I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

 

Ok, ok.  Before you make judgments about my personal style, just know that I approached this as an art project.  Not necessarily something I'll be wearing on a regular basis.  Though there is a part of me that really likes this jacket.  Call it batty old art teacher style.  You'll see it all over the runways soon.

 

Do you read no big dill?  If you don't, I highly recommend it.  Katy is a designer/sewist/mom extraordinaire who comes up with the most creative, artsy things.  I enjoy reading her blog so much and I love her sense of style and color.   She's also the genius behind the Once Upon a Thread series where sewists are challenged to create a project inspired by a favorite children's book. 

 

 

I decided I wanted to play along last week.   I love sewing practical and useful things, of course- but isn't it fun to make something totally wacky and frivolous every once in a while?  I wanted to try some techniques I haven't attempted yet.  Painting fabric, namely.   It seems like the perfect marriage between my day job and sewing.  

 

Now I realize that most people who participated in this challenge sewed for their own children.  I don't have any children of my own yet, but I do teach art to almost 600 a week!   I spend most of my day socializing with four to ten year olds (oh the things I hear...) so I felt like this challenge was right up my alley.

I chose the book I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow.  I collect kid's books that have to do with any sort of art-- being an art teacher.  But I also L-O-V-E the illustrations in this book.  They're completely wild.  Very Dr. Seuss-esque.  For those of you out there who are horrified by the improper language, just know that Karen Beaumont based the words on an old folk song, It Ain't Gonna Rain No More.  The book can be read, sung or chanted-- whatever.  I've read it and I've also sung it to my kindergartners.  But only when the aide is not in the room.  I have no problem singing to 25 six year olds, but not to another adult ;)

The book starts out-

One day my momma caught me 

paintin' pictures on the floor

and the ceiling

and the walls

and the curtains

and the door

and I heard my momma holler

like I never did before...

 Don't you love the drawings?  Look at those little feet sticking up out of the bathtub.

But of course the main character does paint again. Then the book goes on and talks about all the places he paints.  Good for teaching body parts.

I read some reviews of the book where parents were upset about the book encouraging kids to paint all over the place, but I think most kids know the book is silly and fun.  At least the age that I read it to does.

 

Here's my fabric painting set up in case you are interested.  I sacrificed a few old towels and laid them out on our dining room table. Then I covered the whole thing with brown postal paper.  It only seeped through in a few places on to the towels.  I decided to cut my pattern pieces first instead of just painting the whole piece of fabric.  I figured I would have more control over what color went where.  I used a white cotton bull denim, which was a dream to work with.  I wet my pattern pieces first so they would absorb the paint better.  I tried to treat it as I would a watercolor painting but not all the same techniques applied.   Tricky to do an even wash on cloth.   Fabric is much more absorbent than paper, so the paint continued to "travel" long after I stopped painting.  Some colors overtook others while some seemed to have less pigment.  It was a fun experiment.

  

I used Jacquard Dye-na-flow paints which I ordered from Dharma Trading Company.  They have any number of fabric paints.  I chose these particular paints because they are thin- like dye- so the fabric stays soft.  You can heat set, too, which is a plus.  I cut a few linoleum stamps for the paint splotches and ants.  I brought out my old printmaking supplies and blew the dust off.  Super fun.  Funny how I keep band-aids in with my linoleum cutters-- and yes I needed one later.  I always poke myself.  I used standard black fabric paint for the stamps.

 The ants are on the inside, creeping out around the lapel.  I love me some stripey buttons, too.

I decided to put piping around the faux pocket flaps and lapels.  I wanted to bring in some more black like the illustrations.  All the top stitching is done with black thread.

 

The jacket pattern is Butterick 5647.  I used the variation with the shawl collar but also used the cuffed 3/4 length sleeves.  I wanted the jacket to have a shrunken feel so I went down a whole size.  I actually really like the fit even if it is a tiny bit short on me.  Quite a nifty little jacket pattern, if you ask me.  I liked the construction.  This one will be bookmarked for a more wearable jacket one day. 

