Dragon Threads Open Book

Shoe bags for gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 17:52:00 +0000

For holiday gifts this year, I made approximately four dozen shoe bags for friends that travel. Look at all the cute travel fabric that is available. Everyone is getting two if not three bags each. They are very quick to sew up and I used a serger but you don’t have to.

Below is the bag that I made for the BERNINA we all sew website and they have the step by step instructions with pictures. It was so fun that I could hardly stop making them and used other fabrics too!

So go to their website and GET STARTED!

Christmas gift making has begun!

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:09:00 +0000

Project #20 was a small cosmetics bag for weekend travel. No pattern, just measured an old one and stitched it up.

I used beautiful Sassaman fabrics and did some free motion quilting. I love it!

Project #21 is a nightgown for next summer or a warm trip to Mexico this winter.

At my local fabric store, I saw this very soft, organic cotton knit and thought it would be perfect for a nightgown and I couldn’t find a nice one to buy.

This was Kwik Sew #3943 which I saw online but then couldn’t find it at Joann’s to buy the pattern. I would think that Joann’s would carry it since Kwik Sew is owned by Simplicity…but no! I could have ordered it and waited for a week to get it but I thought I’d do the instant pattern download so I could start right away.

Well, that was an experience that I don’t want to go through again! This simple pattern consisted of a front, back, sleeve and neck/sleeve facings. It took 55 sheets of paper to print this and then I had to tile it up in 5 columns of 11 sheets each….overlap it 1/8 inch and tape it all over! That took a good bit of time and who has the space on a table for that? I had to do it in sections. And then when I was done, I cut out the individual pieces but you know regular paper is too stiff and you can’t see through it like pattern tissue. For $8 next time I will order it and wait!

The neck detail had these nice 1/4 inch tucks. When I tried it on, the neckline was too big so I tightened it up by adding 3 tucks to each of the sleeve pieces at the neckline. Then it was good. The sleeve was long and it had tucks at the bottom edge of it but I cut the sleeves to elbow length and eliminated those. It’ll be great for warmer weather!

So, Christmas gift sewing began in September! Here is a fancy vest that I made for my youngest son. He doesn’t read my blog, I’m sure!

It’s a Vogue men’s pattern and I bought the purple in Boston on a college visit but forgot about it. Then I had some black silk satin for the trim and made covered buttons. The bottom photo in the sun shows the color and shine and details better.

I also sewed more Xmas gifts but not sure I should reveal them too early or my friends won’t be surprised with their gifts!

Yo Yo Elephant toy

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:59:00 +0000

Project #19

So last week we flew to Oahu which was a 13 hour flight (boo hoo, I know) so I thought I better take a hand sewing project to kill time. Making 70 yo yos seemed like the perfect small hand sewing thing for an airplane.

I wanted to make this elephant toy from the scraps of the elephant quilt that I made this Feb for the same baby. This pattern is from Indygo Junction and they have many great yo yo toy patterns. You may remember last summer’s post where I made two yo yo monkeys for baby gifts.

This time I thought I’d be smart and pre cut all the circles with my handy Olfa circle cutter, which I LOVE! It is so fast and easy and the circles were cut in no time!

The problem was that the pattern gives instructions on making yo yos with the Clover yo you maker and how to make them without it. I love the Clover tool because it is fast, easy and the yo yos come out perfect every time!

But instead of looking at the tool, I cut out the size circles that the pattern said for hand sewing without the tool. I packed them all in a zip loc bag and flew away.

Well I discovered that all the circles were too small to use the Clover tool because the fabric has to be about 1/4” bigger all around the circle tool and these were exact or smaller!! UGH! What to do?

I only had so much scrap fabric left over and I cut most of it for this toy. Plus now I was thousands of miles away from home. My plan was to make the yo yos in Hawaii or flying and then go home for 4 days and assemble the elephant before seeing the baby. Why didn’t I cut one and then check it with the Clover tool?

So, I ended up hand sewing yo yos in the evenings and just eyeballing the spacing. They came out ok but with a little variance in size of the finished yo yos. But it got done with the fabric I had!

I highly recommend this Clover tool. I have every size and it is so much fun. I think this will be my go-to hand sewing project for air travel.

Wedding quilt gift

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 01:24:00 +0000

Project #18

Finally I can show this quilt that I finished in February. It’s for the wedding of the son of our good friends and I didn’t want the bride to see it before she receives it.

When I found out last year that they were engaged, I offered to make a quilt for their sofa and she chose this design and fabric. The fabric is designed by Lotta Jansdottir and at the time was two years old. Well, you know that it was difficult to find all of the fabrics. I searched all the usual internet fabric sites and etsy and every store that carried this fabric originally! It took a long time but I found all but two of them….enough to give it the same look that she wanted. I substituted the missing two with the gray with white dots and the light gray and white floral but it all works. Thank goodness I found a 3 yard piece of the turq check for the backing.

I did this quilt and the elephant one plus an Xmas one at the February quilt guild retreat over a weekend. You sure can get a lot done when all you do is sew, eat and sleep and no phone service!

