Stitch Rabbit

Sneaking In A Little Sewing

 

While it's been all work and (mostly) no play, I have managed to sneak in a tiny bit of sewing.. I finished off another denim mat for the house. Just in time too, with all the mud being tracked in. This mat was re-purposed with some of our oldest work jeans, so I didn't feel badly that it was muddied in a matter of minutes.

 

I also found a bit of time the other night to dip a skein or two into a pot of plant dye. This skein was dyed with avocado skins and iron, and left for a very short time in the pot to keep it light.   So fun!

Studio Surge

 

Ahhh!! Finally some studio time. I feel like I haven't been down there since the "elfing season".

I was flipping through a book about reporposing materials at my aunt's this weekend and saw a similar project, so I improvised and made myself a new kitchen mat, reusing denim.

 

It took me two pairs of jeans (adult size) using both the front and back of the pants. I cut squares up till I reached the front pockets, used a little of the back pockets, and then cut those squares into triangles to create the well-loved chevron pattern.

 

I used a heavy-weight piece of twill for the bottom and made binding from the left over denim. I really appreciated this project because I've missed quilting this winter and reporpusing materials really gives me a sense of satisfaction.

 

I spent the few hours listening to Bob Dylan and The Tallest Man on Earth and dreaming up creative collectives of friends farming and making things, what my dream studio would look like, how my garden will look this spring, how badly I want to own a yarn shop. Sewing is a time of dreaming big for me, and I usually come up from downstairs inspired and ready to make more.

The now coveted new mat in the house has been a beach blanket, car parking lot, the ocean and exercise mat for the little ones in my house. I think I'll have to make more.

It was time to purge my jean collection anyways.

Her Newest Muse

I've become her favorite subject. If anyone knows my daughter they know her in a dress. If not a dress than a skirt. I dare you to try and get her in a pair of jeans. It's like pulling teeth, and trust me, we're going through that now too and it's not easy. **In fact, on a total side note, how long does a child really need to wiggle their tooth till it comes out? We've been waiting on this thing for a month.**

But back to the topic at hand... ever since I donned the first dress on the first day of 30 Dresses my daughter has been my very own entourage, oohing and aahing me as I twirl somewhat ungraciously around the kitchen in my frock of the day. Apparently I've impressed her so much that she has told her classmates what I am up to, and now my entourage has grown to a group of smiley chattering five and six year old girls on the playground.

And now I'm getting my portrait done.

This is me in my pink platform heels, toes in of course, in true hipster "I have to pee or I am posing for a photo, I don't know I'm confused" look. I'm wearing my golden yellow crown (of course) and check out how long my hair is these days. Babe.

She's been drawing me a lot lately and they're pretty awesome, which reminded me of this really cool idea I'd read about before, making dolls out of your children's drawings. Such a fantastic idea! There are a number of companies out there doing this, and I think I'm going to give it a shot with one of her drawings. If you'd like to check out a bunch of them, take a look at Child's Own Flickr pages!

What a great childhood keepsake!

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing For Spring: Pretty Little Camisole

I love this new shirt of hers. Super light and soft, with a very fine line detail in the fabric. To give it a little bit more I took a vintage piece of hand-crocheted lace and used it as the trim for her neckline. I used the camisole pattern from a Japanese pattern book I use a lot called "Carefree Clothes For Little Girls". It has been a little girl pattern staple since she was two. I highly recommend if you are sewing for young girls!!

 

Sewing For Spring: A Great Apron

I've made a lot of these. They're easy, they layer well and are great for playing in. Frankie loves the big pocket in the front. I usually use an unbleached cotton or linen for the main body, but this time I chose a green linen and a vintage sheet material for lining.

The pocket is made with the much-adored Heather Ross Far, Far Away III. Clothes on a line, doesn't get nicer than that. Now let's go play Little House On The Prairie.

Sewing For Spring: Fancy Pocket Skirt

 

She's such a good girl to help me shoot photos of her clothes, hey?

I made this skirt out of a quick 1/2 metre cut of this really nice linen from Spool Of Thread. I did a flat front with elastic in the back and sewed a big front pocket with some oxford. The detailing is simply a vintage doily sewn to the pocket. Instant fancy for the fancy lady.

That's some serious posing.

