Summer rose

One of the first of this Summers roses blooming this morning in our garden.

I'll be opening a new section in my Shopify store soon to sell cloth adornments. There will also be patterns and kits available shortly thereafter.

Get Stitched newsletter loosed to the wild...

HUZZAH! Get Stitched September (heh! a week late!) was sent out yesterday. Within minutes many were picking up the download for the instructions to make the "Pucker Up Pocket" It's in my pattern store for free for a few weeks - boho-banjo-art-to-wear.myshopify.com

I'm going off on a tangent for my next publication. As a textile artist I've always had a wide ranging interest in all the ways we wear cloth. Part of the reason the newsletter was late published was that I've been caught up my latest compelling obsession to make fabric adornments. And how very satisfying it is that I can justify my compulsion by planning to publish a book of patterns, designs and techniques for wearable adornments! The working title at present is "Boho Banjo cloth and fibre adornments" and the loose concept is to have 10-15? specific designs with step by instructions plus several chapters outlining lots of techniques for making parts as separate units that can be combined to make a finished piece of the makers own design.

Of course some samples have already been prepared but I'll hold off showing them for a while until the book is coming together in a more substantial way. Until then here are some pictures of beaded necklaces I've designed and made....but they are different from my design ideas for cloth adornments...

Beaded bracelets by Pearl Red Moon, 2013

Necklace of beaded beads by Pearl Red Moon, 2015

Necklace by Pearl Red Moon, 2012

mixed media necklace by Pearl Red Moon, 2015

The necklace above has some cloth components.....

What do you think? Do any of you make or wear cloth and fibre adornments?

next issue of Get Stitched coming soon

With the end of September less than a week away I'm working on pulling together the next issue of the bi-monthly newsletter to publish very soon.

One of the creative ideas I'll be describing is how to add these these lovely puckered texture pockets to a garment. You could add them to a jacket, tunic or a skirt....or perhaps you could suggest something I haven't thought of? 

The pictures below show the pockets as an added feature on my most recently published pdf pattern, the "Hester Skirt".

I also put the pockets on another version of the skirt made in a woven fabric, which was a natural colour seeded broadcloth, and they looked just as great. I placed them a little higher up on the second skirt version. But I like the pockets placed low on this first version shown here because I plan to wear it with a long line tunic and the lower placement allows the pockets to show below the tunic hem, though in practical terms they are below the natural reach of the hand  

Hester Skirt with pucker pockets

the two pockets, this skirt is a soft 100% cotton double knit

a close up of a single puckered  pocket.

Hester Skirt pattern release on Saturday

page 3 of the Hester Skirt instructions showing all the options for surface embellishment

The Hester Skirt is within a few days of being ready for publication. I'm biased of course(!), but this style is such a great basic staple for the wardrobe. Not only is it super comfortable to wear but the drop waist basque feature puts the fullness of the circle skirt below the natural waist and makes the design very flattering to wear if you're an "apple" or "pear" type figure, as the great fullness of the skirt is below the knee and the fabric swirls as you move.

I had a lot of fun coming up with 6 ways to embellish the skirt to give it all sorts of interesting alternatives that add texture and surface interest...I had to stop myself at 6 options!

Hester pattern to be published in a week!

Alls going well with writing up the new pattern....touching wood...

I hope it'll ready to publish in 7-10 days, then I'll get back to finishing and publishing the Scarlett tunic and jacket and that will be released to the wild hopefully by mid September. Heres some more pictures of samples

Hester Skirt with "popcorn". In my fabric print "Palimpsest in Grey"

Hester Skirt with Willara top, both in "Palimpsest in Grey" jersey knit

Scarlett tunic (over a teeshirt) and Hester skirt with dangling tape details

side view of Scarlett tunic, worn over Hester Skirt

If you love it and want it I have a special offer to make to the first 5 people who email me to pre-order the pattern. You can have the Hester pattern plus any other of my patterns that you choose, BOTH for $10.

the pattern factory

I finished the pattern making and made this sample for the Scarlett Jacket

....that was a week ago...

then I got all enthused and side tracked to work on this skirt pattern.

