bodner052

This is maybe my fourth version of the Sewing Workshop's Peony vest. Evidently I made a linen one when it first came out but I can find no evidence of that. Next I made it in a faux shearling that I purchased from the now-defunct Waechter's Fabrics in Asheville NC. It was fun to make but I never wore it. More recently I made one in denim and began to add sead-stitching to it . This one I enjoy wearing. The Peony vest is one of my favorite patterns. It has good bones. This one is from linen. The back is lined with a remnant of silk-cotton radiance. The front is lined with a cotton print designed by Marcia Derse. I love, love, love her designs. It looks like silk to me. It is now finally ready for some hand-stitch. Finally. It should have been an easy make. It has 3 pieces really - the back, the left front, and the right front. So I began to make mistakes right away. I do not think I have ever unsewed such a simple garment so many times. And let me just give a shout-out to BSF ...

This Sewing Workshop pattern came out several years ago. It's a two-fer, as it contains two very different blouse patterns. I made the companion piece, the Cortona , last year. Now I have finally made the Siena: The Siena has a vintage bowling alley feeling, I think. And it is a great canvas for striped fabric. This fabric is from Marcia Derse's commercially printed lines. It is called ice blue frost , from her Bookends series. It is a light-weight cotton border print and reads as a kind-of stripe. The selvage contains a wide painterly stripe of medium and dark blue. I used that for the front panel and the back yoke. I am totally enamored of her prints. If you are interested in her, see her story here. It almost makes me want to run dye some fabric. Almost. I'd much rather sew and let people like Marcia do the dyeing. The Siena is a great summer top. I shortened mine about 1.5 inches for a more flattering length on me. And I've seen it lengthened into a long winter vest...

I am still on a pattern binge with The Sewing Workshop (TSW). The Village Bag is a pattern that I think I received free last year while attending Sew Kansas. Linda included a goodie bag for each of us with several unexpected items. I came home from the workshop, dutifully cut the pattern tissue apart and put it aside. So here I am a year later pulling this pattern out to try. Small wonder I have managed to lose the pattern piece for the handles. This fabric has a small story. It is heavy cotton canvas, a traditional ticking weave. I purchased it my first day at Sew Kansas 2016 thinking to make a pair of Valencia pants, a sort of wearable muslin. I took it to my brother's house and laundered it,  supposing it would soften up. It did not. If anything it became more crisp, more stable. This was lucky as I would have been very disappointed in my project. Luckily I also picked up a remnant of gray cross-weave linen at the same time and laundered it. That lovely fabric became my Valenci...

After the 3 day workshop, Sew Kansas , Linda Lee offered a class on Alabama Chanin. The project was a scarf although some people opted to upgrade to a t-shirt, the eTee. I decided to go with the scarf. Here is mine: Because we were working with stenciled fat eighths from Alabama Chanin , we used negative reverse applique.  Reverse applique requires two complete layers. Negative reverse applique involves cutting away the background of the top layer and so is perfect for using these small stenciled pieces on a larger piece, in this case, a scarf.  Yep, I'm hooked. My birthday is coming up. Maybe I need to buy a kit from Alabama Chanin. I loved that the stenciling part was complete. The sewing part is what I love. The following are samples from the Sewing Workshop, not my work:

Day 2 of this year's Sew Kansas involved some actual sewing on my part. My Valencia pants are clearly too long. More tweaking needed. I'm wearing it with a Zona sample from TSW collection. It has been lengthened and sewn in several different denims. I really like the styling on the Zona and would not have thought about lengthening it into a jacket.  It is interesting to see how different people manage the time. Some people sew constantly. One friend made 3 pairs of pants, 2 tops and then she cut out a jacket. I like to wander some, make notes, take pictures, and sew a little. My approach generated one pair of Valencia pants and a lot of inspiration/information. The fabric is a cross-dyed gray linen. It's that signature flat front found in the Plaza, Urban and Trio pants. The Valencia is the most basic of those four pants patterns. Not much to show for 3 days, eh? I'm back home and I still need to tweak the length a bit. But I had fun trying things on and taking pictures...

I am just about to depart Topeka for home, having completed a 3 day workshop, Sew Kansas, followed by a one day seminar on the Alabama Chanin lifestyle and techniques. Tops: MixIt shirt, Future shirt pattern, Plaza vest, Barcelona top, Siena top (below), Tremont Jacket This is the second Sew Kansas for me - the first was in 2015.  Sew Kansas is a 3 day workshop taught by Linda Lee of The Sewing Workshop. It takes place in her shop in Topeka KS. This is a version of the San Diego jacket, an older TSW pattern. Good lighting. Great company. Fun times. Delicious food as needed. Individual help. And wonderful master classes taught by Linda Lee several times a day. Each of us chose what and when to work on sewing projects. Here is the vintage San Diego on me. Linda Lee is an experienced and accomplished interior designer and it certainly shows in the design and layout of her shop. One large room contains the classroom studio with Bernina sewing machines, samples of each current pattern i...

July is a month full of travel. And heart-break, evidently. I am a passenger, not a driver. What is driving us all? Lord, have mercy. This piece is small but can grow organically thanks to Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth, and her combination of instruction and inspiration, especially here . Despite the speed at which I am being propelled from one location to the next, I am engaged in slow sewing. Maybe not my best work, but still satisfying. And the light is fantastic. I keep wanting to hand-quilt a larger quilt but traditional techniques have failed to sustain me. Just too much to manage, once the top, batting, and back are all pinned or otherwise basted together. I feel like I'm drowning. I tried omitting the batting. After all I live in the southeast US and so a light quilt would be useful. It was still unwieldy and I did not like the way the layers worked (did not work) together. So, thanks, Jude. This approach fits my needs just fine, as I am always working from the edges. It will r...

Today we in the United States celebrate our independence from England. I wonder about all this. Can patriotism morph into nationalism to easily? This day certainly brings back memories. And I am an American, happy to be one. Quilts are an American tradition, especially scrappy quilts. This one is about 72 inches square with wool batting and a plain white back. One of a few UFO's that I am trying to finish. This one makes me happy. Happy day to you!