Teaching Time

I'm a bit wrapped up in Summer Institute, if that helps to explain why I've haven't posted in a while. But thought I'd update everyone on a few projects.

After a very, very hot, soapy washing, all of those old bathing suits I bought were chopped up into 2.5" squares. I starched and ironed them as best as I could, but the spandex/lycra they are made of was very tricky to cut accurately. It loves to shift and curl up as you're working with it. 

Then I went into school a bit early before class to steal some time on the serger. I do think a serger/coverstitcher is in my near-future, but the purchase has been pushed back a bit after a rather large vet bill for my dumb cat. Anyway, I made some nine-patches, and I was happy to see the stretch really remained. I was worried that all the seams from piecing would make it rigid, but it didn't. Some sort of horrible athletic wear is going to come from this, I promise. 

Fairisle hat is continuing to come together. I knitted the top with guidance from a pattern for a 'flat top' hat, but it made the top more hexagonal than circular, and it's a bit lumpy looking. Oh well! Crochet edging now along the bottom edge and face-hole. I did block it, but it's rolling up again, so I guess I'll block it again once I'm done. A big old pom-pom's going on top too, don't worry. 

And just one lonely Dear Jane Block. But it is the start of a new row! Here's my H-1, and what a refreshingly easy little block after a lot of row G being very fidgety.

I've also done a lot of drawing in the past couple weeks, when I get a chance I'll scan some of that in. I also just started last night a pair of camo pants for myself, and I think I've finally gotten my pants pattern just about right, so keep an eye out for them!

Working, Not Showing

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been working a lot, both in the studio and at my jobs, but it's been a lot more writing/sketching/planning than sewing/making.  

I did finish my Mick Jagger Halloween costume, unfortunately Hurricane Sandy made our party a little smaller than anticipated, and by Halloween itself I was partied out, so not many saw it. Always next year!

The Braid Coat is starting to come together. I'm trying desperately to finish this before getting fully involved in my Lenore Tawney piece but it looks like I may have to start that soon to get it done in time.  Next post I'll share some of my sketches for that. 

Made multiples of my jumpsuit pattern pieces for my class. I make them with a dashed 'sewing line' and an outer 'cut line' to make it easier for the kids.  I'm also teaching them to take these patterns and add volume in areas with the slash-and-spread technique. 

And with that comes my awkwardly drawn instruction pages. These are just a guideline for them, to show how the original garments would have gone together. Almost no-ones will look anything like this once they're done. 

Just fooling around with watercolors.  Starting to actually, for real outline a chunk of chapter from the comic I may or may not be working on, so trying to get back on the drawing.

Seamus's birthday card this year. He's now got my watching WWE (and, I'm not going to lie, i watch it even when he's not here) so he gets a pro-wrestling themed card with Team Hell No--the best tag-team champs!

Halloween!

There's been a break in my normal work habits to make up some Halloween costumes for me and my boyfriend. I changed my mind from Wesley Crusher (wearing a jumpsuit is not a good idea if you're going out and have to use the rest room) to Mick Jagger, specifically this outfit:

Along with this hat:

The hat is made of cardboard and masking tape, then covered in quilt batting and fabric. Not bad for a rush job, though I think I made it a bit too tall. 

And the shirt, belt, and scarf. I'll just be wearing some tight black jeans I already own, and I can't quite find a picture with his shoes visible, so I guess I'll just wear some black oxfords.

And for Seamus, he's going as 80's/90's wrestler 'Big Boss Man'

His shirt, I couldn't find a confederate flag patch, but otherwise not too shabby. Still need to find him a night stick and handcuffs. 

Also last week I taught a dying and shibori class, I always love all the different samples the kids make!

I also demoed ice-dying, but I tried it with organza this time. I think because organza absorbs dye so easily and doesn't really 'spread' the liquid throughout it like a thicker cotton, I got a very different effect. Still very pretty and painterly though. 

Shoe Things

First, we need a model foot. I used the same method I used years ago to make big doll mannequins, just wrapping my foot in first saran wrap, then clear tape. You then cut it off your foot (or your arm, or your whole body) and tape it back together, then stuff!

And you're left with a lovely model foot. Much easier then trying to draw on a mockup while it's still on your foot. Which is what I did for a solid evening until I realized making a dummy foot was a much smarter idea. You can also draw centerlines and things on a dummy, it's not quite so easy to do on your own body part. 

Anyway, I've been using it to play around with some shoe-shapes. I like to make mock-ups out of wool, it has some body to it and you can just butt it together to add pieces to your pattern. I think the final version will be partially wool, part leather. I'm thinking about quilting the two together, may work on some samples of that tonight. 

From the side, I'm going to have to see when I cut this stuff apart if I can cut that side piece as one with the bottom or not. Lots of trial and error right now. 