The "Hester" skirt is circle skirt on a basque with elastic waistband that has 5 options to decorate the surface. Heres pictures of 3 and I have some more samples to complete.

Hester skirt with tapes

Hester skirt with appliqued spots

close up of spots appliqued with hand stitching

Hester skirt with elastications

close up of elastic casings on the Hester skirt

So I have some busy weeks ahead to write up and publish 2 patterns by the end of September

Samples for the new pattern

I'm about a week into starting a new pattern design. This one is called "Scarlett" and will be a tunic and a zip fronted sleeveless jacket. Here's some pictures of the first makes....

The tunic is made in one of my fabric designs called Lime Leopard and this soft knit jersey drapes very nicely for this design.

More pictures to come soon....

Scarlett, zip fronted tunic

Scarlett has feature pockets with zips

Scarlett, tunic version

Add caption

Lets all GET STITCHED

After 3 weeks of full on work  running around like a headless chook this afternoon I pulled the big lever (with some trepidation) to deliver the inaugural issue of the "Get Stitched" newsletter.

About 10 minutes later I was delighted to get this gracious acknowledgement back from Florida..

"Thank you so much for your first newsletter. It is fabulous, well-done, and very informative."
C T
President, Tampa Bay Surface Design Guild

Heres some pictures of projects featured in Get Stitched

neckline embellishment with novelty yarn

Play with peplums

another elaborate peplum option

adding zippers as embellishment

Patchwork Polly tutorial part 2

PATCHWORK POLLY PART 2

Making the vest

The pattern for the vest can be found at this link, it is a free download

http://boho-banjo-art-to-wear.myshopify.com/

Make the Back vest from plain fabric. For this a square of fabric measuring at least 80cm x 90cm(32x36”) will be needed.

SIZES

Patchwork Polly	SMALL	MEDIUM	LARGE
USA SIZE	10 - 12	14 - 16 - 18	20 - 22
AUSTRALIA/UK	12 - 14	16 – 18 - 20	22 - 24
EUROPE	40 - 44	44 - 46	46 - 48
METRIC BUST	85 - 98	98 -108	108 - 120
IMPERIAL BUST	33 – 38”	38 – 43”	43 – 47”
FINISHED BUST MEASUREMENT	102cm 40”	112cm 44”	122cm 48”

Cut the pattern pieces

After taping the PDF pattern together cut out the size you require. If you want separate patterns for the Front and Back print the PDF twice and cut out each.

·          Back, cut I on fold

if you only want to print the pattern once, mark and cut out the Back from the fabric with the pattern  folded back along the fold line where the pattern piece for the Front extends beyond.

·          Front, cut 1 on fold

if re-using the single pattern piece cut off the Front neckline along the line indicated for your size, mark and cut out from the patchwork textile folded in half

·         Facings

cut out from the remaining scraps of the patchwork textile, 1 Front neck facing on fold, 1 Back neck facing on fold and 2 pair of armhole facings (mirror pattern by turning over)

Sewing Instructions

1.      Right sides together fold and sew the tuck at the centre front 3cm(1 ¼”). Spread and stay stitch close to the top edge into the “V” neck

2.      Wrong sides together (with the serging stitch on the outside of the garment) match Front to Back and sew the shoulder seams with 1cm(3/8”) seam, serge the seams.

3.      Wrong sides together match and sew the side seams of the Front and Back with 1cm(3/8”) seam allowance, serge the seams.

4.       Wrong sides together match and sew the Front and Back facings at the shoulder seams and the armhole facing at the shoulder seams and underarms, serge the seam joins, then the outside edge of the facings.

5.      Match the right side of the neck facing to the inside of the vest neckline, matching shoulder seams and sew with 5mm(1/4”) seam allowance. Do the same with the armhole facings.

