Great NEW stuff, ramblings, travels

April will be a CRAZY month - fun, but crazy!

NEW great stock has arrived - including Tagua Nut Buttons and Pendants, and the long-awaited Clover Pen Style Needle Felting Tool (new colors of wool and silk Roving, and Incomparable Buttons. My Creative Sweatshirt Jacket Kits are being well received too...what fun it is to just design (and not sew too) all the jackets in my head. After the Paducah Show - I'll get all this good stuff online for you to purchase, but right now you can click at the links below for those products. If you comment on my Blog - I will send you a coupon code for 10% off a Tagua Nut Button Order! However, You MUST send me an email that you have commented - as when you comment, that doesn't give me a way of contacting you to give you your coupon code. Email me at: londa@londas-sewing.com

Tagua Nut Buttons and Pendants

Clover Pen Style Needle Felting Tool

Clover Needle Felting Molds

• Shows yet on my agenda include April 9 - 13 - International Quilt Festival in Chicago, and April 20 - 27 - Paducah Quilt Show...so shipping will be intermittent, and stock management a challenge, but I'll do my best to get stock to you just as quickly as possible.
  


• We have a NEW (though lovingly used) van for our travels... It's purple, so we're keeping the name his last owner gave him: Barney. Sew far - so good. It's nice to have cruise control and arm rests! The Enterprise vans I've rented previously didn't offer those creature comforts.

• I'm meeting some other "Londa's"! I could kick myself for not getting a picture of the 'Londa' I met at Puyallup, but here is my new friend 'Londa' I just met in Cleveland. I told her we all need to go to the "Londa First Couture Hotel" in Cyprus together ... We all seem to be about the same age (50's), and on the creative side. How cool is that?!?

• Transformed - my newest pattern featuring great techniques for 'transforming' the bottom bands of sweatshirts into great collars and neckline finishes is available. Since I'll be gone, I can 'ship' the PDF format, but not the printed unless I'm home.

Here is a larger picture of the Green Batik jacket from this new pattern. It features my "Baseball Collar", but also a new product I'm carrying and excited about - bias cut strips of irridescent silk doupionni. I don't have these on my site YET - but after these shows, I'll get that done...

During January we were all torn up - and living in the basement while we had walls knocked out, painting, done, new carpet, flooring, kitchen counter and SINK! I think, actually, the sink is the most exciting! It's mounted from below and one of these 'soap stone' or something like that - anything and everything just washes off of it. No dishes or food are staying in MY new sink!!!!! Yea!!!

Next in line of excitement is my new kitchen floor! I asked around for years, and finally decided I did NOT want ceramic. This is a viny product - in large squares with grout on 2 sides - called Nafco. I LOVE it! A nice, medium, textured color - that shows next to nothing.

I wonder...........do the rest of you have it somewhere in your DNA that whenever you leave the house, that you have to leave a CLEAN, picked up house? As I scurry to do that each time - I wonder how my Mother managed to get that through my thick scull... Kinda nice though, to come home to a clean house. These next trips - my hubby gets left behind, so I an ease up on myself - I guess.

Grandson Cole is now 3 - and 'wants his birthday back' - he had so much fun. He's jabbering up a storm and just the cutest thing in the whole wide world... Lest you think your orders don't get some tender lovin' care - here he is under my order-filling station, 'helping Nana'. That bubble wrap is just SEW much fun!

Oh - and my email has changed: now it is: londa@londas-sewing.com. No one will buy me out - so that will be my email address forever - I hope! Insight got bought by Comcast - so the londasews one is now londasews@comcast.net Arghhh - what a pain!

Sew... I've got computer work galore and more fabric than I want to admit sitting here waiting to be transformed into great new sweatshirt jackets. BUT, I just figured out last night that I can access the Beth Moore Bible Study 'programs' of Beth's lectures online at www.lifeway.com/women! Being gone so much, I can't participate in the newest study at church on the Psalms - Stepping Up - but I purchased my book, and now I have all the audios downloaded onto my computer for just $3.99 each - so I'm on a spiritual journey as I work. Another great site for 'woman stuff' from a Christian perspective is: http://www.middayconnection.org/- click on Past Programs, and you can listen to any of the past great hour long radio interview type programs. Really, there's so much great stuff you can access with the computer - it is silly to be giving your attention to anything but that which is most worthy - imho.

