Xylem Series - In the Beginning

I've been having fun in my studio for the last few weeks coming up with a new wall hanging to have for the Art Show I'll be doing starting in August (more on that later).  My inspiration for this piece is an image magnified 2,000 times of conifer wood xylem cells*.  It has a very uneven, repetitive geometry that looked interesting enough to springboard from.  Using some of the techniques I learned in my last art textile class, I sewed and cut and sewed burlap, suedecloth, cotton and organza to make 4 long segments that will make up the background cloth.  And now, I'm appliquing organza, cotton, suedecloth and felt in swirly dollops down each segment.  The hours have gone by enjoyably with each stitch.

* From "Heaven & Earth: Unseen by the naked eye", published by Phaidon

Thread, Glorious Thread!

No one can accuse me of being afraid of color (but one could accuse me of being addicted to it).  Since I discovered Atlanta Thread, my thread stash is almost as big as my fabric stash :).  I love to use thread to add a zing or a subtle surprise.  It makes sewing infinitely more fun.

So which did I pick for this organizer?  Gutterman No. 16, my current fav (a pinky orangy red, 2nd from right).  (The green herringbone fabric came from Fabric Factory, the Paula Prass (of Michael Miller Fabrics) print is Par Avion and came from Little Cherubs.)

Margery's Place, uh, Purse!

Margery recently bought the "A Place For Everything" purse pattern and sent the photo, above, of her finished purse (well, actually, it's for her daughter).  I love it!  She wrote me, "You can just see I added a magnetic catch - I'd never used one before but it was easy - I put two extra layers of fabric behind each part to give some firmness.  Isn't the lining a perfect colour match? I was going to use a light colour (it's always dark inside handbags) but I found this in my local patchwork shop and loved it."  It really is fun to see what people have done with my patterns.  Thanks so much for sending the photo, Margery :).

"Home" Stats

Recently, I published a post of Where In The World I had shipped my purses, organizers, hats, felted pieces and sewing patterns.  While I was at it, I figured out where 'at home' I had shipped.   So here are some little known (ok, totally unknown until now) fun facts...at least for me:

• Sweetbriar Studio has shipped to 45 of the 50 states.
• My birth state, Pennsylvania, has 27 of my creations.

Of the other states I've called "home"...

• Colorado has 7.
• Japan, well, I guess I haven't shipped there...yet!
• Maryland has 12.
• Virginia has 15.
• California has 48 (yep, they're number One in the world so far).
• and I've shipped 15 to good ol' North Carolina.

(Yes, my dad was in the US Navy which accounts for at least 4 of my moves.) So thanks to everyone out there, in my home states or not, who have been so great to me.  I appreciate you!

Making (wacky) Fabric from (ordinary) Fabric

I recently learned how to make fabric from fabric, and I love it!  It gives me just one more way I can add my creative, personal touch to what I am making and can pizazz it up.  Plus, it's one more way to use up those bits of fabric I can't seem to throw away.

So here's how you can do it, too:

Begin by sewing strips of fabric together.  The strips should be 2 to 3 times the length of the finished piece you want to make.

The width of the sewn-together pieces should be about 2 times the width of your finished piece.

Now cut it up at angles...really, go ahead :).

Next, take these pieces and turn some of them in the other direction and rearrange them until they're all wonky...

Then, sew them together.  Whoaaa, it feels a little off the grid!

Here's what mine looked like. 

Now overlay your pattern piece wherever you want, annnnnd...

Cut it out! 

 

Yep, that's it.  Not bad, eh?  And it's so much more interesting and fun than just using what you buy the way you buy it.  Have fun!

Beads! (aka "More Fun With Fabric Scraps")

Recently, a friend, who is also an all-things-fiber fanatic, came over and showed me a few things to do with those eeny weeny fabric scraps I can't part with.  Among her many clever ideas were how to make fabric beads.  Fast-forward to last week when I was making a prototype of my new Pocket Purse design (pattern is now in my Etsy shop) and I started fooling around with this idea.  Wanna have some fun?  It is so dang easy, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it myself.  Here are the easy squeezy steps:

First, lay a piece of fabric, ribbon, whatever, vertically....

