Friday Preview #3: Hand Dyed Appliqued Tees

This is actually LAST week's preview, which I postponed as I digested my new minivan ownership. Look tomorrow for another, BONUS preview post, and keep in mind that the preview with the highest total number of comments will be featured in a GIVEAWAY in early March!

I've done appliqued tees in the past, but I always struggled with the colors that were available. Somehow, it had escaped me that I could MAKE the colors I wanted, to go with the rest of the collection. This season, I've embarked on what may prove to be a huge experiment, and have hand dyed all the tees and knits in the collection, and am working my way through embellishing them to fit the "Woodland Picnic" thing I've got going on.

What was once a rack full of all white is now this:

I used two brands of dye and did things in lots of little batches. Then they were washed and dried and some of them washed again, just to be sure. Then they hung here for a while, as I admired the colors. I don't think I was going for an EXACT color with the dye here so much as I was going for a family of colors, none of which were adequately represented in what I saw out there. So, lots of limes and buttery yellows and teals and aqua and lilac. For the boys, some blue spruce and deep olives. Still a little white here and there, too. There are cap sleeved tees for girls, plus smocked A-line tops, babydoll tanks, ruffled snapsuits, and for the boys there are short sleeved tees and snapsuits, plus diaper covers with appliques on the bum! So many yummy shades of loverly colors--I'm really pleased with how well they turned out.

Then, the appliques. In the past, I've always done a straight satin stitch over all the exposed edges, and this time I wanted to try some other things. In some cases, I did a more open zig-zag stitch, leaving less thread (and therefore less color) along the edges. On other cases, I used a straight stitch to allow the edges to unravel and give the shirt a little three dimensionality. So far, I love love LOVE these a LOT more than any of the applique I've done in the past, so that's always a good sign.

I wanted to develop some designs that I could use over and over throughout the season, and I wanted each of those to be tied into the overall theme. So, we have lemons, for the lemonade:

Note the contrast stitching for the pith:

And we have a happy little teapot, because what's a picnic without sweet tea? At least, in the South, anyway.

Open zig-zag here, and I'm really liking the contrast.

Always plan for ants at your picnic, that's for sure:

I think this little guy needs a face. But no nose?

For the boys, I think we all know it's not really a picnic until someone gets out their guitar:

In the back pocket, he can keep his pick:

For the moments when he's overcome with the urge to play.

My husband thinks this touch is a little silly, but I think he means it's kicky and FUN.

More to come, but I don't want to reveal all the funnest bits at once! Would love feedback in the comments--am always looking to refine these and make them the bests they can be. Like, I really think the teapot needs some steam, don't you?

Shot Through The Heart, Baby

So, I missed the Friday preview last Friday. My car was busy needing a NEW MOTOR, and I kinda freaked a little. Then my Sweet Husband took me out for a date and bought me a minivan. And HOT WINGS! I'll post photos later, but know that only a shiny extra-large vehicle could distract me from posting photos of the spring line. Will get that next preview up ASAP!

In the meantime, here's what I've been working on for M for Valentine's Day:

I was inspired by this tutorial for a Poor Man's Silkscreen, and wanted to see if I could make it work for the shop. I really love the way freezer paper stenciling looks, but it's just not practical for volume; at the same time, I don't have the set-up for full-scale silk screen, and don't really want to go that route, either. This seemed like a great compromise.

I gathered the materials:

And I made a screen:

And I got a little TOO enthusiastic.

I hate that it smeared, but the good news is I totally could tell I was smearing it as I was working, making me think that next time I'll be able to throttle back a bit and get better results. I know M won't get the joke, but my husband laughed out loud when he saw the shot-through-the-heart applique with the text. Who loves the 80s? I love the 80s.

What Might've Been

The fabric for the Rinse aprons finally arrived--AFTER Market was past. Ah, well. I whipped up a couple aprons anyway, since Heather says she still wants a few for upcoming street markets, etc. One is flouncy and gathered and very French Maid:

The other is flat front and has more of a retro feel, with a round pocket made from the pressed flower medallion:

I've been reading today about the "controversy" from a couple years ago surrounding using Amy Butler's fabrics in items to sell--best as I can understand, she at one point disallowed selling creations with her prints on them, as an infringement of her copyright over the print design itself--which makes sense, since she licenses her designs all over the place. There was quite the uproar, though, since so many designers get their inspiration from vintage origins, and who's protecting THOSE folks' intellectual property? More here, if you're interested.

