CAREER HIGHLIGHT

I'm over the moon with this news.  The University of Wisconsin-Stout has acquired 15 of my most notable wearable art garments.  They will be archived in in their Apparel Design and Development Department with their permanent historical collection of garments.

It's hard to believe that the contents of 2 large boxes span over 25 years of creating wearable art.

These pieces are the best examples of my passion...most were made for specific prestigious invitational or juried shows such as the Fairfield Fashion Show which put wearables on the map.  Included too were pieces made for the AQS/Hobbs Fashion shows and numerous pieces from my book "The Wholecloth Garment Stori".

Instead of going into detail for each and their significance......I hope you'll just enjoy seeing a variety of the pieces.  Some are pictured as worn by professional models for the Fairfield Fashion Shows.

MOTHER OF THE GROOM ENSEMBLE

MR. McGREGOR'S GARDEN - AQS/HOBB'S FASHION SHOW 1990

QUEEN OF HEARTS - BEST OF SHOW - AQS/HOBB'S FASHION SHOW 1993

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN

KODAK MoooMENTS

IF I WERE A HOLSTEIN I'D WEAR MORE THAN SPOTS

VINEYARD REFLECTIONS

ARE THE STREETS IN HEAVEN REALLY PAVED WITH FABRIC?

SPINNING AROUND THE WEB

ONE O'CLOCK JUMP

FROLICKING IN BLACK AND WHITE

Click to these links to see what other artists are sharing this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday & Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME

Since I need a bit of R & R for my body to recover from its dog induced spill on Sunday.....not much will be going on in the studio for a few days.

So, even though it's a bit early....let me share a project I recently completed for our new grandson.  He'll be 6 months old at Halloween and of course ready for a custom made costume by Grandma!

I made our son's (often elaborate) costumes for years when he was little so this task was welcome.  Raiden will be a bottle of hot sauce....assuming the parents will dress up....our son will be a burrito, wrapped in tin foil and DIL a taco.  What a picture that will be!!

We have the full & very confusing, difficult to use version of Photoshop.  Yes, I've purchased several Photoshop for Dummies books......I guess I need the 'dunce' versions instead.  

So after more hours that I'd like to admit.....and lots of rejects....I combined some graphics and text to create a label for the hot sauce bottle on white polished cotton fabric.  

The kids live in the Noe Valley area of San Francisco....thus the personalized reference here.

 Unfortunately, the text spacing didn't work for a diamond shape label, so back to the computer to start over.  But I got it finally!  

Using felted wool scraps, various pepper shapes are being auctioned as the label sits on the rectangle of red felt.

 Detail 

 Front of costume....simple neck opening and holes for arms.  My DIL thankfully reminded me of the need to be able to access diapers and the ability to strap Raiden into a car seat.....so the bottom is just left open.

Since I had a spare print from my first digital transfer, I put it on the back.  Initially I'd planned to gather the neck with a draw string but on second thought, I decided that might be a bit bulky and uncomfortable (fitting isn't easily accomplished half-way across the country).  My solution was to add two ties at the back neck...placed several inches apart.....when tied, it will pleat up to take up any extra slack.

And of course the bottle 'top' completes baby Raiden's first Halloween adventure.

Anyone else making costumes they'd like to share??

100% WOOL JACKET

My love affair with felted wool continues......as I have fun experimenting with National Nonwoven's Woolfelt. I was interested in determining whether the 100% Woolfelt would be a suitable fabric for garments.

Here's my result..... The wool, even after washing is a bit stiffer than I'd prefer.....but that also made it a great fabric to applique. I found absolutely no distortion at all.

In a previous post I mentioned my desire to add some background texture with machine quilting, but found that it reduced the drape too much. Instead, I cut simple applique shapes of Woolfelt. Even though the fiber content ranged from 20/80 to 100% wool, they all behaved beautifully.

Unlike the bleeding problem I experienced when working with the original bamboo/rayon felt (National Nonwoven's solved that problem) this fabric was colorfast when I washed it. However, I was surprised to find a blush of red on my sewing machine throat plate and on my hands from the stitching process.

I hadn't planned on lining the simply unstructured jacket, but decided to prevent dye transfer to undergarments it was necessary and it may be a bit more comfortable to wear since wool can sometimes be a bit itchy.

All in all, I like the 100% wool, but probably wouldn't make another garment as the seams are a bit too bulky.

Back

Detail

Because I sewed each lining piece to the wool garment sections.....I needed to bind the edges of the jacket to prevent the raw edges of the lining fabric from raveling. My solution was to use Steam-a-Seam 1/4" tape and press it to the front garment edges. Then I fused 1/2 of a narrow strip of 20/80 Woolfelt along that edge.

Next, this step was repeated for the inside....here you can see the paper is still on the Steam-a-Seam strip.

Once the paper was removed, I simply folded the Woolfelt binding strip to the inside and fused.
When all the sections were complete and the garment was assembled, I top stitched the purple binding to provide extra security and visual detail.

I can't wait to work with this wool on a wall hanging since it's such a wonderfully stable fabric.

WOOLFELT JACKET

SNOW AGAIN.....it's number 5 so far......unfortunately, it's combined with wind chill factors of below zero....almost unheard of in this area.......we are getting cabin fever.

But....on the bright side, that's allowed time to get into the studio and begin some projects. Normally I like to post the entire process from start to finish when I share my projects, but due to other upcoming commitments I may not get this completed quickly.....so here's what I have so far.

The Xotic Felt jacket I created last summer was so well received....sadly, this new bamboo/rayon fabric wasn't color fast and it pilled too much. National NonWovens has fixed that problem, so I'll try again later with their updated fabric. Right now I've decided to see what kind of results I can achieve working with their 100% wool felt.

As a precaution to prevent distortion or shrinkage during the construction process, I use squares (for the back) and rectangles (fronts and sleeves) of fabric, marked with the shape of the pattern piece. Then, I do all my designing and sewing on this section of fabric.

The margins are a great place to experiment with ideas. Such as....I was considering simple stitching to add background texture and interest. Here's a detail of some stitching I did near the arm hole area.

In another area (outside of the marked pattern line) I tried a different look. The overall idea was that I'd add the applique motifs after the background was sewn. I learned long ago to test my ideas on the cutaway areas of the fabric, rather than jumping in and being sorry with the results on the actual garment. It paid off here again.....because in the end, I decided the grid and line stitching reduced the drape of the fabric far more than I could accept. So instead, I'm going to add some individual machine embroidered units after the main design motifs are attached.

I prefer to design the fronts, side by side on my design wall. Sadly, my dress form didn't make the trip here from WI.....the moving van was full.......so I had to say goodbye to my old friend! But, this works fine and takes up less space.

The next step will be to applique the motifs to the wool felt, add some machine embroidery....and when satisfied, I'll remark the pattern pieces to assure accuracy in case of shrinkage. The sections will be cut out and assembled. The woolfelt jacket may require a lining......I'll probably baste the pieces together first, try the garment on and see how it wears without one before deciding.

Happy sewing to all of you who are also freezing in this cold snap......which seems to be affecting not only most of the US but Europe as well......