Next, lay lots of little bits horizontally...

Place a coffee stirrer-type straw at the bottom...

And start rolling.

Put a dab of glue at the end just before rolling it all up.

Et Voila!

For one of the beads in the top photo, I wrapped wire around it and spaced glass beads every so often. 

Soooo fun! 

(Also see "Fabric Leftovers" by D'Arcy-Jean Milne for more ideas.)

Where in the World...?

One of the very fun things about having a shop on Etsy is that I get to 'meet' people from all over the world. Just for grins, I recently figured out where in the world my oh-so-nice customers are enjoying my creations. Drumroll please! I have shipped:

29 to Canada

13 to Australia

8 to the UK

5 to Brazil

5 to Germany

4 to Malaysia

4 to Singapore

3 to France

3 to Norway

1 each to Austria, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey

...an all the rest to the US...

for a total of 550 orders to 21 countries in all. Fun! If I can't be a world traveler, I'm glad I can travel vicariously through my creative goodies :). Thank you World!

Jelly Belly Button: revisited

I wrote about this piece last August as I described the felting process. But before I could take a good "The End" photo, I made the mistake of taking it up to my girlfriend's (for show-and-tell) and she convinced me that it had found its perfect home.

You see, she has a turquoise wall in her home that was the perfect compliment to my "Jelly Belly Button". And so it is.

[Why I didn't think to take a straight-on shot of it is a mystery (errr). Guess I'll just have to go back for a visit:).]

For those itty bitty fabric scraps...

One of my very favorite friends, and her very favorite man, just happened to mention that they were going to get married...that weekend! (They were flying to Vegas for a business conference.) You see, she didn't want any fanfare, no big deal made of it. Well, we showed her! Three of us took her out for a quickie shower :). You know, manicure, pedicure - all four of us lined up and chattering away. One brought flowers, one brought wine (do you know they didn't let us bring it into the salon - dang!), and one brought chocolate (of course). And I had a great time stitching up this card out of little bits and pieces of my can't-throw-the-minisculest-bit-away-fabric.
Two hearts. Intertwined. Just as it should be. Just as I hope they are for many, many, many years.

Bringing the art out of people and putting people into art!

I had the privilege (and fun) of helping out a wee bit with Peg Gignoux' latest collaboration. This time it is with Newcomers School in Greensboro, North Carolina.

(Click to enlarge and photo)

Peg (at right in the photo above) is working with art teacher Victoria Wreden Sadeq (left) and her students to create a textile work that reflects the students' amazing diversity and what it is to be a newcomer to this country. Fifty-two countries are represented by the students who worked on this piece! Peg worked with the students to dye organza to create a myriad of beautiful, translucent colors. Then the students wrote down words about what the colors of that cloth meant to them. There were some powerful words that reflected the kids' rural (and in some cases, textile) backgrounds in their home countries. The students then translated those words into their native languages, made stencils and cut the words out of their hand-dyed cloth. They incorporated (and sewed and fused) canvas, world maps and their words to make a very colorful collage. But that's not where it stopped. They cut it all up! They mixed it up!!

Because of Spring Break, Peg has been hand-stitching these pieces together herself. But, once the students return from their break, they will help finish the two sections. The work under construction is being made in two sections that, once mounted, will measure 264 " wide by 56 " high.

The Community Cloth project is designed to fit into the Newcomers School library but, before its installation there, it will be included in an exhibition at Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art (who sponsored the project) in Greensboro from April 9- May 1, 2010.

Peg also teaches various workshops (one I posted about previously - so great!) and works with other community groups to develop wonderful pieces of art. Stayed tuned to hear about her workshops in France!