So, I had a brief moment of concern. I know Heather prefers the flat-front apron, so I figured I'd make a child's version of the French Maid shape and put it over at Beehive as part of the Mommy-and-Me apron collection I'm installing in time for Valentine's Day baking. But what if I was infringing on Amy Butler's copyright? It seems she's since rescinded her decision, and now we can all use her prints, thank goodness. But it gave me plenty to wonder about and worry about, and made me even more aware of the burden each of us has to protect what we create. This IS a free market, and my policy generally is that if someone else is doing a style or design that is very similar to one of my original ideas, either I'll move on to something new--why go to the mat over an idea that's achieved such saturation that it's no longer distinctively mine??--or I'll rely on my fabric choices, craftsmanship, detailing, and customer service to put my product over and above the copycats. Having said that, I'm being much more careful with my intellectual property these days, and am finding that while I like the security I get from knowing I'm more protected, it's a double-edged sword: I also think more about property and ownership than I like.

So, with each of these Friday posts I'm putting up, I feel as though I'm marking my territory a little, putting my ideas out there early and making them mine. Silly, maybe. The aprons are the same way: lots of apron designers out there these days. Not as many doing Mommy-and-Me, and fewer still doing the shapes and styles I like. I hope Heather likes hers, and am looking forward to having something new over at the store.

Sweatshirt Refashion

Last trip to the thrift store, I picked up this for 60 cents:

I brought it home and told my husband I planned to refashion it.  He asked, "What's wrong with it now?"  Well, nothing, really.  But it could be so much BETTER, right?  You know I'm right.

So I set about picking out the applique, one stitch at a time.  Nice idea, except that the central stitches go through ALL the layers, and are TIGHT.  So, I gave up.

And snipped off what I had been able to free, feeling an awful lot like that awful kid in grade school who ripped the wings off bugs just to see what would happen.

I dug through the stash to discover some quilting scraps to coordinate, and cut out a delicious bird shape:

Finished product, which is WAYYYY better than before, if I do say so myself:

And finished product being enjoyed almost as much as her first taste of Chef Boyardee (don't shoot me for the canned pasta--it was Monday!)

Sweater Pants

Started as a crewneck from the local Value Village:

Cut out a pair of size 2 elastic-waist pants:

Warm and snuggly for if the weather EVER gets cold around here. Stripes only match on the back, but considering how tough it was to squeeze the pants out of this size sweater, I'm thrilled they match at all!

This is what's left:

Am pretty sure I can work out some kind of apron-crossback-tunic-top for M out of this. I'll get back to you on that.

Winners!!

Thanks to ALL of you who entered--what great wishes! I was so inspired by the number of you who are planning to scale back and bring the Refashion Love into the rest of your lives. We're working at our house to do the same thing: buy less, reuse more, and enjoy what we already have.

Like these buttons!! Congrats to the three big winners: one grab bag each from this awesome stash. They are:

frankie

Shell

Alissa

If you'll each send your snail mail address to design (at) prettyjaneclothing (dot) com I'll get those fabulous buttons off to you tomorrow!

Thanks again everyone, Happy New Year, and may all your wishes come true in 2009!

35 Before 35

A number of other bloggers have composed lists of Things to Do Before One Turns 35. As my 35th will come in September of the dawning year, now's as good a time as any to make MY list and then endeavor to complete it in the next nine months. Lofty ambitions, to be sure.

Again, these aren't resolutions--we all know how I feel about those. These are GOALS for my 35th year of life. Hold me to 'em, folks!

My list:

1.  Organize the master closet--oh, the shame!

2.  Get back into my size 4 pants I bought a month before I got pregnant this last time--the tiniest size I've ever worn, and it only lasted a few weeks!

3.  Make some clothes for MYSELF.

4.  Display Pretty Jane in a solo booth at the Inman Park Festival.

5.  Set up my bookkeeping the way it OUGHT to be lest the I R S come knocking and find shoeboxes of receipts.

6.  Publish an eBook.

7.  Complete 500 sales in my Etsy shop.

8.  Take a great vacation with my husband--again.

9.  Repair the leak under our kitchen sink that has been making me insane for five months.

10.  Send my sister the most amazing gift package she has ever received, to make up for the fact that I am a crappy, crappy gift-giver and she is the greatest.

11.  Teach my 100th student in my sewing classes at Beehive.

12.  Have my little company featured prominently on some really famous blog.

13.  Lose the extra 14 pounds I'm still carrying around since our baby was born.

14.  See our eldest perform in her first school play.

15.  Buy a minivan.  Say what you will, I've embraced the minivan.

16.  Design one really great tween dress.

17.  Cut back on sugar--I think it makes me ornery when I have too much!

18.  Get back to running--I'm so out of practice that thinking about running makes me short of breath.

19.  Give myself permission to relax each night with a novel for a few minutes.  It's my way of sharpening the saw, but it feels so indulgent that it must be wrong, right?

