When I got to Toronto last year, Karyn had just finished this dress. All she had left to do were the buttons. It was just too freaking cute. And I was all, hey, I want to make one of those...
so I did
the pictures aren't spectacular, my hair is looking ultra stringy! but it was Friday night at midnight, and I had a lot of work to get done, but I realized I needed to take a pic to show my peeps or you'd never see the sleeves!!!
I used the Blue Red Letter Day stripe from Hello Pilgrim, and the meadow print from the blue colorway for the lining and the pockets. I also covered the buttons with different prints from the line. It's a fantastic pattern, and that is coming from a dyslexic right brainer who has the hardest time wrapping myself around other peeps instructions. That's why my patterns are fully illustrated, and broken down to a point that I can be all about.
So all I have to say is two can play at the cute game, Anthropologie.
I made the dress on Thursday, and I was so excited that I wore it out that night, and I hadn't even put in the hem. When my friend was dropping me off, I said something sassy, and then he said, "Oh, go hem your dress." In a really funny tone. It made me laugh, and then I didn't hem my dress yet. Because no one tells me what to do.
kidding
sort of.
Oh and Mona Lisa eyebrows here... they exist, you just can't really see them.
Deborah Moebes is amazing! She is like a sewing bff...or a sewing super hero. She owns and operates the stitching party powerhouse Whipstitch. She has also written an amazing book, Stitch by Stitch that is an essential sewing primer for learning to sew. In fact it's pretty much a gift that she has written and given to the world. It is comprehensive, supportive, helpful and it's a book that allows you to grow as your progress through it.
I've asked Deborah some questions, and you're in luck... she answered them!
We read that before you were heiress to an Atlanta Sewing Empire, you were an archeologist. Does this effect your process in any way? Meaning, I am a printmaker and it effects everything that I do. Thought process, work process, finishing process...
Totally! Archaeology is about quantifying and measuring--data, artifacts, structures--but in the end, it's really about people. What I learned as a scientist translates directly to the way I look at what I do now, especially my understanding of how sewing has changed over time and how people learn to sew. I think that the way I approach my own sewing is more methodical and planned because of my years as an archaeologist--I think through projects way more than I did before I was a scientist, and I see more organization and system in my projects, if that makes sense. I also think that the human connection of past to present is huge for me, and is a reflection of my background--there are very few things I do in sewing where I don't think about the timeline that led to me making that very project in that way; I really wanted the book to be part of that larger context, and to represent another link in that ongoing chain.
When choosing fabric for projects, what are your personal specifications besides what a pattern calls for? I refuse under any circumstances to use a polyester fabric, and that almost always includes blends, as well. I really, really feel strongly about using natural fibers and about wanting the fabric to feel good under my hands as I work. After that, I'm like most people: I want something pretty that flatters me, and that appeals to my eye and personal aesthetic. Most of us tend to develop a palette over time, and gravitate toward particular colors; I tend to use a lot of lime and chartreuse, a lot of tomatoe-y reds and clear blues for myself. And as surprising as it seems, considering how much I love so many of the prints that are on the market right now, I generally prefer to make garments from solids (and then accent with accessories made in prints).
You have included a very thorough section about types of fabric, how they are made, and design specifications. Do you have a favorite cloth to work with? If so for what reasons? I find cotton to be a really versatile and forgiving fabric--it's certainly the fiber I recommend for anyone looking to learn to sew. I use it for the majority of my projects and love the way it behaves and feels and how easy it is to work with. As a fiber, it also comes in a wide range of fabrications, which is so great--everything from broadcloth to voile and lawn to knits. I'm working with more knit cottons lately than I have at any other time, and am really excited to see so many more interlocks come on the market.
Let's expound on choosing fabrics. How and why should we choose what fabric to use, Deborah?
When choosing a fabric to suit a planned project, your goal is always to focus on three qualities of the fabric: the weight, the drape, and the print. These are the characteristics that affect the functionality, the desired shape, and the aesthetics of your finished project.