Easter Message

A TEENAGER'S VIEW OF HEAVEN


A 17 year-old Brian Moore had only a short time to write something for a class. The subject was what Heaven was like. "I wowed'em," he later told his father, Bruce. "It's a killer. It's the bomb. It's the best thing I ever wrote.." It also was the last.


Brian Moore died May 27, 1997, the day after Memorial Day. He was driving home from a friend's house when his car went off Bulen-Pierce Road in Pickaway County and struck a utility pole. He emerged from the wreck unharmed but stepped on a downed power line and was electrocuted.

The Moores framed a copy of Brian's essay and hung it among the family portraits in the living room. "I think God used him to make a point. I think we were meant to find it and make something out of it," Mrs. Moore said of the essay. She and her husband want to share their son's vision of life after death. "I'm happy for Brian. I know he' S in heaven. I know I'll see him."


Brian's Essay: The Room...


In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings.

As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I have liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was.

This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching.


A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I have betrayed." The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird "Books I Have Read," "Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed at." Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I've yelled at my brothers." Others I couldn't laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger," "Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be surprised by the contents.

Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived. Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to fill each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.


When I pulled out the file marked "TV Shows I have watched," I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn't found the end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time I new that file represented.


When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind: "No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it.

Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it.. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The handle was brighter than those around it seemed newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.


And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key.

But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him.
No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn't bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own.


He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn't anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn't say a word. He just cried with me. Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card.

"No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn't be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards.

I don't think I'll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side.

He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished." I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.


"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."-Phil. 4:13

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

If you feel the same way forward it so the love of Jesus will touch their lives also. My "People I shared the gospel with" file just got bigger, how about yours?


IF THERE IS ONE EMAIL THAT I HAVE READ THAT NEEDS TO GO AROUND THE WORLD, IT IS THIS ONE, FOR THE CHRISTIAN OR NOT! MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

You don't have to share this with anybody, no one will know.

Puyallup Report

I SEW enjoyed the weather reprieve with my travel to the Puyallup Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA! My gracious hostess, Karen, even had iris shooting above ground 6" or so. I'd never been to the Northwest before - and it was a true delight. The BIG evergreens, HILLS, and Mount Rainier - WOW!!!!


It was even fun to fly again. Sitting next to me on the plane was a wonderful man currently serving our country - and what would you guess - in your wildest imagination - that he did in Iraq? Mended uniforms!!!!!!!!! Yep - and without even zig zag on the sewing machines (?) provided. It was amazing to hear his stories of the challenges in even just keeping our soldiers attired. That task of mending uniforms has been arranged now for in other ways, or I'd be calling on you to help me provide them with suitable notions, etc! That encounter was truly a 'God-arranged' one for me - what a fun and eye-opening flight it was...

Puyallup (I know how to both spell AND say it now) - it is Pew-ah-lup - is different from the other shows I've attended as a vendor/teacher in that it is conceived and managed by Washington State University rather than an individual or company.

The entire show was wonderful... starting with my wonderful hostess. Karen so graciously provided not only a bed, but wonderful food (with help from hubby Michael), a place to which to ship my stock ahead of time, and a guide for shopping for booth needs beforehand - etc.

In her great sewing area, I spied her Bernina machine case - painted on beautifully by a friend. With painting like this in my background - I was especially attracted to it and thought it was a neat idea to share...
























Karen even found me 2 helpers in her friends, Diane and Kathy. Yet another customer, (another) Kathy - volunteered to work in my booth, so we had a real blast working all together. I'm sorry I don't have one picture of all four of them together - so here are 2 pictures with my immense gratitude for all their VERY capable and wonderful assistance! I could NOT have done it without them - and it was all so much fun too.











At these shows - you get inspiration everywhere! This jacket was worn by a customer to my booth - and my mind immediately transformed this embellishment into the use of the new bias cut silk doupionni strips that I am offering. I'll be using this idea TODAY on my last jacket for my newest pattern: Transformed.



Now that my stock and samples have safely arrived back home - my heart is at rest! In my concern for getting the stock OUT there, I neglected to consider carefully how I would get it to UPS to ship BACK. So - Karen and Michael came to the rescue! I can't thank them enough.....