Simple irregular graph quilting and a special label. The bride didn’t know I selected this one from her suggestions to make so I hope she likes it! We will see this weekend!

Swag bag Sassaman Style

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 22:35:00 +0000

Project #17

After organizing all my fabric, I decided that I needed to do something with all the patterns that I own. While sorting them into boxes by type (tops, bottoms, jackets, accessories….) I ran into this Swag Bag by Square Rose pattern that I bought ages ago and I could visualize it in the Sassaman Prairie Chic fabric line that I’ve been storing in my stash. So I dropped everything and started cutting this out.

So the first side, I quilted in a simple diagonal with blue variegated thread but found it too boring.

On the other side I had this fabulous thorny vine pattern that just begged to be quilted. I wanted to continue the lines onto the pink side so I traced them onto paper. Then I placed that paper pattern on the pink side so I could continue the lines and stitched right over the paper.

Here is my ‘bright’ idea for tracing at night when there is no light coming thru the window. I placed the fabric on my computer monitor with a blank page of Word open and then taped paper over it and used a sharpie marker.

This pattern is very well written and not hard to do. It took me two evenings to complete this. I love the details where I zig zagged the seams and the bias on the curve and on the handles.

The pattern calls for two pockets inside but I just put one and one on the outside.

I really needed another bag (NOT!) but I am very happy with it and will use it. I may put a rectangle hard plastic on the bottom. Anything in Jane Sassaman fabric is guaranteed to be gorgeous! I’m a BIG fan!

ICE DYEING PART 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 20:51:00 +0000

This time I was determined to make an artsy piece.

I wanted to dye some PFD pimatex quilting cotton so I cut off a yard by 45”. The size of the piece you can dye is determined by the size of the bucket and rack that you can find.

I found one of these storage containers at Target that is 35.5” long and the key is that it is not so deep. I wish I had a 45” wide pan that was shallow so I could do pieces larger than a yard at one time. Then you need to find grids that the fabric can sit on. Lynn found baking sheet cooling racks at the restaurant supply store and they fit perfectly on top of this container.

If you can’t find racks, then maybe you can do this with foil to keep the fabric off the bottom.

After soaking the fabric in soda ash for 20 minutes, I accordian pleated it neatly onto the rack.

I set out all my colors with plastic spoons.

This took 6 trays of soda ash ice cubes and it could have used a bit more ice. But I think next time I will just use regular ice and load it up.

Again the dye was generously sprinkled on the ice. I think you can see I sprinkled it straight from one long edge to the other….top to bottom in this picture. I started in the middle with dark purple and then used, cobalt, turq, lavender,avocado on each side of it. Next I put foil on top and let it sit for 24 hrs before washing out…..and voila!

I’m pretty happy with it. Next I’ll try some rayon bamboo knit that I can turn into a top/tunic. This Procion MX dye gives vibrant colors and is easy to use.

Here are the beautiful scarves that Lynn did. She has great color sense!

Ice dyeing in the Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 20:21:00 +0000

I saw a you tube video on ice dyeing and it looked rather easy. My friend Lynn had lots of dyes that she had never used and some rayon bamboo scarves that were already hemmed. The scarves are from Dharma Trading that has everything for textile dyeing and painting!

We did this in my garage in case it made a mess and because we needed to let it sit overnight without being disturbed by dog or children.

We had to start a week early because we had to make special soda ash ice cubes. I mixed 1 cup of soda ash with 1 gallon of water and then filled up the ice cube trays. But of course my 2 freezers are full so I had to put in 2 trays and let them freeze overnight and then stack 2 more trays on top the next day.

On dyeing day, we took our scarves that are 5” x 60 “ and soaked them in a bucket of soda ash and water for 20 mins. After wringing them out , we arranged them onto a rack over a pan. I used a disposable aluminum pan and a grid that I found at Dollar General, my new favorite haunt. The grid was probably for use on the grill but any kind of rack will do.

We held the soaked scarf at the narrow end and let it hang down. Then we pulled it up in our hands and pleated in like an accordion and placed it on top of our grid over our pan.

Then we covered it well with the soda ash ice cubes. I used 3 trays but Lynn didn’t have enough and used some regular ice cubes and I think it’s fine.

Next we took plastic spoons and sprinkled the dye powder onto the cubes. We used the wonderful Procion MX dyes from Jacquard Products. We were very generous with the dye and probably put on too much.

I also feel that I used too many colors while Lynn used less and all shades of blue mostly.

Next we put some saran wrap over them and let them sit for 24 hours.

The next day we took them to the sink and rinsed them out in cold water and then in hot water for what seemed like hours since dye was still coming out of the piece. We then put the scarves in a bucket of hot water and a teaspoon full of Synthrapol and let it sit for an hour. Then more rinsing and a cycle of the washer and dryer. And voila!

To me, mine was too rainbow tie-dye looking but Lynn, who is a painter, made 2 mastepieces!

And so, I’m making more soda ash ice cubes to try again! Will post results but it was easy and fun! I like the serendipitous nature of this and want to try SNOW DYEING! But not too soon, Winter was brutal last year!

