Two More Jackets

It's a good thing I had a few of these jackets already cut out and in the to-do drawer....otherwise I could never crank them out so quickly. I love this fucshia/blue/purple jacket...and this linen blend fabric dyes and sews like a dream. I don't wear short jackets....need some coverage....but I had to try this pattern. Now I'll make it in my length.

This second jacket is made from the same fabric....very clever pattern also. I wish I could design patterns like these...should have spent the college years at FIT or Parsons instead of studying Business Administration at Niagara U.....but then I wouldn't have met my husband, and he's the best thing that ever happened to me, along with my two beautiful daughters.

Marcia

Two Jackets

I finally took a few minutes yesterday to arrange my thread...I tried to keep it in containers, but it's better up on the wall....kind of a nice visual also.

One of two jackets I finished yesterday...this one is raw silk...one of the nicest fabrics to sew.

This is also raw silk. I have four more jackets in various stages, but I'm off to a baby shower.

Marcia

Discharging Cotton

Today I took some of the fat quarters I had done the other day and discharged them with some make-shift tools and the bleach pen liquid. I cut a sponge into a circle, and a cross (I love organic, rustic cross icons). Then I took a cheap paint brush and cut into the bristles and swiped it across the fabric.

I also used the pen and drizzled thin lines. The problem I have when I do these is I end up liking them so much I don't want to sell them!

If anyone has questions about anything I do...please ask...I'm more than happy to share with anyone.

Marcia

Prep Day 1

These are the last two pieces of canvas I dyed yesterday...they will both be jackets...hopefully before Somers.

Then I decided to start some prep work for packaging and pricing. So I took 20 fat quarters in a theme and stacked them, cut them into 5" x 18" strips and rolled them. These packs are a big seller...so I have to do it. Pictured here are four different "themes"....each theme tied with a different color tie so they can be matched up if someone wants more than one.

A little obsessive-compulsive???? They tell me it's a Virgo thing. I just love how it looks...and the customer can see all the colors.

Marcia

Dyeing Day IV

I'm exhausted! But I can't afford to let a beautiful day go by, so I dyed again today. The dyeing is the easy part...the multiple washings, drying and ironing....my legs are crying!!! But boy do I sleep at night.


I dyed many pieces of silk broadcloth...this was the only one ready to be photographed.








Since I was watching American Idol and Dancing tonight, I decided to finish a bag I had started. The pattern is from Linda Lee at The Sewing Workshop. This pattern is genius (but challenging) in it's construction...but then many of her patterns are. I made it with my dyed canvas that I discharged with a bleach pen.

Marcia

Dyeing Day III

These are three of the larger pieces I did today to be cut up for clothing. The green and blue pieces are linen/cotton. If you were in Melody Johnson's class at Hudson Valley last month, this is what the two shirts I wore were made from. The red piece is cotton canvas....that will be a jacket.

Today Nancy and I dyed many pieces on the "rack". Here's Nancy agonizing over a blue piece that turned out great. After she put on the many colors of blue and added some accents, we scrunched it up lengthwise and laid it on plastic tarp on my deck. All in all an excellent day. Tomorrow I'll get some more dyeing done...then it's going to get cooler, so I'll get some sewing done.

Marcia

Dyeing Day II

The weather was again great today....so I spent 5 hours dyeing...managed to do 60 fat quarters and 25 one-half yard pieces. The 1/2 yarders are pictured above. Tomorrow, Nancy and I will be dyeing together, and I do plan to get the larger pieces started...we do them over a rack, which gives us great flow and mixture of colors. We are also planning a day of discharging fabric with paste, bleach and thiox....so much to do...only two weeks to go to Somers.

In a future post I will show how I do the fat quarters in the sheet metal pan my brother made for me....actually he made me three...fat 1/4, 1/2, and 1 yard. I originally used them to marble fabric...now I LOVE them for dyeing....having them made me experiment and I love the results.

Marcia

Dyeing Day!!!

Cotton Canvas

4-ply silk

Linen/Cotton

Linen/Cotton

Cotton Canvas

We finally have a 70 degree sunny day on Long Island, so I took advantage of it and did some fabric dyeing today. Fat quarters were on the schedule today, and some silk scarves. Tomorrow will be larger pieces of canvas, linen/rayon, silk broadcloth and dupioni.

I also have 5 jackets and shirts finished for the Somers Quilt Show in May...and I have 5 more cut out and ready to sew...all made from my hand-dyed fabric.

I have to work on placing my pictures in the post where I want them...every day I learn something else!

Marcia

My New Blog

Well...here goes. My first few days will probably be short...till I see how this all works. I have so much to write about and share, so I hope it's as easy as I've heard.

marcia