Scraps

It's January, do I'm on clean-up mode. Around the house, on my desk, and especially in my workroom. As I reach the bottom of the slippery slope to Christmas, tidying goes by the wayside, and eventually the floor is covered in an ankle-deep layer of scrap fabric.

The bigger pieces are out aside for folks, but the smaller bits always end up as pot holders. They're not much of a moneymaker at shows - $6 each or 3/$15 - but they alleviate the guilt I would feel at throwing all that viable fabric away.

Plus, I was given a dozen pair of mens jeans to cut up, and I always use denim for the backs.

What about you? What's happening in your creative spaces in the new year?

Sewing room update

I may not talk about it as much, but I still recycle sew and do craft shows, though I admit lately it hasn't been with quite the same enthusiasm. I think working so much from home has gotten me out of practice with my "on" personality. It wears a lot faster.

This is a recent batch of jointed bears. It's a duplicate batch - five are going to a downtown Philly shop and their twins are going to a show with me this weekend. They don't sell regularly, but when they do, it's fast, no questions asked, just "take my credit card "

Also, I give you Annie, sewing room supervisor. Yes, she sits that close. Except when she's sitting on my chair, with me perched on the edge.

It's a cat's world. We just live in it.

A special doll

This was a really special custom project I did back in late December.

The customer - the mom - contacted me and said that her adopted daughter had had cleft repair surgery, which left her with a scar.  She felt self-conscious about the scar, and said that there were no dolls out there that looked like her, both Asian and with the cleft scar.

So, being a good mom, my customer reached out and asked if I could make one for her daughter.

I was happy to oblige, and I think her daughter was happy with the result.

zero waste

Over on my Facebook business page, I have a weekly Recycle Tuesday feature.  Since most of those are either photos or links to articles elsewhere, I don't generally share them here.  But every once in a while, something is so good that it needs to be spread around.

One of the reasons I got into upcycling was the epiphany one day that I was throwing out more fabric than I was using.  I'd always kept scraps, but never really did much with them until I started my business.  This designer closed his business and then got the scrap epiphany -- in a major way.  Here's a video showing his technique.  Watch this and try to stay away from your sewing machine.  Just try.  I dare you.

Finished Quilt

The baby quilt is done!

Once I decided how I wanted it to look, it took far less time than I had expected.

It's a 9 block quilt, I'd call it "log cabin inspired" more than anything, since there's a central motif and the pieces around it are more or less mirroring the idea of a log cabin quilt.

But it's not exactly one, which is about what I'd expect from me.

Because not all the blocks were the same size, and because I wanted to use some of the other pieces of clothing that didn't make it into the blocks, I did strips in between each block and around the edges.  It used up a bit more fabric and added a few more prints to the mix.

I have to give props to a mom who dresses her child in such nicely coordinating colors.  There were literally only a few pieces I didn't use, and most of them would have still worked.

When I sent her a progress picture and told her I was going to back it in a neutral fabric I had on hand, she was fine with that.  We also decided on a light gray binding, which was from a gray t-shirt I had in my stash for that purpose.

All the years that I thought I didn't need a serger.  I could kick myself, except then I'd have to take my foot off the pedal of my serger.  Because every piece of fabric in this is a knit, this entire quilt was assembled with my serger.

I think my favorite bit is the central LOVE panel.  It was two sides of a jacket with a separating zipper.  I reinforced it before cutting, removed enough of the zipper top and bottom to be able to run it through the machine without hurting anything, and kept it as is.  I could have probably picked out the zipper and sewn the fabric together, but to me that would have changed the point of the piece -- it's meant to be Katy's outgrown baby clothes, and losing the zipper would, to me, lose some of that.

Easter. Rising.

So, I made rabbits.

I've made them before, generally as part of the receiving-blanket-bear marathon, but this year I decided to pull a few out of my hat for Easter.

Because why not?

(That, and I had some appropriately colored cashmere sweaters to tear into).

This little guy here, high on life and Easter eggs, is ivory cashmere with gingham accents.  I think he's pretty cute.

The second set, seen recently as photo props in my post about the Precious, are a combination of a lime green cashmere and a cotton/lycra sweater in Easter-y rainbow stripes.  The ears and foot pads are bright pink jersey from my t-shirt scrap bag.

