junior deluxe

Brief Missives

2012-01-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Industrial rotary cutter!

It's an engine, with a circular blade attached. When our instructor told us about the industrial rotary cutter, I thought it would just be a really heavy duty cutter. Like the ones you used for quilting, but maybe made of metal. Not so!

Hey, did you know that Amy Butler's husband designed a manly fabric collection? Also, he has a very nice studio.

Why didn't I visit the Bookhou shop when I was in Toronto? Oh well, I'll just console myself with their etsy shop. This husband and wife team specialize pleasing wood, ceramic and textiles that have a distict Lotta Jansdotter-ish feel. I might need to buy myself this clutch as a birthday present. There's more wood-grain-and-linen goodness at their blog.

An article in issue 10 of MatchBook offers photographic evidence that Kate Spade stocks her home bar with my favourite gin. Also! A country estate fashion editorial with miniature goats.

Fashion be crazy! Drop-crotch skinny jeans: Like hammer pants, but skinny. And denim.

No less crazy: Thom Browne's fall 2012 menswear collection includes crop-tops, Frankenstein silhouettes, frumpy secretary skirts, and dog prints.

Belated Book review: Sewing in a Straight Line

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

Belated Book review
Sewing in a Straight Line: quick and crafty projects you can make by simply sewing straight by Brett Bara
Potter Craft, 2011

Sewing in a Straight Line offers very simple projects designed to showcase how much can be achieved by sewing straight lines.

Most of the projects aren't much different from those you've seen in other introductory sewing books, like Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing or Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. Bara's first book includes the usual suspects (pillow covers, curtains, tote bags) as well as some more unusual additions, like quilts, a smocked dress and a drapey knit cardigan. One standout technique is the origami-esque treatment the simple sundress--definitely a technique to remember, and surprising in a beginner book.

Personally, I am most excited about the yellow skirt from the cover, the nifty quilted belt, and the orange chiffon blouse.

The most notable thing about Sewing in a Straight Line is the brilliant styling and fabric choices. These uncomplicated projects sing in the high-end linen blends, silk chiffon and faux ostrich vinyl. They look exciting and fresh. The photos are shot in private homes with an appealing mid-century Scandinavian style, and the model hits a good aspirational note between "real model" and "real person." It was almost enough to make me forget that elastic waisted-skirts are not flattering on me at all.

Bara is a contributor to Design*Sponge, so I'm not surprised that Sewing in a Straight Line is the most well-styled craft book I've ever seen. While Bara acknowledges that "the secret is in the fabric you choose", she does little to demystify the process of choosing textiles. A chapter on making design decisions would have been a welcome addition to the book.

If you want to get excited about simple sewing, and see how a great textile can elevate a project, buy this book. If you really want to learn to sew, I'd suggest you also buy Diana Rupp's Sew Everything Workshop, which is much more comprehensive, and also contains lots of good projects.

PS: Brett Bara's website has some pretty video instructions and project errata.

PPS: Yes, this book review was 6 months late, but my library just got a copy.

Book review: Crafting With Cat Hair

2012-01-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Book review
Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make With Your Cat by Kaori Tsutaya

Translated from the Japanese by Amy Hirschman
Quirk Books, 2011

Book does not come with live cat.

So the best thing about being sent a review copy of Crafting with Cat Hair was getting to gauge people's reactions to it when they saw it on my desk. Everyone looked at it, then looked at me, and I knew they couldn't decide if it was a joke or not.

Well, people, it's not a joke, it's a review copy. And because I am a very thorough reviewer, I have actually crafted with cat hair. And am now writing to tell you about it.

Crafting with Cat Hair is a translation of a Japanese book about making tiny versions of your cat using its own shed fur. I have a serious weakness for Japanese craft books, but using cat hair as a craft material is not something I've ever considered before. The closest I've ever come is borrowing Knitting with Dog Hair (1994) from the Vancouver Public Library, purely out of morbid curiosity.

I don't consider a craft book properly reviewed unless you've actually tried the projects, so I called my friend Leone. Leone has access to cat hair, and since she's a kindergarten teacher, I figured she'd be used to gross things.

Like most Japanese craft books, Crafting with Cat Hair is pleasing to look at, with clear, arty photos and cute page layouts. Information on cats and cat hair is interspersed, a bit randomly, between the projects. The author discusses the properties of cat hair: the difference between undercoat hair and topcoat hair, how cat hair differs from wool, the most efficient ways to gather cat hair. The book also makes the startling claim that "cats do not naturally produce any bad smells, and neither does their hair" Perhaps this is characteristic of highly-engineered Japanese cats (like Memebon)? Leone confirmed that this was not true of her cats, Spike and Lala.

This one is Lala.

The projects all use wet-felting or needle-felting techniques. Most of the projects involve making cat-shaped patches that can be needle-felted onto scarves, tote bags, pin cushions and other items. The end results are pretty cute, with a restrained aesthetic I always associate with Japanese crafts.

Leone and I decided to make the first project in the book, a small cat-shaped finger puppet. We ran into a problem right off the bat. I didn't receive my review copy until early November, and according to this chart in the book, November and December are the worst months for cat hair crafting:

Leone is such a helpful person that she saved a little Ziplock bag of cat hair every time she brushed Spike and Lala. Eventually, we had enough to start (the book recommends about 4 brushfuls of hair).

We assembled our supplies: cardboard, saran wrap, the tiny bag of hair.

The instructions in the book are very thorough. We had no trouble following them, although we did have some trouble executing them (this was no fault of the book though -- it's reasonable for our first attempt to be a little wonky).

We cut out a cardboard template and wrapped in Saran wrap to waterproof it. The book instructs you sealing the template with packing tape but we didn't have any. I don't recommend skipping this step.

Then, we wrapped the template in a thin layer of cat fur. We didn't have enough fur in any single colour, so we tried to make the puppet striped. (For best results, the book recommends using one colour of fur. Stick to this).

Next, we wet-felted the puppet using hot water and dish detergent. This part was pretty gross. The stripes all mixed together and the resulting clump of wet brown hair looked like something you would pull out of a drain.

At one point, the puppet developed a hole and we didn't have any more hair to patch it with. Conveniently, the cats had been scrapping a few minutes earlier and had left several tufts of hair on the carpet. I grabbed one and felted it on to the puppet.

The puppet was less horrifying when it dried. The cat hair felt had a very fine texture and a halo that reminded us of kid mohair.

Even though it was basically an effigy of her beloved cats, Leone was not enchanted by the puppet.

Leone wouldn't let me leave the puppet at her house, and I couldn't bring it home because of Curt's allergies. So I brought the puppet to work and left it on a coworker's desk.

He was not at all horrified when I told him it was made from cat hair. The puppet has now become incorporated into the mess on his desk and I don't think I'll see it again, which is totally fine with me.

In short: if you want to make little crafts out of cat hair, this book is undoubtedly the most complete book on the subject. We found it pleasing to look at and easy to follow. Whether you want to make things from cat hair is up to you. Also, if your office mates aren't surprised when you leave things made from cat hair on their desks, maybe you should re-evaluate your life choices.

Coming at fashion sideways: 1) The Sighing Sound of Lips Unsatisfied

2011-12-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not able to approach fashion head-on, not really. Looking at fashion straight on is contextless and boring. But fashion seeps into so many other things. It permeates our lives, our culture and our histories. For me, this is when it becomes rich and fertile and full of meaning. When I can come at it sideways, through art or sociology or history, fashion is irresistible to me.

Here are a few ways I looked askance at fashion this week:

1. Dresses with Whimsical Names

"Happiness" Dinner Dress
Made in New York, New York, United States c. 1915
Designed by Lucile, Lady Duff-Gordon. Label Lucile Ltd., New York.

Occasionally, someone on the Ravelry forums will complain about the fanciful, seemingly unrelated names that handknitting designers give their patterns. I was sort of delighted to find out that this practice predated Modcloth.com and Ravelry by at least 100 years.

Lucile Sutherland (1863-1935) was an early English designer, who made romantic, colorful dresses. Initially, she customized each gown to reflect the personality of the customer, but as her business grew, she replaced this practice by giving each dress a memorable name, like "Farewell Summer" or "The Moment". One was called "The Sighing Sound of Lips Unsatisfied."

Lucile wrote a memoir published in 1932 that I'd like to track down. It was titled Discretions & Indiscretions.

via the FIDM Museum Blog

2. Draw This Dress

I love fashion and I love illustration so I was very pleased to stumble upon drawthisdress.tumblr.com. Comic book artists Emily Carroll and Vera Brosgol draw historic dresses in their own style and the results look like the best cartoon you've never seen, full of history, humour, great clothes and character. I have a feeling that most people would call these illustrations "cartoons" rather than "fashion illustration" because the dresses appear to be secondary to something else -- the narrative moment or the sense of character. Whatever they are, I love them. (Also, do yourself a favour and look at the portfolios on Brosgol and Carroll's websites).

Original photo:

Vera Brosgol's illustration:

3. Long Weekend Reading

I checked out Clothes, by John Harvey, from the Vancouver Public Library, and am hoping to read it this weekend. This slim book is part of the "Art of Living" series, which uses philosophy to explore the modern age. It was reviewed well in the most recent issue of WORN Fashion Journal. I've been a bit afraid to take on Barthes and all the really hardcore philosophical treatments of fashion, so hopefully this will be good first step.

Tyranny of Thrift (or, how to become a hoarder)

2011-12-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

So I found this half-finished rabbit doll in a plastic bag in my closet, tucked in with with some felted sweaters that I never made into anything. The rabbit is made out of a felted sweater that used to belong to my sister. It's all handsewn, which means that it either predates my first sewing machine (a tiny blue Kenmore) or that I couldn't get the tiny blue Kenmore to sew tight corners on thick, fluffy, disintegrating fabric. It could well be the last thing I sewed entirely by hand.

I'm pretty sure I started making this when a co-worker at my old job got pregnant. Her child is now three. It's made from a template in Aranzi Aronzo's Cute Book, which I love. (I made a few things from Cute Book and Cute Dolls, and started many more! If I keep looking in the closet I might find more half-made cute animals).

Everything about the Cute Book is cute.

This faceless, naked rabbit dummy been kicking around my closet for years now. I'm caught between keeping it and throwing it out. (And before you ask -- no, I'm not going to give it to the intended recipient. I don't think she'd want it, and gifts should be given because you think the person would enjoy the item, not because you can't bring yourself to throw the gift in the trash).

Curt suggested that I donate the half-finished rabbit to a thrift store "because some child born without eyes or a mouth might enjoy playing with it." I believe that this means that Curt found the naked rabbit a little creepy in its current state, and felt that I shouldn't donate it. I agree. Who wants to thrift an unfinished toy?

Reasons to keep it:

It's so close to being done. All it needs is a cute little face and a felt jacket and it would actually be pretty cute. I worry that by throwing it out I'm negating my own hard work

It seems wasteful. What if I need a rabbit doll one day and I have to do all this work over again?

Throwing away a toy feels a bit like murder to me. Probably because I absorbed too much of that of genre children's entertainment where toys come alive at night (see Corduroy, The Velveteen Rabbit, Calvin and Hobbes, Toy Story, etc).

I've kind of lost touch with this person, and throwing out a half-finished gift feels I'm throwing out our friendship. This is hoarder logic. Throwing out the rabbit will have no impact on our relationship (if I was so worried about it, I would just call her, right?) But some part of me worries that it "looks bad", though I can't say who's looking (God? My conscience? Now that I've blogged it, the Internet?)

Reasons to throw it out

I don't want to finish it.

I don't really have time to work on projects I don't want to do.

I hate embroidering faces on to stuffed animals.

I have no need for a rabbit doll (and, as stated above, I'm not going to give it to my old co-worker).

What do you guys think? Should I throw it out or just return it to the closet for another year?

How Pretty is Your Protest?

2011-11-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Spotted: Marimekko Umbrella at Occupy Wall Street, October 17, 2011 at Zuccotti Park

So the this was the last place I thought I'd see a famous textile. This appears to be the Unikko (poppy) print, which the Finnish design company debuted in 1964.

Although the footprint of the Ocuupy Wall Street and Occupy Vancouver protests are about the same size, the two encampments look very different. At OWS, an observer could look down into the park, and see the activities going on within. OVAC is walled off by tents and tarp structures. It looks pretty grim and ugly. I don't see many people outside the tents when I walk past. Only one or two at most.

I realize that prettiness is not the most important aspect of a demonstration, but I can't help but feel that OVAC--currently plauged with something of an image problem--would have been better served by OWS's more inviting appearance.

2011-11-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

I think I owe everyone an update on Fashion School. I’ve been doing night classes in Industrial Sewing Techniques and Fashion Drawing for about seven weeks now. Working full-time and doing classes isn’t that bad, but it does mean that my days are pretty full!

In sewing class, we’re creating a book of samples. Each week, we’re assigned five or six samples. So far, we’ve done different types of seams, seam finishes, and handstitches. It’s a neat way to learn, because you’re not stressed about potentially messing up an entire garment. You are racing against the clock, though, because each sample has to be finished during class time. This makes for a fairly stressful four hours, and I have a hard time going to sleep on sewing nights. I really like working with the industrial sewing machines and sergers, and I like learning very efficient ways of sewing (home sewing and industrial sewing use different techniques). I’m not very good at it yet, but I am getting better.

In Fashion Drawing, we’re learning the basics of technical and figure drawing. Because these drawings would be used to share designs within a company, the technique and results are highly standardized (unlike fashion illustration, which is more artistic and expressive). We look at photographs and live models and figure out how to draw them with the slightly alarming proportions of a croquis figure. It reminds me of technical writing, in a way. It’s slightly mechanical, and not terribly creative, but essential for communicating ideas in an efficient and accurate way. I’m often frustrated by my lumpen, awkward figures, but I’m also making progress. Last class, I noticed that my model drawings were starting to look slightly more alive than usual. “Aliveness” isn’t something we explicitly strive for in the class, but I’ve noticed that all good illustrations of humans have this quality. I tend to be emotionally exhausted after drawing class, worn down by the very strange task of being taught to draw (funfact: no one can really teach you to draw. It’s just practice and learning how to look at stuff).

I took a couple not-for-credit classes in preparation for the program, and I’m really glad that I did. I have a bit of a foundation to work from, so I’m not floundering as much as I could be. I won’t be making clothes any time soon, but I can say that I’m learning a lot. I’ve met some cool people in my classes, and everyone is very down to earth. I think it’s hard to act snobbish when your classroom is used by a baking class during the day.

In Defence of Luxury Yarn

2011-10-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my friends Dory and Leone and I are visiting the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in upstate New York. To kick off this yarncentric holiday, I thought I'd start with a post about the necessity of luxury yarn.

Knitting on a plane!

Like most people, I'm a little suspicious of luxury goods. While my designer goods are more well-made than their cheaper counterparts, I'm never certain that the increase in quality keeps pace with the increase in price. Is a $600 bag really six times better than a $100 bag? Probably not. At some point, you're probably paying for the label, not the workmanship or the materials.

However, I have come around to the necessity of luxury yarn. For me, it's starting to play an important part in my creative process.

When I started DIYing, I wasn't very concerned with the "craft" of crafting. Intoxicated by the rush of creating, I didn't mind messy details. I liked to create fast, with a minimum of fuss and even less pre-planning. It was fun, but the approach showed in my work and things never looked quite as good as they could. When I looked at my work a few weeks after I'd made it, when the rush had worn off, I wasn't always pleased.

My goal with my knitting has changed. In previous years, I wanted to learn as much as I could, as cheaply as I could, while still using natural fibers. Now, I want to make things that look unusual, appealing, and expensive. I want people to look at my work and say, "Where did you get that?" instead of "Did you make that yourself?" This has made me more meticulous and design-minded. I do more pre-planning. I'm trying to pick yarn because it's perfect for the project, instead of choosing a yarn because it's on sale or because I already own it.

