I took a little detour, because I had these little things sitting on my sewing machine, and they were just calling to me saying, “Fix me, fix me…”  So of course, I got knocked off course temporarily.  I blogged about my guild mug mat exchange last December (you have to scroll way down to find that part of the blog to see my mug mats).  I never showed the mats that I got.  Let me say that I love the fabric, and the colors, and the pattern of the mug mats I received at the exchange.  And I love the gorgeous wool backing my guild mate used to make the mats.  What I didn’t like, I’ll be honest, was the way they were constructed.  It was a sewing thing.  And I’m a sewer.  And I own a pair of shears and I’m not afraid to take something apart when I don’t like how it is constructed… 

So I spent about an hour, I had already taken the six mats apart, and trimmed them and fringed them, and added a piece of interfacing to the back.  I re-pinned the wool, and did a fine zig zag around the perimeter of each mat.  Now they lay flat, and don’t have the lumpy uneven corners that could cause a wine glass to tip… 

I’ve been working steadily on updating all the of the presentations/lectures/workshops I’m going to be giving on my southwest tour in February.  Since I’ve started the blog, I’ve spent hours documenting all of my projects, step by step photos, working out new techniques, and generally having a good time of it all, but I realized looking back over some of my lectures/workshops/monographs, that they could use a bit of updating, with some of the newer techniques/photos/projects.  The Leftovers Monograph needed a major overhaul, with all the new totes I did earlier on in the year.  I have much better step by step photos now, many of the ones I originally used were scanned from slides from storyboard techniques I used for demo purposes.  I finished reworking all the lecture/workshops for the trip, just proofing them now, but while I was working on updating the step by step PowerPoint slides, I had one of those slap yourself upside the head and yell, “Duh…” moments.  I had made a couple of placemats from leftover scraps, and developed a half day workshop out of it, I’ll be giving it this summer at the American Sewing Guild Conference in Atlanta in August, but I never resolved the edge binding.  I tried binding them a couple of different ways, and both attempts were too time consuming and clumsy for a four hour class.  Speed and ease in a class like this is so critical.  Just because I can do it, doesn’t mean a class of 25 students, sharing machines, in four hours, of mixed skill levels can do it.

Well, suddenly it hit me.  So simple.  No need for a separate bias binding here.  Just cut the lining for the mat bigger, and fold around the front and stitch.  It worked.  So easy.  I undid all the binding on both of the mats, and tried out this method, I was so excited, and loved the finish.  I gave the mats a final pressing and…

This would not be a good time to mention that I failed to follow the most basic of all sewing rules.  That would be preshrinking the fabric.  I of course would never take such a short cut as to not preshrink the lining used as the backing for my lovely mats.  So I don’t need to mention here what happens when you iron something that hasn’t been pre-shrunk.  Lets just say I wanted to kill another couple of hours and remove all the stitching again so I could prove how important it is to pre-shrink fabrics before you make stuff. 

In the middle of that escapade, I got one of Webs emails, you know the one with all the cool knitting yarns on sale.  Since I don’t as a rule buy knitting yarns, I’m not so inclined to check it out, but I lie…  If you search, there is always something in the weaving yarn mill end clearance that just has to come live with me, and I always groan audibly whenever the Webs sale ad comes into my inbox.  I can’t not check…  And of course Webs is too quick to ship…  So I got a little additional diversion, a back order I forgot I had from Halcyon, and my cheap yarn from Webs both arrived the same day, I unpacked everything and was sort of surprised at this huge cone of rayon bouclé in a lovely soft variegated color.  I thought I had ordered something else, but this is pretty cool, and I think the whole two pound plus cone was something like $15.  Works for me…

And finally, I finished a piece I’ve had on the loom since last fall.  This is one of my Personal Post Series artworks, small woven images in a Theo Moorman inlay technique, I’ve blogged about this technique numerous times, just do a search for “Big Sister” and there are all kinds of how to’s out there in my archives.  I was doing a pair of images, that I wanted to somehow use to create a diptych, images that play off of each other, bound in a way to make them book like, which I have done, but I don’t want to show the final images just yet.  I am hoping to enter this piece in the Small Expressions exhibit for HGA, but there is a query going around the blog-o-sphere about the definition of “published work”.

