things (and pouches) that i love

hi you guys!

have you had a good weekend? i know you americans still have one more day - i've gotten so many e-mails about memorial day sales! i'm not even opening them now, cause i read one on friday and ended up buying fabric, mere hours after i told myself that i was going to take a break from buying new fabric and actually start using my stash!

in my defense, how often do you find gothy quilt cottons? i HAD to buy Tula Pink's new line, Nightshade! and now i'm DEFINITELY on a fabric buying break.



in other news, i'm very excited about an upcoming swap! the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild (and a few friends, cause the numbers were off) are doing a group swap with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and it's going to be AWESOME!

we're swapping pouches, which are an excellent opportunity for fanciness! they're little, so they're perfect for techniques that you wouldn't want to do any entire quilt out of, like english paper piecing, or to showcase more detailed techniques, like hand embroidery or intricate paperpiecing.

active flickr users will be familiar with the multitude of pouch swaps that have been organized, such as the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap, which has had 4 rounds, and the Mouthy Stitches Swap. even non-pouch-specific swaps have included some gorgeous pouches, such as the For The Love of Solids Swap. needless to say, there is a TON of gorgeous pouch inspiration out there!

the guidelines of our swap are pretty flexible. we're to make a pouch that's somewhere between 4"x4" and 8"x8", and it has to have a closure of some sort. that's it!

in addition to the basic guidelines, it was also recommended that we make a mosaic of pouches that we like and post them to the guild flickr group, in order to give our partners some inspiration.

as demonstrated for the Trim the Tree Swap i did last fall, i tend to get carried away with mosaic making!

i think i did pretty well though. i made three mosaics in total, with just one mosaic of pouches.



it's kind of a a big mosaic, but hey, i fit them all in! (for further notes/details/credits, click on the photo and go see the picture on flickr!)


my other two mosaics were about my style in general, and they were really fun to do. i do have a page of info for swapping, written back in the days of craftster swaps, but really, mosaics are more interesting!


one of the mosaics was all about fabric patterns and prints that i love.



everytime i look at this mosaic, it makes me happy, which i think means it's a pretty accurate portrayal of patterns that i love. i realized after i made it that i should've added a brocade print of some sort, like vintage wallpaper, but oh well. everything else is there!


the other mosaic is of things that i love, and it was prompted by the obvious patterns in my flickr favourites. there are, of course, things that i love that i don't really care about the imagery of, like grape flavoured candy, memory foam, or the television show NCIS... they're not in the mosaic! this mosaic is things that i love that i ALSO enjoy the imagery of!



woodgrain! especially awesomely coloured woodgrain!
chevrons! and typewriters!
crows, ravens, magpies, and red-winged blackbirds.
glasses AND paperpiecing. (i really love the imagery of glasses. i have a pillow on my couch that says "glasses are sexy!" glasses are totally hot!)
vintage buttons!

virgin mary, lady of guadalupe, etc.
neon signs!
pyrex, fire king, JAJ, milk glass, etc. (i love all of them, but i particularly love those particular mugs, they always reminds me of the flinstones!)
typewriter again!!
cuckoo clock! (i am so excited that they're so popular and on everything, i've loved them for so long!)

mail! envelopes and stamps and postal love.
more pyrex!
sacred hearts, modern and traditional.
more typewriters!
and boler campers! (that's what in the blank spot, cause that pic didn't work)

anatomical hearts!
birch and poplar trees. so lovely.
more glasses imagery!
wooden grain elevators. love so much.
vintage typewriters! and mid-century illustration styles!

chandeliers, especially bright coloured or black ones.
doilies, in their natural state and dyed
tuxedo kitties like my sofie-bean!!
elna grasshopper! vintage sewing machines!!
and another mid-century illustration! on a stamp! with an owl!!



i love so many things. what do you love?

Craphound is not crappy at all, in fact, it's really freaking amazing.

i want to tell you guys about this super awesome resource that i love called Craphound.

it's basically all images. there are a few pages of writing at the front and the back, but other than that, it's pages and pages jammed full of awesome images. it was created by a guy named Sean Tejaratchi and the first issue came out in 1994. they were the stuff of legends for years and years, until they started reprinting some of the issues, and folks like me could finally get their hands on them. there have been 7 issues total, and Reading Frenzy/Show & Tell Press out of Portland is trying to get the funds together to print Craphound #8 via a Kickstarter campaign.