Sometimes, if you want a knitted item to look a certain way, you need to use expensive yarn. Why? Color and texture.

When it comes to style and fashion, color is an important cue. Colours can be familiar or jarring. Inexpensive yarns tend to be manufactured in familiar colors that appeal to lots of people. They aren't ugly, but conservative. Sometimes, if you knit a simple or classic sweater in a conservative colour, the resulting garment can have a certain flatness. It's not visually exciting, and it doesn't stand out. This might be appealing to some people, based on their personal style, but I think find it frustrating to spend weeks knitting a cardigan, only to have it resemble one I could have easily purchased at an affordable price.

Luxury yarns are more likely to be made in exciting, unusual colours. Look at this recent Purl Soho project.

This is a very simple knit, and it looks beautiful and expensive. Yes, the yarn is pricey, but you can't make anything that looks like this with Paton's Classic Wool. Even if you managed to matched the colours with Cascade 220 (the generic worsted wool that comes in a million colours), you couldn't match the texture. Many affordable yarn tends to have the a similar texture: smooth, plied ... slightly boring.

For simple knits, colour and texture make or break the garment. Would this cardigans from New England Knits look anywhere near as nice if it was knit in Wool Ease? Nope.

Designer Sarai Mitnick wrote something on the Colette Patterns blog that struck me. "When people say that sewing doesn’t save you money, I think they’re talking about the inexpensive, disposable clothing that you can buy everywhere these days. If you have champagne tastes and a beer budget, though… you can invest your time and know-how to get “expensive” looking clothes for not a lot of dough."

This is why I want my knitting to look expensive. I would never spend $200 on a designer scarf, but I'm happy to spend $30 making one that's just as nice. I have expensive taste -- that's half the whole reason why I'm thrifty. Not all expensive yarns are worth the money, but you can't substitute for the ones that are.

The subtlety of modern design

2011-10-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is another re-post of a video I saw on Jezebel, but I couldn't help myself. I'm really stunned by the elaborate frames in this video!

Maybe you're not a V-neck guy after all

2011-10-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hello My Name is Amineko

2011-09-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

Amineko is the titular character from Hello My Name is Amineko, a pleasing crochet book/photo essay by Nekoyama. First published in Japan in 2005, Amineko shows you how to to crochet cats in three sizes. These instuctions only take about 15 pages, though -- the remaining 80 simply show photos of the cats in various poses and configurations.

It's a charming little book. The simply-worked toys are as expressive as cartoons, and their flawless execution gives them life and character. Once I made my own Amineko (medium-sized, made from charcoal Cascade 220 wool) I couldn't stop posing him.

To make an Amineko look like the ones in the book, you need to be very neat and very precise. The figure and face are so simple that minor changes alter the look of the whole thing. It took me a long time to make this toy, even though the instructions are fairly simple. You need to sew the limbs in the correct position, use the right amount of stuffing, and sew the eyes on just so.

I made this Amineko for a co-worker who laughed with delight when he saw the book, but restrained himself from asking me to make him one. I could tell he wanted one, though, so I traded him one crochet cat for the 90-day free gym pass he won at our work fun run.

Now Animeko lives in Alex's cubicle. He spends a lot of time sleeping.

The Cool Uncool

2011-08-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Junior Deluxe field reporter Dave sent in a quick comment about cycling style. Dave knows that I've long been fascinated by ugly sporting fashion, and he often has strong feelings about such things himself. It's too bad he can't accompany me to the FIT Museum exhibition on active sportswear in October!

I'll never claim cycling attire to be cool - there's too much suggested moose knuckle for that. But, if you actually use your bicycle to go for long touring rides, it's a necessary evil that saves time and energy. I saw this guy today and figured that if you have to wear skin tight bike clothes, you may as well wear a vintage merino wool jersey with sewn lettering as opposed to spandex with silk-screened advertising all over it. the mint condition orange 70's Italian road bike with re-chromed forks, shifters, brake cable clips, pump and leather hoods for the brake levers may have helped his cause. -- Dave

This monkey makes me happy

2011-08-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Most of Patricia Waller's work is cartoonishly violent. I enjoy it. But I really love the innocent happiness of this crocheted monkey-riding-a-bannana, too.

Rowing Monkey: Yarn, cotton wool, wire; crochet; length banana 64 in. height monkey 24 in.; 2003. Image taken from the Guardian website without permission.

Junior Deluxe book club: really boring edition

2011-08-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry, kids.

PROJECT: FASHION was EXTREMELY: BORING.

The gist: Three girls start attending an unnamed-but-prestigeous fashion college in London. Somehow they all live together in Sinead's mom's apartment, despite only just meeting. We only know that it's London because the boring male characters all love football.

Everyone is thin and beautiful and rich, except for the one girl who isn't rich.

The characters: Man-eating sexpot Marina might as well be named Mirena (she's actually referred to as "Miranda" once, which I think is just a typo). She favours sexy 40s styles until she gets a glam Euro-style haircut. (I can't actually picture what that means).

Sinead is the wacky artistic one. She has really expensive shoes and trust issues that stem from being incredibly wealthy. Or something.

Frankie is the beautiful tomboy with a penchant for panic attacks and armchair psychology:

"I've tried everything I know," Marina admitted. "The cleavage, the
hip-wiggles, the eyelash-flutteer. And what does he do? Gives me the latest
Premiership positions of Arsenal and Chelsea."
"Maybe he's in denial," Frankie suggested. "Rob looks like the type
who'd refuse to admit that love could rate about kicking a leather ball around a
square of turf."
"Denial?" Marina considered this.
"Yeah, that would be his mother's fault. She most likely overprotected him
when he was a little kid, bossed him around too much, that kind of thing. Now
Rob thinks that we're all like his mum, so pyschologically he has to run away
and hide from any woman who shows an interest in him."
"Wow."
"You're impressed? Me too. I did a Psychology A level."

The plot: Basically, everyone swaps boyfriends a couple times, then Merena gets a haircut. The end.

Things this book was missing: pro-ana websites, references to Gucci (beyond the title), thinly-disguised Tyra Banks character

Junior Deluxe Book Club debut

2011-08-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I had a good scrounge through the New Westminster Salvation Army with my friend Leanne. For some reason, the SA was full of great YA novels, including the Georgia Nicolson books and a stack of Susan Juby's Alice novels.

Instead of buying any of those fine books, I picked up this unknown gem.

PROJECT FASHION is "for -- and about -- fashionistas" (in case the title didn't make that clear). It's about three first-year fashion students, and features such fine copy as "A blonde bombshell herself, all the guys want Marina."

Since I'm going to start FASHION school in September, I thought it might be fun to read this on my blog, if only as a little tribute to my favourite literary fashion blog, What Claudia Wore. I am actually a big fan of reading about people reading books, especially terrible books that I don't' want to read. See Linda Holmes' "Ten Things I Read In Jennifer Love Hewitt's Book That Are Not Hallucinations", for example. Reading this book is my chance to give back!

Obviously, Sinead is going to be my favourite, because she has a pixie cut.

If I make it through "Gucci Girls", I'll move on to the second book in the series.

Sinead seems like she gets shafted in the second book, though.

HOW MANY DESCRIPTIONS OF BARTENDING AND PIRATE BOOTS CAN I TAKE? Stay tuned to find out.

Fashion School

2011-08-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

So in the spring I mentioned that I was preparing an application to the part-time fashion program at Vancouver Community College. I was accepted in June, and classes start in early September.

Students are supposed to take three classes, but since I work full-time I'm going to take two, illustration and sewing, and save drafting for next semester. This pains me a little because I'm really interested in pattern drafting, but it's the plan that makes the most sense. I'm still a beginning sewer, and I'm sure I'll have to put in lots of extra work to be competent.

It took me a while to announce this. I think it's because I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Fashion makes me feel conflicted, and the thought of trying to work in it makes me feel conflicted, not least because I really like my current job.

I like the thought of being a fashion student, though. So I think I'm going to add that to my identity and let the other stuff seep in slowly. I always want to understand everything all at once, and that's probably not a realistic expectation when it comes to life.

Sorbetto Overload

2011-08-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

So I did throw away my green and white Sorbetto top. But I can't get this project out of my mind, because

1. The pattern was free, and fit pretty well, and I could really use some summer blouses.
2. I have another one cut out.
3. I keep seeing other people's Sorbettos online. The Sew Weekly did a series called "7 Days of Sorbetto", which showcased some interested variations (like piping). I also stumbled on A Good Wardrobe's more subtle and versatile takes on the pattern, like this nice neutral pintucked one and her black sorbetto with an inverted pleat.

So tonight, or maybe tomorrow, I'm going to wade in and finish one. My friend Leanne suggested the technique used in this bias tape finishing tutorial from angry chicken. It makes me think I've been attaching bias tape the hard way, if not the wrong way.

$*&%@&#ing bias tape!

2011-08-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am really bad at finishing necklines and armholes with bias tape.

This sorbetto top is a mess. I am going to scrap it and start over. Good thing it was made from scraps of another ill-fated project, a terrible Anda dress that never saw the light of day.

I'm going to have a beer and watch puppies on youtube now.

This pinny is confusing!

2011-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Mario Balotelli plays for Manchester City. His physical prowess does not extend to putting on clothes.

I swear, this exact thing happened to me in a Le Chateau change room in 1999, except nobody was there to help me figure it out.

Internation Yarn Bombing day project part 2

2011-07-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

I didn't put up any zoomed-out shots on our International Yarn Bombing Day project! Here's a picture I took from the Cambie Street Bridge about a week after we put it up.

IT IS SO HARD TO STOP

2011-07-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

I wish I loved crafts as much as this woman:

If you really want to experience the excitement, listen to the audio by itself. Also, what on earth does the line "the Army Arts and Crafts Department sent me to Korea" mean?

Sunny Florida cushion cover

2011-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

These vintage linen tea-towels had already been through the wash a few times when I found them at a thrift store. I liked their worn texture. They weren't smooth, but they were soft, and the colours were still bright.

They seemed like the perfect thing to use as home decor, so I pieced them together to make a cushion cover for my friend Leanne. Like me, Leanne loves interesting prints and old stuff from thrift stores. Making a cushion cover is pretty easy as far as sewing goes--all you have to do is measure accurately and sew straight lines. I followed the directions from my usual sewing manual, Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp.

Her cat Pepper took to the cushion right away!

lino-printed bedsheet blouse (part 1: the stampening)

2011-07-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

The first time I tried linocutting, I was not impressed with it. I was 16 or 17 at the time, and taking high school art. I drew a picture of a shattered hand-mirror on a piece of linoleum, then carved out the parts that were supposed to be white by using sharp little tool I called "the gouger." When the carving was done, I rolled a thin layer of ink over the raised parts of the picture, then stamped the image onto a piece of paper. Wooo, I thought. I can now make as many copies of this terrible drawing as I want. Awesome.

It's possible that I was only jealous of my best friend Crystle, who in true '90s fashion had drawn a butterfly surrounded by floating pills. We were not cool enough to ever be offered drugs, but we were pretty fascinated by them (I remember drug-related artwork being pretty common in art class, which sort of surprises me in retrospect, but probably says a lot about the teacher's belief in freedom of artistic expression).

14 years later, I can only assume that I didn't get excited about linocutting because no one ever explained me that you could 1) stamp patterns on fabric, then 2) make clothes out of that fabric. Also, when you're an adult, you can do all this while drinking lemonade and vodka and listening to Swedish dance music!

This is all to say, look what I made last night:

It's my first experiment with linocut stamping.

I cut up a brand-new bedsheet that did not fit my bed and printed with a linoleum block that I carved. The top looks extra wide because it will have a single pleat down the front. (It's the Colette Patterns' Sorbetto Top, a free pattern that you can print at home).

I took the idea for the print from a project in Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens by Lena Corwin.

The sheet is white and the ink is blue-green. I designed the stamp so that I could achieve a rough continuous pattern.

The whole process was pretty involved. I made a table (not shown) for printing on by covering an old Ikea TV table with a thin layer of foam (as suggested by this poppytalk tutorial. Tracking down a piece of foam was the hardest part, but eventually I found an upholstery shop that sold me a piece for $2.00.

Lessons learned:

1. Shop around for supplies. I bought my Speedball starter kit and three colours of ink from Collage in Portland for about $30. I saw the same kit for sale in Michael's for $50! And I could have easily spent $20 on foam if I hadn't been diligent about checking the upholstery store.

2. If you want the pattern to go right to the edge of the fabric, consider stamping first and cutting second (especially if you don't follow lesson 3).

3. Make sure your stamping table is big enough. I used my little folding Ikea table because that was what I had on hand, but a bigger surface would be easier to work on. If you have a kitchen table, you could cover a large board with foam and use that instead of a stand-alone table.

4. Try different stamp materials. The linoleum blocks that I bought are really hard. This makes for a good crisp print, but it's tough to carve with any degree of accuracy or control. At this point, I think the advantages of a hard lino block are lost on me.

5. Be patient. The packaging on my textile ink says that it makes 2 weeks to cure! I am very eager to sew this shirt and discover if it fits me or not, but I am going to hold back so I don't accidently run tacky ink through my sewing machine.

At least two weeks gives me lots of time to decide what colour trim I want!

Cambie bridge yarnbombing

2011-07-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

Spotted some flower yarnbombs on my way to work this morning. Our yarnbomb is still visible on the northern shore of false creek.

That's the ocean and some boats in the background!

re-make: Icing Swirl Hat

2011-07-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

The item: The Icing Swirl hat by Ysolda Teague.

I knit this in November 2010 after buying Whimsical Little Knits in hard copy at Hill Country Weavers in Austin, TX. I also bought a skein of Plymouth Yarn's Trabajos Del Peru, because I was overwhelmed by all the choices at Hill Country, and because it was so very red and so very soft. It's a thin-and-thin single in Merino wool, a lot like Malabrigo worsted in texture. The variegated color goes from bruised purple-red to bright tomato. It looks organic and a little disturbing when it's unwound, like a the dry veins from the Bodyworlds exhibits.

Feeling very charmed by Teague's little book of patterns, I knit the Icing Hat in the red Trabajos Del Peru in a couple of days, mostly while riding the bus out to BCIT. Since the yarn was aran weight, and the pattern calls for bulky, I made the large size. Because it was a hat, I didn't swatch.

The problem:
The result was underwhelming. It was too big and too floppy. The variegated colour and uneven texture hid the simple pattern of yarnovers. I knew I could block it to make the eyelets open up, but doing so would make the hat even bigger.

It kicked around the house for a few months, moving between the box of winter knits and the mending pile. I picked it up the other day and looked at the yarn. It was puffy, beautifully red, and sorely misused in this project. I frogged it.

The solution:
This yarn needs to be knit in a simple shape, in a simple stockinette stitch. It needs to be a bright pop of colour on a winter day. It's softness and warmth need to be respected. It needs to be a cowl.

So, one of these days, probably not today but definitely before winter, I'm going to make it into a soft, warm, bright cowl.

Nerdy Girl Licensing Ventures

2011-06-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was looking at the Clearly Contacts website yesterday when I saw a pair of Tina Fey Glasses. I don't mean dark plastic frames that resemble the frames Liz Lemon sports on 30 Rock. I mean Tina Fey Brand glasses.

Behold the Tina Fey 8002s.

I'm a little torn about this. Content creators are finding it increasingly difficult to get paid for their work, so I generally don't have a problem with licensing deals if they allow a brilliant talent like Fey to line her pockets.

