Little Mermaid 2018

For the third year in a row I am making costumes for the school play. My son is again NOT involved in any way except as a spectator. You can find my costume sewing adventure from last year here.

This year the show is Little Mermaid. I am making Ariel and her six sisters. That equals 7. Seven!

Seven little mermaid costumes have been on my plate for awhile. You know the usual...shoulda...woulda...coulda...started earlier...etc. Anyway, I've had the skirt mocked up for some time and finally got a fitting last week.

I cut all the skirts on Monday. I cut all the tulle today for the ruffles. And started sewing.

Here are the seven combinations. These four pictures are from the director.

The main skirt fabric is a 4 way stretch metallic nylon with overall semi circle cutouts.

I used a knit interfacing on the sewing edges to stabilize the edges.

Because...look what this fabric does with just the weight of the tulle ruffle on the hem!

Looks like fish scales, eh?!? I love the fabric. I can't imagine what it was designed for or who would wear it except as a costume. But it's pretty fun.

Gathering the tulle onto the hem.

 Tulle ruffle on the right side. I still have to edge stitch and sew up the back and waistband.

This is the skirt mockup. The tulle ruffle represents the flippers. It's so cute.

More costume adventures to come. After the skirts are done I have little bandeau tops to cut and sew.

The end of the story can be found here.

Gala Outfit

I haven't sewn a garment for myself in a long time. My son's annual fundraising gala for his Mandarin Immersion Program was coming up. I thought it was a perfect event to make something special. The theme was Oscar's Red Carpet.

I have a pair of shiny silver sequin skinny pants a friend gave me as a gag gift a couple of Christmas's ago. I kept them because they were funny to me and really...who doesn't need a pair of shiny pants?!?

Well, I thought the shiny pants would be a perfect base for me to build a dress-up outfit around for the gala. I poked around for Chinese vests on Amazon and Etsy and didn't see anything I really liked. I had this idea to make a structured vest with a peplum.

I found this awesome embossed and quilted black faux leather fabric  at Joann's (of all places). The burgundy and black iridescent taffeta I had in my stash.

I pulled out a bodice sloper from a few years ago. When I say "a few years ago"... I mean, like, at least 20 years ago! After that length of time plus having a baby, I should have known that I would need to draft a new one. While my measurements had not changed that much, my proportions are TOTALLY different. The sloper did not fit in any way. The picture below shows what I cut hoping it would fit. What a laugh. It was too tight and too short. I ended up using a basic commercial vest pattern to start my canvas mock up.

Then I pulled out my book, Pattern Making for Fashion Design, for the peplum circle. It has this wonderful measurement chart for full, half, and quarter circle skirts. It's so easy to use.

This is the mock up front view after the first fitting. A friend of mine is making herself a Victorian ball gown and we traded fitting time. I love asymmetrical hems.

Back view of vest. Lots of pins.

The chalk line below is one side of my new waistline for the peplum.

This is the full peplum skirt pattern. The angle of the image makes the two sides look the same size. However, the far side is twice as long as the foreground side. My bed served as cutting table. The paper pattern just barely fit on the cutting board. I had to add a big pleat at center back to keep the fullness of the skirt while allowing the center front points to hang vertical. Function becomes design.

My intention was to make the inside look as nice as the outside. I had to get creative in how I sewed the pieces together. With piping and lining and fabric that did not want to be turned inside out I had to sew half seams, partial linings and pieced piping to put it all together.

I ended up having to hand stitch the bodice lining to the vest top. The lining was also a wee bit tighter than planned. I fixed that by taking out the tiny back darts to let the lining be more fluid. The inside is not as pretty as intended but it is fully lined.

My mother made these awesome Chinese knot buttons.

The zipper was a special piece I had purchased years ago. Separating zipper with rainbow metal teeth. It needed a special garment to be placed in and this vest was it.

Finished front. There is handmade piping at the armscye, around the collar and down the center front.

Finished back.

Me in the full outfit with really big hair.

