Blog Entries – Page 147

Photographs

I converted my weaving studio into a photo studio for the afternoon yesterday. That means I have to move all the looms into the spare room/hallway, except the big one, which won’t really fit through the door. That one gets pushed as far away as possible. The background paper goes up against the wall, hanging with skirt clips from a shelf above (how convenient is that, not really, I planned it that way!)

I set up my umbrellas, the strobe lights, and covered my dressform with a matte jersey fabric, that is a pretty neutral gray. And then the fun began….

First I shot an older piece, from around 2002, that had originally been shot in slide form, and I was never happy with the results. This piece is called Evolution. It is an 8 shaft shadow weave, with bands woven separately on an inkle loom. The vest is a variation on the jacket pattern I use for my classes. I like the square armhole, it is easy to alter.

Then I photographed the Arctic Sky Jacket. This is a twill weave structure, on eight shafts, in wool, cotton, synthetic, just about anything I had on the shelf that would work for the color palette I was trying to create. The bright lime green piping, in case you weren’t following my blog a couple of months ago, is the natural felt edge cut of off a nuno felted belt I made with Loretta Phipps while we connected for the Design Challenge for Convergence 2008. The pattern for the jacket is from Burda Magazine. The bound buttonholes and pocket welts are Ultrasuede, and the top stitching is actually couching with a lime green embroidery floss. I backed the entire jacket with a fusible weft interfacing.

Next I photographed the Splash Dress, and as you can see, I had a lot of fun with the detail shots on this one.

This dress, a modified Vogue pattern, was made from the two remaining hunks of fabric from the Designers’ Challenge for Convergence 2008 in Tampa Bay. I blogged about this project considerably, so if you want to see the original garments from this handwoven collaboration between me and Loretta Dian Phipps of Texas, click here. This was another combination twill weave, 8 shafts, in silk, cotton, rayon, and some knitting novelty, all of which were given to us by the HGA. The challenge was to come up with a runway ensemble. I love the simplicity of this dress with the wonderful splash of summer colors.

I’m really happy with the way this jacket photographed. The colors are rich, and the angles of the jacket played well against the background.

This is yet another combination twill weave structure on 8 shafts, I dyed the warps to coordinate with a palette I did called Sandstone Layers when I was writing the color forecast column for Handwoven Magazine. The pattern is from Burda Magazine, and the topstitching is couched with a rayon novelty weaving yarn. The buttonholes are handworked from a 6-ply rayon weaving yarn, and the jacket is unlined. The seams are all finished with a hong kong seam finish. The belt and skirt are purchased. (The belt was a gift from my dearest friend in the whole world, you know who you are, and I have cherished it and worn it to death for many years. It remains timeless and coordinates with just about everything in my wardrobe. The signature on the back of the belt is fading, so I can’t read the artist’s name.)

So, now I have to put together a gallery talk for Wednesday and pray my plane via Houston to Des Moines isn’t delayed. That would be really unfortunate.

Cruise around Manhattan

I’m a bit bleary eyed, but no worse for the wear, and what an amazing cruise. I chaperoned a mid-night cruise around Manhattan for the graduating students from our High School. Fortunately the boat had two levels, the upper level was the dance floor, and the VERY LOUD MUSIC, and I could hide on the lower level. I cruised around the perimeter deck most of the night, checking for smoking violations, of which there were many, and I was told by so many kids, in no uncertain terms, “My mom lets me smoke, I’ve been smoking since I was 13, and I’m over 18 and an adult and a High School Graduate, what’s the problem?” Oy……… I hated being the cigarette patrol, and some of the kids downright refused to toss the butt, I kept thinking back when I was 18, first of all, there was no such thing after graduation as a cruise around Manhattan, I had to wait until I turned 50 to do that, but more importantly it would never have occurred to me to question or refuse an adult’s request, even if I didn’t agree.