But I think it's a little silly to license an accessory that's not particularly spacial. Unlike, say, America Ferrera's bright red Ugly Betty frames, there are hundreds of frames that look just like Liz Lemon's glasses. It's really easy to find glasses that look like this (the pair that Tina Fey wears on TV are apparently made by Gucci--wouldn't that make the Gucci model the real Tina Fay frame?). If you bought these simply because you wanted to achieve the Tina Fey look and had not figured out how to do this before, you may be, in Tina Fey's words, a dum-dum.

That said, I might be ascribing inaccurate motives to hypothetical shoppers. What if people bought these frames not because they wanted to look like Tina Fey, but because it's freaking amazing that a smart, nerdy woman is marketing a product for other smart, nerdy (looking) women?

These frames are about as distinctive and rare as a pair of GAP jeans, but they have a genuine creative connection to her work. They make sense. It's not like she's selling the "Tina Fey celebrity diet" or the "Tina Fey GoBlonde! highlighting kit" (Amy Poehler could sell hair bleach if she wanted). This product celebrates her nerdy, smart-girl status, and I am totally into that. She may well be the only female celebrity with a glasses line who is actually famous for wearing glasses, and that makes the kind of good sense I definitely associate with Ms. Fey.

Saturday Morning Reading: Woolcrazy Edition

2011-06-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I found a lot of good links to wool-related stories this week!

Please imagine that this post is being read to you by 30 Rock's Jenna Maroney, in her official capacity as spokesperson for wool.

1. A recent post on Jesse Thorn's Put This On explains the meaning of numbered wool fabrics (most often seen in men's suiting). This post traces the development of extra-fine wool before ending on some sensible advice for shoppers. The systems-geek in me really enjoyed the analysis of the traditional ways a fiber's "fineness" is measured. And it's a good illustration of the role textile development has played in globalisation!

2. Stephanie Pearl McPhee, better known as the Yarn Harlot, has announced a truly impressive contest: the Fleece to Foot challenge, which will be held on July 31 at the Oregon Convention Centre as part of the Sock Summit.

Two live sheep will be sheared in the convention center in front of audience. Then, the fleeces are divided up and distributed to teams of five spinners and knitters, who will compete in a race to wash the fleece, spin it into yarn, and knit up a pair of socks in the shortest span of time. The socks are a modular design, meaning that instead of being knit in one piece, the pieces are made seperately, then joined at the end so more than once person can knit at a time. All the proceeds go to charity, and McPhee and her business partner are footing the bill.

I'm not all that interested in sock knitting, but I would go to this event in a heartbeat! I love the thought of taking something as slow as hand-knitting a sock and turning it into a Wipeout-esque spectator competition.

3. I've been thinking of ways to knit a lace yoke in a pullover that would mimic the lines of a Western shirt. I hadn't figured out a graceful way to do it. Then I saw Cassie Miller's Morrison cardigan in the latest KnitScene preview:

It looks like the yoke is bound off, and the body is picked up and knit. This creates a unusually defined vertical line, and solves the inevitable gauge problems you would face when switching between lace and stockinette. This cardigan is a nice variation on the lace-inset ready-to-wear sweaters I've been seeing lately. I'm not 100% sold on the overall effect of mixing lace and stripes with such sporty colours, but I am very intrigued by the techniques it uses.

4. Finally, this is a cute free cardigan pattern designed by an adorable college student: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/miette. Perfect for wearing over sundresses, and I love the cheery red colour.

An Important Lesson About Prints

2011-06-24T10:19:00.001-07:00

This bikini is displayed in a shop window near my workplace.

I know that ikat prints are hot this summer, but that doesn't make this okay.

This bikini teaches us an important lesson about prints: you need to watch where the elements fall, or else you end up with the gynological equivalent of one of those tuxedo t-shirts.

Illustrated Library Posters

2011-06-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

A library technician in Alberta has posted this wonderful collection of 1960s school library posters on her flickr page. I'm really grateful that she posted them, and I'm happy she used a creative commons license, too.

These are just a couple favourites from a great set of images. You should check out the whole thing.

Jessi Arrington on Thrift Store Clothes

2011-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Jessi Arrington is a designer based in Brooklyn, NY. She spoke at TED on March 3, 2011, about her love of crazy thrift store clothes (a love that is also documented on her blog luckysoandso.com).

The title of her presentation was "Wearing Nothing New."

Jessi's style is campy, colourful and more than a little outlandish. I'm not entirely sure what to make of her, but her evident joy and general wackiness are pretty charming. Plus she tags her blog posts by colour (and uses four different blues -- electric, royal, navy and cornflower!)

Update: Riot Pants

2011-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

I spotted this story in today's Vancouver Sun and thought it answered one of the questions I asked after last week's Stanley Cup riots: if you stole clothing while looting a shop, how would you feel when you wore it? I often feel a strong connection to the context of a garment: where I bought it from, who I was with, and how I felt at the time. If I regret buying an article, the memory permeates the fabric, and it languishes in the back of my closet. If I associate a garment with a happy day, I love it all the more. The best memories cling to to clothes bought while traveling, or found at thriftshops. Thrifted clothes remind of me the a sense of possibility I felt while scouring the dusty racks: the thrill of finding something excellent than another person has overloooked and discarded and that can be bought for a song (and if it doesn't fit me, it might fit you).

All that is to say, I was not surprised that to read that a UBC student (who was caught on video looting a store) has returned her stolen pants.

The Vancouver Sun notes the "big smile" she wears while "flitting out of the broken front of Black & Lee Tuxedos." In the tightly cropped freeze-frame, she looks like she's laughing. Without the background of the riot visible, she looks like she's out shopping with friends.

Evidentally the ebulliance didn't last: in an online apology, she writes, "I am not proud of my actions and have made a visit to the Vancouver Police Department, over the weekend to turn myself in. The pants are being returned."

Book Notes: Modern Top-Down Knitting

2011-06-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Modern Top-Down Knitting: Sweaters, Dresses, Skirts and Accessories Inspired by the Techniques of Barbara G. Walker By Kristina McGowan STC Crafts, 2010

This collection of top-down knits is all about clean lines, simple stitch patterns and classic silhouettes. McGowan's use of solid neutral colours and vast swathes of stockinette seems to take more inspiration from women's ready-to-wear than it does from from other knitting designs. It's knitting at it's most wearable and flattering, which robs the book of the instant visual oomph of more playful knitting books (Debbie Stoller's Superstar Knits, Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits).

(See a gallery of all the designs in the book on McGowan's website).

Top-down seamless construction is increasingly popular, but the field is dominated by raglan designs, which are delightfully simple to design and knit but not as universally flattering as the classic set-in sleeve (the default sleeve style for contemporary clothing). A few designers have started offering seamless set-in sleeve designs, but there's definitely room for more. I was excited to see another title dedicated to Barbara Walker's top-down techniques.

Initially, I felt a little underwhelmed by the patterns. The colours were too restrained and the lines were too simple. Garments that probably look wonderful in person failed to leap off the page. A couple dresses caught my attention (Soho, page 29 and Suspension, page 57), but I'm still uncertain of my own ability to knit a dress that won't stretch out of shape, so I skimmed over them despite their charms. I didn't even notice the Promenade dress (p 139), with its short sleeves and cute pin-tuck details. It's is exactly the type of thing I swoon over in a store, but, knit in black and photographed on a bank of shady pavement, it recedes into the matte-finished page so much it's almost invisible.

It wasn't until I took a second look at the book that I saw some of the techniques that make this title really stand apart from other top-down collections. McGowan likes to use elastic cord to create gathers in her fabric (see the green ruffled tank). While gathers have been pretty popular in the last few years, they're a relative rarity in hand-knitting designs. At least six designs in the book use this technique. McGowan uses crochet to make a casing for a rounded elastic cord. Cleverly, the crochet also makes for a nice-looking edge that doesn't roll (an issue when you work with that much stockinette).

Check out the cap sleeves on the lavender-coloured Cecily sweater. This is the detail that caught my eye, and now I'm really intrigued by this technique. In fact, I wrote this post so I wouldn't forget about it.

Another notable trick is McGowan's use of trim to finish her edges. This is an idea taken from handsewing, where a narrow ribbon is used to finish the inside of hem, making the inside of the garment look as nice as possible. McGowan uses velvet ribbon, seam binding, and lace trim on her design to add structure and (again) keep the edges from curling. It's a slightly fussy extra step, but it looks great, and if you've already gone to the trouble of knitting an entire dress, you might as well add this pretty detail.

Final verdict: The photography and muted palette undermine McGowan's appealing designs, but a dedicated reader will find her outside-the-knitting-shop approach rewarding. Particularly recommended for intermediate knitters who crave classic, streamlined designs.

See also: My review of Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits, another book dedicated to top-down seamless designs.

A Startling Realization

2011-06-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I look a little bit like Tina from Bob's Burgers crossed with Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones.

(And also this.)

International Yarn Bombing Day

2011-06-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I helped some Vancouver yarnbombers cover a statue near the Cambie Street Bridge in honour of International Yarn Bombing day.

That's Mandy (left) and me (right). All these photos are borrowed from the Yarn Bombing blog.

Even though I've been knitting for a few years and crocheting for longer than that, this was my first real yarn bomb. My friend Leanne organized this event and did most of the behind-the-scenes work of organizing knitting nights and sewing knitted panels together.

This is Leanne. She is like my friend Dory in terms of being an Awesome Person Who Does Things.

It was really neat to do a project with a loose group of people, most of whom I'd never met before. I met some really interesting people at our knitting nights (and I brought my mom to one, too!)

Perhaps the best part of all this is that I can see the statue every time I walk over the Cambie Street bridge to work. It makes me feel happy and connected to a great community of people whenever I look out across the water.

This is why we can't have nice things

2011-06-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is a store near my workplace, on Graville Street. It was looted clean last night by rioters. I can't quite remember what it merchandise it contained the day before, even though I walk past it a few times a week. Luggage, maybe? Shoes?

The Vancouver Sun has many more photos of our looted shopping district here.

I wonder: when people wear the merchandise stolen from the Bay, H&M, and other downtown stores, are they going to look at themselves and remember how they obtained these clothes? Will that be a happy memory or a shameful one? Memories permeate all my favourite clothes. I don't think I could wear something that I knew had been stolen in this way.

What is it that makes people decide to set their own city on fire? How many of the looters were even from Vancouver? Why do we feel that things that happen downtown are fair game, somehow, even though lots of people live and work here? People are alienated from our downtown core. It's not a personal place, and many people don't feel attached to it.

The large bookstore, Chapters, had its windows smashed, but it doesn't look like any books were taken. That is not a joke.

Saturday Morning Reading

2011-05-25T16:53:00.001-07:00

I'm still slogging away at my portfolio, so here are a few links to good things I read this week:

The Sassy Pillowcase Dress, 20 Years Later
A 33 year old woman makes the pillowcase shift dress from instructions published in Sassy in 1992: " The dress, and I say this as lovingly as possible, looks like a busted-up pillowcase with holes."
I remember reading this tutorial in my sister's back issues, and really wanting to make a pillowcase dress of my own. I asked my mom if I could have a pillowcase. She sensibly suggested that I just make a dress from fabric since it would look better. At this point it all seemed like too much work and I gave up.

I'll Wear Shorts if I Goddamned Want To
A man suddenly feels insecure about how good fashion fits into his life in grossly humid Maryland. The pain of being judged for his practical-but-ugly shorts enrages him. At least he doesn't have to wear heels.

A Job Well Done
Blogger Very Purple Person made her husband some jeans. They look pretty great. Maybe I'll make curt jeans some day.

Things You Find in Thrift Stores
Mary Huff, a knitting pattern designer and fiber artist, lost a bunch of complex, colorwork sample sweaters when someone stole her suitcase. A few of the samples have now shown up in a couple Portland Goodwills.

An Unseasonal Yearning
I was looking for an example of herringbone colourwork when I saw these mittens on Flickr. Lately I've been looking at the ball of Knit Picks silk and wool yarn in orange and cream and wondering what to make. I think this is it.

knit, Swirl

2011-05-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

I might be a little late to the party on this one, but have you seen the photos from Sandra McIver's new book, knit, Swirl?

According to McIver's site, the book contains 18 patterns based on her one piece, one seam circular construction style: the titular "swirl", which involves concentric welts, a curved hem and a dramatic shawl collar. The patterns are organized into four silhouettes. Typically, I wouldn't be interested in a book that is so narrow in focus, and so on-trend, but some of the photos have me slightly stunned.

The photos are all by Zoë Lonergan, a photographer and book designer based in San Francisco.

Must I remind you that I don't really like voluminous knits? That I rarely like garments knit in variegated or self-striped yarn? These jackets should not appeal to me and yet they do.

The stand-out, for me, is this gorgeous yellow number that uses stripes of almost-transparent mohair yarn. The effect is magical. This does not look like a handknit garment at all. (Note to self: figure out some way to incorporate panels of transparent mohair in some future project).

It's been a while since I've seen something as fresh as this collection. The book might be a little one-note (how many drapey, stripy circular knit jackets does one actually need?) but I'm very intrigued by this approach to handknits. Is it nerdy that I'm excited that someone has figured out a nice way of creating vertical stripes on the sleeves of sweaters knit in self-striping yarn? Yes, it probably is. (I love the fit in the sleeves, by the by. Is that close fit one of the advantages of the welts?)

I'm not sure that I would ever make one of these jackets for myself. I'm short, and hippy, and voluminous tops that obscure my waist kind freak me out. I think I could pull off the cropped silhouette, though:

What do you think? Are any of you planning on buying this book?

disapearing post

2011-05-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Apparently my most recent blog post disappeared sometime last week! I can't repost it right now because it was my only draft, but this was the gist

1) I've been working on some knitting designs that I can't discuss on the blog.
2) I've also been trying to get some of my half-finished projects completed. This is pretty boring. I much prefer starting new projects
3) I submitted an application to Vancouver Community College's part-time fashion design program. Interviews start in early June, so I need to get my sample garments and portfolio done. I've been planning on applying to this program for a few months, but it still felt a little momentous to actually go and apply. It's not a fancy school, but it is a big decision about how I'm going to spend significant parts of my non-working time for the next 2-3 years.

owl zombie dress wedding

2011-03-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Etsy's auto-generated content cracks me up.

This is an unsuccessful search. Etsy has helpfully supplied some popular user-generated search terms to help me improve my search. These terms include: owl, zombie, dress wedding, birds invitations wedding, crochet patterns, hair feather extensions, feather extensions, easter, mirror wall, and wedding.

Thoughts:

1. Put a bird on it
2. Put a zombie on it
3. Feather hair extensions?!

Thrift Store Makeover: Brown Gingham Shirt Dress part 3

2011-03-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

I finished fiddling with the brown gingham shirt dress!

It's now a puffy A-line skirt with a big waistband. Here's what it looked like before:

I bought this dress for $7.00 from the Value Village in Kelowna. It was a size too big, and pretty frumpy. If I needed a warm, comfortable housedress I would have kept it,but since I'm neither a '50s housewife nor a homesteader, I chose to chop off the top.

I refinished the waistband and added some buttons to the bottom and snaps at the top. Even with a big panel of elastic at the back, the waist was still too big.

So I added some darts on top of the side seam, where I thought they would be the least noticeable.

The darts solved the waist issue handily. I was surprised they worked as well as they did.

Upsides:

It fits.
I like the length.
I learned how to make automatic buttonholes on my sewing machine.
I finally learned how to hand sew a button on properly.
I made darts by eyeballing them and they worked out well.

Downsides:

The elastic at the back of the waist doesn't lie smooth.

