Newest Fabrics to Join my Stash

Am I stuck in a black/cream, black/white mode or what???? Perhaps it is because of all the positive comments I get on the jacket you see to the left - from my Worthy pattern.

Anyway - here are the fabrics I purchased at the ASG Conference - from Barb Callahan's booth. Can't wait to design with these sophisticated pieces! I need to find a Gingko tree around here so I can play with soome discharge stenciling on the body of the sweatshirt!

Thank You Jacket for a Friend

Well - it goes in the mail today! I hope she'll absolutely LOVE it and feel it was worth the wait! Karen selected one of my kits while I lodged at her lovely home during a show, and we 'morphed' the design into one I feel will be wearable and flattering for her. I think it will be dynamite on her with her lovely salt and pepper hair! Design-wise, I elected to bring all focus up to her face. The angle of the stitched and flipped strips of hand-dyed Cherrywood Cottons was selected to echo the angle of the neckline 'v' AND to draw the eye up and outward - widening the shoulders, hence narrowing the rest...and we all need that! Karen is a quilter - so I decided to honor her craft by using a quilt-inspired embellishment. She requested a pocket - hence the one shown that I crafted out of the cut off wrist banding.

See that wonderful Fimo Clay Focal Point button? Look closely to see how instead of a buttonhole, I created a slit in the seamline of the lower band 'collar' to the jacket instead. See the 'facing' on the sweatshirt side on the inside? This worked out really, really well. This is the 2nd time I've done this- also in my Refined pattern on the Fuchsia Fun Jacket - which will also come out in a book from Clotilde in August about Sweatshirt Makeovers.

The 'trim' is a chenille yarn in lime twisted with Fun Fur from Lion Brand yarns. That collar is the Bottom Band - applied to a V neckline in a 1:1 ratio so that it will stand up and frame her face. My step-by-step directions for this collar can be found in my Refined pattern.