Well this is a lot of years later, and my own kid smokes, so I can’t pass judgment here, I did my best, tried to keep a sense of humor, and tried to keep my hands to myself, and curb my huge desire to smack them all upside the head, I’ve buried too many great friends who died before they reached 50, some 40, from smoking related illnesses.

The cigarette patrol around the deck was at least gorgeous. Truely, there is nothing like the NYC skyline, viewed from the water, late at night. The Hudson River and East River were deserted, a real sign of the times. And though I still get a sinking gut feeling everytime I look at the lower Manhattan skyline without it’s beautiful tall towers, I still think, this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And the weather couldn’t have been anymore spectacular. For one brief day, the sun shone, and the stars came out. It is of course raining this morning. How original…

At the end of a cruise, boats typically float by the statue of Liberty. For those who have never done this, if you do nothing else in Manhattan, should you be visiting, take an evening cruise around the tip, make sure they get up close to the Statue of Liberty, late at night, it will take your breath away. The restoration is amazing, and what a gift it is to the United States, and all it symbolizes.

Off to another graduation party in the rain…

Sandstone Layers Jacket Finished!

Just a quick post before I get on a bus to circle Manhattan chaperoning a group of new High School Graduates,

When last we left off, I still had to finish the buttonholes, I had done a test, but I still had to do the three on the jacket. I slipped a piece of tissue paper under the fabric, the bouclé slub of the fabric kept getting hung up on the feed dogs. The tissue paper allowed the fabric to slide easily over the feed dogs, and the buttonholes went in without a hitch.

I used a buttonhole cutter which cuts the fabric between the stitching much more clean than scissors. This would be a good time to check to see if the button fits the buttonhole, before I do all the hand work.

So now I finish all the handwork, and do a buttonhole stitch all around the cut edges of the buttonhole, using the yarn I wove with in the weft when I made the fabric.

The stitch is tedious, but then again, that shouldn’t bother me, for goodness sake, I hand wove the fabric that went into this jacket. I found the process difficult though, I kept breaking tapestry needles, and the rayon yarn kept splitting. And it is actually hot in my studio, so my hands were sweating. I know, I have no business complaining about the heat, the sun finally came out for good today, it shown bright, which will make the cruise lovely this evening, and it got up to 80 degrees. We still haven’t put on the air conditioning yet for the season, there hasn’t been any need.

I also did a hem on an commercial skirt I had, that was pretty dated, I chopped off 13 inches, and did a preliminary shot with the skirt. I’ll do a final shoot on Sunday I hope!

I’m happy with the jacket overall. There are a few things with the fit I would tweak if I had it to do over, and the fabric acts like linen, one false move and it wrinkles all over the place, I wanted that kind of casual look, and I got it.

It has been a productive few months, I’ll really feel it when I see all the new work photographed.

Meanwhile, I have a bunch of 18 year olds to chaperone, stay tuned…

Sandstone Layers Jacket

I’d like to be able to do a photo shoot of all the new work I’ve done over the last few months, before I leave next week for Iowa. So it makes sense to focus on finishing the Sandstone Layers Jacket, since I’m so close. I spent all day yesterday working on it, in between last minute conference details for NEWS (New England Weavers Seminar) and for the Midwest Conference next week. It’s those little details that can drive you nuts, and end up taking the entire day. But from my lengthy experience in traveling to guilds and conferences, it is the details that can make all the difference between a success and a disaster. There are so many things that can go wrong, especially if there is an airline involved, and those things that involve an airline are completely out of my control. But what is in my control, is my responsibility, and I’m pretty good with the details. The hardest part here is keeping all the conferences straight, and remembering who I’ve emailed what to!

On to the jacket…

I took apart the shoulder, as far into the neck as I could. This pattern called for a back shoulder with considerable ease, and I was able to remove most of the excess ease, and that allowed me room to trim the back of the armscye (armhole opening on the jacket). So, first I restitched the shoulder seam, with the excess back shoulder extending beyond the front.

