Remaking a jacket for the wedding

Photo of me (by Jim) hemming the remade jacket wearing a t-shirt Jim got me for our anniversary.

You've no doubt heard of reverse engineering, well this weekend, I engaged in a little re-engineering of a jacket that I got for a song (70% off at Steinmart). It wasn't quite right--not petite, so it was way too long and the sleeves had these impossibly ugly turned up cuffs--but there was potential.



The first thing I did was get rid of those cuffs.



Then I was able to hem the sleeves to fit my short arms.



Shortening the body of the jacket was the next order of business. The jacket is a solid color and except of the pleated edge, it's pretty plain. I decided I needed some kind of decoration on the front.



Using the bands on either side of the front as a guide, I made a pattern of that area with tracing paper.



Using the tracing paper pattern, I cut two base pieces.



My idea was to use the kimono pieces that remained from the shirt I had made years ago to create two panels to appliqué to the jacket. I decided to do a little sashiko embroidery on the panels as I had done for the shirt.



Using a simple sew and flip technique, I covered the base fabrics. I tried to alternate silk with 100% cotton because the silk slips so much. I press after each seam.



Here's on panel nearly done. I pin the sides of the silk pieces to the base fabric to help keep them in place. I don't trim until I stay stitch the entire panel.



Stay stitching is slightly less than one quarter inch from the edge because I'm going to turn that seam allowance under to sew it down to the jacket and I don't want the stay stitching to show.



Here's one panel ready to be embroidered.



This book, by the brilliant Kimi Ota, has been my sashiko guide for years.



I'm spreading three different sashiko designs over the panel.



This little circle template comes in handy for marking the seven treasures of Buddha pattern on a small scale.



The embroidery on this panel is finished.



Here's the first panel sewn in place. I'll model and have Jim take a photo when it's all finished. Sweet dreams for now.

Anna and Matt's wedding quilt: The quilting begins

This is the "Single Girl" pattern by Denyse Schmidt for Anna and Matt's wedding gift and the hand quilting has begun. I'm doing a quilting pattern I've used before that is actually a sashiko embroidery pattern of interlocking circles. The intersection of the circles creates a flower and it is called the seven treasures of Buddha. When I made this t-shirt quilt for Dan, I used it.



It's one of those quilting patterns that lets you quilt across the hoop without breaking the thread, so it goes very quickly.



I use a 360 degree protractor to mark the circles and one of those little chalk markers that wipes off easily.

Visiting the City Quilter

I had seen the City Quilter's ads in magazines, but when Paula Nadelstern gave them such a ringing endorsement in her guide to the Garment District, I had to make the trip. On my way back from the Brooklyn Museum, I changed to a local train at 14th Street and then got out at 23rd and spent a lovely 90 minutes at this terrific little shop.



One of the first things I found was this Kathy Hall fabric from her Midcentury Modern collection for Andover Fabrics. It will be perfect to back the black and yellow Bento Box quilt.



This gorgeous chrysanthemum design tone-on-tone is by Faye Burgos for Marcus Fabrics. I don't know what I will use if for, but, love is love and I had to have it.


These lovely dupioni silks also called to me for my stash.



The visual texture of tone-on-tone fabrics is something I use lots in my work, so I was naturally attracted by this great Robert Kaufman design cleverly called Marbleous.



Like a racoon in a second-hand jewelry store, I am always drawn to fat quarters and I got a wonderful variety.



Since Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte is one of my all-time favorite paintings, I had to buy this fabric from Exlusively Quilters call "Sunday in the Park."



As a lover of black, white, and grey, this fabric naturally attracted me AND it's a cityscape. What could be more perfect? It was designed by Luli Sanchez for Timeless Treasures Fabrics.




The City Quilter has a fabulous notions area as well where I picked up several skeins of sashiko thread, more needles, and more of the fantastic Japanese grey silk thread that I use for appliqué, and one of those nifty plastic thimbles.

Lots of gorgeous fabrics, a friendly staff, and well worth the 20 block walk. Be sure to visit with the City Quilters if you are ever in the Big Apple.

"Getting up in each other's stories"

"It's in the understanding of each other's stories, the good and the hard to hear, we gain a better understanding of how we can support and connect as humans for the Greater Good." ----Sabrina Zarco

There's been a really interesting thread going on the Quilt Art listserv about whether or not artists should use ethnic themes and fabrics if they are not personally of that group. It began with a rather innocent question from a new art quilter who wanted to know if it was OK to use African fabrics in a quilt she was working on. One of the best things about this discussion is that it's drawn several lurkers into the discussion who really have had some terrific comments especially the one above by Sabrina Zarco over at the Chicana Creating Art through Chaos blog. After her first post in this discussion, I went to her blog and immediately put her on my Google Reader subscription list. In her first post, she said that the important thing was to respectfully use those themes and materials. An African-American quilter on the listserv added her thoughts that she loved Asian fabrics and clothing and incorporated them into her work and personal style. Sabrina's thoughts really expressed what I believe. I love everything about Japanese culture and art work. I taught myself sashiko embroidery after seeing it the first time. I treasure my friendships with my Japanese quilting friends, Toshi and Miyoko from the Sugar Creek Quilters, and always consider how much richer my life and work are because our lives intersected.

If the English as a Second Language class hadn't met in the library media center for several years, I would have missed out on mixing up my life with the wonderful culture of Mexico. My Day of the Dead quilt hangs in my office at school now along with my pictures of those wonderful, hard-working students. After meeting the late Cuesta Benberry at the Quilter's Hall of Fame, I became fascinated with African American quilts and their history. Think how narrow and grey our lives would be if we didn't "get up in each other's stories" as George C. Wolfe said.

Dan's New T-Shirt Quilt

This is Dan's new T-shirt quilt. I brought it for Show and Tell at the Piedmont Quilters' Guild meeting last week, but they were underwhelmed. As T-shirt quilts go, I think it's very unique. I love the border and I think the piecing that's worked in with the designs really compliments them. It's hand quilted using a Sashiko design of interlocking circles called the seven treasures of Buddha. Very appropriate, I thought, for Dan. Here's a detail.
Photographs by Danny Fisher.