Stop staring and start sewing!

Sewing. It's fairly cheap therapy.

I finally got a chance to sew and it was so much fun and so therapeutic.  All that stitching and ironing and folding and topstitching.....soothing.  Of course it's so much more fulfilling when you're working with fabric like this.  Plume by Tula Pink.  Ordering this fabric was one of the highlights of the last Quilt Market because I had no intention of getting it until I saw it and it ended up being the one I was most anticipating.  I love everything about it and am in awe of Jen McLean's artistry (she's Tula Pink's alter ego....or is Tula Pink Jen's alter ego?  I can't remember how that works).

I took some sit-down to embroider the ruffle (also very therapeutic).  It was nice to have an excuse to sit and watch tv.  We got cable recently and I've hardly been able to watch.  My kids have had time though and I have to say, I'm not quite getting the love for Dora the Explorer (but I do like the cartoon with the bunnies even though I can't think of the name).  Anyhoo, I'm a little rusty but still managed to make a halfway decent bullion rose.  Look at the little pink fleur de lis print on that hem.  Fabric happiness!

I've made a minor change to the pattern and I wanted to give an addendum to anyone who has the pattern already.  It's a small change but a very efficient change and I think it makes the pattern just a little smarter (maybe a lot smarter).  The printed version will be done with this method but I didn't want folks to feel compelled to order a whole new pattern just for this.  So if you want to download it just click here or on the picture below and it's yours.  Just staple it to the back of your pattern and you're set.  You can still do it the old way too (it's good for tilted stripes, which I love).  Oh, and I've added the bonus of the applique instructions too!

I want to give a huge THANK YOU to all the folks who have bought this pattern and sent me such nice, encouraging notes.  I really have a soft place in my heart for this one (it's my first pattern and named after my great grandmother) so I'm touched that it has been well received even though it's only been in pdf format.  I think it's pretty so I'm glad you do too.

Oh, and I totally messed up the Jennifer Paganelli section of the store.  I forgot to change the prices to reflect the mark downs I was advertising (7.00 and under, except So St Croix, which just arrived).  Ugh.  Anyway, I've fixed it all and have a coupon for 10% off all the Sis Boom fabrics (even So St Croix!) through the end of February.  Just type in the coupon code: jpagfeb10 and it will discount your order.  Oh, and Amy Butler's Full Moon Lotus dots in Lime (which goes with everything!) and Cherry just got here!  We all raised a fuss and they reprinted that collection.  Power to the sewing people!!

Some wonderful new resources

A couple of weeks ago I went to the mail box and found a package from Studio Tantrum.  I said "Wow, that was fast.  I don't even remember placing an order."  Well, I hadn't placed an order (another blonde moment to be sure).  I opened it up and the kids all came running to find out what the shrieking was about.  Nancy Langdon, the wonderfully kind genius behind Studio Tantrum, had sent me a copy of her new book Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  I had been planning on getting this book anyway but there's something so amazing about getting something you really wanted without having to ask for it isn't there?

It's just a beautiful book to look at but, more than that, it has 10 full sized patterns in it including two of my favorites, the Insa skirt (here are some of my Insas) and the Feliz dress (seen here, done beautifully by Kristen of Gock's Frocks).  That is incredibly generous of her to put those in there given they sell for around 13.00 and the book is only 24.99 (but a bargain on Amazon right now). 

Here's a little inside peek.  I think the thing I love most about this book is the story of how Sabine Pollehn (the co-author) started the Farbenmix (which appropriately means "color mix") company.  It's a story about a mom who wanted to sew beautiful, unique things for her daughter without spending a fortune.  Something so many of us can relate to, right?  Oh and there are a few things for boys in the book too!

And here's another inspiring book worth having!  Lizzy House has written an amazing e-book (download it instantly!) on designing fabric.  This is an absolute must have if you are considering fabric design or just want an insider's peek at the process (this is not your typical e-book!  It's gorgeous and colorful and fun!).  I've had emails from folks telling me they really want to design fabric to supplement their family's income and I hate to reply with the hard reality.  I really think you need to design fabric because you have a passion for it (just like anything you are going to do), because it's rarely the road to riches.  Lizzy addresses that aspect so nicely and explains what most designers do (to make real money!).  That's all I'm going to say except my favorite part is "don't talk smack" about others in the industry.  Mom was right....if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.  But I think I'll just tell my kids "don't talk smack".  Words to live by no matter which industry you're in.

