to find in that size, so I'm using a concrete form from the hardware store.

1. Wrap the scarf around the form, diagonally ...

... and secure it with a piece of artist's tape.

2. Secure one of the diagonal tips to the form with a piece of tape and stand the form up. Tie the resist on at the tip, below the tape.

Remember how the name of the game with silk painting has been quick, quick, quick? Forget all of that now! Shibori takes time - and patience if you're in a hurry up mode. Wrap the entire scarf with artificial sinew at about 1/4 inch intervals. I put the sinew on something it will spin on and turn the form. I get dizzy walking around it over and over!

3. When you get to the tape in the middle, remove it. When your entire scarf is wrapped, tie the sinew off over the form, not the scarf.

4. The next part takes time - no way around it! You want to scrunch the scarf and bindings together until it's tightly compacted.

There are different ways to do this. At first, you'll be able to push it down with your fingers. When it gets difficult, I use a piece of wood that has about the same curve as the cylinder and a hammer. If you have a plastic embroidery hoop that just fits the cylinder (the adjustable outer ring works well), you can slip it on and place the piece of wood over it and then hammer. I have a great husband who finished this one up for me!

There are different techniques some people find makes this step easier. You can wrap the cyclinder tightly in heavy plastic before you wrap your scarf - it's difficult for me to keep the plastic from scrunching up in the scarf, so I don't do that. You can also scrunch the scarf as you wrap it - wrap a couple inches or so, scrunch, and keep repeating. I have a hard time being coordinated enough to keep the wrapping lines even when I do it that way, and it's still hard for me to push the scarf down once I get a few inches scrunched. But these techniques may work for you!

5. Get your silk paints ready. I'm using gray at full strength and turquoise and a blue/purple mix left over from last week's class.

6. You can apply the paint in any pattern you want. I'm doing long stripes this time, but it also looks nice to do shorter stripes of different colors or to make shorter vertical stripes. Some of the paint does soak into the concrete form, but it's a long form. I just avoid scrunching the scarf over that spot next time.

7. After I had my stripes painted on, I went over the tops with the turquoise and put some purple on the gray.

8. Let dry completely and then cut the sinew away. You can reuse it for the next scarf. At this point, the scarf will have these cool, tight little pleats. Sometimes shibori is left with the form you get when removing the binding, especially if it's to be a sculptural fiber art piece.

I want a flat scarf, though, so I ironed mine out. A little bit of the texture still remains even after ironing, so I tend to not wash shibori scarves unless I have to!

This is our last class in the silk painting series, but now that I have the basic tutorial to refer back to, I'll be showing you how I do more of my scarves as I finish them and what I do with them afterwards.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration

2012-02-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

With Valentine's Day coming up next week, I thought it'd be fun to look at what types of heart (love) inspired fiber art is out there! This art quilt by Kathi Everett is great - are the wings a shibori fabric? And I love how the wing pattern is continued across the heart.

Rachel of Cornflower Blue Studio has some very creative pieces on her website. This heart made of crocheted hollow forms makes me think of cozy, nesting places. Good analogy for love!

This heart by Mary Stanley is hooked, a fiber art form usually seen in rugs. I think it works very well to use on this sculptural form, giving it a nice folk art look. This heart is pretty small, but think of a larger form done this way - it would be very inspiring!

I really like the tangled embroidered background in this small art quilt by Denise Aumick. Sometimes the path to love is quite tangled, isn't it? And this piece makes me remember that small art is often powerful.

And for the literalists, I found this wonderful embroidered actual heart done by Kate Kretz. Be sure and take a look at the other pieces on her website. The fine stitches are amazing!

Happy Creating and Happy Valentine's Day! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Leaf Motif Free Motion Quilting

2012-02-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I decided that I was going to branch out from my usual random curly free motion quilting and build up my repertoire - I managed to get proficient at one more wave type, but that was it. So the other day when I found SewCalGal's Free Motion Quilting Challenge, I thought hmmmm. This could be the push I need. So far, so good! I watched Frances Moore's video on sewing a leaf pattern, worked on some scrap fabric, and was ready to go.

So I decided the best piece to continue practicing a new stitch on is a placemat. And it just so happens that one of our cats needs a new mat for her food! I found a scrap piece of fabric in my stash that was about 14 by 18 inches, layered it with a piece of quilt batting in the middle (you could also use fusible felt) and quilted it in the leaf pattern. This fabric is a little busy, so it's hard to see the leaves!

I bound it with bias tape .... (see this past post for making your own)

... and Raven had a new place mat! If you're new to free motion quilting, check out this past post.

February's quilting challenge definitely looks challenging ....

Happy Creating! Deborah

Silk Painting - Class 5

2012-02-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

In this week's post, we'll work on making interesting effects using silk paint and salt. Personally, this is one of my favorite ways to work with silk. I love the random patterns that result! This is a great way to get one of a kind background fabrics.

This is Lesson 5 of a silk painting series. See the previous classes (beginning with Lesson 1) for background information and tutorials of needed skills.

Materials:
*silk scarf, washed and ironed
*Seta Silk paints
*foam brushes
*rock salt, coarse kosher salt, or coarse sea salt
*finely ground kosher or sea salt with no additives

1. Stretch scarf onto painting frame.

2. Pick three colors that you like - some colors work better together than others, when mixing. If you avoid combining primary colors you'll most likely avoid getting browns. If you don't mind browns, go for it! In non-food use containers, cover bottom with paint and then add around the same amount of water. Mix well.

Put the two types of salt in two separate bowls.

3. Working quickly (are you beginning to notice this is the speed of silk painting?!), add color to the scarf - work at blending the edges to minimize lines. You'll have lines, but just try to minimize them. Every so often, toss on a handful of the two types of salt.

4. Keep working like this until the entire scarf is covered.

You'll notice that the salt is beginning to absorb the paint.

At this point, I set the frame and scarf outside in the sun so that it'll dry quickly if I don't want a lot of white showing. You'll see what happens if you leave the scarf to dry slowly in the last example.

When the scarf is dry, brush off all salt and iron to heat set. After a day or two, wash and iron again.

This scarf was inspired by ocean colors and currents. I also took it outside so it would quickly dry.

You can work randomly with where the salt is placed or you can do a more purposeful placement. On this scarf, I painted a swirl in the center and then heavily placed both types of salt along that swirl. I sprinkled on coarse salt sparingly around the rest of the scarf.

Because I had some ideas for using this as a background for a specific piece that involves embroidery, I wanted a little more white areas so I left it inside to dry. The longer the piece takes to dry, the more paint will be pulled out by the salt and the more white you'll get.

I love the texture and motion this technique results in!

Next week we'll end this silk painting series with some shibori.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Dyeing with Turmeric

2012-02-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

I love yellow - that deep, vibrant, glowing yellow! Even in Phoenix, yellow feels very good during the winter. Not that I can wear it, though. My skin is pale enough, yellow reflects off of it, making me look jaundiced. So I add it in where I can. I've been researching turmeric as a fabric dye and can't wait to give it a try. This is one of the natural dyes traditionally used in Buddhist monks' yellow robes.

Turmeric is related to ginger and has been used in dyeing fabric for over 4,000 years. If you haven't heard of its health benefits, take a look here. But it's the color I'm currently interested in.

We're beginning our experiments with natural dyes in the class I'm taking this semester, after learning to hand spin various fibers. So when I went looking for examples, I fell in love with this handspun, turmeric dyed yarn listed for sale on Etsy here. If my experiments turn out something like this, I'll be a very happy person!

Or if I can end up with fabric and thread as vibrant as Diana Trout's!

And I'm finding inspiration in the soy silk roving I found on Paper Kitty's blog here.

I'll keep you updated on what I end up with!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Crazy Quilt Potholders

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I redid all my kitchen towels and potholders and they're beginning to look a little ratty. And a little scorched in places! Time for a facelift, so I began with potholders. These are inspired by crazy quilt blocks, without all the extra embellishments since they'll be washed a lot. And perhaps scorched again ...

Materials:
*scraps of fabric
*small amount of backing fabric
*insulbrite insulating fabric
*about a yard of double fold extra wide bias tape for each potholder (or make your own with this tutorial)
*embroidery floss

1. Decide how big you want your potholders to be. I wanted a round shape on the smaller side and used a salad plate for a template. Measure the dimensions of your template and cut 4 pieces of backing fabric.

2. Cut your first shape and place it in the center of your block. I used a square, but any shape will do.

3. Sew around the edges, very close to the edge.

4. You're going to want to cover all the edges of your first piece. I laid this long blue piece on top of the first square (right sides together), sewed it on about 1/4 inch in from the edge, folded it up to hide the seam, and ironed it flat.

5. Repeat with the next side.

6. And the third side.

7. And finally, the last side. I forgot to take a picture of this piece folded back and ironed, but by now you probably get the idea!

8. Add additional pieces to cover up all of the background fabric and to add new interesting shapes.

9. Trace around your template.

10. And cut out.

11. Use 6 strands of embroidery floss to cover the seams. There are lots of good sites on the internet that have good instructions on many embroidery stitches - one of my favorites is Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches.

12. Place the embroidered circle on one of the pieces of insulbrite and place this on top of a backing piece.

13. Pin and cut out.

14. Pin on bias tape, right sides together, and connecting the ends (see this past post for instructions). Sew on.

15. Turn bias tape to the back, pin, and hand sew in place.

16. Tada! New potholders! Now I have to do something about those sad looking dish towels ...

Happy Creating! Deborah

Silk Painting - Class 4

2012-01-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

This week we're going to transfer a simple design to a silk scarf, outline the design with gutta, fill in the shapes, and learn how to fill in the background. You can use my sheep design, draw your own, or use one you find. Coloring pages and stained glass designs work real well - just Google what you want and you'll most likely come up with tons! (Example - "cat coloring page") This is the fourth in a silk painting series - see Lesson One for basic information and Lessons Two and Three to catch up on the skills we've been learning.

Materials:
*silk scarf - washed and ironed
*clear and black water based gutta
*Seta Silk Paint - I used yellow, green, red, turquoise, gray, chestnut, caramel, and black
*rubbing or isopropyl alcohol
*a few cotton swabs
*simple design - my sheep design is here

1. Print off your design. You want something with simple lines with no lines close to each other.

2. Lay your scarf over the first design. I wanted my sheep to look like they were tumbling around the meadow, so I just randomly placed them around the scarf.

Using a soft pencil, lightly trace the lines. You can either hold the scarf in place with tape or place something heavy (like a filled water bottle) at the top of the space you're working on.

3. Stretch the scarf onto a frame.

4. Go over all the sheep outlines and inner curls with black gutta. When I opened a new tube of black gutta to outline this, I discovered the applicator tube now has a hole already in it (it probably happened a long time ago - I haven't silk painted in awhile). Check and see if yours does and if so, don't cut the tip off. You'll only get a wider applicator hole and for this project, fine lines are best.

While you're going over the lines, pay careful attention to connecting each line together so that when you paint, the paint will not pass the gutta lines. Don't worry about the curls inside connecting.

Use clear gutta to put in the eyes and nostrils.

5. We're going to divide our backgrounds up into smaller, more manageable sections. You'll soon discover why! I put each sheep on a little hill and added a couple tufts of grass, using clear gutta.

6. Continue doing this until all sheep are on hills and all hill lines connect to each other or the edge of the scarf. Let everything completely dry.

7. If you accidentally drip clear gutta somewhere you don't want it to be, wipe off and sponge the area with a wet cloth. If you accidentally drip black gutta, work it into your design! It's there for good.

8. When your gutta is dry, hold your frame up to a bright light and look for tiny gaps in the lines and any lines that are somewhat transparent. The little teeniest break in the gutta will allow paint to leak out, so go over any lines you're not sure of.

When your gutta fixes are completely dry, you're ready to paint. Before starting, pour a little alcohol into a cup, grab a couple of cotton swabs, and put it in an easy to reach place. If you missed any tiny gaps in your gutta and a color starts leaking out, you can immediately swab a little alcohol around the leak and it should stop it.

