oh fransson

Aviary Doll Quilt

Doll Quilt WIP, originally uploaded by Oh, Fransson!.

Thank you to everyone for the nice comments about this WIP. I had been making it to submit to Doll Quilt Challenge.  Before I even finished, the group admin tracked it down and asked me to submit it! Super cool!

The pattern is called Disappearing Nine-Patch and Helen has provided a really great tutorial here.

The only thing I would add to her tutorial is to be careful with directional prints. I laid out my blocks so that the bird prints would always remain upright. (So, in Block 1, they're at the 1 and the 9 spot. In Block 2, at the 3 and the 7, etc.) But, if you're going to use a directional print in all four of the "whole" squares, you'll want to make sure that two of them, on opposite corners, are upside-down in your original block.

If you have trouble visualizing what your finished product will look like, it may help to draw the nine-patch block on a piece of paper and then cut it the same way you will the real block. You can then mark "up" arrows on the paper block to see which direction they'll end up pointing in the final layout.

Hopefully this answers questions and makes some semblance of sense!

"Frenchy" Frenchy Bag to be

Please don't make fun of my truly abysmal embroidery skills.  I figure I'm only going to get better through practice, so I'm trying to practice.  I haven't embroidered anything entirely by hand in years! 

After looking through this great book/magazine that I got at Kinokuniya (the bookstore in Uwayimaya) I came up with an idea for the bag I'm making for U-Handbag's January Amy Butler Bag Contest.  As you might have guessed, the idea involves embroidery.

Here is the book.  It's called "Home Sweet Craft, Vol. 01."  (ISBN 978-4-529-04508-7, for those of you looking to order from amazon.jp or yesasia.com.)  I don't know any Japanese, so I'm not really sure what's going on with this one.  It seems more like a magazine than a book, in that there are a bunch of spreads of ready-made products with prices and web addresses.  Some of the spreads, particularly the "Bed Room" one, which features many, many Paris souvenirs and a pretty great (in my pink an red-loving opinion) color scheme, are pretty cool. 

There are also full-size patterns and typical pictorial instructions for a number of projects, including this Eiffel Tower bag.  (The pictures that have accompanying patterns/instructions are all helpfully labeled in English, "How to Make" with the page number for the directions.)

I like this bag, but it's a little too folk-y for my taste.  (Does that make any sense?  Basically, I prefer more structured looking appliques.)  I used the MANY Eiffel Tower pictures in Home Sweet Craft as inspiration and drew myself a little pattern in marker on vellum.  I taped the pattern to my light box and laid a piece of linen on top.  Then I used a dissapearing ink marker to trace the pattern onto the linen.

My big plan is to use the embroidered panel as the front of my Frenchy Bag.  (I'm making the handbag version again.)  Hopefully the Eiffel Tower will sit on the pleated part of the front.  I'm planning to make the handles out of plain linen, possibly with a woven ribbon trim on them, and the top panel from a red, white and blue calico.

We'll see how this all works out!

Quilting WIP Update

First of all, I wanted to give those of  you who have been waiting for the Minky bunny applique tutorial a sneak peak at the unfinished doll/wall quilt for which I'll be posting a tutorial sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I've also been working on finishing my HUGE backlog of baby quilts, and here are some snapshots of those WIPs:

For Emma and Macy.

For Poppy.

For Chase and Ryan.

Finally, here's a little doll/wall quilt made from Joel Dewberry's Aviary fabric (using up the little pieces I had left of the bird print) and cream and chocolate dupioni silk.  I had originally intended to applique or embroider larger branches across the top, but now I can't decide whether I want to just leave it plain. 

 

Vintage Pillowcases

I've decided to join Handmade Parade's Vintage Pillowcase Challenge.  I'm not really into thrifting and have never made anything from vintage linens, but I just can't resist a challenge.  The idea is that everyone makes something out of a single pillowcase and submits it by February 15.  Entrants are free to use notions, interfacing, etc., but no additional fabric and no more than one pillowcase.

There seem to be a lot of people online making things out of vintage pillowcases and sheets and, if any of you are reading this, I would love to ask a couple of questions:

1.  How do you clean them to get the Thrift Store smell out?  I've washed in hot water, but they still smell a little.  (They're currently in the washer again -- this time with a little bleach -- so hopefully that will help).  I normally use hypo-allergenic, fragrance-free detergent, which may not be the best option for this particular job!

2.  Where do you find them?  I had no luck at the three Goodwills I went to, but ended up finding the ones I bought at the Value Village on 82nd (except the really bright colored one with black, which I bought on e-bay).

Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks! 

3:30 pm Update:  The bleach got the musty smell out, but now they smell like a swimming pool!

Two More Doorstops

I made a couple more Nine-Patch Doorstops.  One is brown wool suiting with a back made from Alexander Henry's Mocca. 

The other is heavy linen with a back made from Alexander Henry's Tsukiyo Owl. 

It's been so much fun to see the doorstops people have been making with my tutorial.  Take a look!  Here, here, and here.

Edited 1/7/07:  And here!

Birds: Our Fine Feathered Colleagues

Here is a prime example of why I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to in December.  While cleaning the house for our holiday party, I decided I just couldn't live another day with the artwork that used to be in these frames.  So, despite being very busy and preparing to host about a hundred people in two days, I decided to try making freezer paper stencils, which I'd read about on Amy Karol's blog. 