SHIBORI CLASS WITH SUE CAVANAUGH

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:28:00 +0000

Living in Columbus, Ohio we are lucky to have the Quilt Surface Design Symposium here every June for 2 weeks. They bring in the best textile teachers in the world for wonderful classes. And it’s only a 15 minute drive for me!

A few weeks ago, I took Sue Cavanaugh’s class with a few friends and it was really interesting. Above are the samples we made.

Sue is one of the best shibori artists in the world and she lives here in Columbus also. I’ve seen her work at shows and have always admired it but was intimidated to start my first dyeing class with such a renowned artist.But that soon disappeared as she is a very friendly, fun teacher who makes this seem easy.

This purple piece is my favorite and it was the easiest with just rows of running stitches done with thick beading cord and then tied up tightly( as shown below) before dropping into a bucket of dye.

Since I haven’t dyed much, I was experimenting with mixing colors and what you see is not what you get in the end. Many were trying to make the traditional indigo dye color and that was blue with some black dye added. The dye bath is always darker than what the fabric color dries to.

For me, the hardest part was pulling the thread through the Pimatex tightly woven fabric with my arthritic fingers. A friend gave me some lawn to try and that was better. Then I changed to a finer needle and some less thick button thread and that improved it a bit more. I think I need to experiment with diff needle and thread combos until I find one that is not too much strain on my fingers. Also, I’d like to try shibori with silk and that should be much easier to stitch.

My grand plans are to shibori some silk and then make a simple blouse and to do three huge cotton panels and sew them into a king size comforter/quilt but I better start small first.

It is always good to take classes and try new techniques to further your creativity and I highly recommend QSDS classes for next June.

PROJECT #16

A very simple dress for a gift for a friend. I’ve made many of these dresses. It starts with a store bought t-shirt that is cut about 4 inches above the waist.

Then you get 2 yards of fabric from your stash for the skirt. I cut two panels 31-36” by the 45” width of fabric and sew them along the selvage to make the side seam. Press the seam open and then I gather the top edge using my BERNINA #16 gathering foot.

I love love this foot because you just put the fabric under it and go and it gathers up the fabric….no pulling two threads to gather! The longer the stitch length, the more gathers you get. It’s a huge time saver!

After I gathered up the entire top edge of about 90 inches, I was ready to attach the skirt to the knit top. First I matched the side seam of the skirt to the side seam of the shirt and pinned. I left 3 inches on each side of the opposite side seam of the shirt unpinned. I sewed across the top attaching the skirt to the top and then stopped short. Held the two sides of the skirt together and estimated where to sew that side seam and stitched it down to hem, trimmed and pressed it open. Then I continued to attached the gathered top edge to the remaining 6 inches of the shirt.

After that you just need to hem it and I used the blind hem stitch and foot to match, of course! It’s a very fast dress to make and only takes maybe two hours. You can make it easily for a child and you can also use a woven shirt that buttons in the front as long as you cut it above the waist and it’s roomy enough to pull over your bust.

ONE MORE THING TO SHARE

Some good friends of mine took two years and went all over the world, decades ago when they were in their twenties. It was a fascinating trip and their stories are so interesting! I wish I had the guts to do something like that! They just gifted me with this incredible bag from China.

As you can see, it is 3-dimensional applique. Much hand embroidery on it and it seems to be lined with newspaper…? I don’t plan on washing it so it should stay pristine. It’s just so much work and skill for probably very little income for some craftsman.

But I just love the whimsy of the bugs on this and the frog’s open mouth! It’s a very special gift!

Sweet Baby Jumpers

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 21:16:00 +0000

Project #15

I’m going to consider these 3 sets of garments as one project. It’s a gift for a baby girl and I just used the fabric from my stash, which is always a plus!

This back-cross little jumper is always cute and great for warm weather and easy to fit. I remember wearing one when I was a little girl too! The most challenging part were the panties because the pattern didn’t say how much elastic should go in the legs or the waist and I don’t have the baby to measure her. I had to go to a store and measure a garment and then guess. I hope they don’t fall off the baby! It was fun to sew with ric-rac again.

I’m planning on making more little girl garments in the future!

Collecting Art Quilts

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 20:44:00 +0000

With two designers in the family, there are a lot of collections in this house. My specialty is art quilts and usually I buy them from my authors such as Barbara Olson, Laura Heine, Jane Sassaman and Noriko Endo.

This month, I bought a quilt or two from seeing them on facebook! It may sound odd but it isn’t the first time. A few years ago I saw the work of Susan Lenz and then looked at her website for more and purchased one from her. I love it and it is hanging in my studio. Facebook is a great marketing tool to get your work out in front of the right ‘eyes’.

Windows XIV by Susan Lenz

In April, I kept seeing the work of Danny Amazonas from Taiwan on facebook. What caught my eye is how he cuts up ‘shards’ of fabrics to make a realistic image with his precision value placement.

One morning, I saw a quilt of a rainy day scene where the people in the evening light were reflected in the rainy street. It was mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics which I love, and the color range started at the left with reds and then graduated to the right into blue/greens! The technique was something that was new and fresh and the quilt was breathtaking!

