Juju Loves Polka Dots

Duct tape reveals all

Why is duct tape like "The Force"? It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

I got back from Canada and hit the ground running. I've been very busy getting organized for the year ahead. (For me the year still runs from September to August, I think it always will.) I have lots of things to post about over the next few weeks.

My current obsession has been getting my wardrobe to work for me. I felt really shlumpy last year. I put weight back on and was less fit. My clothes didn't fit or co-ordinate in anyway. I was constantly enjoined in choruses of friends complaining that they have lots of clothes to wear but none of them fit. I'm know I'm not alone here.

I really enjoyed it back in May when Melody was rethinking her wardrobe (and here) on her blog. I don't know if she ever got round to making up the clothes though. We know where good intentions go.

I've been having a love affair with the kimono flea market I mentioned in my last post. Particularly the Haori pages. Haori are lightweight (usually silk) coats to be worn over kimonos. They aren't meant to close in the front.

The silk is woven in panels of about 36 cm (14 inches) but there are about 10 metres length in a Haori because the silk always folds back on itself to provide a lining. There is also a contrasting silk lining that runs across the back (see below for an example).

One Haori provides more than enough fabric for a skirt, dress, jacket or blouse. The fabrics are beautiful and in excellent condition. So I've been unpicking the Haori's and cleaning the fabric and then re-cutting and sewing them into garments. Here is a dress I made from a silk chirimen (a kind of crepe) to wear over an underskirt.

This mannequin is thinner than me and she doesn't fill out the bust as nicely.

Anyway I've got lots more to tell you but that's enough to reintroduce my existence after my long break.

Today's inspiration: The Sewing Workshop patterns.

Likes: I'm looking forward to making this "8th Avenue skirt".

Bullish Colonial has-beens

What Americans think of the British, from book by Paul Davis.

Two weeks ago I went off to Whitstable to do a workshop with Janet Bolton. I'd done a workshop with Janet before but find it really relaxing and enjoyable to have a whole weekend just to sew pictures. Also, Janet is a great presence. My favourite bit about her workshops is how she weaves her personal history together with the way she works. She is a very entertaining but humble speaker.

As usual, I enjoyed myself. I made this picture of my dream rooster rabbit, which looks a little like my dad.

I don't feel particularly proud of it but I enjoyed the experience. The applique will go away in my drawer of finished works. It may come out at a future date. But don't worry about it. It has lots of company in there.

Today's inspiration: Joseph Raffael video of "painting spirit"

Likes: puddles of watercolour paint

Plant pots in spring

I knew I was going bald when it was taking longer and longer to wash my face.
Harry Hill

I've got such a back log of work to do I can only manage a quick post today but I wanted to show you what I made for my sister for her birthday.

We all tease her for her habit of wrapping tin foil around potted plants to hide the plastic pot. She lives in a flat with not much storage space so she can't store a huge of array of pots to hide plastic pots. So I made her this.

It's a fabric pot that she can fold away when she's not using it. And I printed the flower fabric myself on my Epson printer. It was an old page from a flower catalog. I'm surprised how well it came out. The cotton is soft and supple, not like other transfer prints I've done. Cool! I used this Photofabric.

Today's Inspiration: Emma Turpin paintings.

Likes: Cherry trees in blossom!

Dislikes: Dropping a gas canister on my finger and having my nail turn black. Ouch!

Bummer

The garage told me they couldn't repair my brakes, so they just made my horn louder.

Actually that's not true; my garage wouldn't do that for me so I'm now carless. We are joining a car club. All very good environmentally but I do feel a little like I'm leaving adulthood behind and going back to a time and place where you have to borrow your parents car.

I haven't disappeared, I've just been very busy. That's the problem with freelance work; all the little loose ends can get in a tangle. Sometimes you just have to get your head down and get to work. Bummer, eh?

(Gettit? Bummer.)

This is the original bag pattern from the Onishi Junko book from which I've been adapting my designs from.

The cover has this bag on it

And the ISBN is 4-529-04173-5 (you can see more of it on the Buzzville site I linked to).

