making, learning, teaching and sharing a crafty life
There’s a shipment of Liberty of London fabrics in transit to the workroom. So, of course, I am up late looking at each of these six prints and wondering just what fun things they will become.
Mauvey, Kate Ada, Kitty Grace, Ebs, Douglas Stripe and Clemmie – we’re going to have so much fun together!
I am so excited to finally be able to check off #6 on My Crafty List of Things to Do – design a skateboard! I received my blank deck back in February and looked at it everyday, pondering just what I was going to do. I had the idea to make a piece of patchwork that I might somehow wrap around the deck. I also had triangles on my mind, inspired by the fabric bunting in the workroom’s window that I just can’t seem to bear to take down.
I decided to make use of the workroom’s laser cutter to help with all the cutting. I’ve been wanting to test this out to help doing patchwork. Every single fabric triangle was laser cut and they are all the exact same size. I knew this kind of precision would be really helpful, especially since I had it in my head that I was going to hand piece the entire thing.
Before attempting to put the real thing together. I did a little test piece. I made a small triangle patchwork sample that I tested wrapping and gluing around a piece of plywood. I had purchased a bottle of Martha Stewart’s Decoupage Glue a while ago, hoping it would do the trick. It worked perfectly. To adhere the patchwork to the wood, I applied the glue to the wood and smoothed the fabric on top. I then brushed on a layer of the glue over top the fabric. The two things I learned from doing this test were 1. the wood showed through the muslin pieces more than I liked once it was glued and 2. one layer of glue on top of the fabric was enough. More than that and the fabric started looking dull and plastic-y. To compensate for the show-through on the muslin, I decided to glue a solid piece of muslin to the skateboard deck first and then glue my patchwork on top of that.
Of course all this was started about a week before I needed to submit my finished deck. Even being short on time, I was absolutely determined to sew the entire thing by hand. After doing our Hand Work class, I love having a hand sewing project on the go. Sitting in bed and sewing is so fun! There were a couple late nights, but when I finished sewing all 200+ triangles together, I was so happy with how it turned out.
When I had finished gluing the finished patchwork to the deck, I realized that the back of the deck wasn’t so pretty. I couldn’t have that, so I found a large scrap of Liberty of London ‘Wiltshire’ (from this dress), glued it over the back and then hand embroidered a little label.
The actual auction night was super fun. Tons of people came out to see all the artwork and finished decks. All the decks were so different and lots of them were really clever. Even though Andrew bid on my deck a couple times (so sweet!), by the end of the night someone else had outbid him, so it’s gone to another home. I couldn’t resist bidding on Derrick Hodgson’s deck and I actually won it! I haven’t picked it up yet, but I’m currently trying to decide where it’s going to hang.
All my photos of my work in progress and the Disposable Artshow night are here. Thanks to Freedom Fighter Skateboards and Joey for letting me take part. I’ll admit that I’m already hatching ideas for another deck for next year’s event. Why stop at just one?
I got lots of brilliant gift ideas from your comments yesterday. Yesterday’s winner was comment #11 from Lark. She said, “I plan to make a few sets of bias-trimmed placemats & napkins with funky fun fabrics similar to the ones on Purl Bee, maybe with hand-stitching. Also, a canning jar pincushion filled with a notions like few buttons & thread spools for my new-to-sewing daughter”
Today is Debbie’s Crafty Wish List!
Since it seems to be on everybody’s list, today’s winner will win their choice of one metre of Liberty of London fabric or a fat quarter of each of the five prints we have in stock right now. Choose from ‘My Little Star‘, ‘Mirabelle‘, ‘Zain‘, ‘Little Mari‘, and ‘Fairford‘. Just leave a comment (with your email address) letting me know if you’d like the metre or the fat quarters and what you might do with it, if you won it. Contest closes at midnight tonight. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow with our final crafty wish list!
I’m feeling the holiday crunch as I try to start/finish off holiday gifts in the next couple days.
Thank you for leaving all your wish lists over the weekend! It’s fun to hear from you, to read what everyone wants and to see some of the same things repeated over and over. (more time, Liberty of London fabric, Japanese dress books – yes, yes & yes!) The winner of Twinkle Sews! is comment #51 – Tina!
Tina’s comment was “the only thing on my craft list right now… is my own sewing space in this house!!”
Today is Ayalah’s Crafty Wish List…
There’s only a few more crafting days left! Do you have any good last minute gift ideas? Leave a comment (with your email) by midnight tonight sharing your idea or a link to a great last minute gift idea and you could win a copy of Anna Maria Horner’s Study Hall Skirt. I’ll announce today’s winner tomorrow, with the next wish list!
Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 6
Stylish Dress Book : Dress “S” in Zain Liberty of London Tana Lawn
If you have a sharp eye, you’ll catch that I’ve done this dress before. It’s not often that I repeat a pattern, but I have fallen in love with this style. My “Little Stars” version has become one of my easy favourites. It is perfect for dressy nights out and comfortable to wear every day.