I followed it all day and it got 1100 likes by the evening. I sent a message to Danny and told him how incredible I thought this was and he wrote back that he was having an exhibition from mid-April to mid-May. Then my wise husband said that I better put my name on it before it went to the show where it would most certainly be sold! So by the end of the evening, I had told Danny that I seriously wanted to buy it and to save it for me. He graciously agreed and I waited a month.

After the show was over Danny contacted me and said that he has a special arrangement for me. If I bought this Bird of Paradise quilt then I would get the Rain scene as a ‘free’ gift! Wow! 2 Amazonas quilts!

I’m hoping that some of you were on facebook that day that the rainy quilt was posted because I’m not allowed to post it anywhere. It’s a special request of Danny and I have to respect it. Sorry about that. I was wondering if I should even blog about it!

But if you get a chance to see his work or take a class from him in Taiwan, you should do it! I hope he will come teach in the States so I can take a class too. Take a look at his portfolio on his facebook page/there isn’t a website. It’s just fantastic that now we can see quilts from around the world on the internet, or I’d never know about this talented quilter who is also a florist for his day job! Now, I need to make room to hang these two new beauties!

The pink dress

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:23:00 +0000

After many days of cataloging my fabric stash by measuring, taking photo and inputing yardage and details onto my ipad app, I think we are finally finished. My newly retired friend spent a lot of time helping me with this huge task! I think she learned so much that she could be hired at Joann’s now! This photo is only half of the boxes in the studio and shows none stashed under the stairs and in the back room!

It was good to see old forgotten fabric cuts with a new eye and I even pulled some aside to use soon…shock! Among the cuts is this linen/cotton blend that is hot pink, the favorite color of my friend. We both shop for nice summer dresses on sale every year so I offered to make her a summer dress and she chose this Mc Call’s 7118 pattern.

Project #14 for this year!

It’s very simple and only took a few hours so it’s a good beginner pattern. I love the back strap detail. It fits her perfectly and she loves it. What a difference to sew a size 6!! Now we wait until the weather is warm enough to wear it in Ohio.

While looking for more fabric in the back room I found some beautiful blue linen which would be enough for a dress with matching jacket…so let’s see what pattern she selects next.

Koos, 2 new dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:51:00 +0000

March was a short trip to NYC with friends and I went in a day early to see the head designer and the owner of KOOS. It was the first time I’d seen them since he died and it was odd not to see him in his cluttered design room at the studio. The room was empty and cleaned and painted white. All that was left was his Juki industrial machine and a large portrait.

Here are some photos from the boutique. I made the dress on the left twice and it has such a nice draping/bustle detail in the back. It’s one of my favorites. The store was very busy so that was good to see. Everything was beautiful and inspirational.

I love this detail on a blouse with a net base. How unusual.

Project #12 for the year. We stumbled onto the store PURL SOHO and they had this Kaufman fabric that is very light and airy so I bought some for this Vogue 1312 by Lynn Mizono. (Forget what I said in January about not buying fabric for a while since I bought 100 yards!) I love the skirt and it went together so quickly.

Project #13 is Vogue 9112 by Marcy Tilton, one of my favorite designers. As soon as this pattern was released last week, I was dying to make this dress! After weeks of sorting, cataloging and arranging my fabric stash we finally came to the box of Asian fabrics. Inside was a collection of these Japanese dobby weave fabrics. OF the main fabric, I only had 1 3/4 yrds so I had to use the two other fabrics but I wanted to mix fabrics in this dress anyway. It took every inch of the fabric and lots of squeezing in the patterns…a big puzzle!

I love how it came out and can’t wait until the weather is warm enough to wear it in Ohio! From cutting to finish, it took me about 6 hours, so very fast but I think it is an intermediate level since you need some skill with easing in round areas and applying bias tape. I will be making it again for sure! Just wish I had a source for this fabric!

What to sew next?

A Class with Susan Brubaker Knapp

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 21:44:00 +0000

Project #11

I’ve known Susan for a few years so I was thrilled to have her come to my guild to teach a class! Right from the airport we went to see the orchids and butterflies at the Franklin Park conservatory.

Followed by lunch at the North Market, Vietnamese for me and Indian for her; a quick trip to the Antiques store and the costume jewelry store before a stop at my house and then Greek dinner before her lecture at guild.

Saturday I took her November Leaves class, even though it is March. This was so much fun! I didn’t know what to expect, just signed up. We painted tyvek with rubber sponge brushes, cut out leaves and arranged them on our quilt sandwich. If all your leaves were the same color then you could trade with someone and that’s what I did.

Next with free-motion, which I am trying to get better at doing, I stitched around the outside perimeter of the leaves and then stitched in the veins.

Then came the FUN part where we took an iron and MELTED the tyvek so that the backing fabric was showing. You can’t control it. You just hold the iron until you like what is happening. It only takes a few seconds. Wherever you stitched, the tyvek will stay but the open areas will ‘shrink’ away. You could end up with skeleton leaves.

Then I did some free motion of the leaves in the background. I didn’t want to fill it in completely with free motion because I like the ‘ghost’ leaves and wanted them to show. Also, I didn’t want to screw this up since I’m a novice free-motion stitcher!