It's a little Star Trek, a little disco, a little Jetsons. All in all, a super fun design and construction project.

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge part 5 Finale

The final end to this Polwarth fiber challenge. Lots of pictures below...

Two scarf ends that needed sewing together to make a loop.

I wanted to have a flat seamless invisible join instead of an overlapped hem. I chose to cross opposite ends and loop back to the same side.

Detail of crossed warp end with needle weaving end into fabric.

 Almost done.

Ends all crossed and ready to pull each loop closed flush against the fabric.

The join turned out a little more wonky than I thought it would. It's not as invisible as intended. Instead of pulling two ends in opposite directions at the same time, I should have pulled one side flush then the other side separately. Ah well, lesson learned.

I wasn't confident the crossed ends would be secure, so very lightly, I needle felted the seam.

Then I got to the fun part...beading the fringe.

I chose three tubes of the larger glass beads, put 3 little beads on each strand and started twisting. A bigger glass bead finished off the ends.

After hand washing and air dry, WALLAH! A finished challenge project.

I had lots of little cut ends left over from the warp. I couldn't bear to throw them away. The solution: a pom pom for a keepsake. Which I finished with beads as well.

Finally, I leave today to show off these items at the Studio 49 Retreat.

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge part 4

I finally wound my hand spun Polwarth yarn onto my 10" Cricket loom and started weaving. Post for part 3 here.

Scarf in progress on the loom. The thick grey line is the BFL hand spun yarn for the weft fringe.

A close up before I took it off the loom. Nice pleasing Fibonacci color sequence eh?!?

Off the loom ready for finishing and beading. I used every bit of the white Polwarth hand spun I had (part 2 post here).

My selection of glass beads to play with.

It only took me a week to weave the scarf. Duh! Now I just need to make time to do all the finishing. Sew in the yarn tails, connect the ends in to a loop, twist and add beads to the weft fringe, and finally wet finish. Doesn't seem like much but I know it'll take me longer than I think.

Lastly, here is a picture from my sister of the yarn I spun for her (see this part 1 post) and the beads she plans to knit into her piece. I can hardly wait to see her finished cowl.

The retreat is next weekend. Gotta finish!

Studio 49 Retreat 2017 Challenge part 3

I changed my mind.

It happens often when thinking about a project. I start with one idea and it morphs into something else until finally I start. Then it morphs again. This is what's going on now with my Retreat challenge project.

The hand spun yarn was going to be a hat. I made a gauge swatch to determine what size knitting needle I wanted to use. I started with size 7 at the bottom of the swatch. That's what the pattern calls for. The middle section is size 6 needle and then the top is size 5. I placed the swatch on a stitch holder because I didn't want to cut the yarn. I intend to use every bit.

The change of plan arose when I realized that I was not enjoying knitting this yarn. I like knitting with my hand spun yarn but this one didn't feel nice or fun. I don't know why. The yarn is soft and stretchy. Lovely to hold and touch, but not to knit with apparently.

My eyes lit upon my 10" Cricket rigid heddle loom and BOOM! I had a new idea.

I am going to weave a scarf. Having limited yardage presented some challenges; 232 yards of white, 155 yards of grey. Not a lot of yarn for weaving. So I set about trying to figure out what to make with what I had. I started with the 10 dent heddle and a Fibonacci sequence in the warp. I calculated a basic scarf at 8"x72" and discovered I did not have enough yarn. I want to feature the white Polwarth with a few grey BFL stripes.

I was inspired by the Biscuits and Jam Scarf by Sarah Jackson featured in the May/June issue of Handwoven Magazine. I'm lucky enough to be a fellow guild member of Sarah's and saw the beautiful scarf in person at the SCWSG June meeting. She wove hers in cotton with beaded weft fringes. Then sewed the ends together to make a circular scarf. I really liked the weft fringe idea.

I made drafts on paper first. Then I made a yarn wrap to see if I liked how the Fibonacci sequence looked.