20.  Have a weekly date with our oldest so she won't enter her angst-ridden teen years thinking her mother has forgotten her.

21.  Print out the best of our digital photos and create an album to display in our living room.

22.  Begin some sort of really cool summer tradition for our family--everyone has holiday traditions, but we can do better.  Suggestions graciously accepted.

23.  Incorporate my business, and admit to myself that I am an Entrepeneur--well, Momtrepeneur.

24.  Get business letterhead. And matching envelopes.  Oooh, yum!

25.  Always shop Etsy first when gift-giving opportunities present themselves.

26.  Take my vitamin EVERY DAY, and not just when I remember to.

27.  Have an ENORMOUS yard sale and finally, finally win the war against the Garage That Ate Atlanta.

28.  Drink more water.

29.  Have the ring my parents bought me as a 30th birthday gift reset so that I'll actually wear it.

30.  Call my grandmothers, while I still have them.

31.  Visit my sister before she has her second baby.

32.  Keep the flowers in the terra cotta pots on our front steps alive, so that for one summer, just one, my husband won't "tsk" me all season long.

33.  Publish a series of sewing patterns, available for download.

34.  Convince my husband that another baby is a GOOD idea.  And SOON.

35.  Chill out, for heaven's sake, and realize that my life is so far beyond my expectations that even if I accomplish NONE of these things I am blessed beyond all measure.

OK, only nine months to go!  Keep me honest, everyone.

Give Me An Inch--And A GIVEAWAY!

Stupendous holiday, we had.  Hoping the same for you.  All illnesses seem to have passed, and I have learned a valuable lesson: if I take a break from blogging, it is exceptionally hard to return.  So here I am, in the nick of time, ready to saddle up this horse for another year.

Christmas saw our family of five renting an SUV and traveling to my mother, then my in-laws', then home for my father to visit at our house, all in the space of 5 days.  Hectic doesn't even begin.  But our children were showered with amazing gifts, and we two were drenched by our families' generosity, and it was wonderful as always to have those days away together.  Sleep schedules be damned, right?

Aside from all the Christmas booty that awaited us with each visit, I was crazy delighted to sit and watch my husband and his mother go through some old things she's collected over the years.  Not because I cared all that deeply whether he found the grade school photo album he's sure she's got stashed away, but because in my mother-in-law's house there are many rooms--and many closets.  And much to my father-in-law's frustration, they are all FULL TO THE RAFTERS with items his wife has been keeping for more years than anyone can count, lots of them passed down to her from her mother who has been keeping them..well, since she was alive.

Out of the chaos (which included two pillow cases full of "ironing" that my mother-in-law admitted were two years old!) were these treasures:

Handed down from her mother, to my mother-in-law who doesn't sew but couldn't bear to ditch them.  And now, with just a nod and a word, they are MINE!  Mwah-ha-ha!!

And, if you play your cards right, some of them could be YOURS!  

In celebration of the dawning New Year, I'm paying these beauties forward and giving away THREE GRAB BAGS of vintage buttons, still on the cards.  All the grab bags are assorted, my pick, but they'll all be equally awesome.  Some of the cards are torn and incomplete--I'll hang on to those and only send y'all complete cards with fantastic illustrations like this:

And this:

Leave a note in the comments with your New Year's wish, and I'll use the random number generator to pick THREE winners on Friday, January 2.  Feel free to enter as often as you like, as long as you include a new wish for the New Year each time you enter.  Winners will be posted before Alabama plays in their bowl game Friday night.

Roll Tide, people, and good luck!

Let the Holiday Craziness Commence

December? WHAT?? How did THAT happen?

Now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us, there is no denying it: the Holidays are HERE. Our tree went up yesterday. And down today, when gravity toppled our vintage spruce right to the floor. It's in recovery status at the moment; photos when we're out of the ICU**. 

I was out of the house Saturday morning and Sweet Husband, E and M did all the unpacking of decorations and arranging and general holiday-ing up. I got to come home to lights and ribbons and wreaths. It was awesome. I love that the lights are draped in coils on the front porch rather than wrapped around the handrails.
I love that the tchochkes are all mish-mashed on the bookshelves and tables, running into one another like a Christmas boxcar derby.
Mostly, I love that my family did all that for me as a surprise.  See?  I'm not the only one who gets all squishy around here--I was having a tough morning Saturday, too, so this was an awesome way to come home.