This was the first show I flew to rather than driving - so it was all a learning curve for me. The Puyallup show is a very, very nice blend of garment sewing, quilting, home dec, and other fiber-related booths. The show is big - but not overly so. Unlike, say the Houston or Chicago Quilt Festivals, it is not so big that you can't thoroughly see and 'dig' into each booth. The facility is another big PLUS. Such a fairgrounds and great buildings and food choices, I've never, ever seen! Combine all that with wonderful people, enthused about the same things you are - and you have a recipe for success. If you can make it - GO! I certainly hope to return...

Puyallup Sewing Expo - One VERY tired vendor/teacher report

I've just completed my 3rd day of vending and teaching each day for the first time here at the Puyallup Sewing and Stitchery Expo. I'm pretty much 'too pooped to peep'!
It has been an exciting, fun, and rewarding show for me in many ways. I've been hosted by a wonderful woman and her husband - a most kind and generous invitation from when I met her in Houston at the Quilt Festival as a student in my class. How amazing is that!?!
She has had 2 wondeful friends who are helping me in the booth in the mornings, and then I ALSO had a website customer who lives here volunteer to help me in the afternoons. Blessed - I surely am!!!!

I've heard many times the comment that 'I'd never know that was a sweatshirt' as reactions to my sample jackets displayed in my booth - and that is the ultimate compliment, for which I am most grateful.

My friend/helper fromt he Houston Show convinced me to try 'Kits' for jackets, and with the affirmation of these helpers as well before this show, I did put together 36 different kits as a 'trial'. Well... I've had fun shopping for lots more fabric for future 'kits'. What fun!
When I get home (if there are any kits left), I will photo one and get a pic up here so you can 'see' that what I've done is

• guided by an appropriate pattern of mine
• assemble EVERYTHING (almost everything) needed to complete the kit - from fabric, to trim, to snaps, to interfacing... but NOT the sweatshirt (as size needs to be selected appropriate for the owner/wearer)
• photo'd the collection for my records
• designed a jacket - deciding on suggested use of the fabrics and trims - sketching this plan as part of the 'kit'
• copying that design for my records, in order that I can fully support the kit owner if she should have any questions...need help, etc., because i will be able to completely 'see' the project with my picture and copy of the design...

Tomorrow is the last day - meaning long hard hours, slower traffic, and then the 'fun' of packign it all up, into the car, unpacking it, and readying it for UPS pickup to be shipped back to my house! I've tried to keep track of website orders as they're coming in, and to take home in my suitcases the needed inventory to fill those orders as quickly as possible.

I'm really 'too pooped to peep' - so come back in a day or so for a fuller Puyallup Report! Pics are in my camera, but there is no way my brain is functioning enough to accomplish the feat of getting them from there to here.

4 NEW Patterns just released!

They're HERE! My 4 newest patterns!!!!! I feel like I've given birth to quadruplets - really I do!

REFINED offers my solution for all that yuck under the armscyes - even MORESO than my quick technique! AND, All 3 jackets you see photo'd are included in this pattern - Step-by-Step. This pattern is only available printed - not PDF delivery, as I can't figure out (yet) how to include the pattern pieces. Yep - pattern pieces - that you trace and lay onto your cut apart sweatshirt. I've developed 2 styles. A flatter cap and armscye that works with the USA Comfort Color Sweatshirts and a more shaped cap and armscye for the Authentic Pigment Sweatshirts. Sizes Small, Medium, and Large are included, and easily adapted for larger sizes if the sweatshirt 'fabric' permits. This isn't an "Exact Science" because it can't be with the wide variation of the sweatshirts - but I've done my best! I'm quite pleased with the designs offered, as well - I think they're some of my very best, most 'sophisticated' styles. The Moss Green Jacket sports 3 GREAT BIG Crone Art 'buttons' in solid black. I encouraged them to do these - and I got in a bunch for the Puyallup Show the end of this month - awesome, awesome, awesome! My tasks before this show don't allow my scanning and getting them up on my sites available to all YET - but I will as soon as I return in early March. You won't believe how GREAT these are! The 'Denim Dash' jacket shows off the 'Incomparable Buttons' from Africa that look like ceramic, but are machine washable. That is another new line - to debut when I return from Puyallup.