From some angles, it makes my butt and hips look kinda huge. The dress had lots gathers and pleats just under the waist, which gives it extra volume. Combined with the check pattern, it creates an unfortunate visual effect. If I was Jaclyn, the America's Next Top Model Contestant*, I would be psyched about this, but since I'm not, I'm going to wear it with shirts that cover the waist band and hope for the best.

*The big-haired, baby-voiced Texan who was given a prosthetic ass to wear during her Mad Men-inspired commercial** on last week's episode. She took it cheerfully, which made me like her. Seriously, anyone who can suffer that particular indignity with a smile probably should be a model, amiright?

** Way to ride the faintest wake of a trend, Tyra. There are like three season of ANTM produced per year, and you just get to Mad Men now?

This is your brain on work

2011-03-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is week five of working full time, and it has been an adjustment from my days of working multiple part-time gigs. My brain is more rested and less scattered, which means that I've been feeling more creative. But I have less time than ever, and my energy gives out at about 8pm every night, giving me only a couple hours to get work done.

Tiredness and distraction have lead to a lot of mistakes. I miscalculated the math on a knitting pattern that I'm writing for a sock yarn sweater, which necessitated ripping back 3 inches. Of sock yarn. Knit in the round (so it's more like 6 inches).

I keep making mistakes at my sewing class, too. I'm sewing the wrong pieces together, or cutting out some pattern pieces twice and omitting others. So far I haven't made any fatal mistakes, but I have wasted more time than necessary. And I value those hours in the Vancouver Community College studio -- there's a serger there, and really good irons, and giant cutting tables. Continuing ed. students are only allowed in while class is in session, so I try to make the most of the access while I have it.

So right now I'm thinking about how to manage this combination of increased creative drive and decreased time and energy. I constantly want to start new projects but I know that I should finish the huge pile of unfinished work, which includes but is not limited to:

Green floral muumuu (sewing class project). Done except for hand-finished bottom hem.

Grey linen skirt (second sewing class project). Can I get it done in my final class on Saturday?

Aforementioned sock yarn sweater. I'm dying to get this done. I like the design, I like the yarn, I'm not loving knitting a million rows of stockinette on 3.25mm needles.
Black sheath dress from Built By Wendy Dresses. Done except for the hem and the edge of the sleeves.
the "Mary Blair" Wrap Skirt from Sew Everything Workshop. Basically done, just needs a stitch or two around the hole in the waistband where the tie passes through.
Red Late Shift mitts for my sister. Seriously, finishing these will take about 90 minutes. But do I do it? No.
This secret project.

The brown gingham thrift-store makeover. Close to done. Moderately successful so far, but I think I like sewing skirts from scratch better.
All the half-knit sweaters from 2010. There are three that I can think of.

The first sweater I designed, which is awesome-looked but needs a button band.

A proposal for this great sweater idea that I had last Thursday. I'd like to have it done so I can just send it out when deadlines come up, since working to deadlines isn't very practical right now.

Get my portfolio in showable condition for May 31.

This is exactly the kind of thing that happens when you decide to start designing patterns AND learn to sew AND start working on your design portfolio at the same time.

I've been thinking that I need to start setting my goals by quarters (just like we do at work!). I think I can accomplish a lot of this list in the next three months, especially if I ignore the sweaters from 2010.

To keep myself motivated, I'm going to let myself start a couple new projects, too. I'm not sure what those will be yet, but things I have been thinking about lately include

Printing on fabric. I bought some inexpensive block-printing supplies in Portland after Lotta Jansdotter's book got me all fired up. This post from Poppytalk on making simple fabric prints just added fuel.
Knitting with the silk mawata I purchased after seeing the Yarn Harlot's post on unspun silk mittens. I've sketch out a rough design, but unspun silk is a new medium for me and I want to give it care and attention.

(I'm also dying to break out some of the great dress patterns I bought in Portland, but those will requires muslins and pattern modifications, so the will have to wait until Q3 at the earliest!)

Thrift Store Makeover: Brown Gingham Shirtdress part 2

2011-03-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

Step one is (almost) complete: I (mostly) removed the top of the shirtdress last night. I left the button band connected, because I want to have a little think about the best way to finish it once I've cut it.

I decided to rip out the seam between the waist band and the bodice, because I was in a bad mood and ripping seams is the best thing to do when you're having a strop.

So satisfying! I didn't realize that this would expose the elastic at the back of the waist band, though.

I think I can cover the elastic up by putting one of those folded edges over it. I'm feeling a little nervous about sewing directly onto the elastic, but this will be a good chance to get practice.

Next step: cutting and finish the button band. Then: sew the waist band back toegther at the top. Then: add snaps (as per Dory's suggestion). Then: hope it sits nicely.

Follow up: Ruby Star Spring

2011-03-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Melody Miller put up some preview images of her spring line of fabric, Ruby Star Spring, at her blog. I really like orange and turquoise dragonfly print. It's going to be printed on lighter-weight linen-cotton, which opens up possibilities for summer clothes. (I feel a little freaked out when I look at the giant wasp on my screen, but I think it could be neat in a longer, full skirt. What's more summery than wasps, after all?)

My Ruby Star Rising bag

I was also excited to read that Melody will have more fabric out in fall -- and it's part of the Ruby Star Rising line, which hopefuly means more vintage-inspired goodness.

If anyone knows where to buy Kokka fabric in Canada, I'm all ears!

Thrift Store Makeover: Brown Gingham Shirtdress

2011-03-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

I bought this dress in the Value Village in Kelowna in the fall. I thought it was okay at the time, but it's too big in the shoulders and chest.

In this photo, I'm wearing two shirts under it! So believe me when I say it's too roomy. The fabric is also pretty heavy, which doesn't help the frumpy sister-wife feel.

So I'm going to chop off the top and make it into a spring skirt. Gingham seems to be having a moment right now, and I could use more prints in in my waredrobe.

Things that need to happen:
1. Remove the top off in way that allows for easy re-finishing at the waist. I'll either cut it off 2" above the waist band and fold it over twice (making the waistband thicker) or I'll pick the seam between the waistband and the top out.
2. Add a new button on the waist band so it closes propery. Time to play with the buttonhole attachment!
3. Add buttons to the front buttonband. Right now, the bottom button is about 7" from the bottom hem, which exposes a fair amount of leg. I'd like to have all this skin-flashing be optional.

I'll be taking photos of the process, so stayed tuned!

Another thing I bought in Portland

2011-03-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

Skull is from a knick-knack import store in Austin, glass vase is from my Granny's basement.

When Dave and I went to Paper-Ya a few weeks ago, I saw a set of letterpressed cards made by Old School Stationers with the most beautiful chrysanthemum print. I didn't buy them, because I didn't need any cards at the time (and like everything at Paper-ya, they were priced out of my personal impulse-shopping range). But I felt almost pained by their sheer pleasingness and was sad to leave them behind.

So I was very excited to spot this print in the shop window of the new Crafty Wonderland pop-up store in Portland. The pop-up shop started as part of the twice-yearly craft fair and is now a permanent retail space where you can buy handmade items from Portland makers (like the very wonderful Parts and Labor in Austin, TX). I like visiting these geographically-restricted shops: it makes craft tourism really simple. Obviously, they have curatorial viewpoint, and no one store can represent all the artists and craftspeople in a community, but I think you still get a sense of what people in that place are into.

Back to the wall print -- it's thick letterpressed paper mounted on wood. I think I spent $32 on it at Crafty Wonderland. I saw the same print for a bit less at Pine Street Biscuits on North East Alberta later. You can also them for $42 on etsy.

Vampigurumi

2011-03-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

Today, Dave and I tried making stop-motion animation videos

I love stop motion, and have always intended to try it. Turns out, it's way easier with two people. Here's Dave doing some research:

And here's the fruit of our labours! It's 20 seconds long and features the vampire I made from Creepy Cute Crochet, as well as the big plastic elf castle my Dad bought me for Christmas one year. (His rational? That I would have loved it as a kid).

Mary Blair skirt

2011-03-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

In the first week on January, 2011, I realized that I hadn't sewn anything since July! So I decided to get back on the wagon by making a skirt.

The pattern is the wrap skirt from Diana Rupp's Sew Everything Workshop, which I've already made once. Last time, I made a medium in red corduroy. It was a little too big and the fabric was a little too stiff, so this time I sized down and used a quilting-weight cotton purchased at Spool of Thread. I was careful to make the pattern match as much as possible (hard, when the lines are wavy on purpose).

The fabric is "Greg" from the Brady Bunch Line by Michael Miller. I'm calling this the Mary Blair skirt because the colours and deliberately crooked, thick-and-thin lines in this pattern remind me a little of her style.

Endpaper from The Art and Flair Of Mary Blair: An Appreciation,

Mary Blair was an artist and illustrator who worked for the Walt Disney Company from 1940-1953. I found out about her when I saw an exhibition of her work at the Cartoon History museum in San Fransisco in 2008. She also illustrated some of Little Golden Books, created art for advertising, and designed characters for the Small World ride at Disneyland. She's not widely known these days, but definitely worth looking up for her unique sense of colour and expressive lines.

I'm not sure where this is from ... if you know, tell me.

Mary, this skirt is a tiny tribute to your vision and talent! Now if only it was warm enough to wear it ...

Ruby Star Rising

2011-03-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

Ruby Star Rising is a line of fabric designed by Melody Miller for the Japanese fabric brand Kokka.

When I spotted this line in Bolt, I instantly gravitated to the thriftstore-inspired themes and colour combinations. I snapped up a yard of the vintage dishware print. I had to -- I own two mugs that match it! My friends Dory and Leanne share my love of pretty midcentry Pyrex, so I combined the print with some Kona cotton to make us all tote bags! (Dory, watch your mail).

Later, I looked up Miller on the internet and found her blog, where she details the process of choosing the design for her gorgeous Viewmaster reel print. This print wasn't in Bolt when I was there (sold out, I assume) and it's sold out at every online shop I've checked. I don't typically pay $18/meter for fabric, but the Kokka cotton-linen blend is nice to sew with and feels like it's high quality. I am a little obsessed with tracking this print down.

Before last night, I had no idea that Ruby Star Rising is Miller's first line of fabrics! The prints are so well-realized that I assumed Miller was an established textile designer. In a recent blog post, Miller explains how she moved from being a drifting fine-arts graduate with a job in real estate marketing to a graphic designer. While her Kokka line is clearly an accomplishment, Miller takes pain to mention that despite her recent success, "I haven't made a speck of money since I left my real estate marketing job." The post is a meditation on all the parts of life that didn't work out right away for Miller, from fraught relationships to unsuccessful business ideas. It's a moving read for anyone who has struggled with things "not working out" right away, and I'm impressed with Miller's honesty.

I hope that Miller finds more buyers for her designs in the future... if only for my sake!

Free pattern - Late Shift Mittens

2011-02-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

When my mom visited in February, she very generously bought me a skein of Punta Yarns MeriTwist Handpainted, a soft, dense chunky-weight merino wool. I don't usually like variegated yarns, but I fell hard for the turquoises and bronzey greens in this colourway.

I knew instantly what I wanted to make: a pair of fingerless gloves for my evening shift at the library. My hands are always freezing during this shift, and I knew that the soft merino would be very warm. I wanted to make them short, so they wouldn't interfere with long sleeves. I decided to use simple stockinette stitch, so the the shifting colours could play across an uninterrupted surface. And I wanted a proper thumb gusset for warmth.

Self-portrait from the Vancouver airport, using the timer on my camera.

Since I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted, I went ahead and made up my own pattern. As of this writing, there are 218 patterns for chunky-weight fingerless gloves on Ravelry, and half of them are free downloads. No matter. After a little trial and error, I came up with a simple glove that was custom-made for my tiny hands. You could probably make one mitt in an hour or two -- probably the same amount of time it would take to scroll through all 218 patterns on Ravelry.

Late Shift Mitts

You will need:

Yarn: Punta Yarns MeriTwist Handpainted, 100% Merino wool, colour: HP74, 99 yards / 90m / 100g
6mm DPNs
yarn needle

Gauge: Not crucial for this project. I suggest knitting about 5 rounds in pattern to see if the width will work for your hand or not. I have very small hands, so this pattern is a woman's small to extra-small. Just make sure your final stitch count is an even number.

Cast on 24 sts. Distribute sts equally across 3 needles (8 sts on each needle).

Join round, being careful not to twist it. Place a marker at start of first row.

Row 1: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.
Row 2: *P1, K1. * repeat to end.
Row 3: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.

Knit two rows of stockinette.

Begin thumb gusset

Right mitt:

row 1: K 16, pm, M1L, K1, M1R, pm, knit to end of round.
row 2: knit across.
row 3: knit across.
row 4: k 16, sm, m1, knit to next marker, m1, slip marker, knit to end of round.
row 5: knit across
row 6: knit across

Repeat rows 4-6 2 times - 32 sts

row 7: knit 16, place all sts between markers on st holder, co 1 st, knit to end - 24 sts.

Knit 7 rows.

Row 8: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.
Row 9: *P1, K1. * repeat to end.
Row 10: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.

Cast off in pattern.

Left Mitt:

row 1: K 7, pm, M1L, K1, M1R, pm, knit to end of round.
row 2: knit across.
row 3: knit across.
row 4: k 7, sm, m1, knit to next marker, m1, slip marker, knit to end of round.
row 5: knit across
row 6: knit across

Repeat rows 4-6 2 times - 32 sts

row 7: knit 7, place all sts between markers on st holder, co 1 st, knit to end - 24 sts.

Knit 7 rows.

Row 8: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.
Row 9: *P1, K1. * repeat to end.
Row 10: *K1, P1. *repeat to end.

Cast off in pattern.

Thumbs

Distribute the 9 sts on the st holder between two needles. Starting at the top of the thumb hole, knit 3 rows. Then bind off loosely. This creates a fairly snug thumb.

Weave in your ends and sew up any holes between the thumb and fingers.

Spring colour inspiration

2011-02-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

I have noticed a number of spring looks that pair greenish-blue with bright yellow green:

Models in Kate Spade's spring 2011 line

I am pretty besotted with this combination.

Glanz dress from Anthropoligie, $158.00 at anthropologie.com. I covet it.

In fact, I've been wearing it frequently, both in winterwear

Trusty blue H&M coat and cashmere-silk pashima that my mother-in-common-law gave me for Christmas. The pashima is very soft and very warm, and big enough to fashion into a sort of rain hood when necessary. I am not very good at wearing it as a shawl, however. I do all this artful draping and then it falls off 5 minutes later.

and in a spring outfit!

Necklace of huge green stones made by an Okanagan artisan, birthday gift from my mom. T-shirt from MEC, secret source of nice inexpensive t-shirts.

Late addition to this post (03/06/11):

The Seattle Sounders soccer team is also fond of this combo, apparently.

Portland Retail Report

2011-02-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Each time I go to Portland, I turn to Curtis and announce my intention to move there. It feels welcoming to me. The old buildings and quiet streets make me think of small towns, places where rent is cheap and space is easy to come by, and there's lots of time to be creative. Vancouver isn't a bustling city, but it's expensive, and that puts pressure on people and projects. It's hard to start things here. In Portland, I feel an unhurried sense of expansiveness. It's a slow place, but it has all the possibilities and resources of a small city.

Dutch Rabbit stencil on North East Alberta

At least, that's how it feels. (For actual facts and figures, check out this recent NPR story on Portland's continued influx of young, educated white people).

Here's a question for readers in other US cities: Is Portland really the best-stocked city in the world when it comes to yarn, fabric, and other handcraft supplies? Or does it just seem that way? Every neighbourhood we went to had a yarn store! Canada tends to have less stuff to buy in general, so I can't tell if Portland is exceptional, or if I'm just easily amazed by a US city's typical range of consumer options.