Your sharp eye might also catch that I’ve used the Zain Liberty fabric already, for my camera strap. I thought it would be great to make a ‘black-ish’ dress to transition to fall that I could wear with tights when the weather got colder. I love how some of these Liberty of London prints seem so wild and crazy up close, but from far away read as quite sophisticated.
The dress exactly is pretty much exactly the same as the other one. I didn’t end up taking the sides in at all, so the skirt is slightly more full. I like this. I also repeated my modification of adding several lines of shirring just above the waistline. It’s like wearing an invisible belt. I feel shapely without feeling restricted.
Keep your eye out for at least one more version of this pattern, I’ve decided it will make a great top with some minor modifications.
Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 5
Stylish Dress Book : Dress “M” in Wiltshire Liberty of London Tana Lawn
We went to a wedding in Montreal a couple weekends ago. It was a lovely affair out in the country on the grounds of an old mill. It was the perfect occasion to sew up another dress using my stash of Liberty of London fabrics. I chose to use the deep plummy ‘Wiltshire” print.
I agonized quite a bit over what pattern to use. I went through my vintage sewing patterns, scoured my collection of Anthropologie catalogs and revisited my inspiration folder on my computer. In the end I decided to make a version of Dress “M ” from Stylish Dress Book. The Japanese dress books always come to the rescue in the end.
To make the pattern a bit more dressy, I made the back neckline a ‘v’ shape and made a facing for the bodice to clean finish the neckline and armholes. To create more gathering in the skirt, I added a few extra inches to the width. This was really not necessary, but just a result of me being over zealous about gathering.
Of course, I was working on the dress just a couple days before leaving for Montreal. When I did my first fitting I found that I had cut the dress too short. Oh dear. I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought about just adding more fabric to the end, but when I talked to Kristiann (teacher of our Knock it off, Underwear and Pattern Drafting classes) about it, she had the perfect suggestion. Kris’ idea was to randomly create miniature pleats along the bottom to create a slight bubble. To add some length to the hem, Kris recommended sewing a folded piece of fabric to the bottom edge and then ironing it down so that the final hem was self-finished. I really love this idea and to create a very slight contrast I used the ‘wrong’ side of the Liberty fabric for the hem trim. The printing on these Liberty of London Tana Lawns is so well done, on many of them it’s hard to figure out which is the ‘wrong’ side of the fabric.
My finishing touch was a sash, that I wore tied in the front.
After a bit of nail biting and obsessing, it really turned out just right. The perfect ’summer chic’ dress for a wedding in the country.
Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 4
Stylish Dress Book 2 : Dress “S” in ‘My Little Star’ Tana Lawn Cotton
After warming up with a few smaller projects, I finally bit the bullet and REALLY cut into some Liberty of London fabric to make a piece of clothing.
When I chose the ‘My Little Star’ print, I thought it was really bold and a bit crazy. In reality, it’s a totally soft and muted yet still slightly rock and roll.
I had picked out Dress “S” when I first got Stylish Dress Book 2. The square gathered neckline and wide gathered sleeves had me at first glance. The pattern calls for a contrasting fabric in jersey for the sleeves and another fabric for the neckline. I decided the star print would shine better on its own.
The dress came together pretty quickly once I got going. When it was done, it was a bit too loose for my liking. One of the characteristics of these smock dresses is that they are rather loose fitting. On one hand this usually means the patterns are more forgiving with fit and very comfortable to wear. On the other hand, sometimes they are too unshapely. I thought perhaps just taking in the side seams a bit might make the fit more flattering. It wasn’t enough.
This is where magical shirring comes to the rescue once again. I can not sing the praises of shirring enough. It is such a simple technique that gives maximum result every time. I had not yet tried shirring around a waistline, but had seen it many times.
I decided to space my shirring lines a 1/2″ apart and wound up doing four lines of shirring. It turned out perfectly. The shirring around the waist seems to echo the wide gathered elastic sleeves and neckline. It has totally transformed the dress and I think for me, it is much improved.
I can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying working with the Liberty prints. They are lovely to handle and sew with. Plus, wearing them is dreamy! The tana lawn cotton has a super high thread count that makes the fabric very durable, smooth and almost silky. I’ve also never seen such amazing detailed printing on fabric.
We’re going to a wedding in a couple weeks, so I’m trying to design a dress using this print. I’ve already been warned that I’m not to be trying to sew up the dress as we’re driving to the wedding, so I need to get cracking. At least we all know that I’ve got several dresses in my closet to fall back on if I can’t get it together in time.
This week’s postings were rudely interrupted by some technical difficulties with my server. Things appear to be back up and running for the moment. Fingers crossed.
Friday seems like a good day to catch you up on a few more of my Twitter links.
These photos were taken on Brock of a couple posters that were transformed by all the rain we’ve been having. Pretty.
I hope you have a super weekend, I have plans to eat Chippy’s and play some new fangled version of Frisbee in the park tonight with some dear friends and Maisy.