I'm still working on a bag pattern and tutorial for you all. Expect something in time for March break crafting. And I'll do a little photoshop song and dance too.

Today's inspiration: I'm going nuts over Nina's beautiful black and white photography. It's tempting me to give up a little of my colour.

Likes: Crochet. Watch Woolly Bullies on Youtube if you are a secret crochet lover. I'm working on some crochet at the moment and it's fun wielding just the one needle for a change.

Dislikes: Nothing in my wardrobe fits. Either I have to lose weight or buy new clothes. I don't see either happening.

Of Piping Hot Importance

Some say the glass is half full, some say the glass is half empty.
I say "Are you gonna drink that?"
Anon

 

I'm working on a bag pattern to share. In the mean time you get to see a picture of this bag

which has a bit of every gorgeous oriental fabric thrown in, as well as a Chinese dress charm someone sent me, and lots of beading.

This is an over the shoulder diagonal number. My favourite to wear. I have such narrow shoulders that if I don't wear a bag diagonally it just keeps slipping off.

I have trimmed it with pink silk bias piping and a velvet ribbon with beading. The same pink fabric is used as binding to finish off both sides of of the straps which are interlined and padded so they won't loose their shape.

I love home-made bias bindings and pipings! I wouldn't make a bag without them. I also use them in quilting, clothes making and other sewing projects.  A contrasting bias binding is a great way to finish hems and waistbands of skirts. 

Piping is not a dark art. Look here for instructions on making continuous lengths of bias strips. Then fill these with piping cord following the directions here. Or you can read here for the whole shabang. You do not thread the piping cord in afterwards! That would be a nightmare! It gets sewn in, on the machine. It really is fast and easy with a piping/zipper foot!  I always have several spools of piping cord in different widths in my studio. And I keep a tin full of left over cut bias binding for using on projects.

If you want to follow my upcoming bag tutorial I would recommend whipping up some piping and bias binding. Stripes, checks and small patterns look great. I also like to use shot silks to contrast with cotton projects.  Make yourself 2-3 metres of piping in a contrasting fabric.

A reminder of some recent pipings:

From left to right: shot pink silk bias piping, checked cotton bias piping (made from lining fabric of old dress), stripped Kaffe Fassett shot cotton stripped bias piping. I have used a 1/8" cord. But a larger one would also be suitable.

I've just done a quick Internet search to try to find examples of nice bags to link to and I can't find much. Lots of kinda crappy bags and lots of badly designed web sites. I thought it would be easy to find good examples of uses of piping. No. Mine aren't perfect, but I'm not trying to sell them.

Today's inspiration: Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. I have an article in the March edition which some readers have let me know is available now. I haven't seen this issue of the magazine but I'm proud of my contribution and think it's a great magazine.

Likes: Piping. It's a great way to include MORE pattern and colour in sewing projects.

Dislikes: Spelling inspiration. Every time I include it, I spell it wrong and my spell check reminds me what a dolt I am, at spelling .

Back to the bags

An earlier bag.

Appliqued and quilted but not with wadding just with interlining.  I didn't make the handles thick enough. And now that I mention it, I like my handles interlined or padded now, even if the bag is soft.

And one I made over the Christmas holidays.

I should give you a better picture of the bag. Okay how about this?

It's not a great picture but it gives you a better idea of what's going on.

It's made out of kimono silks and has an Afghanistan jade piece to close it. The cloud shape is a pocket. Again I should have piped the rings at the bag of the bag. Live and learn. There are a few things I would do differently if I were to make this one again but I like it okay and have worn it.

Here's a great bag blog. And she sells things for making bags here. And she's in the UK! This will make my life much easier. I think it might be hard for reader's in America to realize that although I live in London, a major city, it is almost impossible to get crafting supplies. There are very few stores selling anything. Even the department stores are shrinking their supplies to almost nothing. I buy almost everything online, usually from the States.

Can anyone tell me what's this Cutting Edge magazine is like? Is it interesting?

Today's Inspiration: Thanks to Mimi for turning me on to This life radio programs from Chicago. So much good radio to listen to while crafting. I found many David Sedaris stories as well as a moving story about an Irish game show winner in episode 326. It's like a treasure chest!

