Month: May 2012

The Final Felting

I’ve been working on a fun and inspiring costuming gig for the past few weeks. You can check out earlier parts of the project here and here. Above are the super charming Peacock Clips that will clip on the front of emerald bodysuit/tutu combos. They’ll be accompanied by the headbands below:

I am in love with the Peacock pieces. Who doesn’t love the rich and unexpected colour combos in a Peacock feather — and it works so well in felt.

Next, Goldfish! They are brooches that will sit at the turquoise hips of each wee dancer. And note the awesome cutting mat and Olfa rotary, dang I’m loving them!

Followed by little tuxedo-inspired bibs that go with top hats and gloves for a tap dance number. I wasn’t sure I liked my idea on this one and then in reality, it’s a contender for favourite, I think it’s totally charming! Could be great in cotton as a baby bib, hmmmm …

Here’s a work in progress shot of the pieces for the elegant grey and cream flowers for the Flower Waltz dance. They will sit against plum coloured suits:

And the finished products. My first “S-fold” flowers were very satisfying to make. I appreciated the fickle pickle’s tutorial. I ended up hand stitching my flowers rather than gluing them and used felt circles rather than buttons in the middle, but she unravelled the mystery for me and got me rolling — and that’s why I love crafty bloggers. Three cheers for sharing!

And lastly, most sweetly, I leave you with a bowl of candy. Felt candies. But don’t them look delectable? I caught Rudi licking them, riiiiiight. They ended up being strung along ribbons and hung shoulder to shoulder and shoulder to hip on little dancers in royal blue. And then one pink and one blue candy each on barrettes in their hair. My teeth are aching from the sweetness.

Thanks to Kitty Ballistic for the joyful, colourful idea and for the tutorial. I see more of these in my decorating future …

Quilting Challenge: May

May is almost done, how is this possible?! For my 2012 Quilting Challenge, May’s contribution is a bit of a cheat, I’ve been quilting this shape for ages, but I need it in my arsenal of designs! It’s the heart of course, my go-to infant quilting shape. Herm. My May-heart is not photographing well, it’s camouflaged in the foliage. But it’s there, I assure you!

Since my dad’s heart has been struggling more than usual this month, and because a little boy named Ford would have been 3 years old this month but for his broken heart, the heart seemed like exactly the right choice for this month. I remember and love and carry them in my own heart. And I count my blessings …

Here’s January through May, the garland of quilting options is growing!

My Auntie Kath taught me how to cut out a pattern from paper and then sew around it, until then it seemed magic that she could sew perfect hearts into her work. Kath’s sewing remains magic to me (even if she’s revealed some secrets to me!) she’s meticulous and joyful about her work, utterly inspiring. I think of her often when I’m at my machine. My hearts are still not perfect, I probably work a little too fast and recklessly for that, but then, who’s heart is perfect?

Hometown, Heart and the Headstrong Baby

12 days ago my dad’s heart very nearly failed him. He lives across the country from me in my hometown of Edmonton and with this hard news came the clarity that I dearly wanted him to meet 8-month-old Gene. So Gene and I flew over the lakes and the prairies and I got to introduce my dad to his second grandchild. Happily, the docs were able to fit dad with a pacemaker/defibrillator and he’s back at home for now, heart ticking along.

In spite of it being an emergency trip filled with apprehension, it was so good to share my wee boy with my Edmonton family and friends. My own heart is overflowing with big sky and the big love of my amazing people there. Gene made some ridiculous strides in Edmonton, standing against things and cruising a bit, crawling for the first time and walking his little legs to get where he wants to go when you hold his hands. He is a ball of determination!

Edmonton was exploding with apple blossoms. I was lucky to catch those magic couple of days when the trees are full of their short-lived pink and white flowers:

I miss the wide Alberta sky. If you aren’t familiar with prairie skies, it’s hard to describe the amazing, shifting endless space. I don’t really miss it til I’m there and then I feel like I’m brimming with the aching familiarity of it.

I learned about chewbeads, silicone bead necklaces that are made to be chewed by babies yet look look like lovely, chunky jewellery, brilliant! My cousin was wearing hers so stylishly while her little guy held onto them with a vice grip, chewing and playing as we walked and caught up.