The colors look almost edible, don't they?

I'm dropping a few more bunnies off at one of the shops I deal with, but I'm leaving the ivory one and at least one of the green striped ones with me so I can put them in the Etsy shop.

Before and After

I have a ton of partly-written posts, which either need more words, the right words, or a few pictures to finish them off.

But this is ready now, so here it is.

One last Christmas stocking.  The materials (baby's first Christmas onesie, baby stocking and other holiday gear) were sent to me by the mom a few weeks after Christmas.  She wanted to deal with getting her daughter's stocking made now, before she packed away the baby stuff and lost her nerve about letting someone cut it up.

I was able to incorporate fabric from every piece of clothing (except the ruffled skirt on the dress, which is being held until later, because she wants to order a doll with a fluffy skirt), and got to use my embroidery machine to do the name.  Have I mentioned that I love that machine I never thought I would want?  The same way I love my serger that I never wanted.  You never know until you try, I guess.

More new stuff soon, I promise.

Force for Good

I share a lot of recycling art and random eco-friendly things that interest me over on my shop's Facebook page (every Tuesday, if you're so inclined to check it out), but this one was interesting enough (and long enough) to also put it here.  (Source is Huffington Post).

This is an amazing business model, using every single thread of fabric that other manufacturers have already discarded.  What would the world look like if more businesses operated like this?

Abuela

My favorite orders are always the custom ones.  I love seeing what people come up with -- the thing they could never find, or a recreation of a long-lost toy.  Recently I was contacted on Etsy by someone who wanted a specific doll for her daughter.  A doll that isn't made.

Her daughter is in love with the grandmother character of a cartoon show that I've never even heard of.  There are dolls of the major characters, but Abuela didn't get a doll.  And that's who her five year old daughter wanted for Christmas.  When Christmas came, she was disappointed.  And then her mom thought to try Etsy, to see if anyone could make one.

The mom sent me a photo of the character -- which I'm not going to put up because it's licensed and I'm not and it's not an exact replica anyway, just an "inspired by," but still -- and I got to work.  The only fabric I didn't have on hand was light gray for the hair, but luckily the thrift store down the street had a pale gray men's shirt on the dollar rack.  I used the lower portion of the sleeve, so I still have a whole large shirt left for other projects.

I'm really loving my machine embroidered faces.  The hand embroidered ones had a different feel, but even when I was really moving, I couldn't do ten faces in a day -- and in busy season, that sometimes is what needs to be done.

All the other fabrics I had on hand -- the bright pink was the pocket from a skirt, the paisley was the back half of a vintage skirt that I'd cut up ages ago, the lace was two separate bundles of hem lace that probably arrived in a cookie tin from one or another elderly female relative.

She went to the post office on Tuesday, in time to arrive for a special birthday party this Saturday.

Assembly Line

Some things I make one at a time, but most of the things I make these days, I try to organize myself so that I can do them assembly-line style, knocking out as many as I can at one shot.

My recycled sweater owls were a big seller last year, and every time I've used a sweater to make a larger project I've thrown the scraps into a bag.  Post-Christmas I finally dug into that full-sized trash bag and cut up all those scraps into various owl parts.  Well, not that many parts -- fronts and backs and two wings.  The eyes, beak and feet are all made from felt, because (a) my sanity and (b) I ran out of the one good yellow sweater that I ever found.

There are still more wings left in ziploc bags, but this mess here on my dining room table constitutes all the bodies I cut, with matching (or clashing) wings pinned on.  After this was taken, they were sorted into piles by what color thread I will use to attach the wings (there are now about 5 smaller piles) and today I'll start stitching.  Once the wings are on, I can do the detail work.  I can't sew backs to fronts until my new tags arrive, but that, and stuffing, are the least of the work here.

This is 60 owls.  Since I still need to make many more larger sweater animals, I'm hoping to get at least another 40 completed before craft show season starts again in the spring.

Urban Farm . . . Kids

Well, damn.  That feels good.

Saving Marilyn

I had a show last Saturday.  It was a beautiful day; there were tons of people on the street; very little money changed hands other than at the face-painting table.

Normally I try not to shop while I'm working.  I certainly don't let myself buy anything before I've made enough money to cover my table fee.

But sometimes, fabric intervenes.