 

Quit all that racket!

Gonna paint my....

JACKET!

(sorry- lame attempt at rhyming...)

 

 I sure did have fun working on this.   I'm happy I broke out some old art supplies, too.  It's about time some of those things saw the light of day again.  Hooray Katy, for your awesome idea! I really enjoyed seeing all the things made that were inspired by kid's books.

There's got to be SOME time and place appropriate to wear a hand painted jacket, right?

And I can't promise you that I ain't gonna paint no more...

Dear Sofa...

 

Dear Sofa,

Oh, hello there!  Long time, no see, my friend.

Even though I walk by you everyday on the way out the door.

I haven't forgot about you.   No really,  I haven't.  You've been shoved in the corner and seemingly forgotten.  But I'm here to tell you it isn't so.  In fact, I went to the fabric store the other day to check on your would-be new, snazzy attire aaaannndd...

Bad news.  It's gone.

Gone.  No more.  Defunct.  Won't be ordered without a forty yard purchase (crazy!).

I've searched high and low online and alas, it's no where to be found.

There's one more fabric store to check.  But at the same time, it may be fun just to pick out something new.  You know?

We won't be going to the fabric store again until we have the money to purchase fabric.

Pick out and purchase in the same day.  That's the way to do it.

You're going to be an expensive one, by the way.

So don't fret.  I haven't forgotten about you.  

We'll fix you up one day soon.

 

Even though this little monster doesn't seem to mind you in your current musty, shabby shape.

(She has deemed it her daytime nap spot.  And by 'daytime nap'  I mean sleeping all day long)

Put your mind (stuffing?) at ease, sofa.  We'll make Milton and Geraldine proud. 

Cheers,

Liza Jane

(and J, too, because he has to help)

Fashion According to Six Year Olds: Green Stripey Monster

 

Oh boy, am I tickled with this one!  I giggled the whole time I was sewing this up.   It's been in my head for a long time now.   Back in February, I blogged about an art lesson I was teaching my first graders.  They answered the question, Is clothing art? and designed their own clothing using all sorts of wallpaper scraps.   It's a great lesson.  We designed clothing on a large sheet of paper underneath an oval.  At the end, we cut out the oval and the kids "try on" their creations by holding their face up to the oval.  Hilarity ensues.    

Anyway, last year I had students spend a day sketching ideas first, much like a real fashion designer would.  Six year old fashion designers!  Their drawings were so amazing- I was totally inspired.   I knew I had to try and make something they designed.   I finally got around to it this past weekend.

 

:)

I had the perfect fabric in my stash for the little green top- this stripey rayon knit.  Don't you love the scallops?  Ha! That's what convinced me to make it up.  It's not exactly like the drawing, of course.  Just my interpretation of it.  The fabric is quite possibly the most difficult fabric I've worked with yet.  It's lightweight, bouncy, super drape-y, clingy and very stretchable.  I fought with it.  Battled with it.  I ended up underlining it with a cotton interlock that was much better behaved.  I was very careful not to stretch out the rayon knit as I basted it to the interlock.  I think it worked out.  I'll be interested to see what happens when I wash the dress.

It's definitely not perfect, but I love it anyway.  I used my favorite Burda 2-2011 long sleeve tee pattern (are you tired of hearing about it?) to make up the dress pattern.  I also used my a-line skirt pattern to help guide me on width and length for the bottom half of the dress.  I wish I had actually made a paper pattern because I'd love to make another tee shirt dress in the future, but I didn't.  I just pinned everything on the fabric as I went.  I had to piece the back because of the direction of the stripes.  We'll just call that an intentional design feature.

 

 

Alright, so it may make my butt look big-- I'm okay with that.  It's a tee dress.  For loungin'.