9. First paint all the ears, faces, and legs with black. I like to squeeze a little of each color into its own plastic cup. I used a medium watercolor brush and first painted around the edges with gray. I then added caramel to the middle and scrubbed the edges a bit to blend them. Lastly, I added a tiny bit of chestnut to the caramel and scrubbed it around. Be gentle with the scrubbing - water based gutta can be scrubbed off. Work quickly to avoid color lines!

You might be tempted to first wash the entire sheep with water so the colors might blend together more easily - especially if you're used to watercolors or have used silk dyes before. Don't! The water will loosen the gutta and you'll have major leaks!

10. Let the sheep dry and then move onto the background. Backgrounds have to be filled in very quickly - the front edge of your paint will dry fast and leave a color line. So the goal is to keep working that front edge while filling in the space. We divided our space so we'll have a little breathing time!

Mix up four or five different greens. I used green, turquoise, and yellow in my colors. You can tone down any greens that are too bright by adding a drop or two of red.

Grab your largest brush and begin with your smallest section. Start at the thinnest edge or at a corner and work fast. Swipe your brush in the corner, reload with paint and swipe it across the leading edge. Repeat until the section is filled. You might get some color lines until you get the hang of this - don't worry, grass has lines in it! And even if you're really speedy, you'll likely get color variations. That's one of the downsides of using silk paints and water based gutta - but if you build that into your design, they work great. If we were using dyes and regular gutta, we'd be wetting down the silk first to give us longer to keep that front edge of color from drying, but if we did that now we'd get major breaks in the gutta and big time leaks.

11. Continue with each section until finished.

12. If you do get a small leak of green into a sheep, there's a fix.

Put a small amount of one of the darker colors on your brush and cover the green. Rinse your brush, but leave some water in it. Lightly scrub the edges to blend the colors - I found it helpful to also "paint" the sheep with a little plain water.

13. Let dry and iron to heat set the paint. Wait a day or two before washing.

Next week, we'll paint a scarf using some silk painting special effects.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Vintage Embroidery

2012-01-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

Lately, my net surfing has led me to some interesting and inspiring pieces of vintage embroidery. Here are some that especially caught my eye.

When looking at this dress, it's hard to remember that it is hand embroidered and smocked. In this day of machine worked fabric, it takes a bit for this to sink in! This is for sale on DressingVintage - which says it was bought in 1929 for the owner's honeymoon. I love this!

Can you imagine the hours of work that went into this French linen skirt from the 1790's? It would have been worn under a jacket. You can see more details on the Vintage Textiles website.

I've had a love/hate relationship with French knots since I first learned embroidery as a teenager! I loved the way they looked, but the knots always eventually fell apart. Usually sooner than later. I'm currently in a good relationship with them and can definitely see this wisteria pattern in my future. This 1920's cushion is for sale on Etsy here.

I've always had a fascination for Victorian era crazy quilts. This one from the late 1800's has a gorgeous fan design! I've been thinking about starting a Christmas themed crazy quilt - it'd be fun to work in a snowflake background with this type of design. This quilt and several others can be seen at the University of Wisconsin's Design Gallery site.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Embroidered Conversation Hearts

2012-01-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

I used to keep a bowl of candy conversation hearts on the table for the few weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, but with the food changes I've had in the past couple years, that's a tradition I've let go. Instead, this year I have some embroidered felt hearts!

These are great for practicing embroidery stitches you're learning or expanding your embroidery repertoire. There are quite a few internet sites that are good sources for learning new stitches. One of my favorites is Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches. I also like to carry a book of embroidery stitches when I don't have access to the internet. There are quite a few - I have the DK Stitch Sampler by Lucinda Ganderton.

Materials:
*felt
*embroidery thread
*fiber fill
*pattern found here

1. Cut two hearts from each of the colors you want to use. Embroider phrases from candy conversation hearts and designs.

2. Pin together, add a border stitch that sews the two hearts together, adding fiberfill before closing. Here are the four hearts I've made so far and the stitches I used.

Bullion knot roses, stem stitch for the words, lazy daisy leaves, cross stitch, and a running stitch to attach the two hearts.

Lazy daisy petals and leaves, French knots, stem stitch letters, and a running stitch to attach the two hearts.

Lazy daisy clover petals and leaves, stem stitch words, wings, and legs/antennae, satin stitch bee, running stitch in the wings, and cable chain to sew the two hearts together.

Lazy daisy petals and leaves, French knots, and blanket stitch to sew the two hearts together.

I sat little c down with a tapestry needle, embroidery thread (doubled and knotted so it wouldn't keep coming off the needle), and a felt heart for her first sewing lesson - not bad for a newly turned two-year-old!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Silk Painting - Class 3

2012-01-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you're back for Class 3, you may be bitten by the silk painting bug! There's just something a bit addictive about it. Plus, you get to work with silk!

This week we'll be working with using a brush and getting used to mixing silk paint colors. If you're new to this series, see Class 1 for the materials you'll need. And everyone should review Class 2 as a reminder of the techniques we're using.

For this scarf, you'll need a prewashed scarf (air dried and ironed), clear gutta, and one of the following groups of your silk paint colors - either raspberry, hermes red, tangerine, and primary yellow OR hermes red, gitane blue, iris violet and turquoise OR gitane blue, turquoise, primary yellow and oriental green.

Stretch your scarf on the frame. Using the clear gutta, draw lines horizontally and vertically on the scarf, dividing it up into small squares. Don't worry about having wavy lines or squares that are different sizes. They'll still look great! Just concentrate on learning control of the applicator.

Pick one of your colors. Using full strength paint, color in random squares all over your scarf. To paint, let your brush soak up the paint, lay your brush onto the surface of the silk, and let the silk draw the paint out. It'll probably move to the gutta and stop, but if it doesn't quite reach, touch your brush tip to the white area and let the paint be pulled out.

Continue with the other three colors - but don't fill the whole scarf up! You're probably going to experience breaks in the gutta that cause one color to leak into the square next to it. Don't worry about it for this project - just look at why it happened so you can work at getting the gutta on without breaks. We'll look at this more next week.

Now, we'll start color mixing. I use small plastic cups I get at a restaurant supply store - anything that doesn't soak up liquid will work. Mix a small amount of two of the paints together and apply them to the scarf. Continue doing this with different combinations of paint - move on to mixing three colors together.

Let dry completely, wash to remove the gutta (see Class 2), air dry and iron.

I just love sunlight shining through silk!

Next week we'll be working on a scarf that uses a design we'll transfer onto the silk.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - The Silk Museum

2012-01-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine that I'll ever find myself in Lebanon (the country, not the various US towns), but if I do I'll definitely be visiting The Silk Museum located in Bsous in an old silk factory. Just browsing through their website is lots of fun and very informative. Most of what I know about the history of silk is from the Asia region, but silk also has a long history in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East.

The museum site has photos of past exhibitions, so be sure to take a look. Some highlights:

This richly embroidered piece from last year's Gold and Silk Exhibition of Caucasian and Ottoman Embroideries.

This gorgeous rug must have such a history to tell. It's from 2004's exhibit, An Orient of Silk and Gold - The Treasures of the Antaki Family.

I'm amazed by this intricate embroidery and would love to see it in person. It was part of the 2001 workshop, Ainsi-Soie-t-elle.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Short Sleeved Shirt Into Long Sleeved

2012-01-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

I found this darling vintage embroidery pattern of a kitten on French Knots and wanted to embroider it onto a shirt for little c. She's crazy, crazy about cats! The crazy cat lady of the two-year-old bunch! I had a leftover short sleeved shirt from a bunch I bought last summer to dye up for her, but the weather's too cold for short sleeves in the Northwest this time of the year, so I decided to add sleeves under the short sleeves. This is really easy to do if you have an extra T-shirt laying around. I had a really nice soft one I loved - until I accidentally put it in the dryer and got a midriff shirt. Not very attractive at my age!

Before adding the sleeves, I dyed the shirt (about one part Procion magenta with a smidge of cobalt blue and 1/2 part pewter) and did the embroidery.

1. Take the T-shirt you're going to add sleeves to and lay it out along the edge of a newspaper section that has a fold in it as shown below. Put the top of the sleeve directly on the fold.

2. Using a straight edge, draw a line from the armpit to the length you want the long sleeve to be. Notice how I'm following the taper of the sleeve so that the wrist will be a little narrower than the shoulder.

3. Make a mark on the newspaper's folded edge at the shoulder seam.

4. Fold the sleeve under and draw a line along the curved sleeve seam. There are dressmaker tools that can help you do this - if you have one, you can use that. Don't worry if you don't - you get close enough this way.

5. Draw a line 1/4 inch beyond the lines you already have - this is your seam allowance. You won't need an allowance at the wrist since we'll be using the bottom hem of the extra T-shirt.

6. Open up your newspaper pattern and place on the extra shirt, placing the wrist along the bottom hem. Make sure you have the bottom hems lined up evenly. Pin and cut out - you should have two sleeves.

7. Take one sleeve, fold in half (right sides together) and sew in a 1/4 inch seam.

8. Turn right side out. Fold the sleeve in half and mark the side that doesn't have the seam where shown. This is where you'll place the sleeve on the shoulder seam of the T-shirt you're adding sleeves to.

9. Slide the long sleeve into the short sleeve.

10. Find the seam inside the shirt where the short sleeve was attached to the shirt. Pin your long sleeve to this seam matching the mark you made to the shoulder seam and matching the underarm seams.

11. Finish pinning along the whole seam.

12. Sew along the seam line that was used to attach the short sleeve. I use a straight stitch and then go over it with a wide zigzag (too narrow and it makes the seam rough), but you might have a machine stitch you like to use to sewing and overcasting.

13. There's your first long sleeve!

14. Repeat with the other sleeve.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Silk Painting - Class 2

2012-01-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you've gathered your silk painting materials, today you're ready to paint your first scarf! A quick review of Class 1 before you start is a good idea, to make sure you have everything you need. And you'll need to do a couple of things before you begin: 1) have some images of snowflakes - I went to Google images, copied some I liked, and printed the sheet out so I could refer to it later, and 2) prewash a scarf (see Class 1 for what to use), air dry it, and iron the wrinkles out. It'll probably have a tag on it - take it off, usually there are just a couple of stitches holding it on that a seam ripper makes short work of. If you're giving this as a gift, you might want to sew it back on when you're finished so the person will know it's silk.

Stretching your silk:
Silk is painted on a frame that holds it up off the surface. Before you begin painting, you need to stretch it on this frame.

1. Find a large flat surface that your frame will fit on and cover it with plastic (you can buy large rolls at hardware/home improvement stores). Put your frame on top of the plastic and lay your scarf in the center of the frame with the right side facing up. To find the right side, look at the hemming on the edge.

2. This is a suspension hook - watch out, they're very sharp! They come with the prongs turned at a right angle. I bend the prongs slightly in so they hold the silk better - just a little bit, though, or they'll break.

3. The prongs are put at the very edge of your silk if it's hemmed or about 1/4 inch in if it's not hemmed.

4. Starting at one corner, hook a suspension hook on each edge. Attach the hook to the frame with push pins. If you can't make the hook reach the frame without distorting the fabric, cut a piece of elastic, loop it through the hook, staple the elastic to hold it in place, and then use a push pin to attach the elastic to the frame. After you attach the scarf at one corner, attach the other three corners.

5. Next, attach hooks in the middle of each side of the scarf and attach to hooks to the frame.

6. Now attach hooks halfway in between the hooks already in the scarf and attach the hooks to the frame.

7. Your scarf should now look like this - stretched, but not distorted and tight enough that the scarf is taut. You don't want it sagging when it gets wet.

Now you're ready to apply the gutta. Gutta acts as a resist - when it's dry, it won't let the silk paint seep through.

Take a bottle of clear gutta and take off the lid. Cut the tip off the point (there's a line to show you where - I usually go a little above this line to give a smaller hole). Update: I just got new bottles of gutta and they already have a hole in the applicator tip. In this case, you only want to cut more of the tip off if you want a bigger line!

Unscrew the tip and use a push pin to punch through the foil covering the top. Replace the tip.

