Batch-Cut & Celebrate

When I moved to this community in the fall of 2015, it was the first time that I'd changed locations as an adult. I had plenty of experience with moving around town but none with moving to a new town. It has not been as easy as I'd hoped to get to know people although I hear that's a common experience.

In January, I joined a twice-a-month group that meets on Monday nights in an attempt to develop more acquaintances on the way to closer friendships. The women work on a variety of projects and normally I knit but this week, I took a pile of fabric and batch-cut t-shirts.

Vogue 9057 by Marcy Tilton is a basic t-shirt that I've sewn numerous times using view A shown in the upper left corner. I cut two in black and one in a stripe.

Butterick 6492 is a not-yet-sewn pattern. A friend sewed it last year and when I tried it on, I thought it had potential. I cut it out of a very soft, charcoal flecked, black knit that I love the feel of so much I wish it came in other colours.

This image - which I swore I took angled straight and obviously did not - is a copy of a purchased t-shirt. The original has pockets on the front but I left them off this time since it's the first test. This is the same black fabric that I also cut the Vogue t-shirts out of. It has really lovely drape. I also cut this pattern out in a denim blue that I may add the pockets to.

AND... happy dance celebration... I have finally found a way to support the textile element I showed in an earlier post. It's a forged piece of copper with texture and patina. There is a hole on each side of the top where I can add a chain and it'll sit at the collar bone when finished. I am so glad that I waited for the right answer. I'm super pleased with this result.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - patience pays off

Vancouver - Granville Island

Last week, I was in Vancouver for appointments and took an extra day to shop and play. In this post, the pictures of the supplies I bought are mine and the other images are from a Google search. There were no names shown to credit. I'll add the names or remove the image if asked by the copyright holder(s).

My hotel was downtown Vancouver so I walked to the water and caught the ferry over to Granville Island which is one of my favourite places to visit in Vancouver. Taking the ferry is a lot easier than driving in city traffic or trying to find a place to park. Probably cheaper too.

  

There are shops I try to visit every time including Fabric-ations. Their woven pieces and yarn are gorgeous. This studio has been in business over 30 years which makes my artist-heart happy even though I know that most likely means they're making the rent and a little bit extra.

Roger's Chocolates are YUMMY and when the sun is shining like in this image, it's gorgeous to sit outside. Down that little alley are some hidden shops and the upstairs bead shop keeps me busy for hours. This time they had...

... a buy three get one free sale on packages of findings as well as a buy one get one half price sale on beads. I didn't have a project in mind, just collecting for - as I call it - my retirement fund.

Maiwa has a supply store, a finished goods store, and a School of Textile Art on the island. The fabric paints are for the handbags I've been working on plus I checked out the location of their classroom because I'm going back at the end of April to take a Creative Studio workshop. Since it's really hard to get into their workshops, I was totally surprised that within the first few minutes of open registration I was already signed up. YES YES!

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - artist dates

Happy Heart Day

Typically Valentines' Day is marketed as a day for lovers... and it is... only I choose to see it as a day for loving and being grateful for the loves in our lives, the family and friends that support and encourage our journey. It's a reminder to say I love you and thank you to them and to ourselves because a huge part of living a joy filled and abundant life is loving ourselves and supporting the passions and purpose we've been gifted with.

One of the first successful, three dimensional, textile pendants I made has a heart shape. I call it the Germany Pendant because it's made with remnants of a fabric bought as a souvenier on a trip in 2015. I'm in the process of making another carpet bag out of the same fabric.

The pendant was made several years ago just after I'd started learning about wire work. I think it's also a successful merging of the two and has led to what I'm working on now - textile cabochons and metalwork settings.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - visible goal progress

The Carpet Bag

One of my favourite purse shapes is the carpet bag. Often people don't know what I mean when I use that phrase but they understand a doctor's bag or one like Mary Poppins. I really like the rounded shape at the top and the way the tubular frame opens wide and how the bag sits with a solid bottom. For the past few weeks, I've been perfecting my pattern while refashioning previous projects and utilizing remnants.

This taller format is made from a coat I pieced years ago using the remnants from a quilt-top. The coat was made from re-purposed remnants and now the bag is made from the refashioned coat. Too fun. The pattern didn't sit quite right and the coat always felt like it was pulling back on the shoulders. I rarely wore it and eventually took it apart and put the parts in my Bits & Pieces of Potential box, including the lining which became the lining of the bag. The handles are purchased as are...

... the ones on this bag. The lining and frame casing are made from remnants and the exterior is new yardage that I fell in love with thinking I'd make a coat or a pair of pants before deciding it was too much for even me to carry off and perhaps better as an accessory.

Last year, I sewed teepees for my grandchildren using canvas drop cloths from the hardware store. There were 10 1/2 pounds of remnants left over that are perfect for bags. In stash, I also had four 32 ounce containers of purple Jacquard textile paint that I ordered years ago for another project and never used so now, I'm creating a series of bags that start with canvas remnants and purple paint.

It fascinates me how the same starting point can go in such varied directions. The five purses above were made from a table throw that I cut up into 10 equal parts using two for each bag. This project so clearly illustrated that there are no wrong answers, just different paths taken. Of all the first steps I could think of, I was able to use five but of all the second and third and fourth steps for each bag, I was only able to use one... the path explored... with so many left untraveled. This project taught me to make a decision and do something and see where it leads.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - learning that there is more than one right answer