Here a look at Lizzy's new line too.  It's so flippin' cute I nearly jumped across the table and hugged the Andover rep at Quilt Market.  Needless to say, I will be getting all of it for my store in April.  I know you can't see many details in this picture (darn that Lizzy for holding back on us!) but trust me, it's fabulous!

Oh, and one thing I forgot to share on my last post is this great site called Lynda.com.  Go take a look at it because it has HUNDREDS of lessons on most of the digital design software out there.  I have spent hours taking Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign lessons there.  A lot of their stuff is free but we have the 25.00 membership (per month) and honestly, it is worth so much more than that. 

I hope you've had a great weekend!  I finally got to sew again and realized my machines are both in need of a tune-up (and were filled with lint, shame on me).  But I did manage to make something pretty anyway (coming soon).  Such good therapy (and cheaper than real therapy)!

They make it look so easy

A long winded explanation of my journey in pattern design....

When I knew I was going to start putting my designs into actual patterns I thought it would be so simple.  I mean really, how hard can it be?  Look at a pattern...  simple pictures, easy instructions, no problema.  Well it turns out there's a good chance that the easier your pattern is, the more work went into making it look that way and I have developed a whole new respect for those folks who make clear and concise patterns.

My pdf patterns have been a good starting point but it's hard to control things because the photographs can get muddy if your printer is less than amazing so I never know what quality a buyer will end up with at their home and I really want buyers to end up with a great product.  My newest pdf patterns are all computer made so they look so much better than my first pdf pattern and take a lot less pictures since I can express a multitude of steps with one picture.  This picture clearly shows the back pleat, side seams, gathering stitches and it's shade on the right side of the fabric.  It's a little lop-sided but I know how to fix that now.

I was sure I wanted my patterns to have computer drawn illustrations and not photographs but I had zero idea of how to get that (seriously, I started with NO knowledge of how to start.  None.).  I bought a 30 day trial of the Adobe CS4 package for 10.00 but it turns out 30 days is not nearly enough time to get a feel for everything it can do.  In fact it took more than 30 days just for me to stop banging my head on my desk once I finally sucked it up and forked out the 450.00 the whole package (gulp).  Then I had to figure out the different capabilities of Photoshop versus Illustrator since at first they seem the same but they're not (it turns out once you've made something in Photoshop, you can't simple dump it into Illustrator and tweak it).  And then I found out, after hours and hours of work, that you have to draw things a different way if you want to fill them with color or pattern.  And I'm not even going to get started on InDesign and what it does (because I'm only now figuring it out).

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the progress I'm making.  I get quite a few questions about producing my patterns on paper and I want to let folks know I'm really working on it (and why it's been taking so long).

The first picture below is from one of my pdf skirt patterns.  It's not awful but it's certainly not awesome and awesome is what I'm after here.  The second one is my hand drawing which took me forever since I'm not a very good artist (but I'm actually getting better).  I scanned it into Illustrator and then traced over it thinking that was the end of it.  Well when I attempted to add color to some areas I was once again banging my head on my desk.  Not so simple (not even a little simple).  Fortunately I picked the right person (yes, I realize I'm super blessed to have her as a friend) to whine to and she was over here within a few minutes showing me the ropes.  I took notes as fast as I could keep up and when I was finally ready to re-visit the process (I needed a break just to un-frustrate) I came up with the last picture.  Success!

See how there are different dashed lines, shaded areas, text, and the illusion of gathers and pins?  It took a lot of work to figure each of those out and, to tell you the truth, I haven't been this proud of myself or felt this accomplished in years.

At first took me a couple of (frustrating) days to create a simple apron outline and now I can whip one out in under a minute.  Look at my re-creation of my Evelyn Apron Skirt outfit.  It was lots of fun to make because this time I knew I could do it before I started.

So that's a small part of the whole process but I've been wanting to share it so you could see why it's been taking so long (sorry I promised these patterns sooner, I had no idea what I was up against).  It looks like we'll be sending 4 patterns to the printer this month with a few more to follow (including this one that I get so many requests for) and I can honestly say I'm proud to put my name on these patterns. 

