Art, Craft and Needlework, November, 2012

[Harriet]

'Tis the season to consider creativity in a new light, with decorating and gift-giving enjoyment on the horizon! What has needed your creative thought processes lately? What needs the creative touch before the holidays? Are handmade gifts going well? Are you going to wrap gifts in a certain way this year and will you need more supplies?

Nancy has a new crocheted prayer shawl project going.
She also finished a child-size prayer shawl and potholder.
Harmony has finished constructing the sports quilt top.
She is piecing the back now in some of the sports fabrics.
Harriet was inspired by a trip to a Renaissance Festival.
She's got Christmas cards and gift-wrapping ideas on her mind.
BookSaver tried a drawing-onto-fabric technique.
She traced a well-fitting dress to copy its fit in other patterns.


BookSaver, do you remember the name brand of the gel used for the fabric pen/art? Was it "Golden Acrylics" maybe ? Do you know of any web instructions for this? I'm not sure dd would ever want to put one of her drawings onto fabric, but this seems a helpful permanent way to do it. We're assuming the cotton fabric has to be woven without stretch to it. In other words, probably not a tee-shirt craft.

I'm so impressed with the decision to copy an existing garment and make new clothes from that pattern. I have recently been disappointed in a catalog order of the same garment (supposedly) I have in my closet. They had changed the fabric and the cut. So much for assuming I could buy extra of this item that fit well.

What garment do you have right now that deserves to have a pattern made from it? Which one will you be so disappointed to have wear out before you can find any similar replacement? Hmmm.... .... Doesn't have to be a complicated garment. Dd mentions having a few Scrunchies that are just perfect but newly purchased ones don't work as well. She says maybe she should take one of the ideal ones apart and copy the exact measurement of the fabric and see what elastic was used.

[BookSaver]

Harriet ~ The pencils were Derwent Inktense colored pencils, and she said they are available from lots of arts and crafts supply stores. I think she said she started with a pack of 6 or 8 colors from Michael's or Hobby Lobby and immediately realized that it was a fun thing and she needed more colors. Dick Blick Art Supply, is that a national chain? I'm not in the art supply world at all, have not taken any drawing or painting classes.

I just checked Amazon, they have several different size sets. I'm sure you and DD14 have a good local place.

The setting gel the instructor uses is the cheapest "aloe vera" gel she can find at the pharmacy. The pencil colors are somewhat muted, and then the gel intensifies the color and sets the color into the fabric permanently.

I think the only reason it would be tricky to do on Tshirts would be because they are colored pencils, not markers. The point of the pencil would drag on the stretchy fabric and it would be a lot harder to do a detailed picture. But if you're drawing a more abstract design and work slowly, I think it would work.

She said that it becomes permanent color. However, she's a quilter and most of the items she showed us were things that are rarely if ever washed. No guarantee for a Tshirt that is washed frequently -- but then, I don't know how long your DD keeps her Tshirts anyway.

The instructor showed us gorgeous bookmarks and artist trading cards.
I will scan the instructions and Email them to you.

[Harriet]

Thank you BookSaver - I was thinking the gel must be something special, but it's not. Hmmm... ... wonder how such a simple thing makes a change that sets color. That is so creative. I couldn't see the project photos by neighbors link. Even though a knit item like a tee-shirt is probably not the best, there are certainly other textile ideas. A center panel of a toss-pillow with other fabrics around it, a center panel of a tote (perhaps needing stiffening, though), tree ornaments.

Dd sketches compelling images but I don't feel they are appreciated. Many sit in her drawing books unseen. If she sketched onto a different surface sometimes, with a different idea of the permanence of the art, it seems to me she would enjoy that change. She is not excited by the coloring process yet, though - shading in gray-scale for her pencil or charcoal drawings, yes, but coloring, no. She is skittish of coloring-in, since that usually means there can be no more changes made to the sketch and she seldom feels the sketch is "finished". That, plus suddenly dumping one drawing because she is excited about a new one (wonder where she gets these tendencies) means she seldom reaches the color stage. Anyway, this craft might inspire. We'll see.

Garments I have that deserve to be made into patterns: my favorite apron, my favorite nice jeans, a pair of dress pants, perhaps a slightly stained top that fits so well. Now will I ever get this done? There's the question, lol.

[Harmony]

Always thought I'd like to make a pattern of a couple of my favorite nightgowns...

I need more projects like I need a hole in my head!

My sports quilt is put together, marked, and in the quilting rack. It looks so nice to have one there again.

[Nancy]

I'm nearing the end of the crochet project that I've been working on. Yea for that.

[BookSaver]

Harriet ~ Uh ... the gel ... does some kind of chemical ... thingummy ... She did not explain that, and she also did not say how she knew to even try it. I guess maybe someone on her art quilting forum talked about it? There are so many things I don't know about visual arts media, I just assumed it was something people who took art classes would have been told early on about mixing paints and such. Sadly, my exposure to art class was limited to Bob Ross's happy little clouds and trees on PBS tv.

The whole idea of an artist trading card appeals to me because it's such a small piece. Large enough to practice techniques for sewing, embellishing and quilting, but small enough that if it doesn't work, I haven't spent hours on something that has to be thrown away.