Crap Hound No. 1: Death, Telephones & Scissors
Crap Hound No. 2 & No. 3: Sex & Kitchen Gadgets
Crap Hound No. 4: Clowns, Devils & Bait (reprint still available)
Crap Hound No. 5: Hands, Hearts & Eyes (3rd edition reprint still available)
Crap Hound No. 6: Death, Telephones & Scissors, a revised version of no. 1
Crap Hound No. 7: Church & State (new issue, still available, but barely)
Crap Hound No. 8: Superstitions

i have 4, 5, 6 and 7, and i think 8 is going to be AMAZING. seriously. the images around luck and superstitions are so awesome, i can't wait to play with them.



they have lots of really cool rewards for donating (rubber stamps! totebag! wrapping paper! cards! buttons!), and i really really really want them to make their goal! they're so close!

as i'm writing this, they have 5 hours left on the kickstarter campaign, and less than $2000 left to raise. the thing about kickstarter is that unless they raise the full amount of $15,000 required to print the issue, no money will be raised at all, because no one is actually charged until the goal is met. THEY'RE SO CLOSE!

random weekend update...

whew! this weekend honestly felt like the busiest weekend of the summer. there were 6 different things i need to be at/wanted to be at today - i made it to 2, and that was a lot for me. i picked up my pieces from the art show, then went to a fat panic meet up, and was drained of energy by the time we left the coffee shop. it's way hotter here than it normally is, and humid with it, and we're so not used to it. the humid part is what sucks - i painted furniture last week and it took days to dry because of it. (i need to do another coat, and i'm dreading it!)


i made cupcakes, but they didn't like the heat either....

they were for the 3rd event/meetup that i was going to go to, and they didn't survive sitting in the car during the 2nd event of the day. since i didn't end up having the energy to go to the 3rd thing anyway, it wasn't a huge loss. but they're definitely sad little cupcakes!

instead of going to the 3rd event, i gave a friend a ride, and had a little chat that was super awesome and just what i needed, and then i came home and crashed soooo hard, i don't think i even moved the whole time i was sleeping!


i'm just feeling very very drained and fragile these days. achier than usual, and kinda dizzy, and easily agitated.


but there are happy things going on too!


like the beautiful glads i picked up the other day

some amazing connections that i made this weekend that made me really happy

my cat has finally gotten over her fear of the large fan i bought (it's hot, and i need it, but i felt so guilty that she wouldn't leave the bedroom when it was on!)

i made yummy peanut butter marshmallow squares that kinda melted, but were saved by the refrigerator!

i've still plugging away at writing for a perzine, i might actually manage to get it finished before the PDX zine symposium... we'll see!


and i FINALLY finished two baby quilts that i've been working on, and i'm so so enamoured with how the machine quilting looks and feels with the fabrics and batting that i can't stop admiring them!







and i still haven't posted about the last exciting thing that i mentioned earlier, or about the second piece that i had in the art show!

this is what democracy looks like! embroidered pillow

i actually made this pillow right around the time of the intent, it's fucking magic pillow, but kinda forgot to post about it....

however, i LOVE how it turned out, and i've already brainstormed a bunch of other projects to be done using the same technique.



i started out with a photo, one i posted on my olympics post back in february. it's a photo i took at the anti-2010 rally the same night as the olympics opening ceremony, and it doesn't even come close to showing how many people were there that day.

the day after especially, but for many days afterwards, i had protest calls and shouts running through my head, the most frequent one being "this is what democracy looks like!" (i was less enamoured by the "this is what democracy feels like" chant after it started raining and my back seized up, let me tell you!)

i knew i needed to stitch it up, and i really wanted to SHOW what democracy looked like in the same piece, so this technique worked really well.

angle


i sized the photo to how large i wanted the pillow, reversed it, and then printed it out onto two iron on transfer sheets. i carefully ironed them onto a good quality white cotton (i've found that the quality of fabric has a huge effect on the longevity of the transfer)

paper covering


after i transferred the image, i left the paper covering on. i knew i'd want to iron it after i finished stitching, and ironing it without the protective paper would ruin the transfer. i transferred the writing onto the protective paper, and used it as my stitching pattern.

i couldn't hoop this without interfering with the transfer, but it was fine, because the paper backing kept it stabilized.

i stitched in yellow floss, so that it would show up against the photo.
embroidery back


once i finished the embroidery, i decided to do a bit of patchwork around the image, to try to pull some other colours out of the image. i took the photo with me to the fabric store, and bought 3 different calico prints. i made a patchwork border and sewed it on, still with the paper attached.

patchwork


and then i made up the back, with a bit of piecing in the middle cause i love how that pulls everything together.
back


i also added a strip of yellow almost as a fake piping around the edges.

and this was the result!