I went with the aforementioned cousin to the Duchess Bake Shop, a super fancy, high tea looking place, yet totally approachable and momma-with-baby friendly. We  ate and savoured and enjoyed our little boys, who are only 15 days apart in age. This made for an extra special, hilarious visit as we are both firmly in the midst of sleep deprivation, infant eczema, baby food and the glorious madness that is mothering an infant. The Duchess has a great ceiling, it mesmerized both me and Gene!

My cousin’s name is Tamsin, but we mostly call her Tam. And it happened to be her birthday! I opened my mom’s late 70s edition of The Joy of Cooking, found a delectable banana cake recipe and baked it up. Then I had a wave of brilliance and cut out the letters of her name in paper, sifted sugar over them and presto:

Lastly, my cousin adventures ended in a quilting shop. Oh dangerous deliciousness! She is a crafty fabric-a-holic also and we found some prints that simple could not be left behind. Here are my spoils:

And here I am, back in super-hot Toronto, somewhat jet-lagged. Back to my mothering of 2 and my sewing and my regular blogging. Happy week everyone!

More Felt: pinwheeling, flapping, waltzing

I am buried in the costuming job that I mentioned last post. I’m having so much fun! Miles of thread have been wound and stitched and the cuteness continues to reveal itself. Here are some of the finished pieces so far.

Felt pinwheels, one for each shoulder against a red tutu, how cute will that be?!
The Pizzicato Polka dancers get geometric headbands with their pinwheel brooches. This headband is one of my new favourite things to make, so easy. So hip! I kind of want an adult sized one.
Little Flapper headbands — they’ll have black pearl necklaces tied in a knot and big felt flowers at their hip too. My teeth hurt from thinking about the cuteness!
Petal headbands for wee flower-waltz dancers.
Felt crowns for the Aquarium dance — they go with a turquoise bodysuit and tutu, then a palm-sized goldfish will pin on the hip. I think turquoise and orange is one of my favourite colour combos ever! Almost finished, just gotta hand stitch the bottoms closed. Better get back to it …

Adventures in Felt Costuming

I’m working myself silly on a fantastic costuming gig for Movement Lab dance studio in Toronto. I’ve known the director Ann-Marie Williams through the dance community for years, our paths crossed as students and professionals dancing and administrating our favourite art form! So when she asked me to do all the decorating pieces for the basic tutus and bodysuits she had for her show I jumped at the opportunity.

No frilly, nauseating princessy-ness here, no ma’am! All the pieces are being made from felt, glorious felt! Wherever possible, the pieces (like the gold fish above) will be attached to a brooch pin or a barrette or a headband so that they can also be used afterward, separate from the costume.

I’m off to a good start and will have some finished pieces to share next week. Now back to the machine with me!

Aflutter Over the New Quilt

I finally finished the bird-patterned quilt I’ve been planning and working on over the past few months. This was the project that kept getting bumped aside for other more pressing matters and crafts. But its time has come! I present the Birdie Quilt and Burping Pad Combo.

I plan to carry this set on my Etsy store when I’m up and running in the summer, so the next step is to make some more sets. I am so happy with how this design came out. I like the big, chunky blocks and have always been attracted to baby stuff made with strong colours and a pattern that’s not so common.

Unfortunately in my photos you can’t really see the leaves sewn into the black blocks on the quilt, but they’re there! I am slowly increasing my photographic skills because of this blog, but the black fabric stole the light and I couldn’t find it. Will experiment more, am open to suggestions …

On the simple, flannel side of the burp pad and the blocked side of the quilt I used green thread so that the quilted leaf design would stand out. It’s fun to quilt this pattern free-hand on the machine, reminds me of painting or sculpting. Probably my favourite of the process!

The busy side of both pieces is stitched with white thread. The leaf quilting almost needs to be felt to be seen amidst the birds and foliage. I hope the detailing invites fingers to touch and baby cheeks to rest peacefully.