Sewing For Spring: A New Dress

Spring is pushing through the ground, and it's almost time to trade the heaviest sweaters and the warmest boots for lighter jackets and skirts and dresses. I had a flurry of activity in my studio last week and this is one of the pieces that came out.

Using a simple light blue oxford, I borrowed the bodice pattern from a great old dress book I love and filled in the gaps with a nice full skirt and big pockets trimmed with lace, perfect for filling with rocks and buttercups. With a long-sleeve underneath she can wear it now and then throughout the summer on it's own.

 

Complete.

Completely done. Moved in. Sorted, organized, thankful for a space that is all my own again. I had a lot of hesitation moving my studio into the darkness of the basement. While the space would be bigger, I was afraid that I would never use it, being that it was on another floor from the rest of my very full life.

Wrong. Completely wrong. I've never felt more excited for a space. While there is much to be desired in the basement... Lower ceilings, bad flooring and slim to none in the natural light department... what I have gained is a break from the every day. A place that I can go to, and be completely involved in what I am working on. It's quiet, it's cozy and I can leave it exactly how I need to. It's exactly what I needed.

The pictures are dark. I couldn't wait till daylight to try and snap some better ones. Tonight I got some stitches out on my machine, listened to some albums I had yet to really hear, and got to know my new space. I'll try for some better photos again. For now, I'm going to get back to work..... I think I'm going to be really happy here.

 

 

 

"The Cats"

About two weeks before Christmas I decided I ought to make these adorable cat dolls I'd been eying up in Hilary Lang's book, "Wee Wonderfuls". I decided that I would make six of them for the six children in my family. As I pressed the fabric and traced the pattern there was a tiny voice in my head telling me that I was insane. That it was two weeks till Christmas, and if that wasn't enough, we were leaving for holidays in about eight days. As I picked up my shears and began to cut, I knew I was in for it.

We began to refer to the project as the "bag of cats". We had a bag stuffed with enough arms and legs and heads and tails for six cats, along with their tiny half-finished dresses and all our supplies. It became a fixture on the hook, on the table, in the car... and nightly was being brought out to create an assembly line of stuffing, sewing and snipping. My husband became lead stuffer as I whip-stitched like crazy, trying to get these guys done before Christmas. 
The night before leaving for our trip we had two of them done. I didn't even get a chance to shoot a photo of them before they were whipped into a bag and taken away to sit under a tree we'd be missing out on this year. I'm really missing my nieces, and wishing I could be with them this year, and I hope their wee cats will make their eyes shine.
The remaining four cats were packed back into their bag and whisked away with us to Seattle. I spent a long border wait whip stitching heads and arms and tails, watching them become their cute little cat selves. Gabe joined in at our hotel that night and by midnight before our flight we were done.
Two wee cats for Gabe's little sisters and two wee cats for my own two little kittens.
In the end, I really really wished I had started that sooner. But to be able to give all my kids some handmade love in the best way I know how, makes every stitch worth it.

Breaking Through The Creative Wall (once again)

I haven't been in the studio for awhile. It took me about a half an hour of fingering material and flipping through books before I finally flipped the switch and turned on my sewing machines. I don't know what my problem has been lately, but the lack of inspiration in the sewing room has left me gritting my teeth and pacing floors.

Finally a break through.

When I'm not being particularly creative I feel like I'm not doing enough. I've been really busy with the knitting these days, lots of orders from the shop, lots of requests for mittens and hats for this family of mine. But I was missing the scissors, the measuring. Crisp fabric and pins and lights. It's nice to get back in here. And all it took was one day to get my mind cranking out ideas for new projects.

I didn't get too complicated with what I was doing, just made a few things that were on my list...a few Christmas gifts I can't let out of the bag, and a travel cosmetic bag using the very last of my Ruby Star Rising "Vintage Ladies" fabric.

An afternoon alone to cut and sew makes for one happy mama.

 

In The Studio Lately.

With the awfully drawn-out Halloween weekend of madness out of the way, I've finally swept the studio floor of the remnents of costume and gotten back to life as it should be. A really nice, steady flow of cowl orders have been coming in and I'm so pleased to have busy hands as the nights get colder.

