bits and pieces

a bit of a preview of my current sewing project. it's heavily influenced by current japanese textiles. i decided to use some gorgeous quilted linen fabric i had purchased from linnet while in japan. also, some mina perhonen and nani iro things. it's mostly sewn, but i'm awaiting a zipper. so for now, things are on pause.

however, i came across a tutorial on making continuos bias tape which i found useful for this project. i gave it a go with a small remnant of liberty of london's tana lawn i had on hand. although thin, tana lawn is quite stretchy, so maybe not such a grand idea for a first try. with some more practice and patience, i should get better.

seashells on the seashore

the third eyepatch is a grouping of shell buttons and pearls. it was inspired by the artwork of nick cave. originally i had included the green crystal in it, but wasn't entirely won over; i like the piece more now, without the visual focuser of the blue green color. however, i maintained the hue in the backing fabric.

abalone and mother of pearl buttons are amongst my favorite; they're simple but lovely with the subtle rainbows which play across their surface.

progression

the next one in the series of eyepatches is about buttons. i love abalone shell buttons, they're so shimmery and opalescent. they're to be set against a pewter grey silk, with a grey green stripped silk lining. the green crystal is still up in the air, but i like the pearls spread throughout.

initially i wanted to use round buttons, but i came across these square and rectangular buttons at a knitting shop the other day and thought the effect could be interesting when paired with the few octagon and round buttons i already had.

harmony of spaces

while doing my laundry the other day i realized something; my current wardrobe consists of shades of grey, mint blue, sunny yellow, palest peachy pink, white, and touches of oatmeal. then, today while accessorizing i noticed a certain relation between my personal space, my blog, and myself, let's say, a certain color harmony. hmm. i think perhaps these hues make me happy, so i am especially drawn to them. ah, well, do what makes the serotonin flow. so, we'll label it a good thing, yes, a very good thing.

some nice news; father is doing well, almost recovered from surgery, finally home, stubborn as usual, and never drinking enough water, but we love him anyway.

organized chaos

i like organization, it makes creating things easier; i can focus on what i'm doing and not worry about where things are or if i have materials elsewhere. several years ago i bought several of these glass and metal tins and like to keep my buttons and beads in them. here's todays mess; i was working on another brooch, i'll post photos soon. one good thing about keeping things orderly? it makes cleaning it all up go really fast.

not your average case

so, while viewing some fascinating textural images on flickr, i was inspired to weave something; not having a loom at the moment and never actually doing it before only being a small bump on the road. but, hey, i've read about the main technique somewhere before, and have seen it done.
grabbing my embroidery frame out of cold storage i proceeded to hammer straight pins into the dowel rods. moments later and voila! a frame on which to weave.

i can see why weavers created patterns; it was monotonous at times but actually really relaxing. it put me in mind of a movie from my childhood, the three lives of thomasina.

taking the finished piece off of the frame was tricky and i'm sure there is a clean way to do this, but i forged ahead anyway. the poor little cloth (because that's what it was at this point, and really amazing too; that whole yarn to cloth part.) was kind of worse for wear but had me thinking about a pouch. several stitches later, a trip to the store for a zipper and a button, cutting, ironing, stitching, and sewing by hand and i had a cute little pouch to store my new business cards in. it's a little asymmetric, kind of wedge like, but really charming all in all; and i like it because i made it from scratch on a whim, which is pretty cool in my eyes.

ah, yes, the cards. they turned out very nice. eventually i want letterpress ones, but i really don't know of the design yet.