I did a lot of shopping. I felt like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. I now have enough yarn, fabric, embroidery templates and yarn to get me through the next two years. I came home feeling ludicrously rich and fortunate. This is what buying a speed boat must feel like for a normal person.

I am the most excited about the linocut supplies I bought at the incomparable Collage on North East Alberta street. I had been forming a vague plan to try making linoleum prints on fabric, but I wasn't sure where to get supplies in Vancouver. I managed to get a good starter set, and several colours of ink, for about $40. Collage is definitely worth visiting: it's full of hard-to-find supplies, like settings for resin jewelry, and it was very affordable. It's also near Bolt, a fabric store specializing in very hip prints and independent patterns, and a large yarn shop.

Skittish corgi on North East Alberta

I was able to meet up with Stacey, the Relationships Manager at Knit Picks, for coffee. She very generously brought me a tote bag of various Knit Picks yarns to play with! The tote bag, which she sewed, also had a bird on it. It nice to be able to put a face to her email address, and it was very sweet of her to entertain me on her day off. I've been fantasizing about working for a yarn company ever since I learned that they have whole meetings where they just talk about colours. Stacey's position is more complex than that, of course, and it was really interesting to find out more about her work.

Knit Picks Chroma yarn from Stacey! It's single ply, which I love. Maybe another striped sweater is in the works?

On our last day, I visited Fabric Depot, the largest fabric store in the US. I was completely overwhelmed, of course, but managed to buy some slate and pale blue linen at a substantial discount.

I also did some clothes shopping, a task that swung from wild success to complete failure. I visited Anthropologie and bought a storm grey jersey dress that was only $60, and a cool knit waistcoat/bazer that was 50% off. Both items are incredibly comfortable, work appropriate, and flattering, which puts them at odds with EVERY OTHER GARMENT ON THE MARKET RIGHT NOW. The spring trend in tops seems to be colourless baggy, sleeveless and embellished with cheap-looking ruffles. Even the prints are drained of colour. Where are the gold and russet tones that I saw in the Pantone forecast?

2011's most popular style (tight pants and a voluminous top in washed-out noncolour) looks like it was strategically designed to be as unflattering as possible on me. This makes shopping disheartening, but it also makes me feel more serious about sewing more of my own clothes.

After the most recent Dressew sale and shopping spree in Portland, I have more than enough materials to make some decent clothes. I just need to get going!

a life less threadbare

2011-02-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I start a new job. Normally, this wouldn't be too noteworthy -- in the last two years, I have worked at seven different libraries/library organizations! These jobs were all part-time, usually under 10 hours/week. I would work short shifts, mostly, which sometimes made for lovely three-hours workdays, and other times made for 12-hour days where I skipped meals and raced madly from one library to another. At my peak, I had five simultaneous part-time jobs, which is not a lifestyle I really recommend.

My new job, which starts tomorrow, is 9-5, Monday to Friday. It's a communications positions in a special library. It is, forgive the term, a "real job." I am very excited to finally be able to settle into a position and apply myself to some actual work.

After pursuing a permanent, full-time position for two years, it's a little dizzying to actually be offered one. After graduating, my life often felt like a dangling thread. Many of the basic facts of my life were questions: Should I stay in Vancouver? Should I continue pursuing this career? Now that I have a real job, some questions are answered, at least for the next few years.

The uncertainty of post-graduate life had a profound effect on me. The first 14 months were unpleasant. I was anxious and depressed and completely at sea. Eventually, I made my way through. I started doing the things I wanted to do, and stopped feeling guilty for finding sewing and knitting and blogging more interesting than reading job applications. In a funny way, this sort of lead to my new job. It's position that requires lots of online communication, and much of my experience in this area comes from selling knitting patterns, not from library work.

All this is to say: thank you for reading for the last two years. My friends, family, and even some far-flung strangers have been nothing but kind about this project. I am genuinly wowed by your willingness to entertain my terribly specific thoughts on yarn and things yarn-related.

The posts might be a little sparser over the next few months as a I find my sea legs at the new job, but I intend to continue blogging and creating the things I want to create. I can't really claim to be living in "threadbare times" any longer, but I'm still crazy for a deal.

Thanks for seeing me through the hard parts. It's meant so much to me.

Why does this exist?

2011-02-13T22:59:00.000-08:00

I spotted this in the Seattle Airport on the way to Portland. In case you can't read the tagline, it's "the magazine to read before you get engaged."

Engagement 101 fills my brain with questions:

How do you know you're ready to be an Engagement 101 reader? It says it's meant to be read before you get engaged. So are you supposed to start reading it once you get serious with someone, or shortly after puberty, or what? The cover copy doesn't help either -- the "advice from those who've found the one" seems like it's aimed at single women, while "Should you move in with him?" and "Drop him hints" presume the presence of a foot-dragging boyfriend.
Also, why does the cover model look like she's a 12-year old angel?
Is there some aspect to being engaged that I'm not aware of? I always thought it would be like being in a long term relationship, except more obviously committed and with more wedding planning tasks/family dinners/diamond rings. Maybe I'm wrong and being engaged is actually a screamingly awesome state to be in? A state that requires a certain amount of preparation and magazine reading beforehand?
Is this a real thing, and not a hilarious prop from an upcoming episode of 30 Rock?

If you can answer any of this, please do so in the comments below!

Found some silk!

2011-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

Spurred on by my desire for silk (I want to make something like this), I visited Maiwa supply on Granville island with my friend Leanne. After some hunting, we found two packets of dyed silk mawata, or handkerchiefs. There was plenty of undyed silk, but since I'm already facing a learning curve with this project, I decided to take the simpler route.

I bought 10g of silk, which I now realize is only a quarter of the recommended amount for making mittens. It's okay, though -- I don't mind buying a small amount to play with before I spend crazy money on the project.

The silk I bought is dyed in BC by Treenway Silks. The colours are from the Apple Festival collection -- a rusty dark orange, powder pink, and a delicate leaf green. I'm wracking my brain for ideas -- what can I knit with this tiny amount?

If Robocop ate nothing but All-Bran and tyres

2011-02-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

As you probably already know, I love the Guardian's non-news content. Today, I read a gem of an article by Justin McGuirk on the ugliness of outdoor gear and clothes:

I'm starting to suspect that our faith in "technical" adventure clothing is just another fetish, one that owes more to the logic of consumerism than our desire to be in the great outdoors ....
Ernest Shackleton survived his so-called voyage of Endurance back from the South Pole in homemade clothing. Edmund Hillary climbed Everest wearing waterproofed cotton canvas. Today, even amateur outdoor enthusiasts are better equipped than these hardy pioneers. The advent of synthetic materials such as polyurethane and Gore-Tex, which are lighter and more effective, have democratised access to extreme climates. But why do these clothes have to look and feel so awful? I saw a gaucho ride past wearing nothing but leather and wool – he looked warm and, more to the point, dignified. By comparison, we tourists look like awkward escapees from a chemical plant.

Later, he describes a pair of Merrell hiking shoes (the Chameleon3 Axiom Sport with Ortholite Anatomical Footbed): "If Robocop ate nothing but All-Bran and tyres, this is what his turds would look like."

Funnily enough, I was discussing this issue with my sister just the other day. I think I would be more interested in hiking if I found the prospect of wearing hiking gear at all appealing. But I just don't. I feel uncomfortable and unattractive, and I can't bring myself to spend wads of money on clothes that I don't like. So I end up hiking in inappropriate footwear, which doesn't endear the activity to me any further.

I see two solutions to this problem:

1. Someone designs a hiking boot that is sleek and not hideous.
2. I start dressing like a gaucho.

Clearly, I will be exercising option 2 until option 1 should occur.

Short notes

2011-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling very creative and easily distracted lately. I bought some rusty red wool coating and some bright orange linen fabric at the Dressew 50% anniversary sale, and I swear I can hear it screaming from the other room, "Cut me up! Make me into something!" Especially the orange linen, which seems to want to be printed with some kind of surface design (I just got Lotta Jansdotter's surface design book Lotta Prints from the library, and I need to make some Scandinavian/retro fabric prints RIGHT NOW).

My mom gave me two balls of Noro Sekku, a laceweight cotton/silk/wool/nylon blend yarn. It self-stripes in classic Noro style, with saturated colours in surprising combinations. I'm dying to make a spring triangle scarf ... but I have some actual deadline sewing and knitting to get done first. My new Knit Picks design refuses to knit itself, no matter how much time alone I give it.

Still. Look at this. I'm dying to start one. I love how the colours look like painted glass.

Some other things I've been into lately:

Gossip lead singer and plus size fashion maven Beth Ditto is writing a memoir with Michelle Tea. I am very excited by this partnership. Ditto is a fascinating person, and Tea is a strong writer who knows her way around queer issues, class politics, fashion, and (presumably) underground music. I really enjoyed It's So You, a collection of fashion and identity essays that she edited. There's no release date for this book yet, but I am going to read the heck out of it when it comes out.
The adult version of the Ruched Yoke Tee by AnneLena Mattison is very pleasing. I've noticed ruching in other recent patterns, like Citron and the Tea Leaves cardigan. This design appears in the spring Interweave Knits preview. I might need to make this out of the lovely gray Rowan Purelife cotton that I bought at the Great Dressew Yarn Sale.
After reading a recent Yarn Harlot post about knitting mittens from unspun dyed silk, I am completely obsessed with tracking down some silk for myself. If I don't find some in person, I am definitely buying some online. My silk lust will not be denied!
I finally set up the Knit Picks ball winder and swift my mom gave me for Christmas. It works very well! Less yarn-ball-making time means more knitting time.
We are going to Portland next week! I plan to search for silk, pick up a jelly roll (fabric, not a baked good) for making a bright striped quilt, and eat at Voodoo Doughnuts. Curt and I have broken down our approach to this trip as follows:

Some things I am not into:

Losing the zipper foot for my sewing machine. WAY TO GO, PAST SELF. Still, the good far outweighs the bad. If I only I had 12 hands and could tackle all these projects simultaneously.

Spring colors

2011-02-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Pantone has released palettes of ten colors for garments this spring:

Funnily enough, I'm most drawn to the darker, richer colors in the men's palette. I especially like the combintation of medium brown and pink. I'd also like to try combining gray and orange. Maybe an orange linen dress with a gray sash?

Perfect pairing

2011-02-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Recently, I found a WIP that I had started back in October when I flew to Austin TX. It's a featherweight cardigan knit in Fleece Artist Blue Face Leciester 2/8, in the moss colourway.

The featherweight is a very simple knit -- endless rows of stockinette with no shaping once you get past the armholes. It's good for transit, but it's not very interesting to knit.

I keep stopping mid-row to stroke and admire the yarn. It's very soft and silky for a non-merino wool, and the colour is so vibrant. Strangers on the bus have been commenting on it. These pictures don't show it to its best advantage, but it make gorgeous, glowing, floaty fabric. The simplicity of the design highlights the texture and shifting colours.

I love this yarn so much that I'm willing to knit plain old stockinette forever, just so I can admire it.

Put a Bird on It

2011-01-30T19:20:00.000-08:00

In the musical opener of Portlania's first episode, an actor exclaims "In Portland, you can put a bird on something and call it art!" That made me laugh out loud.

In the second episode, the show takes the idea a little further:

Touche, Portlandia. Touche. The worst part is, I own the bright bird-festooned Ikea tray that appears in the background of several shots:

Portland is a unique city, but the ubiquity of birds is widespread in indie and DIY subculture. Recently, my friend Dave and I went to Paper Ya, a hip stationary store on Granville Island. Dave stood in front of the shop window yelling "Put a bird on it!" and pointing at every greeting card that depicted a bird. He did this across the entire window; every card had a bird on it somewhere.

This lead me to wonder: why does bird imagery occupy this prominent place in indie/DIY culture?

Reason 1: Birds are pretty and easy to illustrate.
Birds are not hard to to draw, especially in silhouette. They are also really easy to add to an existing drawing, because you can show them in flight, or perching. Unlike other easy-to-draw animals (worms, fishes), birds are cool-looking.

Reason 2: Birds communicate an acceptable level of femininity
Birds are more girly than trees but less girly than flowers or butterflies. Birds are the fitted t-shirt of woodland iconography.

Conclusion: Birds are both DIY cliche because they fill a vital niche in the ecosystem of independent material culture (the culture of making stuff and liking handmade stuff). Perhaps in 100 years, bird designs will be as ubiquitous as floral prints, and we'll all have couches covered in sparrows.

Full Muumuu

2011-01-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

In sewing class, we are making dresses that do require buttons or zippers or fastenings of any kind. Sadly, I am not talking about Colette's fetching Crepe wrap dress, either.

I decided that since we are making tent dresses, I would go full muumuu with my fabric. I bought a light cotton lawn with a big green carnation print.

I am hoping that the finished result will be a mix of English garden and non-binding-tropical-lounge-garment with just a hint of couch. I fully intend to wear it around the house in the summer when it's hot and I just want to lay around and enjoy my stories (AKA listen to podcasts).

Thriftscore: Blue Bird Confectionary Tin

2011-01-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

I bought this tin almost as an afterthought when I went to the New Westminster Salvation Army with my friend Leanne. I think it was $1.99.

When I got it home, I started to grow fond of it. It's really pretty, and a good size for storing things, like letters, or art supplies or packets of bias tape. I couldn't quite decide what to do with it.

The colours made me think it was made fairly recently -- a reprint or knock-off of a 60s floral design. But something about the look of the print made me wonder if it was actually vintage.

I googled the company named stamped on the bottom. I found out that Harry Vincent began as confectioner in 1898, in the West Midlands of England near Birmingham. Like the Cardbury family, he wanted to build a beautiful factory that would be a pleasant place to work. The factory was built in 1927.

The company is known for producing very fancy toffee tins shaped like chests -- most of the examples I saw were much fancier than this one. Also, because the mark on the tin ends with Hunnington, Worchestershire, it's probably from the 1950s or 1960s. Mine has a number of scratches and dents, so I'm sure it's not worth anything, but I really like it.

I've decided to use it temporarily as a sewing kit for my VCC class. After that, I think it needs to hold trims or receipts pr jewelry in a place where I can see it every day. (I've always loved tins -- just ask my mom).

Brown and blue and gold

2011-01-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

I bought some pretty wool fabric at Fabricana this weekend:

Bet you can't guess what I'm going to make with it! Hint: it's a garment fraught with personal history. I bet that narrows it down!

In other news, I am taking a sewing class at VCC right now. I'm getting to learn how to use the industrial sewing machines, which is interesting. Half the commands are in different places than they are on a home model, and the machine goes much faster. There's less friction because the machine is made of metal. Switching between the two might be like switching between knitting and crochet--sort of hard on the brain at first, but completely do-able.

Finally, there was an interesting post on fast fashion label Forever 21 on Jezebel.com yesterday. The post mentions F21's history intellectual property disputes: "Forever 21 has confidentially settled more than 50 Forever 21 lawsuits with designers who have accused it of stealing their intellectual property." Check it out so you can see the photos!

Excited despite myself

2011-01-20T16:53:00.001-08:00

I just read that Wendy Mullin of Built By Wendy has another sewing book coming out at the end of February.

I'm more exctied than I should be, considering the following:

I'm better at buying Mullin's books than I am at actually making anything from them.
Thesebooks are a little too advanced for my skill level -- as a new sewer, I've had much more success with Diana Rupp's Sew Everything Workshop, which explains everything with really clear diagrams.
Lots of BBW designs are not suited to my body type: everything's blousey on top and too short or tight on bottom. I always need to tweak her patterns for my height and hips, too.

But the book design and cool illustrations and the patterns get me excited every time! And I love coats. Maybe if I'm good and I finish all my in-progress sewing projects by then end of February ...