PATHWAYS offers a distinctively different design - angling strongly. Wait til you read my lengthy, well-reasoned case for placing the emphasis on the LEFT shoulder as you look at the jacket! This jacket is best considered a 'top' - as it only looks good buttoned up. The strong diagonal line is flattering, flattering, flattering!

The lower left jacket - Blue Heather - sports use of yet another new product: Mary Flannagan hand-dyed Wools. I'm even carrying the selvaes and used them extensively in the trim on this jacket. Here you you see the flowers I created from the selvage to serve as the shoulder focal point and finish.

I created it on black silk organza, and then filled in the center with needle felting some of the great yarn I couched on the jacket.

The jacket on the lower right has a jeans bottom - just too cute!

UNITY gives the step-by-step directions for 'unifying' an old sweater or jeans, or cutting a sweatshirt horizontally and making it much more fitted. I love the concept. The bottom of the brown and black one is an old sweater - courtesy of Good Will shopping.

I hope you 'realize' the Christian philosophy and message behind the titles of these patterns. They are carefully and prayerfully chosen to signify Christian attributes, and to describe the design concept.

That is the entire idea behind my Creative Sweatshirt Jacket patterns. I'm so thrilled to be sending a tithe on them to the Israeli Sewing Project.

At first glance, my 4th pattern, entitled French Lick Skirt seems to divert from that genre of pattern names, but, alas, it is named after the great little resort town of French Lick, Indiana where I saw (and took many notes on) a great, full, 2 layer sheer skirt. It was such fun that year when I closed my retail shop for a week and took all my employees/friends to this resort for some 'girl time'. We cooked, ate, watched chick flicks, sewed. What a memory! Anyway - in the hotel gift shop, we spyed this skirt. I came home, developed it into a class that I offered, and it has started to sell again recently as a very, very rough 'pattern', so I decided to spruce it up and offer it 'for real' as part of my Londa's Creative Threads line. It is a 'you draft it' pattern - as I instruct you how to draft the gores according to your measurements. As spring fabrics come into the stores - play with 2 completely different sheets - see how one shadows through the other and the great effects you get. Pick up this skirt pattern for just $10 and have some fun!

I've got oodles more to do before this Puyallup Show before I fly off to it Feb. 25, AND the house is a wonderful mess as we're now entering our 4th week of some renovations - like new flooring, countertop, etc. BUT, I welcome your comments on my 4 newest patterns!

Dyeing Ribbon & Jacket Kits

Been hard at work! Some of the most fun I've ever had - next to motherin' that is...
See my lovely manicure??? That is dye around those lovely nails.
We're also deep into some remodeling here in the house (HAVING it done, by the way - my hubby is NOT handy!). It means new kitchen sink and countertops - on top of which I vow NEVER to do this dyeing thing - so I really got busy last Friday morning and dyed up all the ribbon on hand...
I use the ColorHue Dyes I sell in mayo jars of water. I scrunch up, dip, pull out - dip into another color, etc. etc. til I have what I like. Then put into a lingerie bag and into the drier. My hubby then did most of the ironing of them - as the flu bug had me all weekend. These hunks are what you see as they just came out their 'jars' - on the island of my kitchen.

I ALSO yielded, and labored immensely to put together most EVERYTHING needed for a great ONE-OF-A-KIND jacket into KITS! Everything needed (except sweatshirt and monofilament thread and other 'tools'), but the consumable items for a jacket - snaps, Velcro, interfacing, trims, yarn, buttons, etc. are all assembled FOR you. I even designed the jacket. A pattern I based the jacket on is included with the kit! Then, I designed that specific jacket - pretty much how it will look like - or at least my idea. You can use it as a 'jumping off' point. I drew a sketch, labelled it, etc. I took pictures of each kit, and have copies of each of my sketches so that I will be 'in the know' if the owner of the kit needs more opinions, has a question, etc. The thing I'm really happy with is that I've met a need that was voiced over and over, yet stayed true to my creative mission - and that is ONE - OF - a - KIND! I can hardly describe what FUN IT WAS to dig into my stash and my stock of wonderful NEW stuff (especially the Crone Art Embellishments - Buttons!) to put these together!! AND, I now have some 'Incomparable Buttons" - ones made by African women that look like ceramic, but are machine washable! See the ones in the African Jacket above.