HGA (that would be the Handweavers Guild of America), who sponsors Convergence which will be in Albuquerque this July, is sponsoring four exhibits, one of which is the yardage exhibit I just applied to with work from my last blog.  The requirements are that the work cannot have been published.  Two years ago when I asked for more specific information about this subject, I was told that website content didn’t count, that they were mostly concerned with magazine publishing, or books/catalogs with the work, that would have a national exposure before being exhibited at a Convergence.  I understand that policy, and respect it.  The piece I had done for the fashion show, earlier in the year, I stupidly let Threads publish, and now I can’t enter it in Convergence, because of this policy.  No matter, I have other work to enter.  But the question has come up, do blogs count as publishing?  I hadn’t given that much thought, because website content was safe and I think of my blog as an extension of my website.  But blogs are a form of publishing.  So I have a query out to HGA, and hopefully will get a response in a timely fashion because the next three deadlines are lurking around the corner…  Meanwhile, here is the piece just before I cut it off the loom.

Eventually I’ll show the finished piece and the story behind it.  I think it is a pretty powerful piece, because it is about something important to me.  And that is what art is.  A form of communication.  Whether it gets accepted to the exhibition is a whole separate issue, and that will be what it is.  But for now, I am proud of this piece, and will eventually show it to you when I find out if blogging is actually publishing.

Meanwhile, I have an article to write for Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot, and a book review as well.  I have to finish the remaining two placemats for the exchange, I have to write up and get out the contracts for my guild, and get the information to the newsletter editor, and I have to review 5 scholarship applications for the Music Parents Scholarship for this year.  Those are probably due first.

And, big news, I have to finalize my contracts for Convergence 2010.  Yep, I finally have contracts in hand.  It took longer than usual because there was a lot of back and forth as to what I would actually teach for them.  This is an unusual situation, and kind of complicated, and partly what triggered my bout of whining a couple weeks back, about being a ‘has been’…

Convergence is an international conference for not only handweaving, but many other disciplines in the fiber arts, and one that can keep you visible and open other opportunities.  I have taught at every Convergence since 2000 in Cincinnati.  Therein lies the problem.  First off, I am known in handweaving circles for my garment construction classes for handweavers, I have those classes down to a well oiled machine, there are only so many ways to teach garment construction, and I’d like to think I have streamlined the process to work for conference and guild situations of mixed skill levels and all body types.  I’m good at what I do.  But trying to reinvent oneself each time for Convergence, where cutting edge and up and coming teachers and topics get first priority, is pretty darn impossible.  I try to come up with new workshops and seminars yearly, but it isn’t enough.  So, I am grateful to the HGA for giving me a full plate at the next Convergence, but I know that after 10 years, there are others out there that are developing newer and more cutting edge kinds of workshops, and I’ve been told by many that mostly I am thought of as the ‘Go To Girl for Sewing’.  Even my ‘Photographing your Work” seminar, though extremely well received when I give it, many have opted to hire a ‘professional photographer’  instead to do the seminar.  Most don’t know my original degree was in textiles and photography.  But I digress….

So, I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about where I’m going with all this, I’m not “washed up” so much as having to look down the line to what’s next for me and where can I take my skill set and stay personally challenged and still make a living.  No answers are coming, but I’m more comfortable with the idea of just seeing where life takes me for the moment….

So, I am teaching at Convergence in Albuquerque, see the full list of what I’m teaching on my website Schedule.

So, with all this stuff on my plate, what did I actually do today?  Not any of the above…

I started a new project!  Unless you have a fantastic memory, have been reading this blog since back in December, and have actually been keeping track of the six projects I outlined back then, you don’t remember  Sandstone Layers or  Project Two!  The yardage for this was woven back in 2007, and it is one of my favorites.  I’d like to make a jacket out of it, but I am longing for a different kind of jacket look than my last couple, and I found a great jacket in the January 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion.  It is sort of slouchy, and has a big belt, and a great big flowing collar.  Some of the engineering still has to be worked out, but I spent all afternoon yesterday and this morning tracing the pattern, and then fitting it onto the dressform.  It took much longer than normal, because there were so many pattern pieces and because the jacket was actually designed for plus sizing and I had to regrade the smallest size in the pattern down another three sizes.

I tried it on the form, and liked what I got, except for a couple  of areas, one being the asymmetrical hem.  I thought the angle and pitch of the right side was too much.  So I pinned up what I thought was more appropriate.