The business card size is also perfect for ornaments, and not limited to Christmas tree themes. Think of the tiny Valentine's Day cards. Combine the colored pencils on fabric with border(s) of metalic threads, fancy yarns, or rickrack for different seasons and holidays all year long.

Also, you know that quilted cards can be sent through the mail as long as they follow post office guidelines, right? Even postcards.

Hamony ~ Great job on that quilt -- so quick!

Nancy ~ Even with granny duty and new chickens, you manage to do creative projects.

My sewing machine is still in its case from going to retreat a month ago. This evening I typed an inventory sheet of the fabrics I bought at the library's sale (pretty cottons at $1 per yard! ) and packed them in a basket temporarily until I can get back to them. They had been labeled with wide masking tape and I wanted to get all of that tape off before the glue did nasty things to the fabric. I'm tied up in various meetings for a few weeks and must prepare teaching materials for the first week in December before the sewing machine can come out to play again.

[Nancy]

I think creative projects are part of how I stay sane!
Finished the sage green prayer shawl this morning.

Now to decide what to do with the other yarn I have here.

[Harriet]

Cards - aside from my obvious partiality to card shapes dd says to tell BookSaver that the ultimate in quilt-card or art-cards of any kind would be to create a Pokemon or baseball or other classic trading card image as a nod to tradition for someone to have a keepsake, and might even be interesting to a guy. (She immediately thought of Pokemon cards right along with baseball cards, which to her are both equally traditional, lol, since she grew up after both were found everywhere.) The bookmarks got her eyes to open a little wider, btw.

Harmony, this Christmas is going to be so special for you. Camera, camera, camera. Have you given any thought to how you might wrap? I saw blanket boxes on sale at our local Wal Greens and thought of you, with your pleasantly bulky gifts. They might be too large even for those. Office supply store cardboard file boxes have a lift-off top for that classic gift look - some are already patterned... ... Ha, ha, ha, I'm incorrigible, I'm even wrapping other people's gifts in my head.

Nancy, that makes me think of the gift bags you used to sew up.

I think creative projects are part of how I stay sane!

Perhaps not having enough of them is part of the reason I am slightly nuts lately.

[Harmony]

Harriet, I did pick up 1 shipping box at WM, the right size but it means I'd have to roll the quilt up, which would be ok but not very fancy looking. This is kids, they'd not care about the box I guess. But nice blanket boxes would be nicer I know. What I did before is, however I rolled or folded a quilt to fit, I wrapped it in nice tissue paper and tied that with fabric strips I kept from my cuttings (inside the box). I've been saving all the selvages I cut off and sometimes I end up with other long narrow strips. I think they are pretty on the tissue tied both ways around with a knot and bow. I don't know if anybody but me appreciated the extra touch. Then I wrapped the outside of the box or labeled and sent in the mail.

Every spare minute I've been stitching. I have about 1/6th of it quilted. This one's full of nice bright colors and is fun to quilt.

[BookSaver]

Pretty stuff I saw last night at the sewing group meeting:

* A string of white lights given a softer look by having a 5 inch square of sheer white fabric (tulle or fine netting) wrapped around each bulb. She put the square over the bulb, tied around the base of the bulb with thread, and then fluffed out the rest of the fabric so it looked like flower petals or a tiny dance tutu on each bulb. You could do the same thing with colored lights, she just happened to want a short white string to do a table centerpiece. (Make sure the light bulbs stay cool no matter how long they're turned on.)

* Drawstring gift bags in different sizes, sewn from a rectangle of sheer organza decorated with stripes of holiday ribbon. Sew the ribbon stripes on the rectangle base before you sew up the sides of the bag. She said she keeps any little scrap of ribbon she finds, and also buys the fancy ribbons at after-Christmas sales when they are marked down. Depending on the colors used, she makes the bags year round for gifts. Makes even a bottle of half price bath gel look like an expensive birthday present.

* Clothing protectors for nursing home residents. She took a hand towel and attached a printed cotton top that was shaped like the bib of an apron and attached with a piece of velcro.

* Key fobs that were tassels made of ribbons in school team colors.

* Dog blankets made of fleece, personalized with a strip of cotton fabric embroidered with the dog's name, and the strip was sewn diagonally across a corner of the blanket. The fleece is tricky to work on an embroidery machine, so the cotton made it a lot quicker to stitch. This person fosters dogs for a rescue organization, and she tries to make a blanket for every dog.

* Cute little triangular dog scarves that slide onto a collar or leash rather than trying to tie on the dog's neck.

* Scarves for teenagers made from tubes cut from Tshirts. Cut several tubes from the bodies of Tshirts -- works best on the ones that don't have side seams. (We asked how wide to cut the tubes, and she answered, "Well, it depends. You just have to try it until it turns out how you want." ) Stretch the tubes and they will become long & skinny tubes. Combine several tubes and tie together or add a clip to turn into a casual multilayer scarf. I'm describing it badly, but they looked fun to wear and easy to make.

* A holder for scissors or anything else long & skinny like paint brushes, crochet hooks, knitting needles, curling iron & comb. Made from this tutorial:
http://mycottoncreations.blogspot.com.a ... orial.html
It's another one of those origami-like projects that looks cute made from paper or fabric.