Cure for the winter doldrums

2011-01-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

January and February can be bleak months. It's dark, the weather's bad, and you don't even have the holidays to look forward to. Here's my personal prescription for defeating the winter doldrums:

The Circle Scarf Cure

1) Buy a new winter coat in a really cute colour. By this time of year, you should be able to get one on sale. If you're really broke, hit up a thrift store. This blue coat was $60.00 at H&M. It's a little light for colder days, but the Circle Scarf Cure basically fixes that. I bought it with money from my holiday 2010 Etsy sales!

If you really don't want to buy a new coat, grab your favourite coat. It must be something that you like and feel good in. It can't be something old and shabby that you feel vaguely ashamed of. That feeling is the opposite of the Cure.

2) Go to your yarn stash and pick out a color that really pops against your coat. I grabbed two skeins of reddish-orange Cascade 220. I bought this yarn in 2008 in a fit of autumnal despair -- it was the start of the gray season and the recession and the only way I could think of coping was to run out and buy colourful yarn. Which I then didn't use for anything, because 440 yards is a weird amount of yarn.

If you don't have a good color in your stash, it's time to hit up a yarn store. Wear the coat to the store. It's surprising how combining colors changes your reaction them. I mean, I like reddish orange well enough, but I absolutely love it with turquoise.

3) Once you have your coat and your yarn, download the free pattern for my Inuvik Scarf. It's a quick pattern that you can crochet in a couple evenings. And it's pretty simple -- a beginning crocheter could handle it quite easily as long as they have a good crochet reference book on hand.

4. Make the scarf as directed. Don't make the pocket. Change the hook size if you're using a different weight of yarn -- I used a 6.5mm hook. Gauge is not critical, so take advantage of this opportunity to wing it. I made my scarf 13 rows wide because I was impatient. You can make any number of rows as long as it's an odd number. Go wider, rather than narrower. You want this scarf to feel plushy and luxurious.

When you've finished the last row of the scarf, bind off, leaving a 12" tail. Pin the edges of the scarf together. You can twist the scarf once if you want to make it a Mobius, but I think it looks equally good either way. Sew the ends together using the 12" tail. Weave in ends.

5. Put on your new coat and scarf and feel incredibly extravagant because you now own a one-of-a-kind scarf that is custom-made for one coat. This scarf is the opposite of so much winter wear: practical, pedestrian things made in colours that "go with everything." This scarf probably only goes with on coat, but it looks fantastic with it. And now you have a really fashionable scarf that probably only cost you $12 or so, depending on the yarn. And since it's a big loop, it's pretty much guaranteed not to fall off and get lost while you're walking. Just don't get caught on anything!

Free Pattern - Inuvik Scarf

2011-01-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

I made a scarf pattern to match the Inuvik Mittens!

You can download it for free at http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Inuvik_Crochet_Scarf__D55475220.html

Hillariously, some initial responses questioned the unisex styling of this photo. As one Facebook user commented, "WHY IS THIS BEING MODELED ON A MAN???"

Since I love to talk about gender and fashion, I am pleased to offer the internet the following answers:

1. I honestly thought that this design was pretty unisex. Perhaps I am in the minority here?
Yes, it's purple, but I thought dark purple was acceptable for men. The model in question owns several dark purple sweaters and no one has mistaken him for a lady. Or a transvestite. If the colour offends, make it in navy or charcoal or brown.

2. Okay, so maybe it's the pocket. Is the pocket too feminine? Or too twee? Clearly I have no idea.

3. When I took the photo, I was more concerned about the light and the colours than I was about the gender messages inherent in scarf design. This model owns a gray Ben Sherman coat (that I bought him) and I thought it would look nice with the scarf. Since I don't fit into the coat and was operating the camera, it was his body that ended up in the photo.

4. I also took a photo of the scarf on top of my white Faux Martens books. I'm pretty sure there was a time in the 20th century where these boots would be considered "too masculine" for women's fashion. Just saying! Unisex doesn't always have to mean "masculine but okay for girls."

5. Gender norms are contextual. Maybe men's fashion is different in the place where you live.

What do you think? Am I completely out of touch with what counts as "unisex"? Leave a comment if you want (but keep in mind that the model and I are both humans with feelings).

Thriftomania

2011-01-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

On the weekend I went thrift shopping with my friend Leanne. She was looking for textiles to use in her upcoming book, Hooplah: the Art of Unexpectedly Embroidery, and I was going along for the ride. I ended up finding lots of like-new stuff.

1. Gray velor skirt and silk top (total cost: about $15.00)

I hemmed and hawed about buying this velor mini, because I couldn't picture what to wear it with (I'd recently discarded all my worn-out black tops, which meant I had no black shirts at all). I've learned that if I can't instantly picture an outfit, I'll never be able to put one together. So I decided to spend some time looking for a basic shirt to go with it.

Searching for basics is something I don't usually do at thrift stores, because thrifting is all about hunting for weird things and treasures and stuff you normally wouldn't buy. If I'm going to hunt through dust and grime, you can bet I'm in search of something more interesting than a white v-neck! Financially, it's a low-stakes game, so I like to use thrifting as a chance to expand my personal style. The downside of this is having a wardrobe composed of fuzzy mini skirts and crochet dresses and not much else.

The Salvation Army in New West yielded some surprisingly good basics. I grabbed this brand-new Moda top (85% silk, 15% cashmere!) for $5.99. I should spend more time looking for plain-but-expensive stuff in thrift stores, I think.

2. Knit Dress
Leanne found this for me. This dress has a couple snags, and it feels like 100% acrylic. Normally, this would keep me from buying it, but I love the look of knitted dresses. And 99% of knitting dresses have straight or pencil skirt silhouettes, which I just can't wear. This dress is literally the only a-line knit dress I've ever seen. So I had to have this, even if I only wear it a few times.

On the skytrain ride home, Leanne very wisely talked me out of wearing it with coloured tights and my white Faux Martens. She also encouraged me not to wear it with red tights. I appreciate it when people look out for me like this.

3. Grey ruffled edc by Esprit dress. (Note: very wrinkly from being washed).

Leanne has a thrift-shopping mantra: "Why did someone give this away?" She doesn't rest until she's found the reason: it fits weirdly, it has a hole, it's stained. I should adopt her methodical approach: all too often, I overlook a subtle stain, only to notice it the first time I wear it.

I bring this up because I tried on this gray cotton dress twice, brought it home, removed the ruffle sleeves AND re-finished the armholes before I noticed a series of stains down the front! I put Shout on them and it seems to have worked.

I'm not sure how successful removing the ruffles was. My re-finishing is a little uneven and the armholes gape more than I'd like at the back. But the dress was really, really ruffley. Even Leanne, who loves ruffles, advocated removing a few. Looking at the photos, I think I need to hem the second skirt. You can't see it in the photo because I cropped it. In the photo, it makes me look stumpy ... which is probably how it looks in real life as well. How much work should I put into this dress? It's comfortable and well-made and good for summer, but I don't have any great need for clothes that are only semi-flattering.

New design: Cowl-neck layering T

2011-01-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm working on another design for the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program.

I chose to use sock yarn because it's designed to sit next to your skin, it's durable, and washable. Plus, thin knits are both layerable and flattering.

Thin knits aren't especially fast to make, however. I decided to knit this pullover in the round to speed it up a little. Once I get done the bottom ribbing, the pace should pick up.

This is what it looks like now:

This is what it should look like later:

Note that the body is now heathered brown, instead of variegated brown.

It's designed for multiple seasons -- you can wear it over a long-sleeved t-shirt in winter and over a tank in spring and fall.

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in Merlot Heather and Blue Yonder.
No release date yet -- it depends on how fast I knit!

New Year

2011-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

It's hard to make crafting resolutions when this part of my life is changing. I spent the first half of 2010 feeling guilty about wanting to spend all my time sewing and knitting and writing instead of applying for jobs. In June, I finally stopped fretting and accepted that this is who I am. Once I "came out of the art closet" (as my counselor put it), opportunities started appearing and I began to really take advantage of being a part-time worker. Between August and December 2010, I did costumes for a film, started an Etsy shop, started designing knitting and crochet patterns, sold some crocheted items to people in Vancouver and took a class in fashion design. Perhaps most notably, I stopped needing to see my counselor. I still apply for library jobs, I just spend less time feeling unhappy. I haven't worked out my master plan yet, but I'm spending a lot of time thinking about what I like and what I want.

I don't have any specific New Years' Resolutions, but I want to continue pursuing the things in life that I'm really passionate about. I want to stop making decisions based on fear. I want to get better at making beautiful clothes and objects. I want to create a portfolio.

Just for fun, let's look at last year's resolutions:

1. Knit garments that are lighter-weight and more suitable for year-round wearing. Worsted wool is inexpensive and knits up well, but it's only comfortable for a couple months, at best.

Hmm. I have two DK and one fingering cardigan started, as well as a sock yarn pullover. Maybe I should finish those this year. I did finish a DK weight vest but it's a bit too small and I can't figure out how to wear it.

2. Use of at least half my stash yarn. Seriously, I have enough for six sweaters and two vests, plus lots of single skeins. Of course, most of it is worsted wool, but whatever ...

Ha! Not even close. The Dressew Sale ensured that I would only grow my stash this year.

3. Start learning to sew. I have two sewing machines, it's probably time to start using them. My ultimate sewing goal would be to make some cute, easy-to wear dresses so I can always be well-dressed.

This basically happened. I made a dress. It just needs a hem.

3a. But to start with, I'll make a wrap skirt from the book Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp, using the dark red corduroy I bought from a thrift store in the summer.

Yep! I did that. I didn't keep the skirt, because it was weird looking, but I did it.

3b. Then, I'll make a blue version of the my cheap purple dress (I bought some clearance jersey and a pattern yesterday!)

Still have not made this. It's on the list. It should get made this month.

3c. I should also learn to hem pants.

Done and done. Now I just need to learn to hem them when I buy them instead of throwing them in a drawer for 6 months.

4. Finish the diorama I started making for Curtis three years ago.

Not done.

5. Make awesome cardigan with intarsia birds on it--maybe light blue with navy birds? This idea is half-inspired by a girl I saw working in Parts and Labor, a boutique in Austin, TX, and half inspired by a chart in Picture Perfect Knits by Laura Birek. Like the little dresses I plan to sew, this cardigan is going to be a basic garment with a cool twist.

Not done, but I did a lot of sketches and bought yarn the last time I was in Austin. So this should happen this year, once I get done with my current designs.

6. Knit something in a colour besides teal, turquoise or peacock.

I managed this one.

Vague notions I probably follow up on:

1. Make a large and complicated amigurumi (ie something from Beth Doherty's Super Happy Crochet Cute)
2. Knit a cowl sweater (maybe Francis Revisited by Elizabeth Silverstein?)
3. Sew a pencil skirt that actually fits me
4. Make a sweater or possibly mittens using recycled yarn from a thrift store sweater.
5. Design a sweater or cardigan.

I bailed on 1, 3, and 4. But I am making a cowl-neck pullover now, and I did design a cardigan this summer (you have not seen it because most publishers prefer not to spoil the surprise).

Looking this over, I see that I've had an issue with actually finishing things this year. In 2011, I would like to complete the lightweight cardigans that have been languishing since March 2010. I would like to finish the hems on the little black dress that I made and sew up the blue dress and started knitting those intarsia projects. I would also like to crack the code of making cardigans that I actually wear -- which I suspect is an issue of yarn choice, for me.

So much to do -- I'd better get started!

Heart Scarf

2010-12-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

I made Curtis a needle-felted scarf for Christmas.

The scarf is a vintage find from the Kelowna Salvation Army. It was made in West Germany!

Here's the front:

A close up:

This is the back:

It was surprisingly easy -- like drawing using little whisps of wool roving.

Teal things

2010-12-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

My sister and parents have started their long flights and drives home, and I am sitting in the quiet post-Christmas apartment.

Some things: Blue nail polish that matches many things I own, a pincushion given to me by my almost-sister-in-law Cara, a baby hat that I knit in the car yesterday while driving to White Rock to see my aunts.

In the car, my sister and I talked about how we both love teal. She loves bright, clear, almost Cerulean teal. I like a darker, greener, more muted teal. I like that she notices these types of things.

Details:
Nail Polish - Sula Brand
Pin Cushion - made by local crafter/art student/graphic designer Hudsonny
Hat - knit in Blue Sky Alpaca, pattern by Jennifer L. Jones (appears in Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitters Handbook by Debbie Stoller)

Book review: Pints and Purls

2010-12-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Pints and Purls: Portable Projects for the Social Knitter
by Karida Collins and Libby Bruce
North Light Books 2009

Pints and Purls is a beginner-friendly collection of patterns with a pub-knitting theme. There are lots of small accessories, like socks, scarves, hats, and the inevitable beer-bottle-cozy, as well as a few simple sweater patterns. I was most intrigued by Olga Buraya-Kefelian's Drunken Sweater, a simple stockinette pullover with asymmetrical armholes inspired by the knitwear of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. It's pleasing to see such a fashiony, avant guard design in a beginner-oriented book.

Olga Buraya-Kefelian has a designed number sculptural patterns, including the melting Gills tank and this knot-sleeved cardigan.

Jessica Kleinmann & Libby Bruce's Absinthe Sweater is another standout design. It's simple but so pretty, with an overlapped boatneck collar and a nice yarn choice (Fiber Company Terra in a green semi-solid/tonal).

The book itself is nicely put together, with full colour on every page and attractive illustrated graphics. When I picked it up, I thought of my sister: she enjoys the nightlife more than I do, and I'm pretty sure she'll start knitting at some point. She already mails me yarn a couple times a year because she enjoys picking out colours. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that one of Pints & Purls authors, Karida Collins, is the owner/operator of Neighborhood Fiber Co., a Washington DC-based yarn dying company that names colorways after DC neighborhoods. And who else but my sister mailed me a skein of their sock yarn a for my birthday last year? IT'S A SIGN.

Jolly mood

2010-12-15T21:17:00.001-08:00

Tonight I am in a jolly mood because I finished a certain amount of hand-made gifts and paid orders from local people.

I'm not totally done, but some of the pressure's off, and it feels great.

I sold a few pair of completed Inuviks today (and forgot to photograph them!). I went right out and spent the money on a new blue coat, a black dress, and a pair of red tights. I've been feeling a bit shabby lately so I'm very pleased. (Even though it's all from H&M and I had sort of promised myself I'd stop shopping there).

I'm also pleased because I had the best day at the library on Sunday. As a patron, I mean, not as an employee. I went to drop off a few books and came back with the following:

I Know I Am But What Are You (audiobook)
by Samantha Bee

I've listened to about half of this memoir by the Daily Show's Samantha Bee, and I'm sad, because I'd like it to go on forever. Her reading is hilarious -- I'm sure it's much funnier in this format. As a memoir, it suffers from some of the problems common to books written by comedians (i.e., the chapters are great stand-alone bits but they don't really add up to a book). But Bee's delivery is so funny that I just don't care.

Hungry
by Crystal Renn

Crystal Renn is the most famous plus-sized fashion model in North America (possibly the world? I'm not sure). This memoir details her entry into conventional modeling at 14, her struggle with anorexia, and her eventual decision to become a plus-size model. I've only read a chapter so far, but the writing seems decent. I'm curious to see how Renn positions her career within the larger discourse of beauty. Renn at a size 14 is still more conventionally beautiful than most people will ever be, so there's that to ponder ...