Once I added the belt to the jacket pattern, it was pretty clear I would have the same problem as the last Burda jacket I made, the waist was too high for me.  I am really long waisted.  So I knew I would need to chop all the body pieces above the waist and lower the whole waistline, carrying the belt loops with it.

Of course as I puttered with the pattern, I got sidetracked here and there, wondering what sort of buttons I had in my stash that would work with this.  I have bins of buttons, some in order, but most not…

Recently a friend who was cleaning out her deceased aunt’s house, gave me a cookie tin of buttons, lots of Bakelite, and some pretty interesting shell buttons, sadly with a coating of powdery mildew, and I rooted through there and found some I thought worthy of cleaning and set out with a tooth brush and some Softscrub. 

After a couple hours of trying to find three buttons that I liked with the fabric that were the right size, I took a couple of the whitish abalone buttons and turned them over, and voila!  The perfect color buttons were hiding on the back!

The flash is making them look a little too white, but they are beautiful and creamy pink/green on the back, and perfect for the fabric.  And my favorite belt works as well.  So, now for the layout…

This is going to be another one of those layouts that when I’m finished cutting, I’ll just have dust left.  I love when this all works out.  I won’t line this jacket, but will figure out what if anything I’ll interface with since I want the collar pieces to drape well.  Stay tuned…

But today I felt a little better.  I have daylight fluorescents all over the studio along with a number of OTT lites.  I put all of them on which brightened the atmosphere considerably,  and I didn’t feel the gloom as acutely.  So, after my morning routine, I decided to finish up the dress, and got the lining cut and sewn, inserted it into the dress, and now all I have is the handwork.  I’ll take it to the meeting tomorrow night to finish it.

I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.  It is so pretty, especially from the back, and it fits well, at least for the moment.  I have a feeling the dress will continue to grow, but I can take in the seams more, if I need to, there are worse things in life! 

The colors really look like a summer splash, and I’m glad I have something to remember the whole Challenge project, that I can wear, because the original ensemble will travel with the HGA until 2010, when the next group of designers will present their work, and Loretta and I will get our ensemble back.  I told Loretta she could have the coat, most of her contribution was on the coat, the beading, collar, and felt godet in the back,  I’ll get the long teal tencel dress, since it was mostly my work, but I’ll have this dress to remind me of the Design Challenge for Tampa Bay!

When I started this blog, way back in December, I had outlined six projects I wanted to work on over the next few months.  With the completion of this dress, I have finished four.  I still have to formally photograph the Arctic Sky Jacket, and this Splash Dress, but here is a recap of the last few months of work.

All this and a new website, and a blog, and a website for my sister, I’m realizing how well I used the time I’ve been out of work.

I spent some time getting the contracts together for my guild for our workshops for next year, lots of follow up there, but the board meeting is tomorrow night, and I want to be ready.

Meanwhile, good things are coming up!

First, The Fashion Show, a Bravo TV fill-in for Project Runway, (which was sold to Lifetime Network, and won’t air until late summer 2009), starts on Thursday, May 7th for it’s first season.  It is a complete Knock-off of Project Runway, except instead of Tim and Heidi, Isaac Mizrahi will be the host.  The reviews are great, and hey, it is a design competition, just like Project Runway, and what’s not to like?  So, I won’t be blogging on Thursday nights 10pm/9c, while I watch the latest episode.

And my favorite bloggers, Tom and Lorenzo, formerly of Project RunGay, have launced a new blog, combining a couple of their blogs, which feature fashion, and reality TV, have the absolutely best up to the minute photos of what’s happening in the fashion world and on the runway.  I tune in daily, there is always something fabulous to see.  And the comments are a terrific part of the blog.  This is fashion at its best and worst, and if you play around on the site, you will find the actual final runway shows of the top three designers of Season Six of Project Runway, no designer names of course, but I had my little taste of PR today, enough to keep me going until August when the actual season airs.

Late last night I decided to weave another placemat for the exchange, which is due next month.

Score:  Mom 5, Bri 4…

This is my favorite clock in the house.  It is in my studio, right by the door, within site anywhere I happen to be.  My husband and I use to collect clocks, until we had no more space to put them.  I showed my work at craft fairs all through the 1980′s, and traded for a lot of craft/art work over the years.  Do you know how many pieces of pottery/dinnerware you can get for one handwoven jacket?