I drew a scarf close to 1/8" scale and made more calculations. One set with 80 ends for an 8" wide scarf and one with 70 ends. I have just enough yarn (I think/hope) to make a scarf 7" wide with a weaving length of 60". There will be a small plaid section where I put another Fibonacci sequence in the weft at one end of the scarf.

If I run out of white weft then it will be a little shorter. But that's OK since I want to sew the ends together to make a loop and wear it like a cowl anyway.

I think I'm ready to start...

Weaving Software Workshop

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take a one-day workshop with Robyn Spady on how to use weaving software. The software of choice this time was PCW Fiberworks.

Here is the cover of her workshop booklet. 

Robyn included both PC and Mac tutorials for us to follow. She had one of each platform set up and would switch back and forth on the monitor teaching the features and differences offered by both platforms.

My brain is a bit overwhelmed with the possibilities presented by using software to design weaving drafts. As much weaving as I've done I realize that I'm not sure I've done enough yet to fully understand all the weaving terms that would make using the software more efficient and fun. I am clear however that I REALLY need to take a paper drafting class. AND weave lots more!

The class was sponsored by the Studio 66 Workshop, of which I am one of the organizers. Robyn taught a 3-day weaving workshop on lace for us in February of 2016.

Closeup of my Bronson Lace.

My finished lace sampler.

Robyn is a wonderful teacher. It was great to have her back again. I highly recommend her workshops.

Deadlines part 5

Week 5

I finished!

This is the yarn I had left. I used approximately 745 yards total.

Blocking the shawl after washing in the washer on gentle cycle using a net bag to contain it.

What NOT to do when wet finishing a handspun wool project...

1. Don't throw the net bag in the dryer. Even for a short time.

2. Don't forget the net bag is in the dryer.

3. Don't panic and get mad.

4. Don't tug so hard on the slightly felted knit fabric that you actually tear the yarn at the edge.

5. Don't get mad. Did I already say this?

6. Don't put it back in the water to soak in a too small pan so that the ripped yellow yarn that needs repair sits on the blue part and comes out stained - highlighting the rip.

7. Don't be too sad.

With a small invisible-when-worn repair, what was a lovely beautiful shawl is still a lovely beautiful shawl. I do love the color combo.

Controlled Chaos

I love designing. I love the process of thinking through the details of a project. I think about shape, color, texture, purpose, the recipient. Sometimes I think for a long time and sometimes design decisions come quickly. I love designing for different mediums.

Then comes the practical aspect. The process of turning a design into reality.  The finished design opens the door to chaos and the path out of chaos is in the myriad of steps to complete a project. Be it a quilt, a sweater, a new yarn, a towel. I love the process - controlled chaos. 

The chaos of quilting is defined by piles of fabric, pieces to arrange, threads to trim, and batting to baste. Quilting by hand or machine is the next stage of the chaos. Then the quilt requires edge binding. When I’ve cut the batting and sewn the binding to the front ready to hand sew to the back I know that the chaos is contained. The visual treat of piles becoming straight lines then turning into a textile that can be folded neatly is amazing.

The chaos of spinning is defined by the shearing of sheep, processing the fiber into roving, choosing dye colors, splitting and pre-drafting the roving and finally watching the individual fibers twist into yarn. 

The chaos of weaving is defined by cones of yarn, a warp chain, dressing a loom, sampling. I love the moment when the warp is finally tied to the front beam and the tension is even. The path from draft to weaving always feels a bit messy to me. There are so many steps to do before actually weaving. When I get to throw the first pick of the weft, the chaos disappears.

Life is chaotic and messy, too. I rarely feel in control of mine. Containing the chaos of my textile crafts helps me feel organized and neat. Although, looking at the stuff around me - the piles of paperwork on the floor surrounding my desk, my spinning wheel and basket behind my chair, my loom and sewing table stuffed into my bedroom - sometimes makes me wonder if my textile work may be contributing to my sense of daily chaos. I love my life.