The Lumiere paint by Jacquard is one of my favorites because it looks luminescent when dry and this paint dries quickly which is nice.

I looked at Philippa Naylor’s new book, Applique Mastery to see how she finishes the back of her small quilts. This is 17” square. And the finished quilt will actually hang somewhere in my house! I have none of my own work on my walls.

I’m happy with it and it was a fun class! Susan is a charming teacher and a natural. Very easy and lots of good information. I encourage you to take a class with her or watch her on Quilting Arts TV!

Now I want to take more classes. Learn lots of new techniques to have in my quilting arsenal! I encourage everyone to take classes. I’m even taking some gourmet cooking classes now, which has delicious endings!

We just finished 11 weeks of the year and so I’ve been very productive so far!

The Wedding Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:26:00 +0000

Project #10 for 2015!

I’m posting about these gift quilts and hoping that the recipients don’t read my blog! I want them to be a surprise but I also want to document my work this year.

When I offered to make a sofa quilt for the bride, she went on Pinterest and chose this quilt. It’s called Bella’s Bird by Jean Smith. I thought, simple enough to make but the fabric line was 2 years old!

It is by designer Lotta Jansdotter of Windham Fabrics and I scanned the entire internet and went to the sites of dozens of quilt stores that carry Windham’s fabric and with the help of etsy, I found 7 of the 9 fabrics needed! Thank goodness for a store in TX that had 3 yards of the blue graph for the backing!

I substituted 2 other fabrics that I thought complemented…the gray dot border and the light gray floral with white, in the center. Then I packed it all up and went to my guild’s quilt retreat at a lodge in the woods in the middle of nowhere’s-ville! No phone service for the entire Friday to Sunday time.

I sat and sewed for 12 hours on Saturday not counting the breaks for food, and I got the top mostly finished. I ran out of gray dots and had to wait until I returned to get just a half yard more.

Decided to do simple straight line quilting since it is rectangle blocks and just stitched every few inches both ways. I just love to run that walking foot at top speed!

The quilt is 66” square and is a 5 blocks x 5 blocks pattern. Kind of reminds me of Marimekko fabric! It just needs a label with their names and wedding date and it’s ready for the September nuptials! I hope it is something they’ll use a lot in their new home for cozy nights on the sofa!

The Elephant Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 18:14:00 +0000

Project #9

Some dear friends of ours are expecting their first grandchild so I offered to make a baby quilt for a gift. In talking with the mom-to-be, she said that the nursery would be gray and yellow and she wanted an elephant theme. She found a beautiful elephant quilt on pinterest and sent me a photo.

IT is from a Scrappy Quilting book which I bought. The method to sew the patches to the body of the elephant was to sew close to raw edges of the cut rectangles. I didn’t like that and thought it also may not wear well in repeated washings so I made a new way.

All I took from the book was the outline of the elephant and then I changed it so the trunk went upward and removed the tail and added a braided 3-D version and an ear.

With the tracing pinned to my design wall, I sewed strips of her colors, lime, yellow and gray to the length of the elephant. After I had all the strips, I sewed them together to form one big, odd shaped patchwork.

Then I put the patchwork on my cutting table and placed the elephant drawing over it and pinned it in place making sure the horizontal line was parallel to the floor where the elephant would be standing.

This close up shows how I had to piece to fit the trunk and the same for the two legs.

After pinning, I placed wide strips of Steam-A-Seam 2 under the edges and then cut out the elephant body and placed it on the light gray background below.

I smoothed it out and pressed the Steam-A-Seam edges with an iron to hold the body in place on the background. It’s kind of a crazy way but I didn’t want to put the adhesive all over the body of the elephant since it measures 38” across and about 29” tall.

Next step was to satin stitch around the perimeter with paper under the backing so the presser foot wouldn’t tunnel the fabric.

After doing a patchwork with this cute elephant fabric for the backing, it was layered with batting and the background stitching was done with my walking foot. Gray thread on gray fabric.

HERE’S MY BIG LESSON!

I was taught to draw one line at the 45 degree angle to the rows on the elephant and then use the guide bar on the walking foot to stitch the remaining rows. So I set the guide bar to 2” intervals and stitched away. (Is it just me or do you love how that walking foot moves and sounds?)

Well I did 3 corners and then approaching the 4th side I could see that the lines were not parallel at all! The right angle 2” squares on point were now diamonds with a different degree angle and the lines were not going to match up!!! What to do???!

I ripped out about 3-4 rows and then called the MASTER in. I had my hubby draw some lines so it looked like it was a matching grid. He changed angles slightly and then made the lines not evenly apart so visually it looks fine.

What do you think? The lesson is that I should have first drawn a large X at the angle thru the elephant onto the background and then drawn in more 2” lines. If I saw that I was stitching off angle, I could correct it visually. Right now, I feel that I will draw in ALL the lines next time I want it perfect! (Then I could sew at top speed, hee hee!)

Then the binding went on smoothly. I didn’t have much of any one fabric left so I spliced them all together to make an interesting binding. I feel like the Queen of mitered binding as I have done it so often lately, but it is easy. I looked in Philippa Naylor’s book, Quilting in the Limelight to see what width she cuts her binding and followed that for a nice 1/2” finish.