Using your examples, draw snowflakes on your silk with the gutta. Just freehand it - don't worry if they're wobbly or smeary. They'll still look nice and you're just learning how to control the gutta applicator!

Continue until your scarf is covered with snowflakes, then add dots of gutta in the empty spaces. Let dry completely.

We're going to be painting this scarf with diluted paint. Find three containers that won't be used for food and add a few good squirts of paint - blue, turquoise, and blue mixed with violet. Add about 3 or 4 tablespoons of water, until it's about the transparency of the paint I've tested on the newspaper below. Don't worry about getting it exact - this is not crucial!

Before I begin painting, I like to set my frame on egg cartons to get it up away from the plastic. Why egg cartons? It doesn't matter if I get paint on them and they're free!

2. Using a wide foam brush, begin applying the diluted paint.

Switch off to other colors frequently ...

... until the entire scarf is covered. Notice how the edges where the colors meet have a line? For this project, that's fine - it's part of the swirly, snowy look. But remember this - we'll address it in future classes!

Leave your scarf on the frame until it is completely dry and then remove. Iron to heat set the paint - I use the cotton setting and iron (on the wrong side) an area about a foot square for 4 minutes, then move onto another area, continuing until the entire scarf has been set. Keep the iron moving to avoid scorches!

After heat setting, let it sit for a day or two and then wash in cold water with one of the okay soaps - and make sure it is cold water! If you use warm, the gutta will gum up and be very hard to remove. With cold water, about 5 minutes of gentle swishing and a little rubbing on stubborn spots will get the gutta out.

Air dry, iron, and you have your first scarf!

If snowflakes aren't your cup of tea, you can make this with any type of motif for the background - hearts, loopy flowers, anything with simple lines.

Next week we'll do some color mixing on another scarf.
Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Olek's Crochet Art

2012-01-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

Untitled

I've seen photos of Polish-born artist Olek's crochet installation pieces, but recently spent some time looking through her website. Wow ... there's the sheer scale of much of her work (I mean, how long does it take to actually crochet a studio apartment?!), but I think her smaller pieces are even more amazing.

Olek's work is often site specific - it's designed to be viewed in a certain place, often on the streets. I love this piece of a mother pushing her child past street graffiti. The crochet is done in a pattern that reminds me of camouflage, but in the bright colors of graffiti artists' spray paints.

Several of the works I viewed looked at the role of woman/mother. Below is a video of a performance piece, Working Woman in Red: A Portrait. I think a lot of us can relate to the work/re-work theme! While crocheting she's watching a Fellini movie. In her artist's statement, Olek says "The movies I watch while crocheting influence my work, and my work dictates the work I select." If the clip below doesn't work, try here.

Working Woman in Red: A Portrait from olek on Vimeo.

I love the simplicity of this crocheted pup tent placed in a city park - I'm not familiar with New York City, but I bet some of you might know where this is. There the juxtaposition of a warm, cozy crocheted tent against the cold lonesomeness of whatever situation would have you sleeping in a city park.

Also worth viewing is this short clip on Olek's work from a CBS news interview. And to any of you who are feeling bruised by rejection letters, take note of what she did with a recent letter and where she's now showing her work!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Quilted Snowflake Table Mat

2012-01-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

I always have a hard time giving up our Christmas decorations! I love the tree with its ornaments and lights - everything is so sparkling and cheery looking. So several years ago I started gathering snowflake and snowman decorations and artwork to help ease my transition and avoid having a Christmas tree still up in March. This quilted snowflake mat keeps my table looking festive for a bit more! And it was made entirely from scraps of fabric and fabric from my stash, keeping my resolution to not buy any new fabric for a few months.

Materials:
*2 24 x 15 inch pieces of fabric for the front and back
*24 x 15 inch piece of fusible felt
*a fat quarter size of fabric for the snowflakes
*2 1/2 yards double fold wide bias tape (to make your own, see this past post)
*2 skeins variegated blue embroidery floss
*assorted beads
*Steam-a-Seam 2 - in 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheets

First you'll need to make the snowflakes. Be sure to read through all the snowflake instructions before you cut any - I have a second option on how to do this at the end. This way of folding gives you a six point snowflake, like snowflakes really are.

1. Take a sheet of Steam-a-Seam 2 and fold one corner up to make a triangle (we're making what will be a square when it's unfolded). Cut off the rectangular end.

2. Cut the square into four smaller squares.

3. Take one small square and fold corner to corner to make a triangle. Arrange the triangle with the long edge at the top (first photo below) and fold in half again to form a smaller triangle.

4. Turn your triangle to the position shown below, making sure that the folded edge is where the arrow points.

5. Fold the left edge over and then fold the right edge over it. You get a shape that reminds me of a Star Trek badge!

6. Turn over and trim off the bottom of the piece at the straight edge.

7. Draw lines on your shape and cut along them, making sure you leave connections on the folded edge so your snowflake doesn't end up in pieces. You can follow the lines I used or experiment and make your own.

8. Open up and you have a snowflake!

9. Here are the other two designs I used.

10. Remove one side of paper and press onto the wrong side of your snowflake fabric and press on (about 15 seconds does it). Cut the snowflakes out.

Okay, now here's the other option. You can take those small squares of Steam-a-Seam 2 from step 2 and attach them to your snowflake fabric. Cut out and then proceed with the folding instructions above and your snowflake will be ready to attach to the front fabric without extra cutting. Here's the catch - you have to have thin snowflake fabric and very, very sharp scissors to handle all that folding and still be cutable. I didn't like the way mine looked, it was pretty ragged. The more time consuming way gave me much nicer looking snowflakes.

Once you have snowflakes, it's on to the quilted table mat.

1. Remove the remaining paper from the snowflakes and arrange on your top piece of fabric. Iron into place. Finish the edges by embroidering with a blanket stitch, using 2 strands of a variegated blue floss.

2. After I was all finished with my mat, I decided it needed a bit more pizazz, so I added beads. You'll want to add beads now, before the back is attached, so the thread ends will be hidden. This works if, like me, you don't quilt on the snowflakes.

3. After you're done with the beading, iron the fusible felt onto the back of the back piece. Layer with the front piece of fabric.

4. Pin through all layers about 6-inches apart. A little aside here - I went to a new quilting store awhile ago and found these great curved safety pins that are wonderful for pinning quilt layers together. Much easier! I'm probably the last one to know about these.

5. Beginning in the center, free motion quilt the background of the mat. I used a swirling pattern to give the motion of snowflakes falling.

6. Fold the mat into quarters and cut the corners into rounded corners.

7. Open up the bias tape and pin to the edge of the right side bias tape to the right side of the front. To join, overlap the ends by 2 inches (because the bias tape is 2 inches - if yours if a different width, overlap the ends by that width).

8. Pin right edges together at a right angle ...

and check to see that you haven't twisted the tape and that it is the right fit.

9. Sew diagonally from corner to corner ....

and trim the seam. Sew bias tape to mat front using the fold line that's nearest the edge as a guideline.

10. Turn bias tape to the back and pin in place.

11. Hand sew using a blind hem stitch - there are several ways to do this, see photo below for how I do it.

And you're done!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Silk Painting - Class 1

2012-01-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

Mmmm - silk! I love the way it shimmers and almost seems to glow. At one time, I was doing quite a bit of silk painting, but haven't for awhile. I'm ready to get back to it! For the next month or so, I'll be using my Monday posts to present a mini-class on silk painting. Join me and create five gorgeous scarves!

People have been cultivating silkworms and weaving silk fabric for at least 5,000 years - long enough that its origins are swathed in mystery and legend. Silkworms are fed mulberry leaves and then spin a cocoon from the silk fiber they create. Each cocoon is actually one long strand of silk - between 600 to 1,000 yards! Several strands are combined to form a silk thread, which is then woven into silk fabric. One of silk's allures has always been its wonderful sheen. Silk fiber is constructed in such a way that makes it reflect light from several angles, almost prism-like. It's tremendously strong.

This short video from the American Museum of Natural History shows silkworms and gives a short demo of how the thread is unwound from the cocoon.

There are different methods for dyeing or painting on silk. Silk dyes are painted directly on silk fabric and them steamed to set the color in. This is the way to get the most vibrant colors, however the dyes can be a little temperamental at times, steaming needs either special equipment or a home steaming set up, and doing the final cleaning of the resist lines can be difficult, sometimes requiring dry cleaning. Another option is to use silk paints. These vary in the vibrancy of colors and how color fast they really are, but there are good ones that are easy to use and a good way to get ones feet wet while learning. If you fall in love with this art form, you'll probably want to try the dyes.

Equipment and Materials:
I buy my materials at Dharma Trading Company. There are other places you can order supplies from - Google "silk painting supplies" and you'll come up with several, most of which I haven't ordered from, though, so I can't vouch for them. Dick Blick Company carries some silk painting materials - I've used them with success for other art supplies.

Frame
To silk paint, the fabric is first stretched on a frame. There are lots of different frames available - my husband makes mine (instructions below). If you purchase a ready made one, I recommend buying an adjustable frame. You want the open area of the frame to be 2 to 3 inches larger than your fabric.

This is the one I'm currently using for the scarves I'm working on. It's constructed in a way that lets you take it apart for storage.

To make this, you'll need:
*4 pieces of wood, 3 feet each. Mine is made from poplar 1x2's. Pick a wood that you can stick a push pin into. I like painting 30 inch square scarves (that are actually about 31 inches), so these dimensions work well for me.
*4 2-inch threaded bolts
*4 wood inset nuts
*4 washers
*electric drill
*corner clamp and 2 other clamps
*awl
*allen wrench

1. Put one board at a right angle with a second board. A corner clamp and clamps to hold the wood to a work surface will hold everything in place.

2. Make an indentation with an awl as a start for the drill bit.

3. Select a drill bit that is slightly larger than the outside diameter of the bolt threads, so the bolt will slip easily into the hole.

4. Drill a hole through the first board and into the second board.

5. Using a drill bit that is the size of the inside of the wood inset nut, drill a hole in the second board. Go in the depth of the nut.

6. Put a nut on the end of an allen wrench and screw it into the second board.

7. Line the first board back back up with the second board, insert a washer and threaded bolt, and screw into place.

8. Now you're done with one side - repeat with the other sides!

Silk Painting Materials
*Setasilk silk paint - I've been really happy with these. The colors are bright and color fast. It's a very thin paint that acts much like a dye, so the silk is still soft and drapes well. Dharma sells a starter set that has a nice assortment of colors.
*Pebeo water based gutta - gutta is used as a resist in silk painting. This one stays put while you're painting and then easily washes out when you're finished. If you're following along with me, get three clear and one black.
*silk scarves - I like the 30 inch habotai silk scarves from Dharma. To follow along with me, you'll need five.
*fabric wash that's safe for silk - Synthrapol, Dharma Fabric Wash, or mild liquid soap or baby shampoo plus white vinegar.
*Chinese suspension hooks
*assorted sizes of foam brushes
*soft brushes that hold a bit - Chinese calligraphy brushes work really well
*1/2 inch elastic - odds and ends will work, or about a yard
*push pins
*a stapler

Okay - time to gather up the materials! Here's a sneak look at our first project, next Monday.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - New Yarn

2012-01-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

I love starting off the new year with new yarn! All those new imagined projects are so inspiring ... and my resolution this year is to actually get those projects made. Over the Christmas break, I spent a fun morning browsing through several of Portland's yarn shops. And there doesn't seem to be any way I can browse without buying ...

Hmmm .... Yarnia! This is one of the most unique stores I know of. You walk into a smallish storefront at 42nd and Division and there are hundreds of cones of different yarns, all in thin strands. The magic of Yarnia is that you combine any number of these strands that you want to create unique yarns. It's then wound onto cones, giving you a very unique look for your crocheting, knitting, or weaving project. This visit I put together an autumn colors cotton yarn for a yet to be determined cardigan and bought a pre-made cone of rainbow cotton to make a crocheted scarf.

Yarnia's website has a video showing how putting the yarn together works.

