art teacher

I know! Two posts in one week!! Craziness! And the excitement doesn't end here... hint hint...

So, do you guys remember your art teachers growing up? I was really lucky to have some wonderful art teachers (one of whom was my Mom - hi Mom!!  I might be biased, but she was my favorite!) and while I may have found my way into a creative field all on my own, I definitely would not have had the amount of confidence and wherewithal to pursue my degrees in Painting without the support and encouragement of my art teachers.  I mean... I certainly wasn't getting any encouragement to continue on with math or science... so, I'm glad someone saw something in me!

But this post isn't just a testimonial to the importance of arts education in public schools (although don't get me started...) It's about some of the other effects that art teachers had on me.  I'm talking about style here.  One of my style inspirations is always some kind of mish-mash of all my art teachers.  There's just such an amazing, eclectic mix of professional/bohemian, practical/elegant, modern/vintage vibes going on with the art educator set! Not to mention a (typically) keen eye for color, proportion, and texture.  

This jacket feels like something that one of my art teachers (or maybe just my Mom...this is a good thing) would have worn.  There were lots of sneak peeks of this make in my last post because I literally wore it every. single. day while I was in NYC.  I have to say - up to this date - this might be one of my favorite handmade additions to my closet.  It's just seriously cool.

A few months ago, Colette from Tessuti contacted me to see if I'd like to review one of their patterns.  Have you guys been keeping up on the patterns that have been coming out of there? Really great stuff. Basics with a twist - definitely my kind of thing.  And also the sort of garments that would be flattering on a wide range of women, both age-wise and body-type.  I chose to make the Tokyo Jacket - a loose, unstructured, kimono-inspired jacket that works well in lighter, drape-ier fabrics.  I could just tell immediately from the line-drawings and the pictures on their site that this would be my kind of thing.  I love clothing with a somewhat Japanese aesthetic, and a dramatic fit. I will also be ordering the Suzy Pant as soon as payday comes... hello favorite new fall pant!

It took me a little while to get around making this jacket - mainly because I couldn't quite wrap my head around making a jacket, no matter how lightweight, when the temperatures were over 100 degrees! But with the approach of fall I decided it was time to delve in, and boy am I glad I did! This seems to go with everything in my closet!

This was one of those times that I had a really clear idea about what kind of fabric I wanted to pair with the pattern.  I knew as soon as I had the pattern in my hands that I wanted to make this out of some kind of shibori-dyed fabric, to highlight the kimono silhouette.  I used some silk noil (the same stuff I used to make this dress) and tried a itajime-shibori technique.  This basically means that the fabric was folded and then used some kind of shape-resist to prevent the dye from penetrating all the way through.  I was dyeing about 2 1/2 yards... you guys... that was a lot of folding! I can't totally say if my process was legit-shibori (I'm an internet learner) but I loved the outcome!

I didn't use a traditional indigo dye bath, but instead just used my trusty Dharma procion dyes.  Believe it or not, this dye color was supposed to black! That just goes to show you how unpredictable dye colors can be! It turned out more of a gray-ish blue with (though you can't see it in these pictures) an almost pink-ish haze around the blue.

My yardage of this silk noil was pretty narrow, so I had to fold it on the cross-grain in order to cut the pattern pieces.  My one regret with this jacket is that I did not follow my gut and cut the back piece on the fold (the instructions were to cut two).  There was just no way I was going to get the pattern to match up at that center back seam otherwise.  But like many things, this felt like a bit of a bummer at the time, but after wearing it around for a whole weekend, it really doesn't bother me (we'll call it a 'design feature').  Next time...

So the pattern! I requested a paper pattern because I was feeling a bit burnt out on all the printing and taping of digital patterns, but these patterns are available both ways.  They have a handmade look to them which is pleasant - like a pattern your friend drafted for you.  Everything matched up perfectly and the fit was spot on. I made a size S based on my measurements.  Obviously this jacket is very roomy so I probably could have made an XS, but when a garment like this is designed to have excessive ease I like to follow the designers size suggestions so it fits how they envision (interestingly enough, this is the total opposite to when I'm making a more fitted garment - then I base everything off of the finished garment measurements).

The instructions were impeccable! So, so thorough.  I didn't run into any problems sewing this up! The pattern says it is for Intermediate to Super-Advanced sewers, but honestly, based on how descriptive the instructions are I think a beginner-intermediate sewer could handle this, no problem. The trickiest part (in my opinion) was the pockets, and this was simply because they come together in a way I have never quite seen before, but I just trusted Tessuti and followed the instructions and lo-and-behold! Perfect pockets! 