Anyway, I remember trading a jacket to a husband and wife craftsmen team, and I got a few clocks for the trade.  One was this one, done on foam core, the signature is Gail Oring, but it isn’t really clear, so that may not be correct.  It is done in a very Lichtenstein-esque style, (Roy Lichtenstein being one of my all time favorite modern artists, seems to me we saw a retrospective of his work at the Tate in London on one of our trips). The clock keeps ticking away, and I totally identify with the blonde in the artwork.  It is always “beat the clock” with me.

My daughter and I took a break when she got home from school yesterday, and we curled up in my bedroom (which is the only TV I can figure out in this house), and watched the DVD from the fashion show at the Tampa Convergence, sponsored by the Handweavers Guild of America, in June of 2008.  One of my previous blogs, I talked about the challenge project I was involved in for this show, and the presentation I put together for it.  I haven’t forgotten, I am still waiting for the “HGA Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”, and then hopefully I’ll have my own disk to market.  But the DVD from the Fashion Show is now available from the HGA, for about $25., including shipping, less if you are a member.  It is worth seeing.  If you belong to a guild, get it for your library.  It is an inexpensive thing to show at a meeting, you just need a computer/projector set up, and this past year’s version is well done.

That said, I have a couple of musings I’d like to share.  I’ve seen a lot of weaving conference fashion shows.  I’ve seen some with professional models, I’ve seen even more without, where the maker or someone from the conference wears the work.  I’ve seen some really professional models, and I’ve seen some models that have no business modeling.  I’m not talking about body types.  It is the way a model carries themselves, walks, and presents the garment.  I’ve seen some pretty bad ones.  The models in this DVD were at best, a mixed bag.  But that happens, and that’s what the agency sent.

But what I really want to talk about, has nothing to do with the models, or in this case, everything.  When I sent my work to the Surface Design Conference in Kansas City in 2007, the paperwork clearly explained that I had to send coordinating support outfits, head to toe, for the model to wear along with my accepted garment.  If I was sending a short jacket, I had to send the skirt or pants, and a shirt with it.  Even the accessories. What that does, is it makes you think of the garment you have made as part of an ensemble.  When I was given the criteria for the design challenge I was asked to participate in for the Tampa show, my partner and I were told our project had to be an ensemble.  I am thinking much more in terms of “ensemble” with my work now, especially if I design it for the runway.

Fast forward to the Convergence show.  I was back stage for much of the preparation of the fashion show, the fittings, and the dress rehearsal.  Sadly, no request was made of the participaing artists to send anything other than their actual garment.  And no one shopped for coordinating garments or accessories.  So that left whatever the models had in their bags.  Which is usually black.  Spandex.  Badly fitting black spandex.  So the artists who sent a beautiful silky jacket in gorgeous Floridian colors, it was stuck on a black spandex body.

So my message to any of you who design garments, and might want to submit work for a fashion show, don’t wait for the sponsoring organization to ask.  They might not.  Design an entire look, like they do on Project Runway.  That doesn’t mean you have to weave the pants and the shirt.  But you could make them out of a commercial fabric and send them along so the garment isn’t orphaned.  When you watch the DVD, you will see exactly what I’m talking about.

The good news here, is that the work is really easy to see.  The models held still long enough for the close-up cameras to really pan the garments, and the details are pretty amazing.  Sadly, there isn’t a clue about what techniques are used, only the name of the artist and title of the piece.  I’d like to encourage the HGA to consider putting that information on future DVD’s as well.

And, I got the first Overshot placemat woven for our placemat exchange.  If you haven’t been following this thread, since way back over the Winter Break when my daughter started winding the warp for this project, in a nutshell, my daughter and I are each participating in an overshot placemat exchange with our  guild, Jockey Hollow Weavers.  We are each paired with seven other weavers, and each weaver selects an overshot pattern, and we each select our color, and give 2 ounces to each of the other weavers in our group.  The idea at the end is, you will get 8 placemats in your color, each with a different overshot design.  My daughter immediately selected purple, and asked when I select my color, that I pick something that will sort of go with purple so when I die, she can have my set as well. 

So I picked a celadon green.  I love how icy it looks.  I started with my mat, to work out all the bugs with the loom.  This one is a little quirky, and the warp beam is slipping, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get it to hold tension.  I haven’t been totally successful.  But I made it through one mat, only 15 more to go…