I’ve been reading and thinking about pricing and perceived value. Burping pads, my speciality, are just not that cost effective. The ones I make are relatively labour intensive but there’s a limit to what people will pay for such things and it’s not a lot more than a super fancy latte! I see a lot of sewers undervaluing their work on Etsy, burping pads for as low as $2.50 with a median of about $8 per pad, which I find totally ridiculous and frustrating. I think it may be one of the great failings of such a platform, that value gets diluted with uneducated or timid artisans not really understanding how to value their work. Because mass-produced brand names versions often go for close to $20 per pad! Anyways, I’m slowly working on the math to find the sweet spots for pricing my work.

The idea to pair a pad with a quilt is something I’m going to try since consumers seem to be willing to pay more for a quilt; perhaps the overall square footage of the item persuades them?! And I like the idea of these 2 items together, perfect for a new baby gift. My slow advance on cottage industry continues …

PS: I wrote this entry with a sleeping 8-month-old draped across my arm and lap. My wrists have been performing acts contortion in order to type! Insane perhaps, but I find that getting my blog post ready the night before is more enjoyable and practical for the most part. It’s just too hard to get a long chunk of time at the computer amidst the littles and isn’t fair to them. And I really am enjoying blogging, it’s helping me keep on some kind of task creatively I am surprised by how much I enjoy the act of writing and sharing here. Over and out.

Rearview Fridays: Wedding Recipe Book

When I married Adam in the fall of 2003, I knew that I wanted to do something handmade and and not too kitschy. I decided recipe books would be sweet and doable for 70-odd guests. My friend Lindsay Zier-Vogel had been making hardcover art books for a while at that point and taught me how.

We filled the pages with recipes from a lot of the important women in our lives, moms and grandmas, aunts and godmothers. And it was very appropriate since we had a potluck wedding, which was best borrowed idea ever, cost effective and perhaps more important, it lent a real sense of community to the event, people went all out and made beautiful contributions for the dinner.

I had a great time with myself, picking out paper and working late nights in our cozy basement apartment, typing, paginating, measuring, cutting, stitching and gluing while Adam coached basketball. If he didn’t know before, that project must have showed him just how serious about handmade-craftiness his lady was!

Almost 9 years later I still use our wedding recipe book regularly, it sits on the shelf with our other recipe books and boxes. When I open it I see the names of women near and far, here and gone who are dear and essential to us and I can conjure them by cooking up a little goodness from their own kitchens.

Sewing for Girl Birthdays

My 4-year-old son has 2 very excellent friends who happen to be girls. Their moms and I have become bosom-buddies through our kids and all 3 of the widgets take creative dance together at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Young Dancers’ Program. I adore having 2 boys and no girls, absolutely no regrets. But I myself am a girl, and I really do love me some cute little skirts and dresses now and again.  So I just have to buy or make them for Rudi’s friends when the spirit moves me (he’s long-since informed me that girls wear skirts and dresses, the gender-differentiation train has left the station). And girl birthdays create opportunities to make delicate, girlie things that I cannot resist!

Above is a little fairy-princess dancing skirt to flit through imagination-land in. I used a section off an extra set of $6 Ikea net curtains I have lying around and raided my extensive ribbon collection. And ric rac. I do so love ric rac, I aspire to expand my on-hand collection. I love making something that’s princessy but not Disney-princessy (shudder). Just generally wafty and floufy (technical terms, I’m all about them), cause really, it’s all about how that fabric feels when it grazes your legs, that’s what makes me feel the most magical or royal anyways.

Then of course one needs a general sceptre or wand at hand. This one I made for the princess and pink loving friend of Rudi’s — error, I had no pink felt so I went with purple. This was not the best choice but I think she may accept it eventually! I had to add the orange star ribbon for a bit of sass. Reports are that her 3-month-old sister is mesmerized by the ribbon movement, unexpected bonus!

And lastly, for Rudi’s friend who loves purple and dolls (she’s always got one in tow and cares for them like her own kids), I made a little sleeping bag and pillow set. It was so much fun and took me back to the days when I’d envision, concoct, create and finish a project over the course of a lazy weekend day as a kid. Back when a day 0ff seemed endless and rolled past slowly and deliciously, ripe with possibility.

I guess that’s what it comes down to when I sew for girls specifically, it’s a little trip down memory lane, close to my heart and my own experience.