I had the bare minimum of my yardage to make this  jacket, so I opted to do the cuffs and pocket trim in a contrast fabric.  This was one of the other reasons it took me a while to finally make this jacket - I was searching for the perfect trim fabric. You know, that mythical fabric that will just magically take this jacket from "awesome" to "amaze-balls"..? Well I found it, but it wasn't in any of my local stores.  

You see, I really wanted to have this jacket ready for my trip to New York, so I ended up rooting around in my scraps until I found something that struck my fancy - leather! I had left-over cream lamb-skin from making this jacket, and leftover black pleather from making these pants, and after a brief consultation on Instagram I followed the overwhelming advice to go with cream and I was off and away! And, wow, you guys I am  so glad  I took your advice and went with the cream leather! It just looks, and feels (and smells) so luxe! I added a small ribbon of trim along the collar to separate the collar from the body of the jacket, and to balance the other leather accents.  Those little bits of leather are really what makes this jacket extra-special to me. I just love the combined textures of the nubby silk-noil and buttery soft leather... mmmm.... Side note: this has totally renewed my love of sewing with leather... I am already scheming... many schemes...

So yeah! I'm super excited about this jacket!! A huge 'thank you' to Colette for sending me this pattern, and for always being such a huge supporter of this sewing-blog community! 

And now... for something extra exciting!! Tessuti is giving away one Tokyo Jacket pattern to one of my readers!! If you're in the Northern hemisphere, this jacket will make a great layering piece for fall - and if you're about to enter spring, this is the perfect lightweight layer to throw on over a sleeveless shirt (or, in my case, jumpsuit!) Basically - transitional weather perfection! 

Leave a comment with an email address where I can reach you - extra points if you make me laugh - and I'll choose a winner at random... oh... say... next Monday, September 30th at 8pm?  Sounds like a great way to cap off September! 

xx

stargazer

This was my last make of 2012. I don't know why it took me so long to get it photographed and on the blog... actually I do know, but I'm too embarrassed to say! 

Sigh... you guys, I can't keep secrets from you! So this is what happened: I made two of these dresses right before Christmas - one for me and one for a friend. Only I seemed to miscalculate my yardage and I didn't have enough fabric to make one of the belts. No biggee, I thought, I'll just give my friend the belt and then dye some fabric to match for mine. So off her dress went in the mail (I gave a little sneakery peekery in this post) and there mine sat, un-hemmed and belt-less (and dare I say sad and forlorn?) until... oh... this weekend. Guys, I am not big on having UFO's hanging about my sewing room. I'm much more of the "finish what you started" type of sewer - for better or worse - so it was killing me that this dress was just sitting there, gathering cat hair. You see I did dye fabric but somehow it came out a crazy color, and I was genuinely stumped! So finally I gathered every last teensy scrap of this fabric I had lying around and cut out as many rectangular pieces from it as I could and made a belt out of it! I think there's something like nine sections to this belt. It actually turned out to be quite long! Wraps around twice... who woulda thought...? Lesson learned: never underestimate your scraps!

This is my second time making Victory Pattern's Satsuki Dress. My friend saw the black one I made last fall and said she liked it so I thought I'd give her one as a gift. But since I'm not a totally selfless seamstress I also made one for me. This time I lowered both the front and back neckline and added about an inch of length (to make it bike-riding-appropriate... sorta). I lowered the back neckline at my friend's suggestion, so now you can wear it as a v-neck or backwards as a boat-neck. I lowered the front "v" based on my own preferences, and also confirmed my suspicions that, even given the opportunity to wear a different neckline on the same dress, I'll always choose a v-neck! It's just more comfortable and, I think, flattering on me!

The fabric is hand dyed and painted by yours truly. It's a silk noil from Dharma Trading Co. I worked the same way I did the last time I hand painted fabric, laying out the continuous yardage and working directly on it. Unfortunately (or fortunately...? or just totally unpredictably...?) this created little bit of a variance in color and design throughout the length of fabric. Like the good person I am, I cut my friend's dress from the parts of fabric that I deemed the "prettiest" and made mine from the leftover, slightly odd parts. Not that you can really tell in these pictures, but the back has a totally different feel from the front. One of the good things about letting a project sit for as long as I did is that you can start to see it in a new light. I felt like my friend's dress had a very pretty sort of Japanese floral feel to it, almost landscape-y. Mine, however, I felt looked a bit more like I was about to go to a Grateful Dead concert. Nothing against DeadHeads, but it's not really my look.  However, give me few weeks and a bit of critical distance and now I feel like the dress is more celestial than stoner. 