Now to ship it off and I finished it BEFORE the May delivery date. It will either hang on the nursery wall or be used as a quilt. I just need to add an eyeball to this!

The 100 yard Predicament

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 17:38:00 +0000

As you now in January I bought about 100 yards of fabric from an estate sale. All the pieces are lovely and it has inspired me. So much so, that I have been cataloging and organizing it all along with the other boxes of fabric in my stash. With the help of my good friend, we have used the SEWING KIT app on my ipad and taken a photo of the fabric, then filled in the boxes with type of fabric, width and length and more important…Box location. Then all the fabrics were folded nicely and put in boxes marked A through E so far but we haven’t finished yet.

Now I can look at my ipad and see a fabric that I may want to use and know if I have enough without even opening the box and I’ll know instantly where to find it!! Who knew? This app also has a Pattern index so I’ve been cataloging my hundreds of patterns so when I am in a fabric store, I can check the yardage I need! The app is good but has some flaws but it seems to be the only one of its kind and so is useful to me.

Which brings me to this green top and my predicament. I pulled out this granny smith apple green ponte knit because I really loved the color and thought it would make a great jacket but there was only 1 yard and 23” of it!! You can’t do much with that. So I had to look for sleeveless top patterns basically. I found this Vogue 9087 but I had ‘barely’ enough fabric for it and had to piece some facings. (Project #8)

After this, I wanted to know the yardage of every piece so started the fabric cataloging. But now I feel that I will have to buy fabric for things that I want to make instead of trying to make garments from the fabric in my stash. Or I’ll just have to mix two fabrics or more in a garment. It’s a vicious cycle!!!

So, a trip to NYC this month will include fabric shopping at some of my favorite stores but I will try to only buy something that I will use right away and not put into Box ZZ! ha ha

TOTE bag

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 15:58:00 +0000

Project #7

I had about an hour the other day so I made this tote. Years ago I bought this New York City fabric from The City Quilter and wanted to use it. After living in New York for 13 years, I have a fondness for the city.

It’s two rectangles with the bottom corners cut off/sewn diagonally. Nothing difficult. The grommets are so fun. They come from the drapery department and are so easy to snap over the cut out holes! One Xmas I made about 20 bags featuring these grommets.

Here is the inside with Jane Sassaman lining fabric.

Back to costume sewing for the upcoming high school musical next weekend!

That’s what is taking up most of my time but it should be a fantastic show…How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying!

R.I.P. Koos van den Akker

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 21:43:00 +0000

Here is a photo of the last time I saw Koos in his workroom in Nov of 2011.

February 3, 2015, Koos van den Akker died of colon cancer at a hospice in New York surrounded by good friends. The model for our book, Kathleen Scully, and former assistant to Koos kept me there in spirit with her texts.

I’ve known for a few months that he had Stage 4 Colon cancer but had to keep it quiet. They didn’t want anyone to know and I couldn’t get to NYC in the last months of the year with the holidays, travel and all.

You can read my full tribute that I wrote for Threads online if you click on the link here but I wanted to say some other personal remarks here.

Threads magazine

You’ll notice in my tribute that I didn’t even mention that he designed the sweaters that Bill Cosby wore on his tv show. People only seem to know Koos for those sweaters but it’s such a small part of his career.

I met him when I was about 20 years old. When I was studying Fashion Design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, I only wanted to work for a Couture house vs. mass merchandising companies. I wrote him a letter, had an informal interview and got the internship for my Senior year.

I remember the first time I saw him. Two men were talking in the factory. I went to the man in the suit but he walked away...Koos was the one in the wild surfer type, loud printed shirt! I should have known.

lf you really know him, his gruff, grouchy personality is just the outer layer and not at all the ‘real’ Koos. The real Koos was someone who just wanted to love and be loved and was a workaholic. Unfortunately, his one beloved partner died a long time ago and his frustration was what appeared on the surface too often.

He loved to have young people around him. He loved to mentor them and see their success. When he didn’t call me a ‘housewife’ (and not in a good way), he told me how lucky I was to leave NYC and have a family and a good life. He told me that I did it right. I think that was the real Koos.

We, in the inner circle, put up with some of the harshness because we admired his talent and respected him greatly. He had high expectations and was very demanding of himself and others…but that is a good quality in an artist. I know that many times when I thought…seen it, he would change it up and show us an amazing garment that would take my breath away!

So, we lost a very creative person and a friend but he trained his staff so that they can continue beautifying women in his style and vision. I cherish the coat that he made for me when I wrote his book,Koos Couture Collage. It is a treasure because I felt his gratitude and appreciation.

Every phone call ended with “Be Well!” but the last call I had with him, he said, “Love you”. And I cried for hours…

Upcycled Men’s Jacket Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 15:07:00 +0000

Project #6

Two weeks ago I went to a Crafts Fair with a friend and they were selling some cute jackets like this but nothing fit me. So I went on a hunt to my local thrift stores (now becoming my fav places to go) to find a men’s jacket to embellish. I bought two at $5.99 each, what a bargain. Beautiful wool, fully lined and in good condition.