Gothic and Lolita Bible
Tokyopop, 2008

Gothic and Lolita Bible is a quarterly magazine/book devoted to the Japanese Gothic Lolita / Lolita / ect fashion subculture, now translated and published in English (albeit a year late). There's lots of gothic Victorian and dressing like Strawberry Shortcake. My favourite part, though, is how the magazine meets the challenge of describing all-black clothes that don't photograph very well to a rabid audience who are eager to purchase things online. There are lots of assurances that the subtle black-on-black pinstripes are more obvious in person, and the writers take special care to mention anything removable or customizable about the garment. Designers (and editors) in this market clearly understand that the point is to combine the clothes in unique ways, so there are lots of detachable collars, sleeves, overskirts, etc. Sub-genres are strictly observed, and lots of outfit suggestions are made: a ginham shirt can be "country lolita" when paired with a long skirt, or "innocent lolita" (aka school-girly) when paired with a jumper dress. I can safely say that while I'll never be a lolita myself, I find all this nerdery completely fascinating.

Learning to Love You More
by Harrel Fletcher and Miranda July

This is the book that documents July's long-running collaborative art piece of the same name. At least, I think that's what it is. I haven't looked at it yet.

I also got a knitting book and a lame memoir about having borderline personality disorder, which was completely boring. Apart from that, it was a great haul. It's funny how rich I feel when I come back from the library with all these hours of future entertainment in my bag. I mean, I really feel like a rich person. It's sort of how I feel when I think, what am I doing tonight? And I realize that my task is to write or knit or blog or something. Sometimes I feel terribly pleased with my life, and it has nothing to do with money at all.

Junior Deluxe award for best amigurumi yarn

2010-12-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Vanna White and Lion Brand, you can now add "Junior Deluxe yarn award recipient" to your resume.

Awarded on an ad-hoc basis, the Junior Deluxe yarn award for best amigurumi yarn honors yarns with the best combination of texture, color and workability for creating crocheted figures. Instead of cash or a fancy gala, winners receive a free unsolicted plug on this website which is read by at least six people.

The backstory: lately, I've been making some more brain slugs for friends.

I'm using Vanna's Choice 100% arcrylic yarn. Vanna's Choice is my favourite yarn for amigurumi because it has a nice lofty body, it's not too shiny, it's soft, and it comes in really nice colours. It's better than Caron Simply Soft, which I find a too shiny and oddly flat. Vanna's Choice doesn't compress as much when you crochet at a tight gauge, which gives it nice stitch definition. Since it's made by Lion Brand, it's pretty easy to find, too.

Also, the fern colourway is perfect for the brain slugs.

Pattern: Brain Slugs from the Hooks and Needles blog. And now, the hypnotoad.

Curtis won our ANTM pool

2010-12-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend Curtis won his bet on America's Next Top Model.

The other wager-er, Dave, made this jpg to celebrate/decry Curt's victory.

You will not care about this if you 1) don't know Curt and 2) haven't watched ANTM season 15.

Guardian Craft section

2010-12-03T13:51:00.001-08:00

I just re-discovered the general awesomeness of the Guardian.co.uk, the website for the UK newspaper.

Four awesome things:

1. Junior Deluxe favourite Hadly Freeman has a column called Ask Hadly, where she dispenses clear-headed and sharp-tongued fashion advice. (Question "Why is it that so many people these days wear clothes that absurdly advertise the shop?" Her answer: "The answer to your question is simple: it's because they are morons.")

2. The Life and Style pages have a designated Craft section! It's organized into several tabs including

Craft projects
Designer projects
Guide to crafts
The rebel knitter
Craft books
Interiors
Fashion

This pleases me both and a crafter and as an information professional. If there's one thing I like as much as making stuff it's categorizing stuff. Delightful.

It also makes me want to get a proper website where I can organize my content in tabs!

3. One of the projects in the "Craft books" section is a little knitted Jack Russel terrier from Sally Muir and Jo Osborne's new book Best in Show: Knit your own dog. I probably won't make a little dog, but this project has a uniqueness and freshness that makes me happy.

You can see a lovely gallery of other projects from the book. The bulldog and the old English sheepdog are my favourites.

4. There's also instructions for making a super-pretty bib necklace! A great use of all the beads one has lying around.

Can I get a job at the Guardian website already? Who do I talk to about that?

How to Read about Fashion and Not be Annoyed: Part 2

2010-12-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

In March 2010, I wrote a post about three books that discussed fashion in an interesting and thoughtful way. It’s taken me a little while to find more books that fall somewhere between Roland Barthes’ The language of fashion and US Magazine Secrets of Celebrity Style. Here's another book that's definitely worth reading if you're interested in clothes and bored by women's magazines.

It’s So You: 35 Women Write about Personal Expression Through Fashion & Style
Edited by Michelle Tea
Seal Press

It's So You is a collection of personal essays on clothing and fashion edited by poet and novelist Michelle Tea. Tea is known for writing frankly about being a working class, queer, former sex trade worker. So it’s not surprising that most of these essays are written by people who are fashion outsiders, in one way or another. In "The Slimming Effect", Sherilyn Connelly reminisces about being a six-foot tall sartorially-challenged male-to-female transsexual who has been asked to write a fashion column for a goth website. Two authors describe their unglamourous careers as teenage models. The power and meaning of short hair and curly hair is discussed, as well as plus-size shopping and the satisfaction of owning a pair of green velour stretch pants at age 12 (followed shortly be the humiliation of your stepfather buying a matching pair).

The essays contradict and clash in interesting ways, giving this book the feel of a long meditation instead of a manual or feminist critique. In the end, It's So You gives 25 examples of how fashion fits into a person's life, and the many ways personal style intersects with gender, sexuality, class and subculture.

Teen Witches!

2010-11-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

So I was going through a box of old photos yesterday and I found a binder containing a LOT of first-year-university poetry and a 3-page outline of the novel that I mentioned in this post. I took it out of the box, but I just haven’t been able to read it. Every time I start, my vision goes blurry and the words don’t sink in. It’s like my brain is protecting me from the embarrassment.*

I let Curt, my boyfrusband, read it. He tittered at it**, naturally, but also declared it decently plot-heavy for something written by a teenager. I had to tell him that I was 21 when I wrote it.

The funny thing is, this outline is only 7 years old. I routinely take 1 or 2 years to complete a creative project. I started a novel 4 years ago and it was actually pretty decent. But this outline seems so much older than that. It’s embarrassing the way old high school yearbooks are embarrassing. It’s probably pretentious. The lives of the characters probably resemble my own teenage life in unintentionally revealing ways. I can’t say with any certainty, because I haven’t been able to read it yet.

Another funny thing is, many of my writer friends routinely work on stuff that’s 7 years old -- ideas that were left unfinished, or projects set aside because life got in the way. But there seems to be a cut-off for me. Anything written before age 24 = juvenilia. Anything written after that is probably okay. Whenever I am sad about getting older (and how I now get a hangover after just thinking about drinking), I should keep this lesson in mind.

* It's a novel about teen wiccans who are also bisexual. Or one of them is. Or something.

** Curt can't titter too much because I know where his book of sad divorce poems is kept.

Vintage knitting photo of the day

2010-11-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

Another photo from the 1972 Bernat booklet:

Am I wrong, or is she kind of rocking it? Kind of a Robyn/claymation/pixie kind of thing.

Tons of effing sequins!

2010-11-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

This is why you shouldn't broadcast live from the Seattle Goodwill's "glitter sale", where they sell all the designer clothes that have been donated in the previous year:

Afghans of my youth

2010-11-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

While I was visiting my parents, I took a moment to photograph an afghan that my mother made in the 70s.

My mom made several, but this is the one I liked best as a child.

It's made from mixed knit and crochet squares, each one in a different stitch pattern.

Several of the squares are made from yarn that my grandmother brought with her from Denmark when she emigrated to Canada in 1955. The teal and light green squares are made from this yarn, and they still look good after 55 years and plenty of use

This was the kind of crochet I was thinking of when I designed my Inuvik mittens. It feels really familiar and homey to me.

My mom says, "It's not surprising I became a quilter. Even when I was knitting I just wanted to put squares together."

Vintage crochet photo of the day

2010-11-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

I'm in the Okanagan visiting my parents right now, which naturally means thrift shopping and lots of yarn talk. My mom saved me a Bernat booklet from 1972.

She looks a little worried that someone might see her in her shag carpet yarn vest.

Mystery scarf!

2010-11-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

My sister and I flew to the Okanagan a couple weekends ago to visit our parents. When we saw my mom, she was wearing this glittery novelty yarn scarf:

Shortly after greeting my sister, my mom thanked her effusively for the present. "She bought it for me in South Africa," Mom explained to her friends, who were standing near by. My sister frowned a little. "I didn't buy it in South Africa," she said. My mom expressed some confusion -- everything else in the recently-mailed parcel had been a souvenir from my sister's World Cup 2010 trip.

"When we got that parcel, it was torn open and had a tire mark across it," muttered my Dad. "Canada Post just threw the whole thing in a plastic bag and slapped our address on it."

My sister looked a little confused, but let it go. We were standing in the middle of a hockey-arena-turned-craft-fair, where my mom planned to spend the day selling hats and quilts with her friends. We looked around for a while, made some purchases, and left for home with my Dad.

A note on my sister's present state of mind: following a stressful period of immigration trouble in the US, my sister had just moved from Washington DC to Toronto, Canada. Her brain was a little shattered by the ordeal of putting half her life in storage and moving the rest to a new city. This explains why it took her until the car ride home to realize that she really had no idea where that scarf had come from.

"Maybe someone gave it to you and you forgot?" I suggested.

"Maybe," she replied. "I honestly can't believe how terrible my memory has become. That scarf doesn't look familiar at all."

"Are you sure I sent it?" she asked my Dad. "Did Mom get it from someone else and get confused?"

Dad assured her that it had been in the package. Or rather -- in the plastic bag Canada Post used to contain the exploded parcel. "Their explanation was that 'this had been found in the mail stream.' Like they had nothing to do with ripping it open or putting a big tire mark on it. Can you believe that?"

"'Mail stream' is a weird word," I observed, not very wittily.

Then it dawned on us.

"They must have burst several packages at once," said my sister in disbelief.

"They just guessed at what items went in which package," said my Dad.

"So we got someone else's scarf?" I asked.

"And my memory isn't as bad as I think it is. Thank God," my sister concluded.

So my mom now has someone else's scarf! We have no idea who it belongs to, where it was going or where it came from. I hope that whoever lost it is hoping that it found a good home -- because my mom really likes it. It's really the best thing that could happen to a lost object, short of it finding its way home again.

Matters of Opinion

2010-11-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

Librarians have a nuanced understanding of censorship. There are ways to discourage people from a reading a book that don't involve removing the book from the library: you can put an age restriction on a title, file it in an incorrect section, or keep it behind the desk so that people have to ask for it by name.

Some libraries use these methods as a sort of preemptive strike -- by hiding the book in the system, they are making it less likely to be noticed by the people who might wish to censor it. Of course, this means that it's much less likely to be read by its intended audience as well.

These ideas keep springing to mind as I read the interviews in Shannon Okey's The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design. There are some strong opinions in these interviews. Try to imagine someone saying the following on Ravelry:

"[Online pattern sales] have dumbed down the standards of knitwear design. Why do you think Vogue Knitting has fewer and fewer sweaters? Because the socks and shawls and scarves are all the Ravelers etc. want to make. They don't have to fit, they don't reflect a point of view or a trend, and they aren't daring." (Adina Klein, p 180).

"Sizing had become political in knitting ... look at how many more options there are now for plus-sized patterns, every single magazine, nearly every single knitting media outlet responded to the need for bigger sizing, and for articles on customizing patterns. To me, that's incredible. Did anyone say thanks? There's very little appreciating going on, only asking for more." (Jillian Moreno, p 165).

"There are no perfect patterns for anyone at any size, full stop. And it is not economically feasible for the knitting media to keep adding sizes or specifics to every pattern. I would love a magazine that's called: Short/Stumpy Armed/ Fat with big boobs and butt, but I do have a waist -- though not as much as I imagine/Mostly Cable, but some Lace/Only using the yarn I currently have in my stash/Really quick knits that look totally complex/and Every Pattern Would Look Freaking Fantastic On Me Every Time without Doing Math. If knitters keep clamoring for patterns that can't exist, they are no longer advocating for themselves, they are victimizing themselves." (Jillian Moreno, p 166).

"My heroes in this business are eating beans and foreclosing on their homes or abandoning their careers because the simply don't give a damn about the internet. They are designers. They don't want to be bloggers, they want to be designing. They don't want to be answering questions from idiot knitters 24 hours a day. Inferior designers who are tech savvy or who have tech savvy boyfriends or sisters or whatever are making money hand over fist and the people who created the foundation of this industry are being left in the dust." (Adina Klein, p 180).

I love Ravely, but the forums are generally not a good place for thoughtful and considered conversations. None of these opinions are outlandish, but if you posted them on Ravelry (or Twitter or Facebook or any other social media platform), people would FLIP OUT at the perceived elitism. Any point you were trying to make would get drowned out in a sea of reactions, and at least 10 people would publicly avow never to buy your designs again.

But if you put these statements near the end of a 240 page book, no one seems to notice.

This issue isn't so much about print v. digital issue as it is about free content v. paid content. The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design is available in pdf format -- but you have to pay for it. This seems to be the reason it hasn't garnered any commentary.

One thing that paid content is good for is limiting your audience. I'm not sure how it would be useful to Okey to provoke a swarm of angry knitters discussing how designers are sizist/snobby/elitist etc. The only people who would shell out $20 for this book are people with some kind of serious interest in knitwear design, and they're interested in strong opinions, whether or not they agree with them. Ravelry, by virtue of its openness, tends to flatten conversation and opinion. Long documents with a small financial barrier create shelter for opinions that a more democratic medium would ultimately dismiss.

Get me some rubber balls!

2010-11-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

So I've seen a few tutorials for this kind of thing, but I was pretty indifferent until I saw this page from the new Anthropologie catalogue.

Maybe I just want to dress like a fancy llama, I don't know.

Seriously though, the opaque fabric and the mix of solid and prints makes these necklaces seem wearable -- like a good way to brighten up a simple black dress.

I have a (clean) flower pot filled with silk scarves that my grandmother gave me. I bet I could use a couple to make a reasonable facsimile. Now I just need a handful of rubber balls and some wooden beads!

Costume Design in Black Swan

2010-11-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

This morning I read theballetbag.com's interview with Amy Wescott, the costume designer for Darren Aronofsky's new film Black Swan. (Curt saw Black Swan at the Austin Film Festival and says that it's very good, but also kind of ridiculous, which sounds about right for an operatic psychological drama featuring two ballerinas.)

The interview mentions the film's colour pallet and high degree of realism, as well as the ballet costumes design by Rodarte. There aren't many photos, but it did make me more excited to see the film! Plus, ballet style is always interesting to think about: the shoes, the pale colours, and all the layers. Wescott says,

When I went to see classes I observed dancers would sneak some crazy knitwear over the leotard, like the sweater instead they would wear it like a skirt…they completely reinvent pieces that they put on top of their leotard.

Okay, that transcription seems a bit faulty, but I'm curious to see how dancers re-purpose clothing. It reminds me a little of that essay where David Sedaris goes to a nudist colony and observes, "Because clothing doesn't interest them, most of these people are liable to wear anything: stripes with checks, pants three sizes to large or small -- it simply doesn't matter to them. This morning, I saw a woman wear her sweatshirt toga style, the neck stretched beneath her arm to reveal a single breast." (Naked, p. 282-3).

Fun fact: Amy Wescott was also the costume designer on The Wrestler, Aronofsky's previous film. Further fun fact: in an MTV interview, Aronofsky revealed that Black Swan and The Wrestler were initially conceived as a single movie "about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler."

Now, delight yourselves with the colour pallet in this clip from the 1948 film The Red Shoes.