Weight is the heaviness of the fabric, which has as much to do with what season to wear it as it does with where on your body to wear it. Fabrics with more weight have a better recovery and staying power: a lightweight cotton, for example, won’t put up with being used as pants, and will leave you with a saggy bottom after a few minutes of sitting, but a heavier twill will retain its shape longer and recover better, so that when you stand back up your behind is all it was meant to be.
Drape is how the fabric hangs on the body. It is related to weight, but fabrics of the same weight can have very different drape. A cotton canvas, for example, is a heavier weight fabric, but some have a soft drape that hangs and conforms to the shape beneath it and others have a stiff drape that creates cones and hard folds. Choosing a fabric with the correct drape for your project is essential to getting the shape that you want: you don’t want a tote bag that goes limp when you set it down, or a wrap dress that looks like a snap-on outfit because it doesn’t move.
The aspect about fabric that most people really spend their time thinking about is pattern or print. It matters, don’t get me wrong, but this should be the final consideration in choosing your fabrics. The weight and drape of the fabric mustbe right before moving on to the print and pattern!
The major considerations in print selection are scale and placement. Scale is the overall size of the design, which can vary from a “ditty” print of very tiny images to a large-scale print with a 20”+ repeat. Smaller prints make the wearer of a garment look larger, and larger prints shrink the figure. Placement matters, too—few things are more frustrating than finishing a dress and finding that you’ve placed the arrow design on your fabric so that it points to….parts you might not want an arrow pointing to. You may also want to deliberately place a particular part of a print in order to best show it off, like when you center an image on the front of a handbag, for example. Watch the scale and the placement in order to achieve the overall impact you want your project to have!
This is Lizzy again. I was always told by my teachers, and I have passed it on to my own students... People often say that they can't paint. They generally have only painted once... but the first time they did paint they were using a brush that cost $1.00, a box set of paints from no one knows where, on a store bought canvas that has essentially been lacquered with starch. None of those are the right tool for the job. A brush that you have no control over? paint with no vehicle, mystery pigment, and questionable binder? A canvas that is dead? how would it ever have been successful?
You don't need to be a painter for this to apply to you. Your materials, when you sew need to be the right tools for the job, and you will have success! Deborah does an amazing job in Stitch by Stitch by giving you a wealth of information that you can store in your armory of sewing knowledge to help you progress as a sewer/sewist/seamster/seamstress.
And since our old shop just stopped working and you peeps weren't able to order anything, we are having a sale till Sunday. That's right 10% off any pattern when you enter the word BUMP in the discount code. From now until Sunday. So go get your quilt on.
I truly didn't realize how different it is from sewing! But it sure is cool to be done with a quilt so quickly. I had a thought though, what would our ancestors do if they saw a long arm quilting machine? Probably keel over. It would be inconceivable! I have another quilt to do this week. SO MUCH work to do! and all you tricked out acrobat sewers/quilters blow my mind!
I have been peeping at Lizzy Dish sales... is that weird? Anyway I noticed that peeps seem to be avoiding the Knives. And I want to say to you, Fear Not!Avoid no more! The picture that appears in most shops isn't very telling of the versatility of this neat-o fabric.
So I was with Carla after one of our Thursday Art Nights, and she had just made this brilliant pillow using the knives in all three color ways, as we had decided to only do projects using the knives as almost a challenge. Anyway, she was finishing her pillow so she pulled out some buttons, the covering kind, and we started to play around with some scraps... turned out that the small diamond fit perfectly in the center of the button. TURNED out it looked like a cat eye, or on its side, a frog eye. I designed the fabric and I didn't even see that! I said jokingly, "hey, that looks like an eye... HEY THAT LOOKS LIKE AN EYE!" We covered all the buttons she had, and I got started with my new family of cats.
So, not only does the fabric act as perfect eyes for feline or amphibian (think Kermit eyes), it acts as a good cat stripe. Like a tabby or a Mau, and for you cat lovers you can change the directions of the stripe to be more realistic to a cat, and further crack yourself up.
this is the kitchennaire* family. Well fed of course.