I did the 'rough' part - over a weekend, and you wouldn't have believed the mess! Nearly drove my hubby crazy - as this all occurs in the basement, and that is where we are living while this remodeling is going on! THEN.... I came back, and one - by - one, did the design work. I now have 36 of these assembled - to go with me to the Puyallup Sewing & Stitchery Expo. If a success - I'll constantly do more - and offer them with photos as you see, plus a photo of the design. Only task left is to 'bag' them nicely - and those bags better come today or tomorrow so I can get this done and have them on a trusty FED EX truck to WA state!

Politics: Family is the MOST important issue to me

Family Values is the MOST important thing to me in the election hub-bub. As a professed Christian, I truly believe God has His hand on our country. But, I also believe He has given us this form of government, and our brains, and our free will to handle it responsibly.

As the family goes - so goes the country. And, that, currently - is one scarey statment.

The most balanced source I know of is http://www.citizenlink.com/

Click on this link for some reasonable, unbiased coverage.
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000006338.cfm

Check it out. Form your OWN opinions - not those constantly fed to you by the media.

Jacket/ How-to's in Sew Savvy Magazine

Yea - it's out! My first magazine article since Creative Needle back in the early 90's.

Sew Savvy - March issue that just hit the stands.

It was fun to see my Mom's face when she turned to it. :)

Though I sent as complete directions as I am putting in my pattern 'Design Booklets', it was not surprising to see how much the edited the directions down. I expected that. It's too bad they didn't put in the flower from my garden that inspired it all - which looks like a Morning Glory - but is MUCH MUCH larger. I think someone in a seminar I gave called it a Kataba or something like that - Comment here if you know the name.

Anyway - after reading carefully through the minimal directions, it certainly confirmed in my brain that I want to keep on the path I'm on with my directions - writing EVERYTHING out as completely as I possibly can - Including my design thinking in the creative process.

The collar on this jacket is what I call my "Queen Anne" collar - made from the lower band. That style, along with my "Baseball" collar and "Cardigan" neckline - and Stand-up Lettuce-Edged and Mandarin will be in a new pattern called "Transformed". That one will come out in March - after the Puyallup Show. I've had to get real with myself as to what I can accomplish right now.

We are even well into some remodeling at home...Yea!!! Knocked out a silly wall between my family room and living room - LOVE it! Found a heat vent in part of it so not totally what I wanted, but that's the way life goes. I'm sure I can design around it in some neat way. Also on tap: new carpet, kitchen flooring, countertops, sink, and faucet! Just too exciting - and I'm so grateful we can do this. AND - on top of that, an excuse for not cooking for awhile. hehehehe.

Here's a photo of the back of that jacket:

I hope you can 'see' the divisions of that huge flower in the applique sections on the shoulder, and pocket. ANYTHING can be your inspiration for a garment.

Also note that the emphasis on the collar is on the garments' right shoulder - the LEFT shoulder as one is looking at it - where one's eye goes - to the left side as one 'reads' the garment. I really go into this in my new Pathways pattern.

Sprinkled on this jacket in the center of the back, and front is Bonash Mending Powder (granules of glue) that I then laid Gold Hologram Artisst Foil on and pressed - for little specks of gold 'pixie dust'. Quite a nice, subtle touch I think.

Anyway - enjoy. Would apprecite any comments.

Off to finalize "Refined".

Refined & Pathways pattern development

I'm hard at work on "Refined" - the pattern that will give some template patterns for armscye and sleeve cap for both the USA Comfort Color sweatshirts and the Authentic Pigment Sweatshirts. Though obviously more work - it really does make for a nicer fitting jacket. See here how MUCH excess is taken out of the armhole???
End result of what you saw above. That's the bottom band for the collar. Look closely and you'll see the circle motif of the batik worked freemotion on the silk doupionni.

I saw a jacket with eensy strips of bias irridescent silk doupioni and so I'm playing with that - which you can't see very well on this jacket - but it's there on the princess seams, and other places. That is sna tape on the collar and cuffs too. The button is one of the great Crone Art embellishments that I carry.


My resident 'help'er - Sasha. She said to tell you she looks good in pink. She's guarding my favorite tools: Dritz Rotary Cutter - which IS a Kai! , my Kai 5220 shears, and my Chakoner.
Pathways - pastel version. The collar is the bottom band, lettuce edged on the serger. This bright colored one was a joy to work on after all the more subtle colors I've been involved with.