The vendor at the next table was selling clothing -- both her own work and boxes of used clothes in front of her table.  All the used items were priced at $3 each.  When she first put the boxes out, I saw fabric with faces on it -- a weakness of mine -- and I tried to ignore it.

After a few customers had pawed through the boxes, the fabric was nearer the top, and I could see that the face was Marilyn Monroe.

I gave up trying to ignore Marilyn, and went to see what the fabric was.  Turns out it was a pair of stretch jeans, size 2 petite, in excellent but tiny condition.  I told the vendor if no one purchased them by the end of the day, they were mine.

Then, as I sat there watching the crowds go by, making to-do lists for the workroom and the garden, I realized I was drawing bag designs incorporating the Marilyn fabric.  Really?

Really.  I had to buy them.  Anyone who is a size 2 petite doesn't need Marilyn Monroe jeans to make even more adorable.  I'm sorry if that's sizeist, but there you have it.  I made the world safe from Marilyn jeans, and tonight I took scissors to them.

Watch this space.

Everyone should have warm hands

Apparently felted wool sweaters are good for more than just stuffed animals.

But if I cut carefully, I can still get a stuffed animal or two out of the remaining fabric after I cut off the lower portion to make . . . mittens!

I made a pair for myself recently, just to see if I could, and then it got cold. Other than for typing and sewing, I haven't taken them off - my hands haven't been this toasty in ages, and the snug sweater band cuff means that the most important half inch of skin ever (that bit that always gets exposed between your glove and your jacket) is actually staying covered.

So I made a load of them for the craft show this weekend.  Everyone should have warm hands.

Friday with Friends: TwoTiming

I know, I know.  This feature has gone missing for a few weeks - certainly not because of lack of subjects, but because I've rather over-committed myself for the upcoming holiday season and I'm feeling a little pressured.

But this week I'm feeling also the need to share some love, so I give you Kaylene of the Etsy shop TwoTiming.  She's another recycler/upcycler, and a leader on the Etsy team that I captain, the Upcycled Clothing 'n Things team.

Her fiber of choice is felted wool, and what this woman can do with a discarded sweater (or sweaters - take a look at that second pair of brown slippers!) is beyond belief.  I love her slippers and I'm thinking I might buy myself a little post-Christmas gift if the season goes well enough.

If you see anything you like, give yourself adequate time for shipping -- Kaylene's an Aussie, so it will take time to reach you, but her work is worth the wait!

Vintage Quilt Love

I've always had an affinity for quilts, just not necessarily for quilting.

Old quilts, in particular, talk to me, sharing stories of where they've been, the women who made them, the tough times they've survived.

I found this old quilt recently - it was being sold quite cheaply because there was some damage to it, but I loved the colors and the pattern and took it home, hoping there would be enough to salvage.

Surprisingly, there was remarkably little damage - a few holes and worn spots, but mostly near the edges.  Some discoloration, but isn't that to be expected in something that's over 60 years old?  We should all be in this good a condition by that age!

The quilt sat for a week or two while I considered it.  I wanted to make a few stockings - I'm getting ready for the holidays in a big way, and though I'm not into  country the way I'm not into quilting, there's also something attractive about it, especially when you add in all the emotional baggage of the holidays; it seems right.

I thought it was a great way to indulge in some country-themed items without going full-on, over-the-top into cheesy country kitsch.

I've done the stockings two ways - one, with the "JOY" applique, because it wanted that appliqued on it.  The applique, and the reverse side of the stocking, are repurposed denim.

The second stocking is plain patchwork, with a denim reverse, and meant to be personalized.

After I finished a pile of stockings, I realized there was still quite a bit of undamaged quilt left.

That's when the bag bug kicked in.  I like hobo bags.  I like roomy bags that you can wear on your shoulder or cross body, with storage and pockets and a little cuteness to perk you up on a dreary day.

I decorated this bag with a jeans pocket on one side and an appliqued denim heart on the other.  Both sides had a few embellished pink roses.

The bag strap is made from the waistband of the same pair of jeans that gave up its pockets to the cause.

The bag is lined in a cheery mid-century-looking pink, yellow and green print, just to cut a little of the sweetness.

Somehow, there's still a pile of quilt left on my table.

More stockings?  More bags?  More . . . something.  I'll figure it out.