The Knitting Bee in the Bethany-Beaverton area was fun to browse through. I splurged on a hand dyed skein of lace weight yarn spun from Tencel. I once had a shirt made from Tencel that I wore until it was pretty much threads! Tencel's made from wood cellulose and has a look and feel similar to rayon. This yarn is destined to become a shawl crocheted from this pattern. I've made this shawl once before and it's a nice lacy design with an easy repetitive pattern that's good for crocheting while doing something else - visiting, watching football playoffs, ...

My new find of the trip was The Yarn Garden on Hawthorne. They describe themselves as "The Mothership of Yarn Stores" - yeah!!! There are four or five (I lost count) rooms of luscious yarns! I had to buy this so soft Angora yarn in one of my favorite colors. I have no clue yet what I'll do with it, but it was half price.

And they have a huge selection of my favorite yarn to use for afghans, Encore. It's soft and machine washable/dryable. I've had this idea for an afghan using the colors of some cliffs we saw on a trip to NE Arizona's Painted Desert. I'll be using Lucy's Summer Garden Granny Square from the Attic 24 website.

My favorite new yarn, though, was a gift from my wonderful husband! We were shopping at the Pueblo Grande Indian Market in Phoenix before Christmas and he pretty much had to tear me away from a booth selling yarn hand spun from Navajo churro sheep fleece. Some was dyed with traditional plant dyes and some was the original color of the fleece. When we split up to do some separate shopping, he went back and bought me three of the natural color skeins! My favorite guy!! I'll be doing some weaving in the fibers class I'm taking this semester, so I think this yarn will find its way into one of those. It's gorgeous!

I'm off now to get busy playing with my inspiring yarn!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Happy 2012! Lacy Shawl

2012-01-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have a new crochet pattern to share - a lacy shawl that can also be worn as a scarf. I love these types of shawl/scarves! The lacy, open stitches let it be used as a scarf with a coat when you're outside and then opened up to use inside as a shawl if things get a bit chilly. And if you're in an area where you're getting sick of winter and your winter wear, crochet it up in bright, uplifting colors!

When finished it measures approximately 48 by 18 inches.

Materials:

*3 skeins Serenity Garden Yarn (Premier Yarns), color Gems - this is a designation 2 (fine) yarn in case you're substituting

*Size G crochet hook

Gauge: Work sample (without edging): 19 single crochet foundation stitches, rows 1 - 7. Measures 5 x 2 1/4 inches.

Foundation Row: Work 163 single crochet foundation stitches. To change size, add or subtract 18 stitches to lengthen or shorten.

Row 1: Chain 5 and turn (Counts as first dc and 2ch). Skip first two stitches and dc in third stitch. *Chain 2, skip 2 stitches, dc in next stitch. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with a dc.

Row 2: Chain 3 and turn (counts as first dc). *Dc twice in ch2 space, ch 1, skip 1 stitch. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with 3dc.

Row 3: Chain 1 and turn. Sc in each stitch across row.

Row 4: Chain 4 and turn (counts as first dc and 1ch). Skip first stitch and dc in second stitch. *Chain 1, skip 1 stitch, dc in next stitch. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with a dc.

Row 5: Chain 1 and turn. Sc in each stitch across row.

Row 6: Chain 3 and turn (counts as first dc). Dc in next two stitches. *Chain 1, skip 1 stitch, 2dc. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with 3dc.

Row 7: Chain 5 and turn (counts as first dc and 2 ch). Dc in first chain space. *Chain 2, dc in chain space. Repeat from * to end of row, ending with a dc.

Repeat Rows 2 through 7 six times.

Next row: Chain 1 and turn. *Sc in dc, two sc in chain 2 space, sc in next stitch. Repeat from * to end of row.

Edging: Chain 1 and do not turn. Work the following stitch pattern (a 2 chain picot) evenly across side: *Two sc, 2ch, slip stitch through sc just made and chain on hook. Repeat from * to end of side. Put three stitches from pattern in corner, work pattern across foundation row. Put three stitches from pattern in corner, work pattern evenly across the other side. Put three stitches from pattern in corner, work pattern across top. Slip stitch to first sc and tie off.

Happy Creating! Deborah

2011-12-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Thank you for sharing in my fibers adventures this year! I'll be back on January 4th for the beginning of a new year of fun - look for a snowflake table mat, a colorful crocheted shawl/scarf to chase the post-Christmas winter funks away, and some beginning silk painting projects! Stay warm and safe and ...

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Quick Last Minute Gifts

2011-12-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you're in need of a quick to make handmade gift or stocking stuffer before Christmas, I put together a few from this year's blog posts that might work. Also, check out the review from 2010 I posted last year!

If you have a needlework enthusiast on your list, one of these mini needle books just might work. And if the cloud's not your cup of tea, substitute any shape.

I made this lined fabric scarf from repurposed Goodwill clothing, but any fabric will work. It's very quick!

If a crocheted scarf is more of what you're looking for, I posted this wave pattern scarf I developed for the Special Olympics scarves.

These crocheted flowers/leaves go together real quick for a nice flower pin. Make the flowers, sew the small to the large, attach two leaves, add center beads, and sew on a pin backing. This was the most viewed post this year!

Or crochet a flower face cloth in the person's favorite flower colors.

A trip to the thrift store should turn up a sports T-shirt that can be turned into a game day bag for the sports fans on your list. Or use any interesting tee you find to make a great re-usable shopping bag.

For readers, these winter bookmarks go together quickly.

Same with these felt robins for your bird loving friends!

And for the kids:

a hand towel bib,

crocheted doll hat and sweater or sewn doll clothes,

a bean bag felt snowman (or lady),

or an apron for the toddler who loves art or "helping" with the cooking! One reader made this in thin plastic as an art apron and said it turned out really well.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Christmas Tags

2011-12-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Alright!! The presents are finished, wrapped, and now just need tags! I decided to use the holly, mistletoe, and pinecone drawings I made for my gift bag heat transfers. If you'd like to use these, too, a PDF of these tags can be found here. However .... I found a really cool effect on GIMP that you might want to use on your own images to make your own personalized tags. I'll show you how!

First, for those who haven't heard of it, GIMP is an image manipulation program that you can down load for free here. I've been using it for several years and love it! To make my gift tags, I took photos of my drawings - I tried scanning them, but thought the photos looked better. I find it easiest to download my photos to my computer, copy the one I want to work with, and put it on a PowerPoint slide. There are other ways to get photos into GIMP, but this one works for me!

Next, copy the photo from the PowerPoint slide and and paste it onto the GIMP page.

If the image isn't perfectly crisp, you can sharpen it by going to Filters, selecting Enhance, and selecting Sharpen. A box will come up - I set it to about 25 and hit OK. If you want to sharpen it up more, you can keep selecting Repeat Sharpen until you like it.

I wanted my gift tags to be either circles or ovals, so I went to Toolbox and selected Ellipse.

I made my circle around the mistletoe by clicking on one side of it and pulling the circle to the other side. You can adjust your circle by clicking on its edge where it touches the square (see below) and pulling it out or pushing it in. It takes a bit to get the hang of this - just play around!

Next, I like to copy the circle and paste it on a PowerPoint slide. That way, I can play around with it all I want and not have to worry about getting it back to its original form if I don't like the changes. I also find it easier to play with if I don't have that extra photo around it. To copy, right click on the circle, select File, and select Copy.

Now copy the circle from the PowerPoint slide, close your previous picture on the GIMP page, and paste on the circle. The checkerboard pattern you see below means that portion is transparent.

Next I played around with the Artistic Filters. There's one called Clothify that adds a lot of nice texture. I'm not sure it looks like fabric (maybe burlap), but it's interesting! I selected it and hit OK.

You can see the nice texture I got! However, it's a little dark and dinghy looking. Most photos benefit from having the contrast increased. Under Colors, select Brightness-Contrast.

An adjustment box will come up. I made it brighter and increased the contrast quite a bit. Hit OK when you like it.

Now just copy it and paste it back on a PowerPoint slide. Tada!

To attach the gift tag to a present, I used a hole puncher to make a hole, tied on some size 10 crochet thread, and tied it onto the gift.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Printed Textiles

2011-12-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

The printed textile class I took this semester has finished up and I'm already missing it! This was my first university studio class since I was working on my BFA and I'd forgotten how much I love the atmosphere of artistic, inspiring people working together. The frustrated tears of not being able to get a technique to work in the way one wants, the joys of a piece that comes together exactly right, the anticipation of critiques .... In some places, there are groups of artists who work together in co-op or communal studios, but not here. I have dreams of some day starting one!

So here's the rest of the work I ended up with! I talked about my first piece here.

My second piece was part of an assignment working with contact paper stencils. We went through a design process to make a random shape, printed it, and then added other stencils to make a cohesive piece. The shape I got looked like an sea plant to me, so I added in squids and bubbles. Why squids? Why not - they're fun! After I printed the cloth, I quilted it. I dyed some of the same fabric a turquoise and printed binding with the same dot stencil I used on the piece. I free motion quilted the sea plants with leafy designs, the squid with circles, and the background with a random wave-like pattern.

Things got a lot more complicated for the third assignment! We spent quite a bit of time learning to make a leapfrog stencil - one stencil that is rotated and printed in different colors. Four colors are used, but by designing in overlaps, one can end up with a lot more. For my inspiration, I worked with a photo I took of contoured fields - I think we were over Virginia. To keep with an airborne feel, I made a stencil of feathers (using drawing fluid - not my favorite method, I discovered) and printed those around the border. I haven't quilted it yet, but do plan to.

Before this class began, I was most looking forward to learning how to make photo exposed silk screens, so I was ready and rarin' for the last project! Since we were learning a huge number of new skills in this class, this last project was the only one that had the requirement of being more purposeful/having something to say. A few days before, I'd been thinking about my life long dilemma - how to balance having enough time and enough money to do what I want. They always seem to be out of balance for me - I either have enough time OR enough money (except for when I was in college in my 20's and I had neither!) but never both. I'm not sure how I would handle having both, but it would be interesting to see!

I decided to make a meditation mandala, using a shibori fold technique that results in a symmetrical circle for the background. The money and time pieces were first photocopied and enlarged and the photocopies were printed on transparencies. Then two days of work began, carefully cleaning off all the spots on the transparencies that I wanted to not print. I made screens with multiple images, but printed each motif separately. At some point I think I'd like to get this framed with a dark gray background that will make the circle show up better - it's huge though (38 inch diameter), so that'll take saving some pennies!

Now I'm busy planning how to come up with a surface at home that I can continue printing on - it's pretty addictive!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Fabric Pillow Boxes

2011-12-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hmmm ... this year I still seem to be sewing like crazy trying to get everything finished before Christmas. Some years I actually finish before Thanksgiving! I am slowly making headway, though, and love seeing the pile of finished wrapped presents growing. This year I decided to come up with wrapping that uses fabric in some way and can be reused by the person getting the gift, which did add a bit to the sewing list, however they look so nice! These fabric pillow boxes are a nice way to wrap gift cards, money, small presents .... and a great way to use small pieces of fabric stashes! Between these, the gift bags, and bogaji wraps, all my presents are getting covered! I used the pillow box template from papersource.com.

Materials:
*8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of fabric
*Size 5 perle cotton embroidery floss
*Steam a Seam 2
*1 sheet cardstock
*4 feet of ribbon
*Tacky glue
*pattern found here

1. Print off one pillow box template. Cut an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of Steam a Seam 2, remove backing from one side, and press onto the back side of the template.

2. Remove second piece of backing fabric and iron onto the back side of piece of fabric.

3. Cut out pillow box.

4. Sew along fold lines.

5. Lay ribbon across the box so it covers the semi-circle indentations. Sew the ribbon on in the middle - I sewed it on in a square.

6. Using perle cotton and a blanket stitch, finish edges except for the edge with the turn down.

7. Fold box along stitching lines.

8. Glue folded down edge ...

9. ... and clothes pin to the opposite edge.

10. When dry, tie in a bow and trim ends.

Happy Creating!! Deborah

Monday Project - Bogaji Wraps

2011-12-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Bok Hee Lee, Yellow Wrapping Cloth, 2009. Linen.