I've got lots more figuring out to do on the Refined Pattern yet - but it's fun.

2 weeks til deadline - and I've at least 4 more jackets, plus editing all my directions, etc......

Stay tuned :)

Brass Striped Unity Jacket

Here's what I started with - at least all the 'possibilities'. They NEVER all get to 'play together' in the end on a jacket!
The back needed to be at least one of my hand lengths longer...so the top of some jeans came to the rescue.
It turned out SO neat! Here you can see the entire lower edge - note how I 'blended' the longer back into the fronts with angled pieces of the legs. See too that pocket I put on the left sleeve. I'm lovin' this one! Too bad it is 2 sizes too large for me. I ultimately sell these jackets - so I keep trying to make a variety of sizes.
Auditioning some of the great new JUMBO snaps I have in - in antique gold (here), silver, and black nickel - both square and round. The only challenge is, I want to SEE the snap - and when fastened up - you don't see any part of it - so I guess the solution might be to use 1.5 snaps per spot - and sew another half to the outer side... I'm still thinking bout that. These are a full 1" wide... $4.00 each.

A 'stuffed sausage' collar covered with the bias cut striped fabric completed this jacket. I'm still 'noodling' the closures - and onto a petal pink and pastel jacket today...

I also get to watch my almost 3 year old grandson today - and construction sites are beckoning us - so I'm not sure how much progress I'll make on the jacket. There's nothing more fun than watching cranes at work on a construction site - WITH my boy!

Inspiration shared from daily Quiet Time

I love, love, love Taste & See devotional by John Piper. His thoughts are so full of 'food' and challenge my mind and soul. From today I just had to share...
"The toothache expected and the toothach experienced are not the same. I have come through enough to believe God's future grace will be sufficient."

Ponder that as you stitch....along with me.

Progress report on new patterns

Well - I'm hard at work designing - stitching - and then typing. My hubby snapped a pic of me at my old ironing board where I have my laptop set up. I have this down to a system: create - stitch - type the step I just did. I'm thrilled with it - as it will take less time in the long run, and surely be more accurate than ever.

Take a peek at these wondeful hand-dyed wool groups! Thse are new products that I will be able to offer on a continual basis - therefore GREAT 'paint' to use in my new designing! I also have selvage groups from the same place - and am having GREAT fun with them! See in the next picture how I pieced them together to create the front embellishment of this blue jacket.
Clipping into the selveage edge - see what can be done to create a flower! Perhaps needle felting on the inside? I stitched it onto a piece of black silk organza.













"Refined" will be a quick add-on pattern that gives 2 sleeve and 2 armhole silhouettes for really 'refining' that area of a sweatshirt for a better fit. Here are the sleeves as they come cut out of: left - the Authentic Pigment Sweatshirt brand and right - the USA Comfort Color Sweatshirt brand.
This is a jacket from "Refined" testing. It went together quite quickly. How different blacks can be! I tried to use this cut off collar from a sweater - but it was just TOO different. See in the last photo a glimpse of how it finally turned out.

The right side (as you look at it) stayed the same. I scrimped some strips of the same fabric to space out on the left side. I dyed some silk ribbon black - 3 days later, my fingers are finally back to their normal color! The bottom band became a mandaring collar. It features 3 GREAT solid black Crone Art fimo clay buttons. I realized when setting in the sleeves - that it was sew much easier to embellish the cuffs before the seam is sewn - but then the end look of that seam isn't as nice... a trade-off I suppose. Anyway - all these things 'blended' the different blacks that were still 'going on' in this jacket. My dear daughter (25) said it was "nice looking - not that she'd wear it" , but still 'nice'. O well...I wasn't making it for her anyway!

So here's the results of this first intensive week of work. From the left: Refined, then Unity - then Pathways - then Unity. Today I'm finishing that blue one, and then onto the final jacket for Pathways - the angled front one.

Oh - a trip to the yarn shop was great fun - Needleworks, and they have a store on eBay as well - you should check that out. The perfect yarn makes creating SO much more fun!

On a personal level, I don't know why I am so lucky as to be doing this. I have friends who have lost a baby to cancer, just had serious surgery, and another dealing with being the caretaker for her hubby with Parkinson's. I pray for them all - for the peace only God can give - as I work.

