Sewing at Marcia's Day Three

We made great progress today. I was able to finish all the outsides of my Koos jacket. The white circle is just for a possible addition which got vetoed. The sleeves in the pattern were supposed to be plain but I didn't like them that way and jazzed them up.

Pat Berardi came to the same conclusion and began decorating her sleeves.

Donna opted to continue work on a jacket she started last Spring.

Beth stopped by with her fantastic penguin quilt.

Pat Pauly looks it over. Beth is going to hang it in her new North Carolina home.

Jacket Class at Marcia's Studio Day Three

Today was a busy sewing day with two drop in guests. Inspector Suki began the day in Donna's chair and spent a lot of time indoors to her dismay as there was a big black dog visiting which she didn't appreciate. Marcia began work on an apron for the upcoming RAFA booth at the Clothesline Festival.
Caris brought in her beautiful "big apple" vest which she made from a packet of fabric purchased at the City Quilter in NYC. She is looking for a "big apple" button to decorate the front.
Donna made a lot of progress today. By the end of the day she had the fronts and sleeves all finished and was wrapping up the back.
Caris models her gorgeous silk jacket. She only has handwork yet to finish.

Marcia holds up her finished apron. It was made from pieces constructed at a Nancy Crow Workshop.

Varda models her jacket still in the "pinned" stage.
Nancy Hicks dropped by to model the gorgeous vest made during the last class. The photos don't do it justice.

Beth Brandkamp, showing shooting the photo, also dropped by to work on sketches for an upcoming workshop she is taking with Ruth McDowell.

Liz almost has her jacket pieces completed. There will be green bands around the neck front and back.

Jacket Class Day Two

Varda used one of her fabrics to make a "scrunched" piece (the light red) which she is using as an interesting base for the pleated pieces she is making using the book Manipulated Fabric by Collette Wolf.
The curved ruffled piece is going to present a challenge in terms of sewing it on to the base. We have tossed around several ideas without coming to a clear conclusion.
Liz also used "scrunched" fabric (the light gold strips) and has completed the back piece except for the final position of the squares. She has begun work on the fronts. One will be on the diagonal and the other straight up and down with deep green jacket sides.

New Jacket Class at Marcia's Studio Day One

Varda Main, who is new to our group, brought in the gorgeous jacket she started in my jacket class at the Bobbin Case. Since some of us have been attempting to begin an orange jacket we were a little green with envy.
After looking at other options Donna began using this fabulous hand dyed fabric for her creation. My photo doesn't do it justice.
Inspector Suki took particular interest in our group today, taking a great deal of time away from her busy schedule. Marcia is working on a top made from a rayon sarong.
Caris is also working on a hand dyed piece...this one in silk. Liz had a patchwork jacket back started in the corner and Varda's creation begins to take shape on the left.

Scrappy Jacket Class - Day Two

This was day two of a Scrappy Jacket Class at the Bobbin Case in Rochester. The task during the break was to use 4" to 5" squares and make "fabric" on a foundation cut on the jacket pattern. This is my sample jacket made from squares sent a few years ago from Hancock Fabrics in Paducah. It is embellished with a great deal of machine stitching using variegated thread, fabric sample squares from the early 80's and antique pearl buttons.
The three students created a wide range of "fabric". Some of embellished with appliques.

Sharon had her jacket "together" by the end of the day. She plans to add some beads and more embellishment.

Varda made a jacket made of many different orange fabrics and will trim down the amount of lime on the sleeve bands and add a purple band with a trace of lime to the front.

Another Completed Jacket from my Jacket Class

Claire Welch finished her great jacket which she plans to wear on a trip to Germany. She used a wonderful piece of Australian fabric (a fat quarter) as a focal piece and as I recall used every scrap. She said she is very pleased with it and thinks jacket making is addictive. No surprise to me as I probably have several dozen jackets.

The New Cow Jacket and Seminole Patchwork

After making jackets with tiger, zebra, geisha, frogs, halloween, chicken, and sewing ladies themes it was time to turn to another topic. Since I live in "farm country" the idea of a cow jacket came to mind. As it turned out cows are not very popular with fabric designers. Even dressed up with poppies and barns. They don't even seem to get more respect in groups.
Sometimes they look like they are having fun. Or do they just look worried? Its hard to tell. Cows aren't very emotional.
To "jazz up" my cow jacket I decided to add some seminole patchwork. I used to use a 1" scale patchwork but now have switched to 1 1/4" The 1 1/2 inch version seems too big for jackets to me.
I don't make my seminole in the traditional way which has "ripped" fabric instead of cut with a rotary cutter.

I sew the fabric in rows, cut the individual strips and then sew them back together. After finishing off the ends it is ready to sew into my garment.
I began making the red version for the cow jacket shown on the left. I quickly saw that it was "too red" and abandoned it for the moment. I then switched to a red/black/green version which I like much better for this project. With seminole you never know how it is going to turn out when you plan the strips. It is always a surprise.
I think I will just wait here until things calm down again.