Ever since I found the exhibit on Korean bogaji wraps at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco last summer, I've been planning how I can wrap our Christmas presents this year using fabric that the receiver can use. If you're not familiar with bogaji, see this past post here. I love the idea of gift wrap that, depending on the size, can be used as a shawl, scarf, or even linens such as napkins! Bogaji can be made from most any type of fabric, from embroidered silk to cotton pieced from scraps. When the fabric is faced with a different fabric, the contrast shows up great when the cloth is tied. If you silk paint, you can design your own beautiful wraps (and if you haven't silk painted before, but are curious what it's all about, you'll be happy to see what we're working on in January). I decided to use silky fabric I bought and hemmed - you can also use already hemmed scarves.

Materials:
*1 yard of a silky fabric that has the same design on both sides - make a narrow hem. See this past post for a tutorial on hemming sheer/silky fabrics.
*ribbon, a string of beads, silk flower, or Christmas decoration

Lotus Wrap:
1. Lay fabric out on a large flat surface with the turned under hem facing up.

2. Lay the present to be wrapped diagonally in the center of the fabric.

3. Life up two opposite corners and tie in a square knot on top of the present.

4. Pick up the remaining two corners and repeat.

5. Add a decoration, if you want!

Two Bottle Wrap:
1. Lay two bottles of wine about 1/4 of the way in from one corner with their ends about 3 inches apart.

2. Fold corner over bottles.

3. Roll fabric around the bottles.

4. Pull the two ends together while standing the bottles upright.

5. Tie in a square knot.

6. Add a decoration!

In Japan, wrapping gifts with fabric is called Furoshiki. I found this great chart on the Japanese embassy website with a lot of other folding and tying options:

Wednesday I'll have the last of the fabric based gift wrap I came up with this year.

Happy Creating (and present wrapping)! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Books 2011

2011-12-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

You've probably already figured out that I am a book addict! I love them! I buy many books over a year's time - some are for inspiration, some for projects, some are to just take out occasionally to pour over. Here are four I've bought this year that I highly recommend, one on my wish list, and three coming out next year that have good possibilities.

Robin Cholula's Crochet Stitches Encyclopedia is one of the best crochet books I've seen in a long time. If you like to use different stitch patterns to alter patterns you already have or if you like to design your own crochet, you have to take a look at the book preview on Amazon. It's already been helping me with my work on a few new crochet patterns I'm working on for 2012. Hmmm .... just writing about it makes me want to pick it up again and resume experimenting with stitches!

I've been having a lot of fun with Lesley's Stanfield's 75 Birds, Butterflies, & Little Beasts to Knit and Crochet - I haven't figured out what I want to do with all the little critters I'm collecting, but something will occur to me at some point! So far, I've only been working on the crochet patterns. In the past, I've taken small stabs at learning to knit, but have become too frustrated with my attempts. That may change this coming semester as the fibers class I'll be taking includes knitting. Hopefully I'll be able to add the knit motifs from this book to my menagerie! This one also has a good preview on Amazon.

So far I've just been enjoying reading Susan Briscoe's Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match, but I think I'm getting close getting a plan for a quilt to begin working on. I love the graphic simplicity of many Japanese quilts. I'm planning on using traditional blue on mine - maybe even indigo dyed. You'll be seeing more on this next year also. And again, Amazon has a good preview.

I'm currently reading Elissa Auther's String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art and thoroughly enjoying it. If you're at all interested in fiber art (good chance since you're here!), you'll want to get this. Auther looks at the history of American textile art at the point it began moving from craft to art. She covers several artists who were integral in this shift and just has a generally fresh take on it.

On my wish list for this Christmas is Jill Berry's Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Map Making. I've always been fascinated with maps and have recently been thinking of how to incorporate the idea of maps in my own artwork, so when I read about this book's release in November, I immediately wanted it! Jill has also started a blog here that complements the book.

And there are several books coming out in 2012 I feel confident will find their way onto my bookshelf! Sandra Meech's Connecting Design to Stitch looks very interesting. The preview says it covers the elements of design and applies them to quilt making. Intriguing! It has a July 2012 release date.

If you got intrigued by the interesting hats worn at last spring's royal wedding, you might want to check out Susanne Wood's Hat Shop. It promises 25 projects "from practical to fascinating." There's just something about hats that really are fascinating, although I really don't see me wearing anything other than a winter cap! Look for this in May.

And just one month away, and latest in the series, is Jessica Polka's 75 Seashells, Fish, Coral, and Colorful Marine Life to Knit and Crochet. Oh yeah - more critters for my collection!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Christmas Tree Skirt

2011-12-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah ... I've arrived at that point in December when I look at everything I planned to make for Christmas and realize that no way is it all going to happen without giving up sleep for the next few weeks! One of those plans was for an amazing quilted Christmas tree skirt - something felted with embroidery and beads. Not going to happen! However, we do need a new Christmas tree skirt this year due to a cat who eats artificial trees (it doesn't stay down). I came up with this one that's quick, easy, and washable. And it's put together in a way that makes it reversible, too. That embroidered, beaded, felt one wouldn't have been practical anyways!

Materials:
*2 yards of two different, coordinating fabrics (for the front), fabric A and fabric B
*4 yards of backing fabric
*2 yards fusible felt
*10 yards bias tape
*pattern found here - print out the 7 pages, cut out each piece along the solid and dashed lines, tape dashed lines together matching letters.

1. Using the pattern, cut 4 pieces from each of fabrics A and B and 8 pieces from the backing fabric.

2. Sew one fabric A to one fabric B, using a 1/2 inch seam.

3. Continue with the remaining pieces of fabric A and B, leaving the last edge unattached.

4. Sew the backing fabric pieces together.

5. Turn straight edges under 1/2 inch and pin.

6. Use the backing as a pattern to cut out a piece of fusible felt. Don't worry if it doesn't quite fit - you'll add pieces in the next step.

7. Iron felt to backing. Cut out pieces from scraps and fill in the spaces.

8. Pin front to backing at the scalloped and inner edges.

9. Trim scalloped and inner edges to match.

10. Topstitch along in each long seam (stitch in the ditch).

11. Along the open edge, turn backing over felt, fold front fabric under, and pin in place.

12. Top stitch open edges.

13. Pin bias tape to scalloped and inner edges and sew in place.

I've still got my sketches for the felted, embroider, beaded fantasy tree skirt ... maybe next year!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Christmas Tree Embroidery Pattern

2011-12-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick Christmas tree embroidery pattern that would look good on quite a few different things - I'm making a set of napkins with it!

Materials:
*something to embroider - I'm using hand stitched napkins, see this past post for a tutorial
*transfer paper
*red, green, brown, and golden yellow embroidery floss
*pattern found here

1. Transfer embroidery pattern to fabric (if you're new to this or need a refresher, see the Halloween embroidery patterns here). Using 3 strands of green floss and an outline stitch, sew up the trunk of the tree from the bottom branches up.

2. Embroidery an outline stitch on the first branch and add needles.

3. Repeat with all the other branches.

4. Use 6 strands of brown to make the trunk by embroidering an outline stitch up and back. Use 3 strands of golden yellow to outline the star and 3 strands of red to make french knot (4 wraps) ornaments.

5. Embroider the pot with 3 strands of red and an outline stitch.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Liebster Blog Award

2011-12-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's email brought me a nice surprise! Toqua's Crafts (a fellow Arizonan from Tucson) listed me as one of her favorite blogs and gave me a Liebster Blog Award. Thank you so much! It always makes my day and inspires me when I hear from you all. Toqua's Crafts recently had a fun fall banner tutorial here.

I've seen the Liebster Blog Award button on some of the blogs I've looked at, but never knew what it was. Here's the information on it:

The Criteria: The Liebster is meant to showcase bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. This is all done in the spirit of pay-it-forward.

The Rules: You must mention and link to the person who awarded you the Liebster, and mention 5 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers who you think are worthy of the Liebster!

'Liebster' means "favorite" or "dearest" in German. This award, which originated in Germany, recognizes up and coming bloggers. In accepting this award, I agree to:

-Thank the person who gave me the award, and link back to their blog.
-Copy and paste the award to my blog.
-Reveal the 5 blogs I have chosen to award and let them know in the hope they pay it forward by awarding it to bloggers they would like to honor.

Let me tell you - it was more difficult than I thought it would be to decide which five blogs I wanted to pass this on to! I usually start my day by looking at my favorite blogs - it inspires me for my day's work. And not all of them are written by bloggers with huge followings. I have a feeling these hard working people won't be under 200 followers for long! So, in alphabetical order, here are five blogs I think you'll enjoy:

Ann Fahl's Color and Quilts - When I first decided to explore making art quilts, Ann's is the first blog I found and I still read it faithfully. And when I was learning how to use free motion quilting to add to the artistic quality of my quilting, it was her book, Dancing with Thread, I found most helpful.

Colored Thread - Mariee's blog follows her life as a fiber artist and art educator. If you teach, you'll definitely want to check this blog out. I found it a few years ago when I was still teaching middle school art and had just begun working on my Master's degree in Art Education. I really enjoy seeing the work she's doing herself and the work of her students, as she also studies for her Master's.

CorNit's Felt Blog - I love working with felt and have great plans for learning to make my own felt .... someday .... until then, this is one of the blogs that keeps me inspired. Corinna's work is beautiful and she offers a free 5 week online class. I haven't taken it yet (not in English yet - Corinna lives in Hungary), but am hoping to soon.

Stitchworks - I found Jackie's blog on creative embroidery last summer when I decided to work on my embroidery skills. I love the energy her work has! She works in both hand and machine stitching, sometimes combining the two in very nice ways.

Taming Roses - Like felting, tatting is something I've always wanted to learn. Julie's blog inspired me to actually buy a shuttle and thread .... I haven't actually used them yet, but everytime I look at her beautiful designs I get inspired again. Besides being a talented tatter, Julie is also my niece!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Bean Bag Snowman

2011-11-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

While I was out shopping last week, I found some fun Christmas bean bag dolls - for definitely not fun prices! How hard could it be to come up with some patterns? Hmmm .... apparently harder than I thought! After several too skinny versions, I managed to have a snowman turn out like I wanted. These could also be stuffed with fiberfill, rice, plastic pellets - or anything else you have on hand.

Materials:
*heavy white felt or fleece
*small amount of colored felt for hat and scarf
*scrap of orange felt
*brown embroidery thread
*12mm solid black locking eyes
*package of small white beans
*small amount of fiberfill
*patterns found here

1. Using the patterns, cut two snowman shapes from white, two carrot noses from orange, and two hats. Cut a 1 inch by 16 inch strip from hat/scarf color.

2. Pin snowman shapes together. Sew, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance and leaving an open hole between on the head between the pins shown below.

3. Fill one leg tightly with beans. I found a funnel helped.

4. Sew across the top of the leg. If you're using fiberfill, you can do this by machine, but if you're using a bulky filling (like beans), stitch it by hand. I tried using the machine, and after two broken needles decided by hand would be better!

5. Repeat with the other leg and with the arms.

6. To add eyes, lay the locking washers where you want the eyes to go and make a pencil mark through the center of each one. Make a very small hole on top of the pencil mark.

7. Push an eye through each hole. Put the locking washer over the post behind the eye and push until it sits tight against the fabric.

This is your snowman so far!

8. Sew the two nose pieces together by hand. Stuff and sew onto face.

9. Using 2 strands of the brown embroidery thread, sew lines on the nose to make it look like a carrot.

10. Fill body and halfway up the head tightly with beans.

11. Sew head shut, leaving a small hole open. Don't worry too much about what the sewing looks like - this part of the head will be covered with his hat.

12. Finish stuffing with beans and sew completely shut.

13. Sew the two hat pieces together and turn right side out.

14. Turn brim up twice and sew in place.

15. Cut 8 or 10 narrow pieces of felt. Sew together in the middle, sew onto hat for a tassel, and trim.

16. Sew hat onto head.

17. Cut fringes on both ends of the long strip of felt.

18. Tie scarf around the snowman's neck and you're finished! He looks lonely, though - I think I'll have to make him some friends!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Play Kitchen Oven Mitts

2011-11-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was wonderful, little c loved her surprise kitchen (I'm sure you figured out what it would be from all the felt food!) .... and with all the photos I took, I forgot to take one of her "cooking." So here's the big reveal without the chef! I ended up ordering the Doug and Melissa little kitchen set from Amazon - a very nice, compact set. You can read more about it here (no, I don't get a kick back).