In Christ,

Londa

The Second jacket for my Unity pattern - this one to replace a favorite of mine (and apparently someone else's - as it was swiped right off a HIGH rod in my booth at the Houston Quilt Festival! Grrrrrr.). Sure hope they are enjoying it as much as I did! :)

See here the stack of goodies I pulled together. See those HUGE new snaps right in the center? About an inch in diameter - oooo, I love them! The only thing that has me disappointed as I try to design with them though is that undone - you only get to see the spectacular-ness of the 'under' snap - not the guts of it on the 'upper' layer - shucky durn. My stolen jacket featured the butterfly appliques. I have those to sell, and want to use them again - but they seem to compete with the tie - so not sure if they'll end up in this or not. The yarn is wool, and it shrank on that first jacket - so I know to couch it down REAL well.
Here, you see the bottom portion of this jacket all prepared...and it took quite a few steps to get to this point! That's the waistband of the jeans to the left. I took the pockets off - as they were upside down when you use the jeans upside down... and shrunk the pockets as well.


I'm also hard at work figuring out how to easily do - and share/teach - how to cut the sleeves out, recut the cap, and an armscye - so you can have a less bulky look and feel under the arms on these jackets - yet still maintain the comfy factor of the sweatshirt to begin with.

That's the task for me today - after I finish this one up.

Here's where I stopped last night - and yea, I know that the 'tie' isn't 'even' at the top - so what???
It's gonna be covered with the collar anyway. Wait til you see it - I cut it on the bias from the legs. It will be GREAT!

What you see here is the bottom, outer main portion of that tie, all opened up and split right down the middle. I like using that wider tip up at the top. I stitched the right side of the tie to the wrong side of the sweatshirt, (which I had been sure to stabilize with fusible straight tape!). THen, folded it to the outside. I don't even turn that outer edge under. I just zigged it down, then couched the yarn over top.

I'm afraid those butterflies won't be 'flittering around' on this jacket - they're just 'too much'. I have to remember my motto: "Less is Best" .



My dear Sis wrote that she wanted to see bigger pictures - and have more how-to's in this Blog. Hmmmm - that's what the patterns are for, my dear!

My intent here is just to intrigue you and inspire you.....to do the same, and if you'd like, to buy my patterns. They will be available - added to the 3 I already have available - by early March. My goal is for the big show in Puyallup - 3, if not 4 new ones!
all at my new site:
http://www.makeasweatshirtjacket.com/

UNITY
I'm 'organized' now - and it's time to get started! Unity - the design where you slash around the middle of the sweatshirt and add a 'different' bottom is the one that says to me it wants to be used with this grouping of a Brass USA Comfort Color Sweatshirt, this great hunk of oriental cotton fabric, black yarn to couch, a black chenille striped sweater (from Goodwill), and oriental coins and 'things' as you see in the picture to the right.






The challenge here is that the sweatshirt is a 2XL. My duct tape double is not a 2XL - more like a 10/12. So - don't expect it to all look 'fitted' on the pictures. Eventually, I sell all my samples and I need to offer a wide size range. Also - as I design for patterns, I want to include all size ranges - offering attractive designs and guidance for a wide range of sizes. I think that is - as Martha Stewart says, "A Good Thing".


To the left, you can see my beginning - I've cut the sweatshirt apart in the middle - with angles, going down at the center front and back. That's the lower band around the neckline.
To the right above, you see that lower band embellished with small pieces of the feature fabrics described above.
Below, you see where I stopped yesterday - the bottom half is totally the bottom half of that chenille striped sweater. I thought I was creating a jacket with a LONG bottom half. Hmmmm - totally FRUMPY! Proportions are all wrong - as the right hand of this shows. Raising it up - AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! And what a good example for the principle I teach of proportion. Read all about it in my books on CD and DVD, and in my patterns. Today - I plan to finish this jacket and get on with yet another one.
I'm all set up in basement (messy, yet creative) space to create, stitch, and then hop over to my laptop set up on my old ironing board with stool, to type the 'guts' of this new pattern. THIS is my 'heaven on earth' - second only to spending time with my family - most especially these days with 2.5+ year old grandson Cole - reading to him. I promise some pictures soon....