Thanks for reading along!  Feel free to ask questions.  :-D

I think he likes me

I was very happy with the pretty red roses.  Really that was enough to make me happy.  But Joey seriously knocked it out of the ballpark when he presented me with this book.  It's so CUTE!  The pictures are pretty, the projects are fun and I've flipped through it again and again.

The roses will be wilted in a few days but I'll still be flipping through this book!  Le sigh!

Born to be mild

I've turned into a bit of a biker chick lately.  In my effort to shake off my holiday pudge and get my cottage cheese thighs under control I've been out riding my bicycle along the trails here and really loving having some alone time (with my headphones).  I wanted to get a new helmet but Joey gave me his old one and it's really comfortable and uncomplicated so I've been wearing it in spite of it's uninspiring looks (until today).

I ran to Walmart and got my favorite blue spray paint (Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze) and some white dot label stickers.  I had some other paint already and was hoping for a Cath Kidston kind of look.

My first colors were pink and green and I started getting a little freaked out because the green seemed very liquidy and was dripping but I soldiered on.  I just sprayed little splotches all over the helmet.

That dried overnight because it was late and I was tired (funny how that works out).  This morning I applied the white dot labels over the splotches and rubbed them down real good.  Still not entirely confident but it's too late to turn back.

I sprayed 3 coats of the blue on it out in the sunshine so it dried pretty quickly.  Yes, I sprayed the grass too because lawns are for playing on not for showing off so if you're one of those people who likes to measure your grass to make sure it's even all across the backyard then you need to find a hobby.  May I recommend sewing?

The moment of truth arrived.  I used my exacto knife to lift the edges of the dots and behold, it's looking pretty good!  Huge sigh of relief at this point.

Yay!  I mucho mucho likey!

Not one to leave well enough alone I decided I needed a zesty racing stripe to show the other bikers out there that I'm serious.

Playing with Marmalade while the paint dries (until the part where he got a little spunky and wanted to give love bites).

Tada!!  No more of those "she's wearing the same helmet, I feel so awkward" encounters!

Gotta go!  The road beckons!

Cranking 'em out

I finally got my Shopgirl Apron in pdf format!  I was trying to find pictures of it and was embarrassed to find out I had first shared this apron a year ago and have been intending to get it in pattern format since then.  It's a long story and I'm planning on sharing part of the process soon because it has turned out to be much more involved than I could ever have imagined (and we still have to get them on paper).  I've tried to be careful to make sure I am happy with the end product because I wanted to be able to take everything I have and simply re-format it for the printers.  So these are much more professional than my first pdf patterns because I didn't want to have to re-do anything.  My brain hurts.

I'm so grateful for the help of my friends who were so enthusiastic about testing out the pattern.  Here is Kelci's little girl Matea and I'm happy to say she really likes her apron (she insisted on keeping it on to go pick up her big sister from school and that thrills me)!  This size only requires a fat quarter of fabric (2 fat quarters if you make it reversible), plus the bias tape, so you can actually just grab pieces from your stash.  Isn't she beautiful?  Look at those eyes.

My friend Kelly made this reversible apron and I love the fact that this bias tape looks great with both sides even though the fabrics are so different in style.  A little spunky and a lot sweet. 

And here is the apron Marie made.  I love the zesty prints she picked!  Want a different look?  Just flip it over.

Okay, so I was trying to get some decent pictures for the pattern cover and I thought it would be good to show the child size for a boy.  Ugh.  Our little dude decided he'd like to do the pants dance on the counter instead of go along with things.  We were trying to get him to put on some clean clothes.  He's been such a stinker lately (our laughing doesn't help).

Okay, now we're getting a little cooperation maybe.  It's just too bad he has food on his face.

Nevermind.  He's seriously doing this stuff because he knows it bugs me.  Anyway, it makes a cute apron for dudes too. 

So here's the cover for now.  I may change eventually because I'm not sure how I feel about the whole headless thing.  But I'm happy with my logos (I like that shade of blue).

I've got a spray painting project planned (it should be super cute!) and Sofia painted her bedroom and did a great job (hardly any on the carpet), so I should have some crafty things to share this week.  Oh, and Craft Hope raised 30,000.00 for Doctors without Borders in Haiti!!  Can you believe it??  Behold the power of the crafter!  Go forth and sew (or knit, or scrap, or whatever blows your skirt up)!