(taken with flash)


it's not quite as clear as i was envisioning, i should have done the writing a little higher up, rather than centred on the photo, but it is a lot clearer in person than it is in a photo. and i love it anyway!

Image Transfer Towels - Tutorial!! (lots and lots of pics!)

you saw all the finished towels i posted yesterday, and that got your head spinning with ideas of what you'd put on your own towels, right?

these are super quick and easy to do, despite what my millions of pictures may lead you to believe! they're perfect for quick gifts or to add a pop of colour and individualism to a boring kitchen. and they're pretty low cost, using only a small amount of cotton and transfer paper for each towel. the towels themselves can often be found in dollar stores, and i watch the kitchen clearance section at department stores for great deals.


so here's how to make them!

stuff you'll need -
- tea towels, obviously. preshrink them, please!
- white cotton fabric. again, preshrink it!
- a printer
- iron on transfer paper for light coloured fabric (get the one that corresponds to your printer type)
- sewing machine and white thread
- iron and ironing board (or a towel on a table, that works too!)
- pins
- lint roller or packing tape


Step 1

find your images, size them, and reverse them so that they'll transfer the right way (you may be able to skip this step now and do it when you print the page. i flip them in photoshop).

you can use any image you'd like, use google image search to look for pictures with a certain theme, use photographs you've taken, wander through flickr, scan in drawings you've done, or take advantage of the amazing clip art available on the wide wide web. i'm particularly fond of the digital stock art available from Urban Threads, any of them would make amazing towels! keep copyright in mind when choosing your images, which admittedly i didn't do for some of my earlier towels!

open a new document in Word and adjust your margins to make them as small as possible - this lets you fit bigger images on the transfer sheet!

import your images into the Word file and adjust the size. i like to fit 4 images onto each page, the images are the perfect size for tea towels. if your images are more horizontal than vertical, you will want to change the orientation of the page to landscape.

Step 2

print the images out onto iron on transfer paper, following the instructions included with the transfer paper. there are a multitude of brands available when it comes to iron on transfer paper. i personally love Avery, i've had such good results with them over the years. keep in mind that they DO expire. i have a bad habit of continually losing half packs in my studio, and buying more instead of searching because "i'll use them eventually". the folks at Avery say that the sheets should stay good for up to 5 years, my experience is closer to 1 year!

for this example, i was only printing out 2 images, so rather than wasting the other half of the page, i made them a bit smaller than the images in the example above, and i placed them sideways on the page.

Step 3

carefully trim around the images and pull out your white cotton fabric. please DON'T buy your cotton fabric from somewhere like walmart! go to an actual quilt shop, and buy it there. it will be a little bit more expensive, but the quality will be SO much better, it's totally worth it in the long run. i have towels that i've had for years, washing them weekly in hot water, and they still look fabulous. i'm convinced that it's because i use a good quality fabric. the better quality cotton is smoother and more tightly woven than the cheap stuff, and the images transfer so much better.

Step 4

you need the fabric to be completely clear of fuzz when transferring images, so haul out your lint roller, or wrap some tape around your hand.

Step 5

iron your cotton fabric to smooth out any wrinkles and to pre-heat the fabric. it'll accept the transfer better if it's already warm!

Step 6

lay the transfer on your fabric and press it on. follow the instructions in the transfer package, which usually say something like "heat iron to hottest setting possible for fabric type. press transfer using a firm strong grip, moving iron over transfer smoothly" i find that i usually don't have to press the transfer for as long as the instructions say, because they're fairly small.

Step 7

look closely, and you'll notice that the transfer bled a little bit around the edges of the paper backing. that's okay! actually, it's great! that's the sign i use to know when the image is fully transferred!

Step 8

trim the cotton around your transfer. i usually leave about 3/4" around.

Step 9

now we're going to fold under the edges, leaving just a very very small amount of the fabric showing in the front. after lots of experimenting and very hot fingers, i've discovered the easiest way to do this! lay the transfer face down on the ironing board, then flip it up, keeping the edge face down.

