Art at the Depot

 Art at the Depot
Saturday December 6th
931 E. Main St., Madison, WI
10 - 5 pm

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Art Fair on the Square

Working on something new for the Winter Art Fair off the Square, this coming weekend, November 15-16 at Monona Terrace in Madison, WI.

Observant eyes may recognize the scarf on the left.  Hated to waste any of this gorgeous silk print!

Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #3 Closures

For this project I used a Sandra Betzina blouse pattern, Vogue 7281, that I had made before.  The fabric came from a pair of flowing pants I bought at Maxwell Street in Madison, intending to use the fabric in them for another garment.  I was able to place the border of the print along the front edge of the blouse.

For the button loops I used some middy braid I purchased at
Gayfeather Fabrics.  I doubled the braid and tied it
in knots and used this for the button loops.

The buttons were made out of triangles of the fabric that had a layer of fleece inside and I sewed a layer of the facing fabric to the back.  I rolled then up into little croissants and then hand stitched them to the fabric.  I put a circle of heavy felt behind the button to hold it up and so that it wouldn't pull the lightweight fabric.


Close up of croissant button and loop.


 



Finished project.

 

Note:  One think I learned from sewing with metallic fabric is that it is very delicate.  I should have lined the entire blouse as it he long threads on the inside tend to catch and break.  Next time:)



Lorraine Torrence Creative Clothing Class 2014 - #4 Using 5 Fabrics in a Garment

I have a wonderful silk print that I have coveted for years - too afraid to cut it up in case I screwed up the resulting garment.  It features a grouping of Asian people and I have been pondering for years what to do with it.  The assignment for our class prompted me to think of using it as I also had a few yards of another orange silk flowered print that worked with it - now to find 3 others!  I had an orange corded silk in my stash that worked and after digging through my kimono pieces stash I found 2 more green shibori pieces that worked.

The pattern I chose had an Asian feel to it, as do so many of my garments - it was one of Lorraine Torrence's patterns, Grainline Gear Crossroads Jacket. 

I remembered reading an article in one of Sandra Betzina's books about making a silk jacket.  It involved backing each piece with a matching piece of flannelette that was fused with interfacing.  The flannelette gave body to the fabric while the interfacing gave it abit more, without being directly fused onto the silk.  I hand basted each piece (exhausting!!) with the 3 layers before sewing them together and then lined the piece in more of the orange silk.

Thee garment needed closures of some sort and I had purchased some buttons at a flea market in Madison that were just perfect - men's heads in a scale that matched the print to perfection.  I used a covered snap as a closure underneath and then sewed the buttons onto the front band as decoration.  So glad I waited for the perfect garment and the silk feels wonderful when I wear it!