A break from sewing

I have been taking a break from sewing.  I worked really hard to finish several pieces for the studio tour on Bainbridge Island, but then the end of the summer came.  I had been ignoring my children a bit, so we did some things together and then got them ready to go back to school.

School has been in session a bit over a month now, and I still haven't cleaned out my studio, but soon...maybe.  In the meantime, I have been weaving a bit to give myself a break from sewing.  If you are interested, you can see what I have been weaving.

I finished another vest a couple of weeks ago.  The floral material for this vest came through a gift.  The fabric is a wool cotton blend, and was part of a Laura Ashley dress from the 80's.  The original color was beige, so I dyed it a cobalt blue.  I thought the color came out beautiful, and really updated the fabric.  I then selected a denim colored cotton to complement it.

You can see in the photo above, I embroidered the plain fabric on the sides with a flower to mimic the flower in the print.  

Because several people at the studio tour asked about reversibility of my vests, I decided to make this one reversible.  The fabric inside is a textured fabric.  I thought the vest came out beautifully.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Also, just wanted to say thank you to Heather for including my comments on CraftLit and putting a link on her blog to this one.  If you have not listened to Craftlit, you should head on over and check out her podcasts.  I love listening to the books she selects, always classics, many I somehow never got around to reading.  I especially enjoyed Dickens' Bleak House, not so bleak, and with wonderful characters.  I really miss listening to that one.

Busy Making

I have been really busy sewing these past few weeks.  I wanted to apply for the local studio tour here in Bainbridge Island, but I had to make a few more pieces to show.  I took my pieces to be juried and I am awaiting the results.  I am honing in on a design that I like and can modify pretty easily to make it look very different.  It is based on princess lines, which I think look good on just about everyone.

The first piece I sewed together was using a cotton/linen blend that I had that for some strange reason I bought in yellow.  I held the yellow fabric up to myself and my daughter said, "Yuk Mom!  That looks awful."  So much for that fabric.  So a couple of years later I had my friend Rachel throw it into an indigo dye pot.  I wasn't so sure about the color at first, but then it grew on me.  It is an interesting mottled green with tints of yellow and blue.

I sewed a mid-thigh length vest and then appliquéd silk circles on it and added some hand stitching.  I love the resuI lined it with some beautiful quilting cotton with dragonflies printed on it that really complemented the hand-dyed linen.  I think it would look great with leggings for a light summer coverup.  I love the result, and I hope you like it, too.  

The second piece I cut out and sewed together was a fitted vest made from old suits.  This little fitted vest has a flared out hem and is hip length.  The grey wool is very soft.  It is a very fitted and looks great with a white cotton shirt and jeans.  A feminine take on the men's vest that I call a Revest.

I sewed on some beautiful ribbon from Laura Foster Nicholson.

I also lined this vest with some great cotton fabric that complements the grey flannel.  I really love my clothes lined.  They just feel better.