The last project for the kitchen is a set of toddler/preschooler oven mitts. On the materials list, you're going to notice I have Insul-Brite listed. This is an insulating fabric with foil in the middle that is great to use for oven mitts and potholders. Why am I putting it into play oven mitts? While toddlers/preschoolers should not ever be using these mitts on anything really hot, the mitts are an adult tool and I have a strong opinion that play versions of adult tools should really work. Children this age do not have the experience to know that their play tools don't work like the adult ones and they really, really want to be big and do what Mom, Dad, Grandma, whoever is doing. Supervision, supervision, supervision is the key word here, however, toddlers/preschoolers are very determined (that's why we have pool fences and automatic locking gates in this part of the country) and my feeling is that they should have the protection of a truly working tool if they do manage to get into a situation where they're trying to use it.

Materials:
*Small amount of fleece
*Small amount of Insul-Brite
*double fold extra wide bias tape (3 1/2 inch wide)
*pattern found here

1. Cut four of pattern from fleece and four from Insul-Brite.

2. Pin mitts together by layering one piece of Insul-Brite, one piece of fleece right side up, the other piece of fleece right side down, and the second piece of Insul-Brite.

3. Sew in a 1/4 inch seam and turn right side out.

4. Pin wrong side of bias tape to right side of mitt. Turn ends under. Sew along fold line.

5. Fold bias tape down.

6. Turn mitt inside out enough so that you can fold the bias tape over the edge and pin in place.

7. Hand sew edge of bias tape in place and turn back to right side out.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Linda Marcille's Silk Painting

2011-11-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

Autumn Pasture

I have the perfect site for a nice morning of inspiring browsing! Grab a cup of something hot and head over to Linda Marcille's gallery of amazing silk paintings.

Old Hutchinson Place

There are a lot of things I love about her work - her rich color palette, the country landscapes are something different than I'm used to seeing done on silk, her impeccable skill .... I could go on and on!

Linda also has a great walk through of her silk painting process here.

I used to dabble a bit with silk painting - this is making me want to dig out my old supplies and get a little more serious about it.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Gift Bags

2011-11-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

While you're out shopping this weekend, keep an eye out for discounted Christmas fabric and ribbon. It's really easy to whip up great looking gift bags! I worked on two different types from the same pattern this week. One is simply made from Christmas themed fabric and sheer ribbon and the other uses iron on transfers on osnaburg (a coarsely woven cotton). My original plans were to use watercolor pencils to actually draw designs on the cotton bags .... after doing one, I realized there was no way I'd be able to finish the number of bags I wanted by Christmas! This looks like a next summer project! So I drew the designs, scanned them, printed them out on iron on transfer paper, and ironed them on. Easy and quick! I've given you the link to a page you can print out and use if you're also feeling short on time.

Materials:
*2 9 inch by 14 inch rectangles of fabric for each bag
*1 two foot piece of ribbon for each bag
*optional iron on transfer designs found here

1. Cut two 9 inch by 14 inch rectangles from fabric. This makes a bag about 8 x 12 inches. To make one in a different size, add one inch to your desired width (1/2 inch seam allowance on each side) and 2 inches to your desired height (1/2 inch seam allowance on the bottom and 1 1/2 inches for the top).

2. Pin pieces right sides together and sew down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. The sewing didn't show up in this photo, so I added in red lines showing where to sew.

3. Mark diagonally 2 inches across each bottom corner.

4. Sew and trim.

5. Turn top edge under 1/4 inch and iron in place. Turn under again 1 3/4 inches and sew.

6. Pin center of ribbon in center of the back of the bag - make sure you only pin it to the back of the bag.

7. Sewing only through the back of the bag, attach the ribbon in an hourglass shape to hold it securely.

8. Add present, tie bow, and admire!

9. To make a bag using one of the iron on transfers, I found it easiest to iron the picture onto one of the rectangles before sewing the bag together. For more info on transfers, see this past post.

Happy Creating! Deborah

2011 Felt Ornaments Part 2

2011-11-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here are this season's final two felt ornaments - a gingerbread candy house and a cardinal (you can find the first two ornaments here). The cardinal seemed a good choice this year for those of you baseball fans still celebrating in St. Louis - and for those of us often suffering Cardinal football fans, we'll just call it a Christmas Cardinal!

Materials:
*red, dark red, black, tan, white, sparkling white, yellow, orange, green, purple, and brown felt
*red, black, white, yellow, orange, green, purple, and brown embroidery floss
*1/8 inch white ribbon
*assorted beads
*large hole bead
*patterns found here

Cardinal:
1. Cut two each of large silhouette and large wing from red felt, two each of small silhouette and small wing from dark red felt, and two masks from black felt.

2. Use a blanket stitch to attach all pieces together. I used three strands of floss for everything except for attaching the mask, where I used two strands. Attach small silhouette to large silhouette.

3. Attach large wing and then small wing. Repeat with the remaining pieces, making sure to the two sides face opposite ways.

4. Attach mask. Using beads, add an eye. I used a small flat shell bead and hooked it on with a red bead - to do this, come up through the first bead, add second bead to your needle, and go down through the first bead.

5. Cut 12 inches of ribbon. Pin front to back with the ribbon in between the layers - putting about an inch of the ribbon in between the front and back.

6. Attach front to back, again using a blanket stitch. Thread a large holed bead onto the ribbon and tie a knot above it.

Gingerbread House:
1. Cut two house shapes from tan felt, one roof and one snow ledge from sparkly white felt, two large candy canes and one small candy cane from white felt, one door from chocolate brown felt, assorted gumdrops from different colors of felt, and a long 1/4 inch wide strip of red felt.

2. Use a blanket stitch to attach all the pieces. I used two strands for everything except attaching the front to the back. I used three strands for this. When attaching pieces, don't sew on the outside edge - you'll only sew on this edge when attaching the front to the back. Attach the snow roof and snow ledge.

3. Attach the two large candy canes to the front corners of the house and the small candy cane to the back corner.

4. Lay one end of the red felt strip across the top of one candy cane. Sew in place.

5. Trim along the outer edge and repeat to make the next stripe.

6. Repeat to make stripes on all the candy canes.

7. Add gumdrops.

8. Attach beads around the door - I used frosty white beads to secure the larger beads on.

9. Cut 8 inches of ribbon. Pin front to back with the ribbon in between the layers - putting about an inch of the ribbon in between the front and back.

10. Attach front to back, again using a blanket stitch.

Happy Creating and Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers! Deborah

Rocks

2011-11-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

I know - a weird title for a fiber art blog post! However .... I've always been fascinated with rocks. I'm sure my toddler pockets must've been crammed with them - I know my adult pockets often are. Where ever I go, I return with new rocks. They work like scrapbook pages for me.

A desert hike years ago when we used to escape the Northwest for Phoenix's warm and dry springs,

exploring the lava field of an extinct volcano when the boys were preschoolers,

long walks along the Yellowstone River before the boys even were . . .

I get inspiration from their colors, patterns, and textures.

So when I started finding rocks made from fibers, I was interested - and began collecting photos and web addresses. When I looked at the links again this week, I began to get ideas ... nothing I can work on until after the holidays, but maybe you'll be inspired too.

I love Ronale Jordaan's felted pebbles and rocks. How cool would it be to have a throw rug or bath mat in this style?

And Lisa Jordan's lichen covered actual rocks. I'm also fascinated with mosses and lichens. And love that these are rocks Lisa collected on walks in the woods and along shore lines.

Mary Beth of Salt and Chocolate created these bean bag rocks for her children. I really like their simplicity. And having collected rocks with many toddler nieces and nephews, I like that connection.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Thanksgiving Napkins

2011-11-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

I had plans of embroidering turkey napkins for Thanksgiving .... yeah, somehow time seems to start moving really, really fast at this time of the year. So when I saw this beautiful vintage turkey print on Graphics Fairy this morning, I found a way to make those Thanksgiving napkins happen!

If you haven't discovered Graphics Fairy yet, set a lot of time aside and take a look. I have a whole stack of images saved from there that I know I'll be able to do wonderful things with someday. I took the turkey, removed the border and words, and blurred the edges. Remember the mitered edged napkins from Halloween? I sewed up eight of those, made a iron on transfer page of the turkey image, and put them on the napkins. I'm ready for Thanksgiving now! Well ... not actually, but we have napkins!

Materials:
*hemmed cotton napkins or make your own with the tutorial here
*iron on transfer paper (see this post for the type I use)
*sheet of turkey images found here

Print the turkey image page and cut each image out close to the image. Follow your iron on transfer paper directions to put each image onto your napkins.

Easy and quick!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Felt Cheese

2011-11-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made the last of my felt food project pieces - cheese! I'm sure I'll be working on more felt food designs since I had so much fun with them. However, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and little c will be flying down with her parents, so the "surprise" needs to get finished up. I can't show you what it is yet, but you'll get to see it next week.

The cheese is put together a lot like the fruit pies from last week are. It's super easy! I'm not sure what type of cheese the one with holes is - maybe a nice rich, grass fed Swiss emmentaler... (smile!). I just found a great one at Trader Joe's if you like this original "Swiss" cheese. It's from Switzerland and is made with raw milk from mountain cows like it's supposed to be. Don't worry about the raw milk - it's aged over 60 days so it's fine. The second cheese is a blue veined variety. It'd be easy to substitute different colors of embroidery thread for different types of aged vein cheese.

Materials:
*cream and golden yellow felt
*cream and blue embroidery thread
*fiberfill
*pattern found here

Cheese with holes:
1. Using the wedge shaped pattern, cut out two pieces from cream felt and one from the yellow felt. Cut a 2 inch by 3 inch piece of cream felt and a 2 inch by 8 inch piece from the cream felt and the yellow felt.

2. Draw holes on the wrong side of the 2 x 3 inch piece of cream felt and on the wrong side of the 2 x 8 inch piece of cream felt. Cut the holes out.

3. Attach the cream pieces to their matching yellow pieces by blanket stitching the holes to the felt underneath (3 strands of embroidery floss throughout).

4. The 2 x 3 piece of felt will be the back of the cheese wedge. Lay this along the short edge of the bottom wedge. Attach the pieces together with a blanket stitch.

5. Pin the side piece in place and sew using a blanket stitch.

6. Your cheese should look like this.

7. Pin the top wedge in place .....

..... and sew the two long edges together, leaving the short edge open.

8. Stuff with fiberfill and sew the final edge together.

Blue-veined cheese:
1. From cream felt, cut two wedges, one 2 inch by 3 inch rectangle, and one 2 inch by 8 inch rectangle.

2. Using a pencil, draw swirls on the right side of the long rectangle.

3. Use blue embroidery thread and follow the lines using a mixture of outline stitching and daisy chain stitching.

4. Put the cheese wedge together the same way as you put the cheese with holes together.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Fibers Gift Wrap

2011-11-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year when I start thinking about how I'm going to wrap Christmas presents. Since I decided that this year I want to try and use fibers as much as possible, I did some web surfing to find possibilities. There were many and I'm feeling very inspired!

If you follow the blog Janeville, you probably have already enjoyed artist Jane LaFazio's watercolor sketching tutorials. They inspired me to dig out my watercolors! Jane's just posted a great tutorial on Sketch and Stitch Gift Bags. I'm planning on making some of these with winter botanical designs. If you're not the sketchy type, it seems like they would also work with iron-on transfer paper.

HGTV's website has patterns and instructions for a fabric "take-out" gift box, using stiff interfacing to give the box body. Depending on how much time one had to devote, I could see these looking stunning with embroidery and beading. Mine won't this year ... I'll have to get inspired early next year!