The basic form came from this strange little slipper I found a year or so ago. If there's one thing I love, it's unusual construction. I went on a little jag on my Tumblr on some great non-european pants constructions, definitely on the short list for new projects. 

And I don't normally post my WAYWT's here but I wore my jumpsuit to class on Monday to give the kids some jumpsuit-spiration. They're really working hard, getting things real fast, I'm proud of them. Can't wait to see their finished projects! Also pleased that the jumpsuit is super comfy and cool, might actually make it into my regular rotation. 

Back in Place

It feels so good to get the Dear Jane back on the wall. Now I feel like I've moved in. I've been so busy getting things ready for my class and fixing up the new apartment, I haven't really worked on anything for myself, and now that I'm ready I've found that my little ruler is missing. Ugh. But at least it's here to cheer me up. 

Speaking of class, seven of these guys went with me tonight, the kids are going to transform them however they'd like. Of course, every other year everyone wanted to make shorts/rompers, now that I've done the hard part for them they all want to make gowns. Soooooo we'll see. 

And I did a little more ice dying. I'm just tickled with how well the broadcloth I bought is dying. I'm so used to cottons dying very washed out so it's great! I'm going to dye the scraps from cutting out the jumpsuits for quilting.

I love when it gets all fractal-y, which I could get this effect more consistently. 

Ice Dying and Shibori

So that plain white shirt from the last post has now turned into this! I'm super pleased with how the ice-dying came out, I will definitely be trying it again. 

I sort of want to do it again on a shirt that I didn't just throw together in a few hours, the collar's a bit messed up. 

The marbled effect is so cool! Also it's good to see the cotton broadcloth dyes so well, that's what the kid's jumpsuits are made of. 

We also did Shibori dying in class on Wednesday, these are some of the samples I made up. I love the gradation that the Thiox gave to that purple piece, I really want to dye a whole shirt that way. 

Some of the kid's samples. A lot of green this year!

I also dyed a chunk of silk in the ice-dye bath, it took the color a little darker. This I'll cut up and give a piece of to each student. 

Moving In

So I'm moved into my new studio! And it's bigger than my old one, which is fantastic. The unfortunate thing it, not knowing what kind of space I was moving into, I donated a whole lot of my old work and materials. So if you live in Philadelphia, check out Philly Aids Thrift, you might pick up some of my old work for very, very cheap. 

So it's looking a little empty right now. I need to rehang my design wall for the Dear Jane, but I donated the fabric it was made from. As an added bonus, the previous tenants left me this ironing board! No more ironing on my desk on some canvas. 

My closet is so big! I had those little half-size closets in the old place. I feel so luxurious. We've got a linen closet and a hall clothes closet too. And a great kitchen. So while moving with no notice really stunk, at least I'm liking the new place. 

Whipped up a quick shirt with my new 'Hawaiian' shirt pattern. Something about the facing is not quite right though, I need to tweak it. Anyway I made this one in plain white because I'm going to try ice dying with it. I demoed it for my class tonight, and hopefully I should be able to wash it out tomorrow. 

And this mess of stuff will soon become seven white jumpsuits for my students, that's my weekend project. 

Ran the Gauntlet (New News)

And now for present tense. I had my Love/Hate critique today. 6 hours of 30 people presenting 12 objects each. And me on far too little sleep after scrambling to finish last night/early morning. Most people only did small samples, some didn't even make 12. The teachers were being ridiculously easy on some people. I miss last semester with Don and Walter--they would call you out for bad craftmenship in an instant. Well, then again, maybe I didn't miss them for this one, these were probably the most shoddily done pieces I've done in a while. Still, a few good ideas came out of it that I can come back to later.

Anyway, here's my 12, I ended up using most of one wall in the Crit Space:



Enjoy some slightly blurry pictures I took at 1 am as I was setting up for the crit.

Ah, this one came out terrible. But the orange blob looks a bit more like a shag run made of zinnias in real life. The patchwork one is made entirely out of the bottom bands of the t-shirts, and was really fun to produce.


I wish the backing fabric hadn't shown through as much on the scale piece, it stretched a bit more than I anticipated. And the braided one is based on a full dress I did a while back out of red t-shirts, perhaps that'll be the next Old News.


The piece on the left here is probably my most interesting--it's quilted shower curtain stuffed with t-shirt fabric that's been shredded until it was almost powder. It really starts to look like a pigment, I was really pleased with the effect. If I can shoehorn it into a future assignment, I'd love to do a really nice, tailored raincoat with some sort of elaborate design with this sort of technique.

So that's done, now I'm invested in my Constructed Surface project, where I'm donning a lab coat and attempting to make a dress and cover it in rock candy. Small scale experiments to be conducted tomorrow night.