You can see in the photo on the right how broad the back armhole was cut, so I recut the back armhole to reduce the width across the back of the garment.

Once I reset in the sleeves, I tried the jacket on and with a couple of bathroom mirrors, I was able to get a clean view of the back armhole and it looked so much better. Sorry, I couldn’t hold the mirror and take a photo too!

The next step was the belt loops. I got these pinned on, but had a real time getting them stitched on, they were so thick, I busted a number of #16 needles, (my #18’s seemed to have disappeared, hmmmm…….) Usually I blame my 19 year old son when things in the house disappear, they usually reappear in his room months later, but I can’t blame the disappearance of size 18 sewing machine needles on a 19 year old…

I ended up sewing the tucked under top and bottom of the belt loop to the jacket, the belt loops were long enough to get the machine foot underneath the loop and zigzag in place.

That leaves the buttonholes, which I saved for last. I didn’t want to do a fussy bound buttonhole on this jacket, there are too many details as it is, and this is a drapey sort of casual jacket to begin with. I was hoping to do handworked buttonholes, using a machine made one as a sturdy base for the buttonhole, because handwoven fabric can be too ravelly to support a handworked one. I spent about an hour figuring out how to do a machine worked buttonhole in my Janome 6600, usually I just use the old fashioned Grist Buttonholer Attachment on one of my other machines, but I wanted to see what this Janome could do. The size of the stitching of the buttonhole is very narrow (see gray buttonholes below in the photo right), but the ease of doing one that matches the button length is pretty convenient. Actually this works well as a base for a handworked buttonhole, since the stitching is narrower than one from the old fashioned Grist Attachment. I took a cone of the same yarn I used for the weft, and did a hand worked buttonhole over the machine made buttonhole, after I cut it open. I am a real fanatic on this , having been taught tailoring when I was 12, I have a really hard time with a regular machine made buttonhole on outerwear, the cut raw edge looks like a wound to me in an otherwise gorgeous garment. It is one of the things I point out when I do my infamous fashion show tours of “inside” the garments, at handweaving conferences.

I still have to actually bite the bullet and put in the buttonholes, (this part is really scary because if I don’t like what’s happening, ripping out a machine made buttonhole is virtually impossible…) But the jacket is really coming together. I like it, and am thinking of what to put on the bottom, I have a commercial skirt that I’ve been wanting to recut to a short above the knee pencil skirt, so the mind is off onto another project before I even finish this one, which is as it should be…

I leave you with this wonderful quote from a good friend and weaving buddy, Ruby Leslie from Vermont…

“Either it’s a good time, or it’s a good story!”

I’ll be chaperoning a cruise around Manhattan tonight, well into the late hours, with a bunch of newly graduated high school students, so the above motto most likely will be really appropriate tomorrow morning…

A Sunny Day?

Wow, the sun actually came out today. What a surprise! Course more rain due in tomorrow, there was even a front page article in the newspaper today about how serious climate/weather pattern changes are here. Well the plants are loving it!

I’m now in wind down mode, tying up loose ends, starting the preparations for my trip next week to the Midwest Weavers Conference in Grinnell, Iowa. I’ve never been to Iowa, so this should be a treat. A week before I leave, I need to ship out the consummable stuff, like the handouts, raw materials, and some monographs to sell. So yesterday, I spent the entire day printing and binding stacks of monographs, and the handouts, and burnt out my year old new binding machine. Bummer…

The box is packed, and on its way to Grinnell, and the good news, is it contains about 50 yards of Red Dot Tracer, which I’m happy to say, is finally available, from Pellon, after months of gnashing of teeth and complaining, and moaning, I got 150 yards of it via UPS yesterday, in time to chop it up in two yard packs and ship it with the handouts. I have been in a quandry since HTCW stopped shipping early last fall, and the product became unavailable. Pellon bought the plates for the Red Dot Pattern Tracing Material, but they printed it on their Tru-Grid base, though improved from the original Tru-Grid base, this one is more stable than the old one, I still don’t like it because it doesn’t hold a pencil mark well. For a number of reasons, this is really important to me. I have multi-sized patterns I use for my classes, and the lines have to stay true and accurate. And so do the lines the students trace. Anyway, the Red Dot has now been printed on a different base, one closer to the original one from HTCW, and I’m hoping it will perform as well. I’m crossing my fingers.