These fair isle gift bags are darling! Paige Waffle has the free pattern available on Ravelry. Makes me wish I had spent a little more time trying to learn knitting before giving up.

I also found these two beautiful boxes by artists that I hope will inspire you. Linda Aston McKeen created this gorgeous letter box that would work wonderfully to hold a special gift. She has some really nice embroidery on her site, also.

And I am absolutely in love with Kerry Forkner's embroidered organza and silk box! The sheer leaves attached on top are so beautiful.

I'm starting in right away!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Poinsettia Coasters

2011-11-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last fall, I made Christmas themed coasters that turned out to be too small for the large Christmas mugs we like to use. So this year, I went big! These felt coasters should work with about any cup and would also look nice under candles. They're totally machine sewn the way I made them, however, you could also sew the pieces together with a blanket stitch and make them completely hand sewn.

Materials:
*Green, red, white, and yellow felt
*patterns found here

1. Using the patterns, for each coaster cut 1 leaf base from green, 1 flower base from red or white, 6 petals from red or white, and 1 center from yellow. Notice that there is a dot on one of the petals on the leaf base and on the flower base. Use a pin to mark this petal - you'll be matching them up later on.

2. Take the flower base and fold it into fourths. Mark the center with a Sharpie (don't worry - it won't show).

3. Take one petal. Pin it onto the base so that the bottom point is on the center dot you made and the top point goes between two of the base petals. Sew into place as shown.

4. Repeat with the other five petals.

5. Pin the center onto the flower where the petals come together. Sew into place.

6. Matching the petals on the leaf base and flower base that have a dot, pin the two bases together. Sew together by sewing along the edge of the petals on the flower base.

7. Trim the leaf base as needed.

Here are the finished coasters ....

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Felt Fruit Pies

2011-11-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of fall is apples! There's not much better than a crispy morning out in an apple orchard filling up boxes, unless it's eating fresh apple cobbler or pie that evening. This fall I ended up picking apples on both coasts - in an amazing heirloom apple orchard in New Hampshire and at the base of Mt. Hood in Oregon. After several years of eating store bought varietals, I'd forgotten how wonderfully sweet and delicious the lesser known varietals and heirloom apples are.

So when I decided to make a dessert for my felt food project, it had to be apple pie! And I had so much fun with that, I went for a slice of blueberry pie also. Actually, using these patterns and general plans, one could make this work for just about any type of fruit pie.

Materials:
*felt - tan for the crust, heathered tan and cream for the apple pie, and purple and bluish-purple for the blueberry pie
*embroidery floss - tan for both pies plus purple for the blueberry pie
*fiberfill stuffing
*patterns found here

1. For the apple pie, cut 2 wedges from tan felt, one wedge from the heathered tan, one 5 1/2 by 4 inch piece of tan, and one 13 by 1 1/2 inch strip of heathered tan.

2. Using the given patterns, trace an apple and leaf on one of the tan wedges. Cut out on the outside of the lines.

3. Pin that tan wedge to the heathered tan wedge. Sew around the apple and leaf openings with 3 strands of tan embroidery thread, using a blanket stitch.

4. Place the other tan wedge on top of the tan rectangle, putting the 5 1/2 inch side along the short edge of the wedge. Sew them together using a blanket stitch and then trim any extra from the rectangle.

5. Turn over and fold top of rectangle down 1 1/4 inches. Pin in place.

6. Pin long strip to long sides of the wedge as shown below, trimming off any extra. Sew around the entire edge using a blanket stitch.

7. Cut 6 apple slices from cream felt and attach three to each side, using a blanket stitch.

8. To flute the crust edge, first sew its left edge together using a blanket stitch. Bring needle up about 1/2 inch in, near the bottom. Loop thread over the crust and bring needle from back to front, coming out where you first started. Pull thread very tightly and make a knot.

9. Continue across the crust edge. Sew the right edge of the crust edge together.

10. Pin top wedge and attach using a blanket stitch.

11. Stuff pie and sew the final edges together with a blanket stitch. Mmmm .... it makes me hungry looking at it!

For the blueberry pie, follow the same directions, except cut three small circles from the top crust (instead of the apple and leaf) and attach three circles to each side to represent blueberries.

I think I need to go make pie!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Jay Mohler's Ojos de Dios

2011-11-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

Spruce Delight

While researching mandalas, I recently came across Jay Mohler's amazing yarn work. If you grew up in the Southwest, you've probably made the popsicle stick versions of these traditional designs originally from Mexico and South America. Mohler's work is completely different! He uses dowels and multi colored yarns to construct his eight-sided (based on Navajo ojos de dios) and twelve-sided pieces.

Ojo de Dios translates to Eye of God, literally, however they are usually just called God's Eyes. They have a long history as protective talismans - you can read more about them in this great lesson plan from the Tucson Unified School District.

Full Circle

Mohler sells his works of art on Etsy. On his website, he also offers a free pdf explaining how to make the eight-sided versions.

Circle of Light

Annalise Ippolito of Mandala Web has an interesting interview with the artist here where he talks about how he first learned of Ojos de Dios and what original conventions he follows while creating them.

And if you'd like to try your hand at a smaller version, Caron Yarn's website has a good set of instructions here. They look great as Christmas tree ornaments!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Fleece Jammy Bottoms

2011-11-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last few days sewing pajama bottoms - lots of them! Some are for Christmas surprises and some are for little c. Big C was her nanny last summer and got her hooked on fleece jammy bottoms. Big C is a very stylish teenager ... however.... she can go for days living in her fleece! Now that the weather is getting colder in the Northwest, little c needs warmer pajamas. She got to pick out fleece, I did the sewing!

Using fleece with a plain old pajama bottom pattern is really easy. When I'm making multiples of something, I like to just stack up the fabric, pin on the pattern, and cut once. Fleece is little too thick to do that with more than two fabrics, but even cutting two at once saves time.

Since you don't need to hem fleece (in fact, it's better not to - gets too bulky), just fold up the hem allowance at the bottom and cut where the hem line is. Same thing when you turn down the waistline for the elastic casing - no need to turn the fabric under before you sew.

Just make sure that if you have a one-way patterned fabric, like the Minnie below, that you have both the back and front pattern pieces facing the same way. Legs both pointing down or legs both pointing up, but not one each way. If you do, half your pajamas will be facing the wrong way. I speak from past experience!

I worked assembly line style - I did the same thing on each pajama bottom and then moved on to the next step. When I work like this, I just pick one color of thread that will go reasonably well with each fabric and stick with it. For these, I used white.

If you haven't sewn before and want to try these easy bottoms, take a look at this past post where Big C learned to make them.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Felt Chicken Legs

2011-10-31T05:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend it was back to my felt food project! I decided that while fruits and vegetables are great, sometimes you just want chicken legs. These are really easy - the quickest of any of the food I've been making. Once I got the pattern made (that took a few tries), I made two of them in about an hour.

Materials:
*felt - tan and off-white
*fiberfill
*patterns found here

1. Cut three pieces of tan felt using the meat pattern and two off-white pieces using the bone pattern.

2. Sew the three pieces of meat together (right sides together), with a narrow seam and leaving the final side open.

3. Sew the last side with a gap in the middle (so you can turn it right side out). Turn right side out, stuff with fiberfill, and hand sew the gap together. After you have the gap sewn together, you might need to add more fiberfill through the bottom opening.

4. Sew the bone pieces together (right sides together), with a narrow seam and leaving the top open.

5. Turn right side out and stuff. Sew a running stitch around the top and pull to gather. Leave the thread attached.

6. Put the bone section inside the bottom of the meat section and hand sew together.

I think next week I'll come up with something for dessert!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Crochet Art

2011-10-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I surf for crochet fiber art - it's hard to find, but usually worth it when I find some! This time I discovered three very interesting (and very different) artists.

Endless Night, 2008. Crocheted yarn, indigo, garden trellis, ribbon.

Josh Faught is a textiles professor at California College of the Arts and recently had a solo exhibition at the Lisa-Cooley Gallery in New York City. I especially love this piece. To me it plays off the idea of crochet as the medium of so many grandmothers' (maybe great-grandmothers' these days) curtains, but takes it into a more modern theme. It's not just the curtains - it also makes me think of looking out into the night and wondering what's there. Interesting! See more of his work from the exhibition here and read about Josh here.

I'm always fascinated by using yarn to "paint" a picture as in the work above and as in Caroline Routh's work. I've tried tapestry crochet before and didn't have the patience at that time to get better at it - it's not a quick art to master! I especially like the way Caroline uses vessels - bowl, vase, even shell forms. Read more about her and see more pieces here.

Even if it wasn't almost Halloween, I'd love (and covet!) this table cloth crocheted by Icelandic artist Hildur Bjarnadottir. I really enjoy art that uses a medium in a way that is almost opposite of what is more usual. The lacy, old fashioned tablecloth with the totally unexpected skulls is wonderful! Someday I have to figure out how to make one of these - not for art (it's been done), but just for my table!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Cowgirl(boy) Trick or Treat Bag

2011-10-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Portland and delivering little c's cowgirl costume. She's darn cute looking in it - I just about melted!! I have a few hints on the pattern I used (Simplicity #3650) in case anyone's also using that one and a tutorial for a cowgirl (or boy) trick or treat bag to go with it. Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the whole bag, so hopefully you can get the gist of it from the photo above!

Pattern hints:
First, a comment on fabric - apparently there are two types of ultrasuede. One frays very easily along the cut edges and the other does not. The one that does not fray is more expensive, but get this type! It would be impossible to cut fringes from the "easy fray" one. Luckily I bought the right type for the fringes. I bought the wrong type for the shirt and had trouble with fraying edges.

Bandana - I rolled it differently than they suggest. Instead of having a little triangle of an end that can easily come undone, I folded the triangle ends in and then rolled. I finished it off by sewing the two sides together.

The pattern shows you an ingenious way to put this bandana together so it doesn't have to be retied every time you put it on.

Shirt - This is not an easy beginner item! There are a few instructions that were more difficult to understand, even with all my sewing experience. I eventually figured out all but the instructions for putting on the velcro that closes up the back. It looks to me like they want you to attach the velcro to a single layer of fabric that's not folded under - I'm not positive, though. That hasn't ever worked for me with velcro - too floppy. So I folded both sides of the back opening under, top stitched along the edges, and attached a smaller oval of velcro to each side. This works fine for keeping the back closed.

The instructions call for scrapbooking brads for the "rivets." I couldn't find any I liked, so I used iron-on studs. See the bag tutorial below for instructions on how to use them. They also suggest you use interfacing on the facings and collar. Don't. The ultrasuede is so thin, it makes those parts way too stiff - and I used featherweight!

Trick or Treat Bag:

1. Cut five pieces of non-fraying ultrasuede: two pieces 9 x 15 inches, one piece 18 x 5 inches, and two pieces 2.5 x 8 inches.

2. Pin the two 9 x 15 inch pieces with right sides together and sew each long edge with a 1/2 inch seam.

3. Turn one open end down 1 inch and pin in place.

4. Sew about 1/4 inch from the cut edge.

5. Turn bag right side out. Take one of the 2.5 by 8 inch pieces and turn down 1/4 inch on the top edge. Pin in place about 3/4 inch from the top of bag.

6. Sew close to pinned edge.

7. Cut into 1/4 inch fringes, stopping about 1/4 inch from the sewing. Repeat with the other side.

8. Draw a chalk line 3 inches up from the bottom of the bag (it's still open). Sew on each side of the chalk line.

9. Cut the fabric below the sewing into a 1/4 inch fringe.

10. Fold the remaining piece of fabric in half, right side together, and sew the long open edge in a 1/2 inch seam.

11. Turn right side out. Attach each end to the bag at a side seam. Sew as shown below.

12. To attach iron-on studs, cut plastic apart and stick on the fabric. I placed 5 across the top of each bag side. Iron as directed (it varies with different brands). Let cool and remove plastic.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Lion Cotton/Hemp Yarn

2011-10-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

When I read about the new Lion Brand cotton/hemp blend yarn, I ran up to the store and bought some to test out! I love the feel of hemp fabric and the way it picks up Procion dyes so wonderfully - it'd be great to have a yarn like that.