First, the fun part…taking out all my antique buttons and trying to find ones to go with the jacket and make a pleasing pocket arrangement. It took a while.

It was fun to finally have a reason to use all the hundreds of buttons I’ve been collecting for years!

Then in my newly organized Embellishments drawer, I found a small bolt of black galloon lace, 5 inches wide. Who knows where it came from and how long I’ve had it! But now that I need it, it is handy.

I folded it in half and put it around the cuff. If the sleeves were too long, I would turn them up on the outside, stitch them down and then add lace over them, but these were a good length.

I zigzagged the scallop edge with matching black thread and you can’t see the stitching. It is folded so that the stitching caught the lace on the inside and holds it down.

For the collar, I pinned the scallop close to the edge and then folded the lace to match the lapel seam line. I folded the lace to the inside and cut it to match the collar seam where it is attached to the jacket. The outer edge that you see in this picture was zigzagged but the inner edge I just hand basted down.

Last step, cut some lace, gather it and put it in the pocket.

One thing I will say is that it is not as easy as it looks to sew down these buttons in precision. I had to snip and redo some a few times to make them line up right. That square button is supposed to be ‘on point’. I have a second blazer that I started but don’t like the button arrangement so I will work on that and show you when it is done.

One UFO checked off list

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 22:55:00 +0000

Project #5 for this year.

While cleaning and organizing the studio, I found a ‘few’ Unfinished Objects, or UFO, as we like to call them in the Quilting world.

I don’t know how long ago I made this jacket! I’m thinking maybe even ten years ago. It was all finished except for the buttons and buttonholes, but just sat in a box for ages! So, I found the buttons and today I made the holes and finished it. Now I can wear it when the weather is warmer.

It has an outer vest from home dec fabric attached to the men’s woolen base jacket. Then some silk added for contrast on the sleeves and the same vest fabric but from the wrong side for the cuffs. I like it! Will be fun to wear.

I need to find a good way to photograph my garments. Maybe set up the mannequin in a corner with lighting and my tripod at the ready.

We are in full swing with costumes for the high school musical in February. Lots of long satin gowns to make but in between I will be working on my projects and some other UFO’s! Why don’t we finish a project before starting another one?

Right now I have a baby quilt on the wall, two upcycled men’s jackets on the tables and a UFO coat that needs cuffs and button to finish. I have my work cut out for me this weekend!

One pattern, two versions

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 21:47:00 +0000

I bought this Burda pattern last year to make a Koos collage sweater.

I bought this metallic knit online but when I received it, I was disappointed to see that it was bonded to another fabric and had no stretch. So, to use it, I cut the back in half and put in a silver zipper.

The front is pieces of left over obi fabric and some cottons with sheer ribbons going up the right sleeve and then down the front.

Version #2

Continuing on my quest to sew more this year and to try to use fabric from my new Treasure Trove, I selected this soft printed knit last night. There was only 1.5 yards so couldn’t do anything fancy. But I think this basic sweater will be worn often. Project #4 for the year.

I cut it out at 5:30pm before I had to get dinner on the table. The pattern is only 3 pieces so with my trusty serger, I sewed the sleeve seams, side seams and attached the sleeves to the body.

Then hemmed the sleeves with two rows of stitching using the free arm feature of the BERNINA, which is so useful. Hemmed the bottom with 2 rows of stitching and then made a binding strip for the neck and attached it with a narrow zig zag of width 1.3 and length 3.0 so it would stretch when putting on. Done in 2 hours or less and I wore it today!

I wore it to show the husband of the Treasure Trove what I did with his wife’s fabric because I went back again!! My friend wanted a BERNINA and he had a great Virtuoso 155 for sale! Lucky girl!

You know how I said in my Jan. 6 blog, after buying 80 yards of fabric from him that I wouldn’t buy any more fabric for a while….? Well, that was broken five minutes into the studio door! My friend got 36 cuts of gorgeous fabrics and I came home with some treasures I missed from the first visit including two really special cuts.

A Border knit with metallic

and this interesting knit with sheer ‘windows’ and gold metallic ink! I’m going to have to think for a while about what to do with these. The other wools were heavy coatings, a striped linen and some silk to dye. About 25 more yards. That’s all!

And a few antique buttons and buckles….

…and two big bags of roving in dozens of colors!

But now I won’t buy any more fabric, except quilting cottons! At least for a long while…but don’t hold me to it!

I’m going to cut something now.

Another Vest

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 19:57:00 +0000

Project #3 for this year finished! It’s a vest for my son with penguin lining. I can’t count how many I’ve made for him in his lifetime but this is the fourth for this year. Below are the two of the others I sent to college in the Fall.

Currently the Cornell red vest is his favorite, naturally!

It was difficult to shop and find penguin fabric over the past years but my friend showed me all the fabulous penguin designs on Spoonflower so now we’ll never run out! IF you have never been to that site, it is mostly for people who want to print their own designs on cotton, silk etc. but will sell you yardage of designs that they have printed.