I sewed the scallops first.  I fused tricot interfacing to the hem of the rayon knit and then sewed the scallops with the interlock, right sides facing.   Sherry, your tutorial was mucho helpful.   I flipped the interlock to the inside, carefully poked and pressed the scallops.  It didn't take long at all.  Then I treated the interlock like an underlining and basted all the edges.  At risk of upsetting the sewing gods, I didn't do it by hand.  I used a super wide zig zag stitch and loosened up the top thread tension all the way.  Worked like a charm.   Then I sewed up the rest of the dress with a narrow zig zag, matching stripes.  One sleeve is a tiny bit off.  Luckily I am not a perfectionist.  I love the neck binding and how it looks like two different pieces.

I had an incredibly awesome time making this.  So much fun bringing one of those drawings to life.  I may have to try another soon.  That bicycle tee is calling my name...

Amateur Upholstery Hour: Small Progress

 

Wondering about this old sofa?  Yeah.  Progress is stalled. 

We've had some unexpected expenses this summer.  My car finally went to the great big Volvo junkyard in the sky.  "Fabric buying budget" is now replaced by "car payment."  No fun.  Anyway, we did pick out the fabric we are going to use, but it is much more expensive than I originally imagined we'd spend.  So we are currently saving up for the big purchase.  I bought one yard to test it out.   It's beautiful.  All those medallions are woven (embroidered?) and the fabric is very heavy duty.  It's super nice upholstery fabric.  It's much more contemporary than I envisioned at the start, but I think we'll be happy with it for a long time.  Those star bursts are reminiscent of mid-century design, don't you think?

In the meantime, I have taken apart the the cushions and made paper patterns from the pieces.  I am going to sew up some inner cushion covers from muslin.  The feather cushions don't have an inner cover and all the raw edges are on the outside and fraying.  I figure an inner cover will help with longevity.  And it will give me an exact number for yardage to buy.  Up until this point we've been estimating.

Before

Now for a pattern matching question.  How concerned should I be about matching the medallions around the edges of the cushions?  I'm going to use a solid cream color fabric for the cording.  I'm concerned that seeing little bits of medallions on the cording will look strange.  I know that I can match up the front edges of the cushions to the top no problem, but matching up the sides and bottom will be difficult.  Is it a big deal to make sure everything matches up?  Is is even possible to match all sides of a box cushion?  Does it matter if the medallions are matched up if there is a solid piece of cording breaking up the pattern anyway?   Just curious what you think.

 

So I know the initial date of completion was the end of this summer.  I think now I'm going to claim it will be done by Christmas ;)

I think we can handle that.  

Amateur Upholstery Hour: Stripped Down

 

Some headway is being made on the sofa.  J and I have removed not one, but two layers of old upholstery and batting.  Apparently the white brocade was a re-upholstery job done right over the top of the old upholstery.  Strange, no?  It's really not that difficult to remove it.  Now putting it back on may be another story...

Here's a before shot.

 

This little monster on the end of the sofa will show up in many of these pictures.  She literally cannot stand it when something new is going on in the house and has to be involved.  It's hilarious and also really annoying.  You know what they say about curiosity and cats.

 

I'm not too concerned about sewing the cushions other than dealing with pattern matching issues.  They're just simple box cushions.  It's the frame of the couch that I'm most worried about.  We spent a lot of time measuring and documenting how it was put together as we took it apart.   And took lots of photos as we took everything off.

 

Double welt at the bottom.  Do I piece the bottom panel like this?  Or just use one length of fabric?  I guess piecing would save some yardage.  Upholstery fabric is expensive.

 

She's an expert at being cute.  Especially when also being bad.

 

We walked away for a moment and returned only to find her inside of the sofa when we took off the back panel.

 

Check out the old upholstery.  An orange and yellow jacquard of some sort.   My best guess for year is 1962.

The frame seems to be solid pine.  Solid and heavy.  J is going to repair the wood and glaze it to match the original dark brown stain.  We haven't bought the fabric yet, but we are 99% percent sure we've picked it out-- at twenty-two dollars a yard.   Suddenly, the twenty-seven dollar sofa becomes much more costly.  

