Red and Green Purse!

So I went ahead and wove off the ends of another sample into a perfectly purse sized piece of fabric! This sample was a check, but I decided to weave up the ends in a basic twill with some splashes of bright red. It's a tiny bit Christmas-y, but that's ok this time of year, and the green is kinda Spring-y so I think it will be just fine.

Leather strap once again is cut out of an old leather coat!

Little Yellow Purse!

Hey guys, look! I made this purse! I had a little room left on my warp from my sample (those are the super long strings on the loom that run parallel vertically) so I decided to weave a purse. I used tapestry wool, so that once I took it off the loom and put it through the wash, it would felt up a little bit and be a little more sturdy.
Then I folded up the piece I had woven like an envelope, stitched it together, and put a piece of cardboard in the bottom to make it strong.

The edges looked a little crappy, because I didn't have enough room to weave in my warp after I cut my sample apart, so I decided to use leather as a bias-tape. This leather came from an old suede jacket, which I have been chopping to bits since freshman year. All that's left now is a sleeve and the collar (:

Finally, I lined it with a heavy floral cotton from an old skirt, and sewed together a strap. And tada! A totally useable little purse from scratch!

Booties!

While I was at Haystack (read: best place in the world) I spent a rainy day indoors with my professor, Janet Kawada, learning to felt boots! The fleece wasn't merino, so it took some muscle, but after about 5 hours of rolling and unrolling them in bamboo mats, they came out tight and fit great! I embroidered some scenes from Haystack (the woods, the sea) on the extra long tongues I made, and added leather soles to keep the bottoms from getting ratty. I hope you like them!

thanks to Amy for photographing them at the Haystack Show in the Student Life Gallery at MassArt!

Folk folk

After I finished all my assignments for surface design, I decided to make some screens I could use for fun! This shirt is the result of one of the screens - these are the Folk folk - my imaginary adorable band. I also printed a bunch of coral fabric to make into quilted pillows down the road (which I'm planning to sell! Watch out!)

Party Hat!

This is my final hat for my millinery class! I designed it based on 1920s style socialite hats, as seen in the film "Bright Young Things" which has a fabulous extravagant party scene where everything is silver in the first scene. It's made out of silver dupioni silk, lined in white dupioni silk, and the brim is covered in lace I painted, with silver sequin accents! I'm pretty excited about hat making, and I don't think this will be the last of the hats you see from me!





ps - I've been getting so many readers lately from all over!! Thanks for the interest! Please feel free to comment and say hello!

t-shirts for my Mom

So I made these shirts for our shirt assignment in Surface Design Class. They were so much trouble!! First off, I printed them real nice with black and red. Then the first washout happened, all the red came out, and the black bled. Feeling somewhat defeated, I re-did the red with a fresh, bold, strongest red. Then the washout happened, which I attempted to do in the washing machine, which happened to be broken (surprise!!) so they all got cozy and bled on each other. It was seriously a nasty blood bath. So they all stained each other and it wouldn't wash out! So annoying. So I scrubbed my little hands off, and now some of them look OK, but some are still blotchy. And that was my attempt to make t-shirts with dye, which I will not do again. Pigment is so much more friendly.
Anyways, here's the picture:



My mom is being a good sport, insisting that she likes them. I like her.

Turban Hat!

This is the second hat I've sewn for my Millinery Design class! This one is linen, without a hard inner structure, and the flower is structured with millinery wire. I've been wanting a turban for a while, so I really like this guy.

My Hat!!

I finished my hat! Here it is, in its coral pink glory. I feel like I should be herding sheep or wearing a white eyelet dress ...




I dyed the coral fabric by hand, using Mx Dyes, and the ribbons are made from a slightly shiny satin that I found in the remnants at Sew-Low, near the Lechmere T stop. The internal structure is made of buckram, covered in light batting, structured with milliner's wire.

I really enjoyed making this hat! I hope this is the first of many to come. Stay tuned for what else comes out of my Millinery class - exciting!

Hat Beginnings!

I'm taking Millinery this semester, designing a hat! I decided to make one similar to the hat worn by the girl in Renoir's Dance at Bougival. (Mostly I'm doing it because she has the same color bangs and eyebrows as me...classic painting doppelganger, oh hey!)



It's still in planning, but here's the paper mock-up so far! I plan on dyeing my own red fabric, and making little blue felt flowers for decoration. Stay tuned.

Lace Clip

I've been holding onto this piece of lace for about a year. I used it to do some print-making, and loved how the colors ended up on the piece itself. Today I decided it would be a nice thing for my bed-headedly flippy hair! It has a little felt piece covering the pleated edges, and a golden clip on the back.

Fun Cowl!

Check out this funky cowl I knitted tonight! It's a bunch of old yarns I had lying around. I think it'll be good for cold-ish days. Also lately I've been wanting something like "colorPOP!" that I can wear when I end up in all gray or black. Perfect!

If you like it, make one! Here's the pattern: Click!

New Clothes

A skirt, and a winter dress lined with plaid that I sewed up.

Hats!

knit/crochet