I bought three colors and crocheted a dishcloth using the pattern I developed here. I started with the cream color for the beginning chain and the first two rows, went to the brown for two rows, and then the orange for two rows. I repeated that pattern for rows 7 through 18 and ended with two more rows of cream. For the edging, I used brown.

This dishcloth turned out very, very soft and nice and absorbent. The yarn would be great for baby clothes and anywhere else you want a soft hand. Before washing, the dishcloth measured 13 by 13 inches and after washing and drying in the dryer it was 11 by 11 inches. Not a problem for dishcloths, but something to keep in mind when making something that needs specific dimensions.

I plan on working up some new patterns using this, so stay tuned!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Native American Art at Dartmouth

2011-10-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

We recently spent a long weekend in New Hampshire enjoying some gorgeous fall weather and a good visit with one of our sons and his wife. While in Hanover, we were able to see the Hood Museum of Art's current exhibit Native American Art at Dartmouth. The pieces are all from the museum's collection and are definitely worth taking in. And there are dozens of wonderful fibers pieces! The exhibit runs through March 11, 2012 - if you're in the area, I highly recommend a visit. These are just two of my favorites.

c. 1910 - 1920, Northern Athapaskan, hide, thread, glass and metal beads

There are several pieces of beautiful embroidery work. These moccasins took my breath away! Made by an unknown Northern Athapaskan artist in the early 1900's, they were also useful - the smoked hide made them waterproof. The pattern is a typical colorful, complex design seen in many pieces made in the Subarctic. I imagine those long winter nights lent themselves to intricate pieces that took a lot of time to create!

This close-up shows the amazing detail and perfect, tiny stitches. Beautiful!

c. 1850 - 80, Chilkat Tlingit, mountain goat wool, cedar bark, native dyes.

Northwest Native Americans used twined cedar bark fiber to make cloth. At a museum in British Columbia years ago, I was able to feel a cedar fiber weaving (a modern day weaving, not a museum piece!) and was amazed at its softness. This wonderful Chilkat robe was woven using cedar fiber for the warp(vertical) threads and mountain goat wool for the weft (horizontal) threads and the bottom fringe. This design features a whale in the typical stylized manner. The Tlingit weave their designs from pattern boards that are passed down from generation to generation.

You can learn more about the exhibit here and view an extensive pdf guide (with lots of photos) here.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Pattern Paper

2011-10-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Pattern paper is one of those things I wish I'd found out about when I first started sewing! It's really a very simple concept, but it never dawned on me until I'd bought years of patterns multiples so I could cut out several sizes.

Pellon carries a nice pattern paper on a bolt - it's thick enough that it doesn't rip easily, but thin enough to see your pattern through. Makes tracing very easy! I buy mine at Joann's, where they keep it with the bolts of interfacing.

These days, I buy yards of it! Patterns now have lots of sizes in one envelope and I'm cheap - I'd rather buy it once. I also have a vintage pattern collection. I like to sew with them but never want to cut them up! I'm currently sewing a cowgirl outfit for little c's Halloween costume and anticipate wanting to use the pattern again in one of the larger sizes, so I traced all the pieces I would need, folded the printed patterns back up, and put them back in the envelope.

It's extremely simple to use this paper to make your own patterns - the hardest part is folding the printed pattern sheets back up and getting them to fit in the envelope! Just lay the pattern paper on top of your printed pattern and trace the entire pattern onto the paper. Be sure to copy all the dots, notches, and any special stitching lines. I also like to include the pattern number, the size, the pattern piece letter and name, any special seam allowance measurements, and the fabric grain arrow.

An added benefit is the new pattern pieces are much sturdier than the old. This comes in handy when you'll be using the pattern several times.

Next week I'll show you how the costume turned out. So far there have been a few instructions that are a bit hard to decipher - I'll give you my take on these!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Autumn Felt Texture Book

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

It was pointed out to me recently that I never made a summer felt texture book for little c to go with her spring book. Wow. I completely forgot that I was going to do a seasonal series! Well, summer's long gone so I went on to autumn. I'll do a winter one next and then the summer book next spring. I might need to be reminded .....

Materials:
*Four pieces of 12 x 9 felt for the book cover and pages
*small pieces of felt and textured fabric (I'll go over what I used as we get to each page)
*feathers, googly eyes, bat beads or buttons
*fabric autumn leaves, leaves for the apples, and leaves for the pumpkin patch (I used grape leaves)
*pre-cut foam or felt letters - or if you have a die-cut press, you can make your own
*felt glue
*Aileene's Jewel-It
*embroidery floss
*patterns found here

Book:

The basic instructions for making the book are in the post for the Spring Felt Texture Book.

Cover:

Pin a fabric autumn leaf in the middle of the page and sew down the center with coordinating embroidery thread, using a running stitch and 6 strands. With 6 strands of thread, use a running stitch to suggest movement from the leaf falling.

Pages 2-3:

I used brown textured felt for the branches.

1. You will be skipping to what looks like pages 3-4, since we'll be sewing each page to the page next to it. This will make the pages a little sturdier and hide any sewing knots, etc.

2. Pin or glue on the branches as shown. Use 2 strands of thread to attach, with a blanket stitch. Pin on leaves and sew down the center as you did with the cover leaf.

Pages 4-5:

Cut two apples from shiny red fabric. Lay on page 4 and pin apple leaves in position. Sew down the center of each leaf to attach. Remove and save the apples - you'll glue them on at the end.

Cut a turkey body from brown textured felt, a yellow triangle for the beak, and a red gobbler thingy. Lay the body on page 5 and glue feathers behind it. Using a blanket stitch, attach the edges of the turkey. Glue on googly eyes, the beak and the red part.

Pages 6-7:

Cut a moon and stars from felt - I used sparkly white for the moon and gold for the stars. Pin and attach with a blanket stitch. If you want sparkly stars, you can add sparkly puffy paint to them. Sew on bats.

Attach pumpkin patch leaves by sewing down the center.

Cut four circles from shiny orange fabric (about 3 inches in diameter). Free hand cutting works fine for this - you don't need perfect circles. Using 2 strands of embroidery thread, sew around each circle, pulling up to gather the edge a little bit.

Turn edge under and attach pumpkin using a blanket stitch.

Finishing:

Attach pages together using a blanket stitch and 6 strands of embroidery thread.

One page at a time, glue the letters in place with Aileen's Jewel It (and the apples when you get to page 4). The glue takes awhile to dry and cure. I glue one page worth, cover with waxed paper, and pile on several heavy books. I leave it like this for about 4 - 6 hours, then let it dry for either the rest of the day or overnight before I move on to the next page.

Here is what your finished pages will look like:

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Close Proximity

2011-10-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you're in the Tempe, AZ area, Arizona State University's Fall BFA Exhibition, Close Proximity, is at the Gallery 100 through October 21. This semester's exhibit has work by soon to be graduates in Painting, Ceramics, and Fibers. Since the two fiber artists are in the printed textile class I'm taking, I thought I'd show you a little teaser of their work. There's lots more there than these pieces, so be sure to go if you can!

Adia Olguin's work looks at her family relationships and herself. I don't have any of her screen printed pieces here, but they're a wonderful exploration of her identity coming from the identities of her mother and father. The dolls have several layers of meaning - I'm still seeing new ones.

Evolution According to MEN, 2010. Handwoven fabrics, vintage dolls and doll parts, African mahogany.

Diary is fascinating - I spent a long time looking at and reading the pages. Most of each page has been cut away and the silk paintings added in, but some words and sentences were left.

Diary, 2010. Silk paintings on raw silk over handwoven fabric, repurposed book.

Rachel Hearn often works with 3-D sculptural pieces. I got to see the printing process Balance went through, but missed the pieces being formed over the reeds. I had to take two shots to get all the parts to this piece in.

Balance, 2011. Cotton, silk, reed, wool.

I love how the loom Tension was woven on became part of the art work itself.

Tension, 2010. Hand-spun bamboo fiber, wood, metal.

Gallery 100 is located on in Tempe Center on the corner of Mill and University (it's at the far south part of the center). Hours are Monday - Thursday noon - 5 pm and Friday noon - 3 pm.

Happy Creating! Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Sewing Sheer Fabrics

2011-10-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Sheer fabrics have a bad reputation! They're gorgeous, but take a little more time when sewing with them. There are a few things you can do that make it much easier - they're still not as easy as a piece of good old cotton, but it'll be better!

I'm making little c a ghostie scarf for Halloween pretend play, so I'll use this piece of foil printed tulle as an example.

Materials:
*sheer fabric
*tissue paper
*size 11 ball point sewing machine needle
*tape

Cut 2 inch strips of tissue paper. You're going to use this as a backing to sew the sheer fabric right onto. It'll rip away when you're finished sewing, but in the meantime will give support to the fabric. I'm just hemming, but you would do the same thing if you were sewing seams.

Change your sewing machine needle to the size 11 ball point, set your stitch length to a smaller number of stitches than you usually use, and put a piece of tape over your presser foot. The tape will keep the foot from catching through the holes in netting or catching on the fabric.

Layer a piece of tissue paper underneath the seam or hem you are going to sew, lower your presser foot, and sew as you normally would, making sure not to pull the fabric (that will make puckers in it). Add in additional pieces of tissue paper if needed. When sewing something nice with sheer fabrics, you really don't want to have back and forth tacking done at the beginning or ends of seams - it'll show through. Instead, pull a thread to the back of the seam and hand tie a small knot.

When finished, simply rip the tissue paper off your fabric ...

... and you're finished!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Monday Project - Felt Potatoes

2011-10-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend it was back to my felt food project and the next food on my list - potatoes!

Materials:
*brown or tan felt - I used a heathered tan
*brown embroidery thread
*fiberfill stuffing
*patterns found here

1. Cut out 2 from each pattern piece.

2. Sew a piece number 3 in between a piece number 1 and a piece number 2. Repeat.

3. Use a piece number 4 to sew the two pieces you have together. If piece 4 is too long, trim the extra off.

4. With your last piece number 4, sew to one side of your form. On the last side, sew from the top and from the bottom, leaving a 2 inch opening.

5. Turn right side out and stuff with fiberfill. Sew opening closed.

6. Cut a long piece (about a yard) of brown embroidery floss. Thread onto a sturdy needle. Insert needle into the opening you hand sewed closed and out someplace on the potato. Pull to pull the knot into the fiberfill center. Take about a 1/4 inch stitch and reenter the potato, coming out in another spot. Repeat and this time pull tightly to form a dimple (a potato eye).

7. Keep repeating until you have enough eyes. Go back through and make an x over each eye to help it show up better.

8. Tie a knot in your floss, insert the needle into the potato and come up nearby. Pull thread to pull knot into the fiberfill center. And you have a potato!

Happy Creating! Deborah

Friday Inspiration - The Painted Bra Project

2011-10-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

Dee Konig, Butterfly Hope. In memory of her sister Sonya.

October brings many different breast cancer awareness and fundraising events, with one of my favorites being The Painted Bra Project! Huntsville, Alabama artist Anna Braden started an online gallery and auction of painted art bras to raise funds for the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund. This year, hundreds of entries from around the world have been received and will be up for auction beginning next Friday, October 14. See the information on bidding here.

Susan Redmon Goodman (9 yr. survivor), Everything's Coming Up Roses.

You can view these "brasterpieces" at the Painted
Bra Project Facebook page here (album 1) and here (album 2). Or if you're in the Huntsville, Alabama area, you can view many of the pieces at Lowe Mill Arts on Friday, October 21st from 6:30 - 9:30 pm.

I love this project! I've always been fascinated with art bras and will get one made one of these days. And the project is such an uplifting (no pun intended!) way to bring awareness and research funding to this disease that has touched nearly everyone. My mother-in-law succumbed almost 12 years ago and my own mother has survived going on 20 years after she went through it. These wonderful art bras are for remembrance, celebration, and the fight we all are part of.

Patricia Elridge, The Girls Just Want to Go to the Beach.

If the Project continues next year, I will definitely find the time to contribute!

Happy Creating! Deborah