Crochet Hooks in a Basement of Trash

2010-11-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

I learned to crochet because I really wanted to learn to knit, but I was broke, and living in a cheap house on the edge of the city, and I found the crochet hooks first.

In 2004, I moved into a modest 4-bedroom that my boyfriend Jakub was renting for $1000/month. I wanted to live cheaply because I was taking a year off school to travel and finally write my novel, which I think was about teenage Wiccans. Downsides of this arrangement included the fact that the house was a 25 minute walk from the end of the express bus line, which was the only way to get anywhere quickly. I didn't have many friends in the city then, and the few I had lived across town in Kitsilano. I ended up spending a lot of time alone in that house, reading library books, hacking fitfully at my novel, and learning to cook lentils (the cheapest food I could find). I was casting around for something–a purpose―but I hadn't quite found it.

The house was built in the 1930s. The structure was charming, but the surfaces were in disrepair. The hardwood floors were splintering and turned the soles of your socks black, even after washing. The top floor, where my boyfriend and I slept, had sloping ceilings and stained glass gems in the windows. The glass was rippled, and from across the room the neighbors houses looked like they were underwater.

Generations of tenants had filled the basement with stuff – old bikes, VCRs, everything that seemed too useful to throw out but not useful enough to bring with you when you moved. We spent days hauling everything out so that we could have some storage space. The only item I saved from the basement was an old blue train case. It had a bag of buttons inside it, and a set of crochet hooks in a blue plastic case. I was interested in DIY, and wanted to learn to knit, but I'd quit making things during my first years of university. I didn't know anyone who made things, aside from an old room-mate who took Fine Arts at UBC and spent a lot of time making lamps from wire and office supplies. I had no idea how to start. But now I had a set of crochet hooks that someone had left behind, and endless hours of rainy winter. I tried to find crochet instructions on the internet and ended up spending hours on Craftster.org. I bought Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker: Stitch 'n' Bitch Crochet and four balls of shiny Caron Super Soft. I made my sister a long, skinny scarf with vertical stripes and mailed it to her in New Hampshire. She accidently chopped part of the fringe off when she cut open the package, but I didn't mind. I was already on to the next pattern.

Time passed and I moved out of that house, left my boyfriend, finished my degree, applied to grad school, and left my boyfriend a second time. I spent a lot of time thinking that I was supposed to be working on my novel. I didn't spend a lot of time writing it. I taught myself how to knit on the bus rides to UBC. It look me an entire semester to finish a seed stitch scarf knit in pink self-striping yarn. In the end, it was too itchy to wear, but somehow this didn't discourage me.

I knit and sew more than I crochet these days, but it seems fitting that my first published pattern is a pair of crocheted mittens. Crochet often looks like the past to me. It recalls childhood afghans, old crafting books, and a '70s aesthetic. And it also make me think of my personal past, of that time six or seven years ago when I stumbled on that set of hooks in our cluttered basement. I had no idea then that crafting would turn into such a big part of my life, or that, of everything I had then―my boyfriend, my novel, my dream of being a journalist―it would be the one thing that would endure.

Junior Deluxe's salute to Kit-Cat

2010-10-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this year's jack-o-lantern!

The best thing I ever bought at a garage sale was a black plastic Kit-Cat clock. It doesn't work. It keeps time for an hour or two, but eventually the hands settle into a position between 4:25 and 7:40. This doesn't bother me too much, since Kit-Cat's flicking eyes are a little unsettling.

I've wanted a Kit-Cat clock ever since I was a little kid. I once seriously considered buying a new one, only to hang back when I considered the silliness of spending $50 plus shipping on a demented-looking novelty timepiece. I really wasn't anticipating ever finding one second-hand. So it was an amazing surprise to spot Kit-Cat's familiar, manic face at a garage sale in Strathcona.

It wasn't a proper garage sale. There wasn't even a garage involved. Instead, some people from a nearby apartment building had spread out a blanket on a bit of grass by the sidewalk. They were selling the usual stuff—old CDs, shoes, candle holders. The kinds of things you own when you live in a cheap apartment. And a Kit-Cat clock. I jumped on it and bought it for a dollar. How many times in life do you get just the thing you've been wanting for years for a dollar? (I've probably used up my quota, but I'm keeping my eye out for a Blythe Doll, just in case.)

Minutes after buying the Kit-Cat Clock, my friend Dave and I saw a poster for a lost dog. I always read lost animal posters, even though they make me sad. This lost dog was a Boston terrier with the phrase “thug life” tattooed across its belly. Naturally, this blew our minds. With his bulgy eyes and black and white fur, the thug life dog bore more than a passing resemblance to Kit-Cat. In the following days, posters for this dog appeared all across the city, becoming a funny little phenomenon of summer 2008. But I always associated it with the garage sale and my day of crazy good luck in Strathcona.

Back Alley Puppet Fight

2010-10-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

The BC Dairy Foundation has released some completely bonkers stop-motion commercials:

This commercial is a few months old, but I was watching at work today (while doing animation research) and the craziness of the whole thing struck me anew. Also, the textures of the puppets are really well rendered! There's some very clear crochet, garter and seed stitch.

This is the kind of video my Dad would describe as "very Kat." I would call it awesome and inexplicable. How did this get on TV? Who runs the communications department at the BC Dairy Foundation? Can I get a job there? So many questions.

My Pattern Launch

2010-10-23T06:53:00.001-07:00

On Thursday Oct 21, I launched my first pattern. As soon as I heard that it was available on Knitpicks.com, I added it to the Ravelry pattern database and shared some photos with a few crochet groups.

Since then, I've been able to watch people respond to the pattern in real time. It got twos "hearts" (the Ravelry equivalent of a bookmark or a Facebook "like") within the first few minutes of downloading. That number has now climbed to 78! 25 people have added it to their queues. (And only one of these people is a friend of mine).

Watching this reception unfold is magical. A crochter in Norway bought the pattern yesterday, and has already posted photos of the modifications she's made to my design (different colours and a different cuff). I feel like I'm collaborating with strangers half a world away!

I'd like to thank Jeff Christenson again for the beautiful photos he took of my mittens. I'm sure the online response wouldn't be nearly as strong without them!

ETA: It's up to 100 now!

Austin is Magic - part 1

2010-10-21T21:42:00.001-07:00

So I'm in Austin, TX for 5 days while Curtis attends the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriting Conference. However, I forgot my camera at home! So I will have to share my Austin adventures in boring old point form.

Notes on Austin

The Alamo Drafthouse is a great cultural institution. Seriously, they should be given loads of grant money for their contribution to American film culture. For the uninitiated, the Drafthouse is locally-owned chain of movie theatres with innovative programming and innovative ways of screening movies. (Plus they serve food and drinks to your seat during the movie!) Last night, we saw "The Other Network", a program of TV sit-com pilots that were shot but not turned into series. There was a Judd Apatow pilot from the late 1990s staring Amy Poehler, a wacky Get Smart-esque romp starring Steve Carrel, and a show called Five Houses which was one of the better pilot episodes I've seen, period. Today, we went to a Shaun of the Dead Quote-Along, which was terribly fun, even if everyone got so absorbed by the movie that they largely stopped quoting along or waving their complementary inflatable cricket bat. The Drafthouse turns watching movies and TV into an active, social, memorable experience.
The St. Vincent De Paul thrift store on South Congress contains a surprising amount of designer clothes, and the changing room has a big poster that says "REMEMBER, GOD IS WATCHING." I bought a pair of black shorts for $2.50 -- perfect for my Halloween costume!
I was really excited to return to Parts and Labour, a store that sells clothes, jewelry, and other useful items made by Texas designers. I liked their stock last year, but this time I was pleasantly overwhelmed by how much the store had improved. More stock, multiple lines of really great jewelry, and a high standard of design and quality. I bought some great things that I'll post when I get a chance.
The local no-kill animal shelter puts pens of puppies in a vacant lot on South Congress (along with volunteers, pamphlets, etc). There were eight adorable puppies out today, which I was allowed to pet. I almost took one with me. Instead, Curt and I had a serious chat about puppy personalities and what we should look for in a pet. This is futile because our apartment doesn't allow pets.
Verde sauce!
I saw a poster for a group called "Keep Jesus Weird." The poster was advertising a talk about relationships and why they were scary. The poster had a picture of zombies on it. I'm not sure what to think about this, but it's the only Christian youth group poster that's made me look twice.
My phone doesn't work at all here, so I have to communicate with Curtis by Twitter when we're apart. Seriously, it's the best solution we could come up with.

Tomorrow is another day of walking around looking at stuff! Couldn't be better.

My mittens are in the WestEnder!

2010-10-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

My Inuvik mittens are in this week's WestEnder. (They are the purple striped ones, not the red pair). I haven't seen the print copy yet, because I'm in Austin, TX this week. I'm honored to be included in a page of local and Canadian designers and labels!

Interested parties can buy mittens or a pattern to make their own here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JuniorDeluxe

The pattern has also been accepted as part of the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program. The pattern will be available for sale on knitpicks.com very soon. This means that you'll be able to buy the pattern and the merino yarn together, as a package.

I am really pleased to have finished my first published pattern and started an Etsy store in the same month! I couldn't have done it without help from my friend Robb, my mom, and my friend Jeff Christenson, who took the beautiful photos I used in the pattern.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

I hate, hate, hate wearing shorts, but think I'm willing to wear them for this year's Halloween costume:

I'm going as Mondo Guerra from Project Runway!

Now I just need knee socks and a pair of wicked old glasses.

Things I don't understand

2010-10-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Dory Kornfeld,

Today, I saw a girl wearing a peacoat made from sweatshirt material. It was black and coat-shaped, and had all the classic elements of a pea-coat: buttons, a hood, a big collar. It was the usual length. But it didn’t have sleeves.

That’s right, it was a pea vest.

Now I admit that I’ve been charmed by a short-sleeved coat before, but that fancy withered as soon as I realized how impractical it was. Also, short-sleeved is different from sleeveless. The peavest looks like a cross between a nice coat and one of those sweat shirts with the sleeves cut off.

Sleeveless peacoat. WTF.

Yours in bewilderment,

Kat

Please report to the front desk

2010-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is kind of old, in internet time, but I still wanted to blog about it. Thanks to my friend Brie for linking this story on Facebook ... what was it ... 10 days ago now?

So 3rd wave feminist icon/musician/activist Kathleen Hanna passed on her shrunken "feminist" sweater to Tavi G., the 13-year old fashion blogger recently profiled in the New Yorker.

I think it's really sweet that Kathleen is connecting with this young woman. I also appreciate that Hanna is encouraging Tavi G. to explore feminist expression in clothing, instead of telling her that an interest in fashion is silly, anti-feminist or un-intellectual.

Furthermore, I love the fact that neither of them seem bothered or ashamed by the fact that the sweater is second-hand and shrunken in the wash. This is not an act of consumerism but an act of sharing and thrift. And while the sweater has cultural significance, it's not some holy relic or a celebrity collectible. Tavi's actually wearing it! (Disclosure: if Kathleen Hanna gave me a "feminist" sweater I would wrap it in archival paper and never wear it.)

This is a story about clothes, instead of fashion. On a recent episode of Project Runway, Tim Gunn drew the distinction between the practical and accessible ("clothes") and the outlandish, impractical and artistic ("fashion"). I like fashion, but I'm more interested in clothes. And you don't get much more "clothes" than a shrunken hand-me-down sweater. I love that this sweater is simultaneously an everyday garment, a hand-me-down, a meaningful statement and an interesting cultural artifact.

Feeling ON

2010-10-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

There’s something about a successful outfit that just makes me feel ON. Like, not only am I more confident but I feel more like myself. We’ve talked, at length, about the ways clothes are a vital instrument of self expression, of course, but sometimes I forget just how it feels when you nail an outfit, and you know it’s saying exactly what you want to project.

I had a good read of Marianne Kirby's blog The Rotund this morning. I liked how she captured that right-on feeling of satisfaction she feels when she really gets an outfit together.

Life is short. We should allow ourselves to have as many pleasures as possible, as long as they don't come at the expense of others. If dressing a certain way makes you feel good, go for it.

Hmmm

2010-10-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how many of the people on Hoarders love thrift stores?

Here's Vula from the most recent episode, standing in the Goodwill. She says she goes every day. I say, if you went every day, you would find the good stuff.

Sometimes I watch Hoarders when I'm trying to convince myself up clean the apartment. Lately, I've need more convincing than usual. I think the last three episodes I watched involves avid thrifters. Hmmm.

Hooplah: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery

2010-09-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that I have a project in Leanne Prain's upcoming book Hooplah: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. Leanne previously wrote Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti with Mandy Moore (not the pop star). She is also one of my favorite people, so I'm especially stoked that she was the first person to agree to publish one of my designs.

I have a guest post about making my project on the Hooplah blog. You can read it here: http://www.unexpectedembroidery.com/2010/09/guest-post-subversive-mistakes/
It doesn't say what the project was -- it has to stay secret until the book is published next fall. Which is kind of killing me, because it was a really interesting project to design, with some funny unintentional effects. But you'll just have to wait to see it in print!

Model as (flat) canvas

2010-09-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

The back-to-school season is a busy time for me. I don't have much time to make things right now, but I do have time to read a lot. During my lunch break yesterday, I read an article about Valentino Garavani, the famous Roman fashion designer, in a 2005 issue of The New Yorker. This part jumped out at me:

Most models are absurdly tall and freakishly thin, and couture gowns usually demand both qualities: the stitching is delicate, the fabrics--lace, taffeta, silk, panne velvet--are easy to rip. Karolina Kurkova, who has often modelled for Valentino, is one of the world's most famously alluring women. She even has hips and an ass. For gay designers, however, such features are horrifying. Two days before the show, when Kurkova took her practice walk in a long green chiffon dress, Giammetti just shook his head, like a pitcher sloughing off a bad sign from his catcher. Kurkova didn't notice, but Valentino did. "I use very slim models without bosoms, to be free to create," he once said. "Sometimes, if the model has a bosom or a little big hips, it gets in the way. That is important when I create something new. Later, it can be translated for women much larger." When I asked him about this, he shrugged. "They have to have a certain look, a special look," he explained. "That is why I like the Brazilian girls."

This is one of the reasons I'm not passionate about high fashion. It demands that the body be as fashionably shaped as the clothes, and that's not something that most humans can (or should) achieve. High fashion is unwilling to accept or adapt to the limitations of the average female body, so it just leaves these bodies out of the equation. It's less interesting to me as a result. Why not just design for Blythe dolls?

Michael Specter, who wrote this article, indulges in body snark that I don't agree with --"freakishly thin" is unkind to say, as unkind as calling someone "freakishly fat." But I do share his bewilderment at an industry that relies on one specific and uncommon body type. It seems lazy on the part of the designer, and oddly homogeneous for an industry built on novelty. It does seem freakish. And absurd.

Citation: Specter, Michael. "THE KINGDOM." New Yorker 81.29 (2005): 124-130.

Modern Lace is all done! And fall is almost here!

2010-09-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Rejoice! Fall very, very near. And some long days on set helped me finish my Triangel.

I'm all ready for fall now! The days have cooled down, but the skytrain is still full of people clinging to their summer uniforms of sandals and panty-length shorts. I, on the other hand, have broken out my old green canvas fitted jacket since millitary looks are supposed to be in for autumn, and it looks great with my new shawl-lett. Actually, military styles are always in as far as I'm concerned, but if fashion at large declares my much-worn 8-year-old jacket (from The Bay!) is on trend, who am I to object? I might even sew some new buttons on it, since the green plastic ones it came with have turned white around the edges with age.

Yes, I am a little over-warm when wearing a canvas jacket with an alpaca scarf. But only when the sun comes out.