A Long Hiatus

It has been a long while since I have posted.  One excuse I have come up with is that my son has taken our camera.  He is taking photography in high school and has the camera most days.  Also, after the studio tour, I think I was a bit burned out from sewing so many clothes.  The holidays came up quickly and then next thing I know it was spring.

My husband and I were invited on a special trip to Southeast Asia, so I spend most of February and March renovating my wardrobe.  I spend most of my time in jeans and equestrian gear, plus since moving to the Seattle area, I have not needed hot weather clothing.  So, I remade two pairs of linen pants, sewed a pair of light denim pants, made a sleeveless shirt, and several other pieces for dinners out.  In between remaking my wardrobe, I took a class on pattern drafting.  It was really fun, and I learned a lot.  My patterns have definitely improved since taking the class.

Now that we are home, I am looking toward the August Bainbridge Island studio tour.  I sent in my application late last night, and now I have to get sewing on some new pieces for the summer tour.  I have decided to put less handwork on them, so I can have a broader range of pricing on the clothes.  However, I will still have a few pieces with lots of handwork.

Here are the photos I submitted for this year's tour.

This is the back of a jacket made from a men's cashmere jacket.  I mixed it with some Italian wool that I had stashed for a few years for a coat.  The back is appliqued with pieces from the leftover fabric that I had when I cut the coat into a more feminine form.  This coat is a L/XL in sizing.

This tunic is made from men's linen/cotton trousers.  I lined it with the purple fabric which shows on the collar.  The front and the back panels are handstitched with color circles to echo the fabric used at the waist.  This tunic is in a size XS.  It looks great over leggings.

This shirt is a new piece that I made for my trip.  It is a longer shirt/tunic with high cut slits on the side seams that can be worn over pants or leggings.  This shirt is reversible with a beautiful cotton lawn on the reverse side.  The blue raindrop side is hand-dyed with a subtle ombre, and the raindrops are machine appliqued and then handstitiched.  The raindrops go all the way around the bottom of the shirt.  This is my own personal shirt that I made just to test the pattern and see how people liked it.  I have gotten positive response from this design.  I am now pursuing some ecofriendly fiber that can be hand-dyed.  As always for all of my designs, the applique pieces will be different on every shirt.  Because of the labor involved in making the design reversible, I think most will be made as regular shirts, not reversible, but if anyone is interested of course I can always make a reversible shirt.

This is a short tulip jacket that I made last year.   It is a mix of several different fabrics and embellished with a Laura Foster Nicholson ribbon in the front.  The main jacket is made from a khaki twill, and is quite heavy, the same weight as a heavy denim.  This one-of-a-kind jacket is sized XS, but can be made larger.  Due to the labor in this jacket, unless there is interest, I will not make many more of these.

Here is the back of the jacket.  It has a faux corset look in the back.   I love this fun jacket.  I think I might try making one out of denim.  It would be a fun look.