So, this vest is nothing to shout about. I’m putting it on to keep track of this year’s work. In my professional life, I strive to learn all I can about advanced sewing techniques and related textile things. I try to make unique art wear or design or complex garments, but then sometimes I just sew. This is a simple 3-piece pattern, not a wedding gown. It takes a few hours to make but brings my son much joy and pride when he wears them. He is now known for his vests and his love of penguins! I love making him something that he enjoys so much and that’s what sewing is all about!

Silk Blouse

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 18:21:00 +0000

January 7, 2015

Project #2 for this year finished last night! I cut some of the Treasure Trove (described in yesterday’s post) silk charmeuse into a Vogue blouse pattern that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time but didn’t have the right fabric.

above.Vogue 1415 Tom and Linda Platt designers. It is very simple with only three pieces.

So, I’m known for sewing at a very fast speed which is why I love the new BERNINA 880 with its industrial motor that goes “100 miles per hour” or seems like that. But I have to sew slower with silk which is slippery and requires precision topstitching.

This blouse had narrow hems on neck, sleeves and bottom hem that were 3/8” turned under twice and then edge stitched. First I pressed under 3/4” and then folded the cut edge into the fold and pressed well. To stitch close to the edge I used the #10 foot and moved the needle over 4 places. I like it CLOSE to the folded edge…see picture below…so I had to test how many places to move the needle and be able to catch the fabric.

With this foot on and using the guide, I found that I could go faster…hee hee!

Next, I’ve selected a beautiful fabric from this Treasure Trove and pattern which will take me longer than one day to make. But first I have costumes to alter for the high school theatre, Steel Magnolias next weekend and….yucky end-of-year tax accounting stuff/blah!

An Epic Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 17:41:00 +0000

Jan.6, 2015

Yesterday was an epic day for me in my sewing life! It started last year when I read Marcy Tilton’s blog and saw a letter from a woman who was trying to figure out what to do with her deceased sister’s giant, humonguous stash of fabrics and other related collections. It said that she lived one and a half hours from me.

I had assumed that it was lots of quilting fabrics so wrote and said that I could get it to a center that makes quilts for chemo patients. The sister wrote to me last week and said that I could come and shop this stash. She sent these photos.

I was sooooo excited because garment sewers know that it is hard to find fabric any more. Any kind of garment fabric. The only source is the big box store which doesn’t have quality fabrics.

When I arrived, I met the sister from Australia and the husband of the woman who owned this stash. They were charming and very welcoming. We went down to her studio and the stash was OVERWHELMING in this giant work space! I quickly saw that I would have liked this woman a lot! We had a lot in common. Besides sewing garments, she knitted, dyed fabric, did beading and had similar taste in books and patterns! She was a president of the local American Sewing Guild at one time.

This studio looked like a small store. I felt that I should be discriminating and only take the fabric and things that I think I can use in the next few years. I realized that I don’t want to accumulate too much that I will never use. But it was hard since there was soooo much beautiful fabric. Here is some of what I took…

It totals about 80 yards and ranges from silk chiffon, sari, wool, knits, beaded chiffon, foreign fabrics…. I’m so thrilled with them and have high hopes of making lots of garments this year, although this collection could last a decade! I’m going to try to NOT buy any more fabric for a while…except quilting fabric though!

There also were collections of yarn which were beautiful so I have to start knitting again. Books and dyes for my shibori class in June and antique bag frames were other great finds.

I feel so lucky, so happy and inspired but also guilty that I benefited from this great woman’s death. If I bought it all on ebay, I wouldn’t have gotten to know her or her family so it wouldn’t bother me.

Like I said in my last blog post, I intend to sew more this year and post it all to get your creative juices flowing. This sure jump-started my year! I hope to have lots of photos soon. I am going to go cut some silk now from this stash.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

noreply@blogger.com (Dragon Threads Open Book) — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 03:09:00 +0000

Happy New year to all!

I said that this year my resolution is to sew more, try more sewing/quilting techniques and just generally be more productive and post it on my blog for you to follow.

Lately with the new BERNINA 880 and a lot of new fabric, I’ve got so many ideas swimming around in my head and I vow to take the time to try some this year. I’ll try not to waste my time on the computer so much and spend more time on the sewing machine. I find that when I am sewing and the machine is really humming, that I am so happy. I just love the act of pushing fabric through the machine! Crazy? No, I bet that is a feeling many of you share.

Well, Jan.2, I started a table runner for my 8 foot walnut table and Jan. 3, I finished it!! A simple project but I wanted to try the circular stitching attachment that I bought last Dec. I had several fat quarters of Marcia Derse fabric that I thought would go well with the green granite in my kitchen so I made this ‘quilt as you go’ table runner.

backing fabric and here you can see the overlapping circle quilting.

Does it go with my granite?

I’ll have instructions either on another blog or on mine soon. It was fast and easy and totally adaptable to the size you want and with the fabrics you have on hand.

So…on to the next project! Let’s see how many projects I can make this year! I’ve got a wedding and a friend’s baby in May and I think it’s time for a new tree skirt… I’m supposed to be doing End of Year accounting stuff though….