I will post more knife fabric projects over the next week or so!
Will you give me a shout (leave a comment) if you have had a Lizzy Dish sighting at a local shop? Just let me know your sweet name and where you are!
would you believe that I put together a quilt in 15hrs? Or less... i'm just figuring here. But probably, I know some of you are out of control fast... my Mom can get a quilt done start to finish in 4 days, which of course is mind blowing/ danerously explosive... how fast is fast Peeps?
My sweet Mom got me a sweet action sewing machine from a garage sale, and it turns out it's one of the best machines Singer ever made AND it's in tip-top shape now.... well as part of my personal mission to be better at what I believe in, I needed to make a quilt. I started this project (by purchasing the fabric) back in July. I keep trying to make a LizzyDish quilt but this quilt was plaguing me. SO, since I believe in quilting, and I have a new sweet action machine, and a plague of fabric I made a quilt almost as fast as I could. I started, and I just didn't stop. 200 degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit, i'm traveling at the speed of light...
There was even a party in my living room tonight where I was sewing, and it didn't throw me for a second. There were several guys I didn't know trying to make conversation with me, asking if I bought this in a kit, asking if I was in a sewing class or if I was a home-ec major, asking if they could sew a block...
my responses:
I'm graduated I have a BFA in Printmaking I did not buy this in a kit my Mom is professional quilter I am a fabric designer I am busy on Thursday would you excuse me, I need to iron this.
I am so excited, and finally breathing a little easier. This week was one of the craziest weeks in a long time. Business ventures, school and snow. I was talking to my friend and I said that I thought it would all be a bit easier once I graduated, because I wouldn't be so divided, and she laughed! She said that if it wasn't one thing it would be something else, we will always be divided. I guess that's true.
Also, someone opened up a quilt shop in Rexburg! SO, if you are ever in town, for some odd reason, then you should definitely stop by. The owner has a nice selection for such a small store. I was mostly excited to see a good portion of Holly Holderman's most current line, and both of the new Anna Griffin lines, here and here. The really cool thing though, because it was her grand opening she had free give aways! I guess that E. E. Schenk sent her some fabric bundles. It is really nice fabric! It's actually flannel so it's really soft too. I think that it is Ramblin Rose by Maywood Studio, there are six different prints. But to be completely honest, I don't know what to do with it. So, I am giving it away, because who doesn't love free fabric, and I also know that you will know what to do with it, or you lucky devils who have room for a stash can just add it to your collection. Plus I am going to sweeten the deal. Who ever wins, also gets one of my hand made books!
so all you have to do is leave a list of your three top favorite likes and dislikes.
here is an example:
i love 1. Glitter 2. Vince Guaraldi 3. Hair Bows
i do not love: 1. Car rides that are too long 2. mauve 3. Comic Sans.
I will have my P.A. (haha, best friend Mallori) pick the winner, so make them good. You have until Wednesday the 13th to enter. OK?
So, I have already begun to stress myself out. I have quite a bit of work to get done in the next three weeks, let alone the next three days, and I have been feeling bad, as I felt like I wouldn't be able to feel very much of the Christmas spirit. So, I took a break from my work today to make a little Christmas.
I decided to go ahead and make another Christmas tree. Well, I was going to make one the same as last year, but I didn't feel like using paper.... so fabric was and is the answer. More specifically, felt! I was with some friends last night, and we were making cat toys out of felt, and I was like, "what have I been doing with my life?!" Why haven't I been using felt everyday of my existence? Little late on that bandwagon, whatever... I am now. So I combined my papery skills with my sewing skills to build a beautiful tree.
