Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Fake fur

Take a piece of fake fur. Get the approbation of your assistant. Grab your issue of Burda Couture Facile and abracadabra:

Monday, October 27, 2008

Alien, continued

Even finished:
while I was working on it, my assistants were on intensive mode:At least, I know why I bought those chairs...

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Alien ?...





OK, the strips belong to my slippers :-)
The other pictures are different steps of my personal interpretation of the curent project of our patchwork group. The theme is Self-portrait...

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday



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I like this flower, the tibouchina. This one is very young, but blooming fiercely.

I like it too when the petals are gone:
A very usual cosmos:

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

October TIF - part one.

Sharon has given the theme and palette on October 1st, but I did not find the time yet...
Looking at my studio right now is worthless: it is also a storage place for my daughter's stuff. So let's keep it for another year.
Working with the palette ? Yes, but:
  • I don't know what to do with the palette,
  • I want to make some ATC this weekend,
  • my friend Annick lent me a book to browse, and I want to do so, and experiment some of the ideas.
The obvious answer to this dilemna is to do the three in one shot. That is ATC in the TIF palette, with new techniques.
So back to basics:
  • sketchbook for some brain storming, and searching through the stash for the right materials.
  • OK, the sketchbook is a bit empty, but already of great help to understand the colors proposed and try to reproduce them with the fabrics paints I have.
  • The book: it is Fabric Art Workshop by Susan Stein. I would recommend it, it is full of simple techniques, by simple, I mean easy to use. And the projects proposed are inspiring. I've set my mind on some painting techniques, since I need fabrics in the palette colors and don't have any at hand. I've tried monoprinting from a sheet protector:
    Painting inside the sheet protector and mixing the paints:

    Applying to the fabric:

    Checking the result:

Right now, it is drying until morrow.

PS: Annick! She is a friend, a French lady, very active in our textile art group. She has just started her blog too. Please go and say hello: Les Zizouilles. Les zizouilles is an invented word for the little textile stuff we like in our group. But I guess it has many more definitions.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Sewing, again

First thank you for your nice comments on my latest posts. I've tried to answer to each of you, but sometimes my mails get bounced back... So if you did not hear from me, you know I tried...

This is another pattern by Burda, from the September issue. I like the front cutout and was doing to sew it, although I was a bit worried about the necessary alteration: their patterns are made for 1.68m tall women, I'm only 1.52. I had purchased the fabrics, no matter what.
When I looked at the pattern again yesterday, there was a nice surprise: this was an intermediate size pattern, for shorter women. So the alteration was already made!
Another challenge remained, however: I've never sewed a lined dressed, and this one requires lining. The explanations look weird, but following them is easy, and it worked alright
Here is the final result. I like it very much!
The third challenge is sewing with a cat that wants my attention for herself... but that's another story.

I wish you a nice weekend!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sewing bug still strong

My daughter Emilie was home for the weekend. So as usual, we went to a shopping raid. I really needed pants. And I wanted a Levi's, my first. The shop was really busy, and there was only one attendant at the women department, but she did her best to help me. She has been very nice and efficient.
We took the opportunity of our trip to the big city to go and see some fabrics stores I found in the Yellow pages. Oh gosh, those are ugly shops, but they contain treasures! I'll visit them regurlarly I think.
Emilie wanted a "Japanes" top, like the one on Kitty Couture. But the pattern is out of print. By luck, I have a top she liked and that could be a substitute, at least in her mind. We found the perfect fabrics, but my top is made of knitted fabrids, the fabrics we found are weaven. It rang a bell in my head. As soon as we hit home, I made a fake top in muslin. And I'm glad I did, because indeed, cutting the fabrics at the same dimensions would have been a disaster... Thank you JoWynn for insisting on preparing your work carefully. Without you, I would have jumped to the real fabrics directly...

Anyway, here we are. After the trials of last night, I made this this morning:
It was quick (took me the morning) and she loves it.

I hope your weekend is as good as mine! Take care.