6.      Turn the facings to the right side of the garment and iron.

7.      Sew the facings down by stitching through the middle of the serging stitch. Take care to match the tip of the neck facing to the centre join of the CF tuck when going around the neckline.

8.      Finish the hem by serging, starting and driving off at each side seam.

Patchwork Polly tutorial part one

Patchwork Polly Vest- Making a Patchwork Textile

LESSON ONE - MAKING A PATCHWORK TEXTILE FOR A WEARABLE GARMENT

Your tutor today is Pearl Red Moon who is an Australian textile artist and independent pattern

designer.

My art has always been influenced by Asian textile traditions and this fabric embellishment

tutorial comes from my admiration for the traditional Korean technique of patching clothing,

known as pojagi or bojagi.

The tutorial will be split into 2 parts. Today I’ll give the step by step instructions for making a 

piece of patched textile that will become the front of the vest. The second part of the tutorial on 

July 29th will be the instructions for making up the garment and a link will be given for the vest

pattern as shown above.

All the patchwork in these lessons will be done with a serger, though there are other alternatives. 

For example you could use a wide zigzag stitch on your sewing machine or french seams. 

Traditional pojagi was done with french seams.

The patchwork can be done with all the same the fabric or with up to 7 different ones combined.

You can use knits, mesh or woven fabrics and even combine different types together in the one 

piece. The pictures below show a vest made all in a black fine mesh and another made in olive 

stretch knit with contrasting red serged seams. The 2 pictures at the top are vests made with 7 

different fabrics mixed.

The serging stitch is going to be on the outside of the garment and become a decorative element,

 so remember to serge on the right sides of the fabric when joining the patches and strips.

Requirements

* For the front vest: knit or woven fabric, 1 colour or up to 7 different fabrics, these are cut into

 rectangles 15cm wide x 85cm(6”x34”)

* Back vest: make in a solid colour, you’ll need a piece of fabric of minimum dimensions

 80cm x 90cm(32” x36”)

* Thread for serger, in a complimentary or contrast colour for your fabrics

* use a ball point sewing machine needle if you’re using knit fabrics

The most efficient way to measure and cut the rectangles is to make a paper pattern piece 

measuring 15cm x 85cm (6” x 34”) or you could just mark these dimensions directly onto the 

fabric. Mark and cut out 7 pieces of fabric Stack each rectangle on top of each other as they’re cut,

matching the cut edges as closely as possible. If your fabric stack is too thick to cut through 

easily, just do 2 stacks with less layers

Section and cut through all the layers to make the patchwork pieces as shown in the diagram

above.

Keeping the pieces in rows mix all the pieces randomly so that different fabrics are placed next to

each other. Each row will still have the 3 sections of different size in it. Wrong sides together put

in a single pin to join the 3 sections in each strip and join by serging them together. Do all the

strips, the wide and the narrow. The serging stitch will be on the right sides of the fabric.

Now lay all the 14 strips out on your work table and arrange them so that the fabrics next to each

other are different, as much as possible. The strips can be turned around so that the sections

that were 25/10cm(10/4”) start at opposite ends. Wide strips and narrow strips can be placed 

together as you wish, the rows don’t have to be thick/thin/thick/thin.

When the arrangement is satisfactory pin with a single pin to join the sets of strips together at

one end only. Do this with wrong sides of the fabric together, so the serging will be on the outside of the finished garment. Line up the beginning of each strip along one side only.

When the strips are arranged pin wrong sides together,

matching along one side only. Serge the strips together

beginning at the same side every row.

Serge the strips together. Start each row from the side where they were lined up and pinned. 

You cannot go up and down as its possible the strips won’t all be exactly the same length, 

especially if a combination of knit and woven fabrics was used. It won’t be a problem if one side

is uneven with long and short strips.

Steam iron the piece of fabric from the back, setting the heat no higher than what is

recommended for the most delicate of the fabrics used. Its possible your piece of textile may be 

a little warped or uneven but this won’t be a problem.

The patchwork fabric is now ready to have the pattern piece cut from it.

Join me on the July 29th for the garment tutorial!