Step 10

fold the edge over, bringing the transfer to lay face up on the ironing board. it sounds complicated to explain, but it's super easy!

Step 11

continue folding the edges over until you have pressed all 4 edges under. if one of your edges ends up a little crooked like mine did, just press it out flat and then try turning it under again. no worries!

Step 12

see? all folded under neatly! you can also see the transfer here, it will show through the backside of the fabric. now's a good time to take note of which is the top! you might want to put a little pencil mark there, so that you don't accidentally sew the transfer on upside down! (learn from my mistakes, okay?)

Step 13

press your tea towel to remove any wrinkles and fold it in half to determine the centre.

Step 14

in my example i'm applying my transfer to the corner of the towel, but on the finished towels i posted yesterday, they're all applied in the centre. if your towel is a woven plaid, you're in luck, that makes things easier! if the weave is slightly off grain, feel free to apply your image following the weave, not the actual centre. trust me, it's a lot less obvious that way!

Step 15

pin your transfer to the towel. don't put your pins directly through the transfer itself, slip them through the little white edge that we left. envision how you're going to sew the transfer on, and pin accordingly. i sew my transfers in a clockwise motion, so i always pin with the heads to the left so that i can easily pull them out when i get to them.

Step 16

off to the sewing machine! load your machine up with white thread, and make sure you're using a new needle. because we're dealing with a fairly fine woven fabric, we'll be using a sharp needle as opposed to a ballpoint needle, and one in a fairly small size. like i said in the t-shirt sleeve tutorial, i think the sizes are different in the US, but you should still be able to tell which one is smallest!

Step 17

starting a corner, begin stitching around the edge of the transfer, only stitching in the little white edge we left when we pressed it.

Step 18

when you get to a corner, lower your needle, lift your presser foot and pivot!

Step 18b

take a quick detour to pet the cat. she's trying to help, can't you tell? jeez mom!

Step 19


the transfer is now sewn on! because we used white thread on white fabric, the stitching is almost invisible and doesn't detract from the transfer at all. i prefer to use a white bobbin thread. if you try to match the bobbin thread with the towel colour and the tension on your machine is off even the slightest, the coloured bobbin thread can show through on the front. besides you'll rarely see the backside of your towel when it's hung anyway!

Step 20

now give the transfer another quick press, because this will be the last time you'll be able to apply heat to it. starting with the corner, peel up the protective paper.

Step 21

when you've got a good quality transfer, it will come off smoothly, and will leave a slight "ghost" image on the protective paper.

Step 22

not really a step, because you're done! wasn't that easy? now go make more them!


i hope you liked the tutorial! i love comments, please let me know what you think, or if you make some, or what your ideas are for your own towels!

Image Transfer Towels - Finished Items!

one of my favourite things to make for quick birthday or housewarming gifts are these tea towels. they're super easy to make, and you can personalize them for the recipient by choosing photos that are relevant to them, or that match the decor of their kitchen.

i particularly love making towels using vintage erotic images. sometimes they're sexy, and sometimes they're hilarious. i made a set for Destined To Fail a month or two ago from craftster, in exchange for a silkscreened print that they made me, and it got me thinking about the towels again. i've made A LOT of sets over the years, and they're so easy, they're the perfect tutorial for Image April!

i'm going to split the tutorial and the finished products into two posts, because there are A LOT of pictures! today was an atrocious day (really. blegh!), so i'm going to do the second post tomorrow.




WARNING!! some of the towels have images that are NOT SAFE FOR WORK!




this is the set i made for Destined to Fail. aren't the sailor boys hotties?


i edited the images in photoshop to add the blue tone, before i printed them on iron on transfer paper.

i've made the boys before, mostly in sets of 4. i only sent 2 to Destined To Fail because i wasn't sure how they'd feel about nakedness!

this is the set of four that i made for my best friend a few years ago




i made these two pin up sets for a swap in the winter of 2005




this set was made for the first Fat Girl Swap on craftster.org, January 2006

the artwork is by an artist that i LOVE, but right now i'm blanking on his name, which is so frustrating!

this set was made for a day of the dead/lady of guadalupe swap

(i made myself a set of these ones, and they've held up EXTREMELY well!)

and this set was made for a friend, using images that she provided to me




i also made a whole bunch of towels with tiki and hawaii themes to vend at a tiki event that my friend pam was involved with. i made these along with tiki themed vinyl pouches.