But it's worth it.

 

  As we were peeling back the layers, a story was forming in my head about who used to own this sofa.  This was Milton and Geraldine's sofa.  They bought it brand new in 1962.  It was super chic and fancy then.  Fit right in to their mid-century modern home.  I can see the brass star burst clock hanging on the wall covered in lattice wallpaper.  Years later, Milton and Geraldine decided to reupholster their sofa in a nice white brocade when they retired to Florida.  Hehe...

 

There's something that I find immensely gratifying about this project.

This piece of furniture was not made to be disposable after a few years of use, like some things are nowadays.  It was made to last.  It was made to be re-upholstered from time to time.  There's something satisfying about that. 

 

Milton and Geraldine, we're glad to have your sofa.

*******************************************************************

There was no tag anywhere in the sofa when we took it apart.  I was hoping there would be, just so I would know a little more about.  These numbers and letters are written across the top of the back.  Any clue what they mean? Of course 96" is the length.  This could have been written whenever it was reupholstered, too.   I'm pretty sure that all the springs in the seat back were replaced at that point.  They look newer than the seat springs and the burlap from the back of the seat back was missing (I can tell it was there at some point because of the staples).

 

Amateur Upholstery Hour: Introduction

 

Can someone please stop me from buying fabric?

Please.  My husband begs you.

  I have been completely incapable of finishing anything this past week and a half, even though I have several projects in progress.  This weekend I set out to sew early in the day Saturday and Sunday and was thwarted each time. 

Sidetracked, really. 

What did I do instead?  I organized my fabric.  I know I should be ashamed at how much I've accumulated, but it secretly makes me happy when I walk by.  I cleaned out my closet and did a major cull.  I feel good about that.  Oh yeah, and I bought this couch from the Salvation Army.

 

With the grand intention to reupholster it.....  ack!

Sorry I trailed off there. I'm a little embarrassed that I'm even proposing this.

Now I know you are probably thinking about my last two and half month adventure with upholstery that involved tears, but let me explain: 

 

J and I stopped by the Salvation Army after lunch on Saturday.  We fell in love with this couch but had no real desire to purchase it.  Luckily, J and I have similar taste in furniture and home decor.  We both like antiques and artsy, quirky things.  While we were looking at it, an employee glanced over and said we could have her for half price.  Half price made it a whopping twenty seven dollars.

We couldn't not buy it, right?

 

We think it's from the late 50's/early 60's.  We're calling it mid-century Asian modern, though I'm not sure that label exists.  It's definitely mid-century and it has an Asian flair.  The old fabric is a brocade of some sort.  It weighs about three tons.  I wasn't expecting that when I helped carry it out of the store. But I'm glad because that means it's solidly constructed (solid piece of wood, too).   It's also eight feet long.   The only reason it was so cheap is because it's in pretty rough shape.  There's some damage to the wooden frame.  The white cushion covers look pretty good in these photos, but trust me when I tell you they are not in real life. (Why would anyone want a white couch anyway?)

J used to work doing faux finishes in homes and on furniture.  He can paint just about anything impeccably.  He's excited about repairing the damage to the frame.

As for the upholstery... 

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

I should also mention that school's out for summer after this week.  Hands down the best thing about being a teacher ;)  So, this becomes a major summer project.

Destruction of the old upholstery begins this coming weekend.

The only reason I'm even writing about this now is because blogging will keep me honest about it, whether I succeed or fail.

My weekend in a nutshell.  Instead of finishing that simple cotton a-line skirt I've started, I hatched a plan to upholster a couch.  

How was your weekend?

*********************************************************************

 All the photos in this post were taken with my brand spankin' new iPhone.  I've had it for a week and I'm not sure how I ever lived without it.  This one below is just for fun.  Instagram.

 

Hope everyone has a great week!