I've also been busy finishing a sweater that has seriously been on the sticks for almost a year. It was just one of those projects that kept getting pushed back for smaller, faster projects. And then it was summer, and who wants to knit a giant winter cardigan in the middle of July? I'm on the sleeves now. It shouldn't be much longer, right?

Finally I'm fooling around with something the quilters call "improvised quilting". Basically, you cut and sew and hopefully it turns into something beautiful. It's slow and methodical, and perfect for nights in with a glass or four of wine and a lot of music.

You can always tell that winter's coming in this house. We all get back to work on the things we love.

 

Let It Come Out of My Hands

 

Some people clean, some people run. Some people hit things or yell and scream.

I prefer the studio.

I haven't been in here for a long, long time. Distracted and busy, I've been ignoring my sewing machines and working mostly with sticks and wool. I walked in tonight, after a long, long day and switched on the lights and got to work.

Whenever I'm in my head about something I need to be in here. I need the music loud and the lights bright and pins and scissors and the steam of the iron. Fresh fabric and clean lines, precise marks and straight stitches. I need to sew to let the fret and worry come out in my hands. And I usually come out making something I like. I feel accomplished. Satisfied. Worth it.

There are times when you best do nothing. Which I don't do well. Best get it out on the table in some form.

 

 

 

Coming Back To It.

What I love the most in life, is to make. I miss it terribly. My hands miss it. My heart misses it. I don't feel whole and that is the truth. I have found thought, meditation and prayer with scissors and cloth and thread.

The cut of the rotary blade, the steam from the iron, the delicate touch of pattern and quick snips to hanging threads. There haven't been enough hours in the day for me to do much more than wander into the room that holds everything I love, pick up half-finished pieces and wait for the days I can work on them again. Wait for the nights I can get lost in thought and music and scraps of fabric.

In my dreams and in my workbook I have sketches and plans, but nothing is happening now. The summer sun has kept me away, and September is keeping me still at a distance. I am waiting in quiet anticipation to reunite with the work that I want to do. One more week as a pseudo-working-woman, and then I will be home again. I will have nap times to sneak in and work in a delicious quietness. I will have the energy and the brain capacity to turn on the lamps and work late into the night. I will be home and happy. Amongst the stacks of fabric and the freedom to do what I love.

 

 

Everyone Needs A New 'Do Once in Awhile

I made this doll for Frankie a few years ago with a vintage Holly Hobby pattern. She was well-loved right from the start, but over time it was clear to see that I could have done a better job on her hair. It wasn't too long before she was bald, and true to the legend, she was considered "broken" and deemed unplayable by my then three year old daughter.

You know those projects that you put on your work table to remind you to fix them? The ones that then get tossed aside for a new idea, a new dream, a new frame of mind? Well, I'm sad to say that poor beautiful doll stayed hairless and sad for a very, very long time. She would pop up every once in a while, in a basket or pile of scraps. She was dragged around by baby Charlie for moment. All the while, her lonely eyes staring at me, pleading me to heal her so she could once again be loved.

And then there she was again: peering out of my fabric wardrobe, stuffed way behind that huge pile of other stuff I ought to deal with.

Enough was enough. I either had to throw the thing away or fix it.

 

You know what? After two years of that doll being around and being ignored, I sewed on some hair and Frankie hasn't let go of her since. Lesson learned: don't let your dolls go bald.

Finishing What I Started

Okay, the "Finish Me" baskets of sewing projects are over-flowing and getting out of hand. I sorted through them (yet again) with good intentions, and I even recycled a few projects that I just know I'm never, ever going to finish. The project that was giving me the biggest grief was the paper-pieced rose I made a few months ago.

The paper-pieced rose, I loved...I had good intentions to keep going and hand sew about twelve 20 by 20 inch blocks like it to make a quilt. Sigh.....good intentions, but poor, poor follow through. I have very romantic notions about hand stitching a quilt from start to finish, a project I would labour over for months, rocking in my chair with a lamp light glowing on my work... I don't know if it's that I just don't have to focus or the drive to work on the same project continuously for months and months....but the idea of it makes me really really want to do something else. So I took the one lonely block I'd made and turned it into a pillow. Fail safe quilter's go to project. If it isn't working - make a pillow.

I will make that hand-sewn quilt one day - but for now, I've got two kids growing out of their clothes by the week, an over-grown garden and one really, really cute pillow.