Likes: Memoirs and radio shows about "ordinary" people (not celebrities).

Dislikes: Puppy went to stay at the vet for a couple of nights and is all better now so I have not complaints.

I lied

I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
Charles Swartz.

I lied, there are more bags. But maybe I'll give you a bead interval.

I gave a beaded charm bracelet workshop at Gracelands this weekend. And this is two views of the one I completed while teaching.

Those Yo-Yo puffs have now turned into beads. Any excuse to get my fabric collection out and let it intermingle with my beads. And some of my felt got involved too (menage a trois).

Today's Inspiration: Nudists. They are so brave. Has anyone else read the very funny story by David Sedaris where he goes on holiday in a nudist camp? This is a genuine admiration/inspiration, I'm not taking the piss.

Likes: My son, Quinte. He's nine today! And a firm nudist.

Dislikes: Last post's puppy is now sick. Sick puppy poo is even worse.

More from bag lady

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that if you bore people they think it's their fault.
Henry Kissenger

 

Not that I know, but I can imagine.

This is my last bag post for now, I promise.

I made this one for my lovely friend, Henny, who turned 40th last week (I've got my 40th next month too). I think her daughter may have stolen it from her though.

I call it my milk bag because I appliqued milk top fabric spots (from Super Buzzy)  onto the stripes at the top.

I then stitched some glinting seed beads around the outside of each applique. It looked so lovely when it was done. And I found just the right weight of heavy muslin to interline it so it was really strong, with a cell phone pocket and silk piping. The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to pipe the edges of the handles instead of sewing them right sides together and then turning right way out. The heavy muslin interlining made this a pain, and I love piping. Next bag I'll do it that way.

I'm going to be teaching a bag making workshop at Graceland's in April. Many of you have asked for the pattern. It has been adapted form one in a Japanese craft book. I'll dig out the book and show you. But I will also post a bag pattern and tutorial sometime soon for something similar (give me a week or so to get it together).

Today's Inspiration: You Tube Video of Joseph Campbell talking about following your bliss. Link via Lynn at Molly Chicken.

Likes: Cherry trees blossoming.

Dislikes: We're puppy sitting this week. Lovely. But puppy poo, yuck!

Bag lady

What's white and can't climb trees?
A fridge.
Graham Norton

Still playing with those photoshop brushes and still making bags.

I love the fabrics in this bag.

My daughter chose them. I asked her what colour bag she would like and she said yellow. I would never think of starting with a yellow colourway for a project.
I got out my yellow fabrics and she selected about 5 of her favourites, with the one at the top band of the bag being her absolute fave. I then put them together this way. It was fun because we came up with a completely different palette than I normally would. And I really like it. I think I want a yellow bag next.

I'm still overdosing on the photoshop brushes. But I'm beginning to figure out how I want to use them. I will get better.
Would it be useful if I had a little gallery explaining how and what I use photoshop for? I get some questions regarding this but I feel too novice for the experts and think it might be too confusing for people who have not photoshop experience.

Today's Inspiration: Suburbia website with some nice free brushes, (some that I have used in photo above).

Likes: yellow silk

Dislikes: Taking time away from my many interesting projects to get housework done.

House of bags

Don't you hate when your hand falls asleep and you know it will be up all night.
Steven Wright

Yeah, in my case it'll probably be up all night sewing!

I've got too many projects on the go right now! But I can't choose so they all get a little attention.

As soon as my son gets home from school he'll want me to help him with all his projects: building an army, making terrain, embroidering pillows, writing and drawing comic books. He has my curse.

I've finally figured out how to make and use brushes in Photoshop. I never realized they could be designed as stamps. I always wondered why you would want to paint with a butterfly shape. Silly me.

Lots of bags. I'll write and post more about them later in the week.

Today's Inspiration: Photoshop brushes. I know I've probably gone a little overboard but I'll calm down once the initial excitement has faded.

Likes: Leonard Cohen's song, Hallelujah. Who ever sings this, it is always beautiful!

Dislikes: I can't say rain again, can I?