I built that actual tree out of large sheets of found cardboard, and packing tape (i could never forget my roots). The Green is wool felt bought from the local craft store with 30% off!!! I had a string of lights from last years tree. The ribbon garland is from my stash of cotton ribbon, and the ornaments are just cut from the beautiful wool my Mom bought me from a quilt show earlier in the year. The snowflakes are also cut from felt, and covered in glitter. I built a cardboard tree stump, and taped it to just a plane piece of cardboard, put a' top my new computer box, covered in the lovely Lonni Rossi Typographic Textures, from a couple years back (we were obsessed)
a side note... She was the first fabric designer I ever met, and she truly did inspire me. One day, she and I might have a number of things in common....
The tree topper, last year was a gnome, as my life and apartment were gnome themed last year... this year my life and ... well everything is accompanied by my little Lizzy-Bird! So, my tree adorns the same bird with a snowflake mandala.
I sure hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be Thankful for. Well it's back to work now, and by that I mean I will go to sleep now, go to church tomorrow, and then it's back to work.
More Projects and fun to come Merry Christmas Lizzy
This going to be quite the post as I have encountered so much, and so many people in the past 3 days, so bear with me...
OK, Saturday at market. Not so great, sort of wanted to fall off the face of the earth, felt like I was being sucker punched all day long. I didn't even want to go back
Sunday, we (my mum and me) went in the late afternoon, and we decided to look at the actual quilt show first, and it was so nice! First of all the quilts are always incredible, but there wasn't anyone there. I didn't have to fight any one to get a good picture, and I didn't have to wait for a crowd to leave so I could see something... this was not typical international quilt festival traffic. It was just me and the quilts. DREAM! It was almost like being in a museum on a Tuesday around lunch. It was perfect. So here are some of my favs
This was called "Stripes--Roses--", by Hisae Yoshida of Japan. I am not a huge rose person but I thought this was great, because they almost look nautical, and I am a big nautical person, that and almost everything I wear and or own is striped. I am just all about it, and I am all about this adapted log cabin
This was a really cool piece called "Dare to Know," by Claudia Helmer of Germany
this beautiful piece was by Kathy York of Austin, Texas. It's called "Vertigo". Someone from her quilt group was telling us that she used all hand dyed fabrics to achieve the really brilliant colors. That and the little yellow bird at the bottom is afraid of heights.. hence the name Vertigo. Obviously.
"Orange you glad you didn't say Banana" by Mardi Huebner of Le Claire, Iowa
there were sooo many amazing ones, there isn't GB in the world to show them all
Along with my Mom, we met so many great people. It was really nice to finally meet Holly, and her crew. We discovered that at Lake House Dry Goods, it is in fact, "all about the food."
I also met the lovely Gina of Quilters Buzz, and Threaded Pear. I have to say she could easily be one of my new favorite people. Before market closed on Monday she took me around to all the art directors I wanted to meet, all the peeps I need to know and she introduced me. The low down is, when I get a fabric deal, I fill the debt with fat quarters.
Gina also introduced me to Heather Bailey and Laura Gunn who were totally cool. We were all gawking over the Alexander Henry Wonder Shop! Their new stuff is completely outrageous. In a really good way
And we met the Smith's! Annie of Simple Arts, and her daughter Kirsten. They were both so great. What fun! It was just really nice to connect with people, and get a real education about the goings on of this industry.
also, I might do an internship with Holly, and I am designing Penny Sturges logo for Quilts Illustrated. How cool is that? I am so completely excited for everything that happened this past weekend. There is so much to say, but quite a bit will have to wait... but just know, some really good things are happening, and I hope you like flying objects made of paper, printed elsewhere. It all involved a circle and a chance meeting with Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, and Dale Flemming.
make of that what you will.
OK and just as a travel update: for those of you who think I am still going to Paris, I am not going to Paris anymore.
for those of you who know that I am not going to Paris and think that I am going to Spain instead, this information is no longer valid
for those of you who are thoroughly confused, I am going to Brussels Belgium. We just kind of picked it today, and I went and bought a book and it turns out it's the Art Nouveau capital of the world. Things could hardly be better right now. Oh, I know how they could be better. The Airline could find my phone.
No portion of this website may be copied, or used without the written permission of me, the author, Lizzy. So, please contact me for use and licensing. 2007-2010
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