This was the first time I worked with silk noil and I'm really pleased with it. After the first washing it was a bit stiff - and smelled oddly of fish - but in the second wash I used a fabric softener which brought back some it's drape, and the fish smell... well... I think it's faded...? It sewed up really really easily and pressed like a dream. The texture is kind of nubby and rough, but also somehow really comfy against the skin. I feel like this dress is as comfortable as a sweatshirt dress!

I actually set out to take these photos twice. As usual with me, I get a pretty strong idea of how I want my photos to look and I just knew that this dress would look amazing photographed at the South Jetty - a concrete path that juts out from the East end of the island into the Gulf. The day was overcast and the colors were perfect. And best of all - no one was there!! 

Yeah, but my camera battery was dead. Foiled by the blogger's worst enemy!! So round one was a bust.  But! I was not about to be dissuaded so easily. I went home and recharged and set out again later in the day. Unfortunately in the time I was away some fishermen found the jetty, too. We only gave each other a few dirty looks before we decided to just ignore each other. However, while I was taking pictures I became a bit distracted because quite nearby, this started happening:

Dudes, that is someone getting their life saved!!! No joke, the helicopter rolls up, lowers down, then I see one figure descending into the water in a rope, and when they pull him back up again he's got a second person with him, flailing around in his flippers! I'm assuming since the be-flippered person was flailing that they were still alive... dead people don't flail do they?

To be honest, by this point there was quite a crowd gathering around and I didn't stick around to see what happened. You see, I generally think that if I'm being pulled out of the sea by the coast guard and I may have just survived a near-death experience, the last thing I would want is a crowd of people around to witness it! 

Okay, true story time - so I grew up going to the beach every summer (Wildwood, NJ woot woot!!) and am generally a pretty strong swimmer. My parents and grandparents made sure we all knew how to be safe in the ocean. Before I could swim I knew how to do the dead man's float and what to do if I was caught in a riptide (you swim parallel to the shore people!) Anyways, you get the idea! So one summer I go out into the water by myself and start swimming for a sand bar a bit out in the distance. As I'm swimming I hear lifeguard whistles, but I figure it's no biggee, probably for people that were swimming too far out. I make it to the sand bar, climb out, turn around and see a lifeguard hurtling at me through the water! Apparently I had been caught in a current that had pulled me way far off from the point I entered the water! (P.S. I would've figured this out when I decided to make my way back to shore, and could've like, you know, walked back to where my towel was...) The lifeguard insisted I hold on to his red-hot-doggie-looking-flotation-thingy and he made me come back in to shore, right then, where - wouldn't ya know - a huge crowd had gathered! You guys... I was mortified!! I was, like, 20 when this happened!  And the lifeguard was cute, of course! I mean, maybe I really was in real danger and I didn't know it, but mostly I was embarrassed! 

By the way, I don't think my story has anything to do with this guy getting saved by a helicopter - just maybe tangentially related...? You know... water saving stories and all that...? Yeah? No? Maybe... just a little?

Alright, folks, I'm out!!! Have a good Sew Grateful Week! And know that I am sew grateful to all you readers and for this lovely sewing community I've found myself a part of. 

xx

on the table

just some peeks at whats been happening on my sewing table. i often get so caught up in envisioning the final outcome, that i forget that whats happening along the way is pretty important too.

xx

a bit of randomness

when we were planning our wedding i thought i was being very clever by cutting up my fabric scraps to turn into a bunting. "self," i said, "you are so smart to make use of your unwanted fabric this way!"

that is until after the wedding, when i was left with a bag of, albeit much smaller, but nonetheless, scraps. theres a little sappy sallie in there somewhere that just can't bear to throw them all out, even more so after their participation in our very special day. thats when * i * began to think of quilting with them.

please. the thought of quilting is about as appealing to me as doing my taxes. guh. but that stupid little sappy sallie has me convinced that this will be something i'll cherish forever and want to give my grandchildren.

my original idea for a design involved some complicated circular starburst thing that would radiate out and... i know i know i'll just stop there! so you can see why i haven't even attempted this yet? that is until i stumbled upon this today:

Source: 2.bp.blogspot.com via Sallie on Pinterest

it was, like, the greatest "a ha!" moment i've had in a long time. half my work is already done! i know the whole bunting thing is a fad that will probably be gone before i can say "wedding season", but this little quilt design makes it look somewhat timeless. something i won't mind seeing on our bed, or thrown over the back of a couch, or even folded neatly on a shelf...

for years to come.

xx

*editors update: after reading this, my husband loudly cleared his throat and said "you thought of making a quilt?" yeah, yeah, yeah. it wasn't my idea at all - totally his. you win, husband, you win.