Stuff I've Been Working On...

After nearly dying last week of illness (turned out to be strep throat.. icky) i'm back in the game, and giving my sewing machine a run for the money! Since you've all been so inspirational in sharing your creations, i'd like to share some of mine:

My Crazy Jeans: Last summer when i drove across the country, i got halfway and realized i forgot to pack jeans!! So as soon as i got to my sister's in Portland, I bought these jeans for $20 at the Gap. They are the "long and lean" cut, and though i'm not long, i really liked the fit. BUT.. they turned out to be very shoddy fabric and fell apart within a month. So i just keep patching them up as they crumble! I made "crazy-quilt" sidepanels out of salvage corduroy from the thrift shop, and a few bits of some pretty floral flannel:

Both knees have now blown out. One knee has a corduroy/ embroidery patch, and last week i did the other knee with appliqué stars from leftover fabric. (see skirt, below!)

(...con't)

 

Apron Top for Sis: Some of you may remember that i tried to make a top for my sister to wear to Bonnaroo, and it came out waaay too big. This was the one i ended up doing for her. The back is a typical apron top with three loops on each side. Inside is lined with lime green fabric. I absolutely LOVE the batik used for the panel and straps. Best of all.... she loved it!


Apron Top (ebay?): I haven't figured out what i'm gonna do with this yet. I started making a matching skirt but lost momentum when i was sick. Since i'm fairly broke, i'll prolly auction this one. I love the fun fabric and seed bead trim, and what you can't see is the special little interior stash pocket i spent hours embroidering.

 

very cute stuff I love that phish top!!! and nice path job on the jeans it looks cool!

 

My Favorite Skirt Evah: The striped material just called out to me at the fabric store, but a whole skirt would've been too much for me. So i sewed this up, and got it all together and discovered it was HUGE. I really wanted it more "fitted" at the top. Using my wonderful serger with the self-cutter thingie, i was able to literally "carve" away at the top part of each of the panels until it was just right. I added a patch pocket to the front. I got the yin-yang patch last time i was in toronto @ kensington market... it's supposedly handmade. And.. i added some antique bells to the ends of the ties, which give the skirt a nice jingle when i walk. I'll probably be buried in this skirt after how many times i resewed it to fit me perfectly.


Tie-Dyes: My bread-and-butter during the summer months. Here are a bunch of them i threw up last weekend at a small festival i went to. The ez-up tent ended up doubling as a protection for the soundboard from the threat of rain, so i had to do something a little different from a display perspective. I really like how the ropes/ clothespins display the shirts more clearly than hangers do! I'm def. going to display this way again. Despite low turn-out to the fest, i sold a mess of shirts - pretty much sold out of the kid ones! Yay!


That's it for now! Back to the old drawing board!

 

oh now that skirt it the friggin shit!!! I love that sooooooooooo much!

 

Thanks greengoddess!

 

great work mama!!

 

holy crap those tie dyes are amazing!

 

Love the flares, skirt, and shirts!!!

 

I do remember the top you made for your sis! I loved it...but this stuff you've posted is the best. Wow,you are brilliant with the colors,the ideas,and the overall work you do.
Do you have a website or do you sell on ebay any?

 

Beautiful!!

 

very nice stuff mama!

 

_The skirt, wow!

 

Very Nice!! I love the last skirt!! Its awsome!!

 

Oh my gosh, you folks are like a big ol' ice cream sundae for my self-esteem! Thanks for all the positive feedback. It means a lot coming from you all... i've been so inspired by the things i've seen here. Wonder Girl, i have sold on ebay in the past, but i had a very bad transaction recently and ended up with a neg. feedback from a non-paying bidder (!). I was so crushed.. i have only <20 feedbacks total, and although i'm extremely conscious about packaging and communication etc, now i have a friggin negative. It left a real bad taste in my mouth, and, i'm afraid ppl won't bid on my auctions with a negative. I opened up a seller's account, but i haven't done anything with it yet. I really like selling at the festivals during the summer. I feel like things sell for more (esp. the tie-dyes) and i get to chat it up with ppl and see great live music. AND... i love to work out barters, which is much easier in person.. the less money involved, the better, as far as i'm concerned! I'm working out the details of a barter with an organic gardener i met recently, so we may end up with fresh, organic produce this whole summer for the price of a couple of tie-dyed things! I love that! As for the website, i'm working on that, hopefully by the end of the month i'll have something up! I'll keep you posted!

 

Wow, great job!! I love love love that skirt, it has all of my favorite colors!! Fabulous!

 

Well that's it! You've convinced me, i really must make another one of those skirts to sell. It would be selfish not to...

 

that skirt is wicked awesome, i LOVE IT! also, i really dig your tie dye. I went to Art In The Park a couple weeks ago (im sure u can figure that its an arts and crafts show in a huge park here in Windsor lol) And the tie dye stands were SOOOOOO hardcore L-A-M-E. Everything was so generic and boring. I love seeing wicked tie dye. I dig it

 

I agree, and the reason the generic plain ones are so prevalent is mostly because these ones take literally HOURS to make. By the time i've sewn up and dropped dye on ONE t-shirt, i could've made 10 plain spiral ones. Back when i first learned this method of tying/dying in the late 80's, the bar was set so high.. the people who taught me were cranking out the most incredibly amazing, beautiful stuff. I was totally humbled. The past few years i've noticed that the really intricate, bright shirts are VERY hard to find. And tie-dyed anything is "in" right now! So i thought i might be filling a niche by getting back into it. And by the responses i've had at festivals, people are really hungry for crazy tie-dyes! My hope is to eventually start a line of stuff made on hemp blanks, with natural dyes from things like spices, fruits, coffee, etc. I've had some requests esp. from women for more muted, earthy tones, and i though that would be an interesting direction to move in...

 

earth tone tie dye rocks my socks. I have this wicked serong (Sp?...) that's brownish/redish/creamish, with 4 huge pot leafs on them. Probably not hand dyed or anything, but i still love the look of it.