So, now to the next project, which is a gallery talk I have to give next Wednesday as one of the exhibiting artists at HGA’s Small Expressions Exhibit at Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery. I wanted to finish one of the pieces on the loom that I started last spring, so I could get a shot of it and include it in my talk, since it is woven in the same technique as the pieces on exhibit there. (If you click on “Small Expressions” under “Upcoming Events/February 24th” – which was when the show originally opened in Missouri, you will see the pieces they selected for exhibit)

I’ve blogged about this technique, a Theo Moorman Inlay on a cotton ground, in many previous posts. Search for “Big Sister” and you’ll find many references. I printed the image on silk, and then cut it into quarter inch strips, and wove them back into the loom, in sequence while weaving a backing fabric at the same time. One of my blogs has detailed shots of the process. If I have time I’ll search for it.

Anyway, the image here was shot the end of August, 2001, while vacationing a mere 20 miles away with my children. We took them to the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, and then up to the roof of the World Trade Center. I titled this photo “Top of the World”. I don’t need to tell anyone what happened a mere two weeks later…

It is a chilling photo, the shaky appearance of the towering structure, from the rewoven strips, two innocent children doing what children do when posing for a photo for dad, (notice the rabbit ears my son is sneaking in behind his sister’s back), I am haunted by this photo every time I look at it. Reweaving it back together row by row, was somehow healing.

My daughter walked in tonight while I was photographing this for the blog, and plopped her latest adventure in front of me, a large paper box, carefully folded into a square. She said, “Guess how many boxes are inside of this?”. I took a wild guess at 10, and was sort of surprised when she told me I wasn’t even close. Can you believe there were 20 little paper boxes, all just a fraction smaller than each one they nest into, and she proceeded to unwrap each origami box to unveil the next box, until she had them all lined up on my cutting table. The smallest one was half the size of my thumbnail.

You have to love hanging around with my daughter. She disappears into her room, and comes out with the oddest adventures, she should have been studying for her Spanish final tomorrow, but folding paper boxes was much more soothing to her soul, and she was quite proud of her accomplishment.

Ah to be 16 again… See, that’s my problem. I never blow anything off I’m suppose to be doing for the shear joy of creating. I’ve gotten way too responsible in my old age…

Speaking of old age, we had a couple of great theatre adventures, last Friday we saw The Full Monty at the Papermill Playhouse, which was absolutely a terrific piece of theatre, the cast was unbelievable, one scene stealer after another, and if you live anywhere near Northern NJ or NYC, get yourself a ticket now! The show runs until July 14th I believe. There is a cameo appearance by stage veteran Elaine Stritch, who according to the papers is 84 years old. I want to be able to get out there and still perform in my studio and on the road at 84. That would mean I have another 30 years to go!

And last night, my husband and I escaped to the movie theatre to see “Up”. Another Pixar/Disney hit, one of the most charming stories I’ve seen in a long time, well, you just have to take my word and go to the movies. You won’t be sorry. The star of “Up” is a very old man, who is about to be forceably taken to a retirement home, the love of his life is gone, and he gets his house to lift off into the air with a gazillion helium balloons and flies it all the way to Paradise Falls in South America. I know it sounds like the oddest plot line imaginable, but to see it, and how the story develops, is truely amazing. It is almost believable. It has been a long time since I’ve been to the movies and heard an audience applaud at the end of a film. The show was packed, and they did applaud.