Freezer paper might be the best thing ever.  I often make my pattern pieces out of it, because it's easy to fuse the pieces to the fabric and cut them out without using pins.  (It's especially useful if you're making a bag with a pieced panel that needs to be cut down to a particular shape.)  These stencils also rely on ironing the paper's waxy side onto fabric.  In this case, you cut a shape out of the paper, iron the paper onto fabric, and fill in the open area with paint.  I just used cheap Ceramacoat craft paint that was left over from the giant tiki heads.   

You may recognize my stencil as the bird from Kaufman's Hot Coturier fabric.  I just drew the bird larger and cut it out of the freezer paper with an x-acto knife.  I used the positive stencil on a piece of Joel Dewberry's Mazanita fabric and the negative stencil (the cutout part) on a piece of [the fabric that shall not be named]. 

This process was so incredibly easy and fun.  I'm definitely going to use this technique again soon.

Christmas Cookie Wrapup

As with everything else that happened in December, my goal of posting pictures of every kind of cookie I made completely got away from me.  I want to apologize for being so lame!  Rather than posting the recipes now, I'm going to start the year out fresh with the goal of posting a better selection of photos and recipes next Christmas.   

I want to thank everyone that joined my Holiday Cookies Flickr Pool.  I've added a few more photos today and, if anyone sees anything they want a recipe for, please e-mail me.  I will be happy to send it on.

Thank you!

More Christmas Presents

It's always a challenge to figure out what to get/make for my niece, Lily.  She's one of only two children in the family and always gets a ton of gifts.  Additionally, Chris and I will never live up to the year (two years ago, when she was five) that we gave her a big box of office supplies.  Really.  I just went to Office Depot and filled a basket with job application forms, phone message pads, those lanyard thingies to make identification badges, highlighters, a clipboard, etc.  You would have thought from her reaction that we had given her a pony. 

Anyway, this year I wanted to get her something else that was basically a big box of stuff to make stuff with and settled on a sewing box.  I got one of those wicker and wood sewing box/baskets with the padded tops and filled it with the following: a bunch of fabric scraps, cross stitch fabric, embroidery hoop, embroidery floss, miscellaneous buttons, sewing scissors, a thimble, a tailor's measure, embroidery scissors, thread, a needle book with miscellaneous needles, a pincushion with pins and safety pins, and a pencil roll with embroidery transfer pencil (for making your own embroidery transfers) tailor's markers and fabric iron-on crayons.      

Here's a picture of the pencil roll, the needle book and the pincushion.  It was the first pincushion I've ever made and I sort of used Regina's great tutorial.  I also got Tina Davis' See and Sew, which had very good basic directions on sewing and embroidery stitches.   

For Lily's little brother, Elliot (two years old), I made a quilt.  Actually, I finished a quilt.  It had been started a very long time ago.  Sadly, I've only this one photo of the applique.  The body is a basic patchwork square pattern with Michael Miller's Retro Rocket Rascals and Party Dot and a star print from Kaufman.  The other squares are turquoise chenille with a star-shaped applique in the center of each.  The quilt is bounch with a Michael Miller stripe and tied through the center of each of the star appliques.

I also made Spaceboy (of Spaceboy and Robot fame) of which there is not a photo.  I still have Robot to make though so, hopefully, I'll eventually have a picture of both of them to post.

Christmas Presents!

After our holiday party was over, I had all these grand plans to post lots of details and photos of the gifts I was making people for Christmas.  Sadly, practical concerns like, for instance, the fact that I was getting an average of four hours of sleep a night even without posting got in the way.  At any rate, here are some highlights.  Please excuse the horrible photo quality on many of these.  They were, for the most part, taken between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 am.

Here's a bag for my sister, Margaret.  The body and exterior of the straps are linen with strips of various black and white fabrics including Alexander Henry's In Crowd, Yoko, and Nekko, and Michael Miller's Dandy Damask and a chair print the name of which escapes me.  The back, as shown below is made from the Yoko.  I didn't want it to be too fussy, but I did sew a few buttons, one of them a button covered with some of the In Crowd fabric, to the outside of the bag.

Here's a bag I made for my other sister, Sarah.  The body is made from an awesome wool coating fabric I got at Josephine's.  It's a pea soup green herringbone with flecks of different bright colors.   The patchwork detail and the lining of the back pocket (not shown) is made from different Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope prints.

The bird applique is wool felt with a little button for an eye.  Because the coating was too heavy to use for straps, I made the straps out of patchwork strips of the Denyse Schmidt fabrics -- warm colors on the outside and cool colors on the inside.

Here is a bag I made for my grandmother.  I used a pattern (gasp!) for Amy Butler's Frenchy Handbag.  (Great, easy pattern -- highly recommended.)  The bird and floral print is from Kaufman's Hot Couturier series.  The top and straps are made with Michael Miller's Dumb Dot in cotton candy pink on cocoa.  The bag is linen in chocolate satin and has a little yo-yo brooch made with the same satin and a rhinestone button.

Here's the bag I made for my Mom.  (Awful photo!)

   

It's made with Moda's Blossom series and a coordinating paprika satin.  The embellishments on the front are a basic yo-yo and button and my attempt at a "rose" made from the satin with a shank button center.  The inside of the bag and the inside of the straps are lined in the paprika satin.

Here is a bag I made my Mother-in-Law.  It's the same design as my Mother's, but using Free Spirit's Empress Woo fabric and a coordinting wine dupioni silk.

Here's a detail of the emellishments.

Before I end this post, I need to give props to Lisa at Pink Lemonade Boutique for inspiring me with this bag.  I used elements of this design in both Margaret and Sarah's bags.  Thank you, Lisa!