And I spent some of my day making for them, too. I had a chunk of this silly Sesame Street print in the stash, and am embarking on more Brother/Sister outfits. Clearly, I am a woman obsessed.
M's got done first, as it took the least thought:

She insisted on wearing it right away.

Next is E's, but we'll need a new tee for her--that last one was an XS, since she is in fact extra small. But their idea of XS is a little, well, trampier than E's idea of XS, so we're getting her an S as she goes into Beta on this whole matching outfits thing. O's will be last, since the Thanksgiving outfit juuuuust fit, and once we sent it through the hot dryer didn't fit at all. He'll need a whole new pattern, so I'm putting that off a bit.

Am also thinking of gifts to give, and who'd like what. My family have largely declared they'll not be exchanging gifts with the adults this year--my sister, my parents, even some of our friends have cut back and are focusing on the kids only this giving season. I, on the other hand, wisely neglected to mail gifts to my sister and mother for the past two Christmases, always thinking, "I really should send those..." And so we have plenty to share this holiday season. See how procrastination can often be in one's favor?? Clever me.

Still, all the little ones would love to have something handmade under the tree this year, so my dance card is filling up with ideas for them. Stay tuned this week as I work my way through sewing projects to give and get.

**I suppose I'll know I've become a true blogger when rather than shriek in horror when I get out of the shower and see our Christmas tree lying sprawled on the living room floor I rush not to rectify the tragedy, but to my camera to document it, instead. Sorry to cheat all of you--us, really, and posterity--out of that image. Will do better next time.

Thanksgiving Recap

Our parade

Our weather

Our kids

Our baking

Our newest tradition

Our favorite tradition: A Christmas Story begins its non-stop screenings on Thanksgiving Day.

Fabric Shop OPEN Online!

I'm delighted to announce, just in time for Black Friday, that I've gotten the beginnings of my new by-the-yard fabric shop open via Etsy. We're building an independent URL bit-by-bit, but I have all this yardage burning a hole in my pocket, so we've opted to launch through Etsy at a small scale now and then expand over the next few weeks and months to a new site. Will keep you updated, but in the meantime, please visit

Whipstitch Fabrics

over at Esty and check out the selection!!

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, but most importantly, please comment below and give suggestions for what you'd like to see as we grow.

Take care, y'all!

Stitched Scalloped Edge Tutorial

Easy scalloped edges using your special stitches and some stabilizer!

I adore a scalloped edge, especially a hem. I love the shape and the symmetry of those curves, the way they make a garment feel truly finished. Usually, I accomplish this with a lining or a facing, and create the scallops from the fabric of the garment. I noticed a photo in a library book recently, though, that demonstrated doing a picot-type edge with the specialty stitches on my machine to create a free-standing scallop at the hem, instead. I suspect this would work and look best on lingerie (maybe like the tap pants and slips Amy made recently??), but I've done them here as an embellishment to a store-bought tee.

All the images are on a thrifted tee shirt, and the finished product at the bottom is a store-bought snapsuit. Let me know if these ideas work for you, too!

I started with iron-on tear-away stabilizer and a thrifted shirt, i.e. one I could screw up as I experimented and not be too torn up over if I failed horribly.

I ironed a strip of stabilizer along the finished hem of the shirt.
I selected the scallop stitch from the specialty stitches offered on my machine.  I have a Viking, but I know that I've had plenty of students with Brother, Bernina, or Janome who have the same or similar stitches as an option on their machines, too.
Line up the needle so it just grabs the fabric at the "valley" of the scallop, but not so little that the stitches aren't well-anchored.  The idea here is that the stitches will be in fabric at the low point of the scallop and on stabilizer only at the arch of the scallop, so that when the stabilizer is removed, the scallop will have an open space between the fabric and the threads.
When I tore away the stabilizer after this first attempt, I saw that the stitches came away with it!  I figured wash-away stabilizer would work better.  I found pretty quickly that wash-away isn't substantial enough to stitch through on its own, so I used tear-away beneath the shirt and wash-away above, in the end.
Using them this way, I was able to get the stitches to hold neatly.  When finished, I tore away the stabilizer beneath the fabric, but only on the inside of the stitches.  The rest I cut away using embroidery scissors, verrry close to the stitches themselves.
The remainder of the stabilizer can be spritzed away with a spray bottle, or washed away when the garment is laundered, leaving the scallops free!
An example of using this technique on a snapsuit, at the neckline.  I like the contrast thread, here, too, to really bring focus to the embellishment.
As always, suggestions for improvement are welcome!