Best Shot(s) Monday--Cadence, Cadence and More Cadence

This is Cadence lounging around on the dining room floor Saturday morning. She's waiting for our friend, her Uncle Erik, to wake up. He got in the night before super late, so she was asleep when he got there, and he was sleeping in Saturday morning in Cadence's playroom. As soon as she woke up, she wanted to go wake him up, but I made her wait. We went and picked up our vegetables, dropped them off at home, had breakfast at our local coffeehouse, browsed a little thrift store (where she picked up that Pooh bear on the floor for a quarter), and finally came back home close to 11am, at which point she planted herself on the floor outside Erik's door.

She occasionally got up to do a little dance or just run around, but for the most part she stuck to the floor and would ask every 10 seconds, "Is he awake yet? What's he doing?"

She finally couldn't contain her curiosity any longer and started spying on Erik through the crack underneath the door. Then she started saying, "I think he's awake now! I see his feet moving!"

Cadence ADORES her Uncle Erik, and Ted and I are also very happy to have him with us. For Ted, it's like a big sleep-over with his best friend, except instead of ghost stories and flashlights and candy and soda, it's lots of beer and a late-night showing of The Dark Knight.

So while the boys were at the movies Saturday night, after I put Cadence to sleep, I happened to check the mailbox and found that some fabric I'd ordered from Etsy had come in. I was so excited that I made a dress that very night.

The fabric is a cotton-linen blend from a Japanese designer, so this was my first time making something for Cadence that wasn't made out of a t-shirt. It's actually a lot easier to sew by hand than t-shirt material because it is stiffer than jersey. I loved how the 1/2 yard length was perfect for folding in half and making this dress. I also loved how I could use the edge of the fabric as the hem so that I didn't have to sew an actual hem myself. I think it's kinda cool to have the fabric name and that frayed edge as the hem.

FYI, I don't know how to use a pattern, so that dress was simply made by laying another dress on top of the fabric (which was folded in half) and tracing around the other dress directly onto the fabric. I made the shoulders where the fabric was folded in half, and then I just sewed the sides of the dress (before cutting the fabric)in an A-line shape, cut the armholes and neck, and voila! Dress! When Cadence woke up the next morning, I had her try it on, and adjusted the shoulders a bit by scrunching them a little at the top. I may still do something about the neck and armholes, maybe put an edge on it w/ a blanket stitch or something to keep the fabric from unraveling, or I may just leave it as is. I like things that are rough around the edges anyhow.

You can see more folk's Best Shots on Tracey' Mother May I.

Best Shot(s) Monday--Rise Up, All Ye Rogues!

I've been reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and getting mighty riled up. So it's quite appropriate that I got to do a photoshoot of Cadence with her Rogue Nation tattoo.

And while this photoshoot was tongue-in-cheek and more for our amusement than anything else, looking at the way the photos turned out makes me hopeful...

...Hopeful that Cadence will grow up to be STRONG...

...and unafraid to flick her boogers at the establishment...

Don't be fooled by her looks. We are not raising this girl to be cute or to surrender to the culture of adoration.

And may she always dance in her own free-stylin' way to some Iron and Wine, and may she march to the beat of her own inner drum.

In case you're wondering, that Iron and Wine dress used to be Ted's Iron and Wine SHIRT. I restructured it into a dress in a fit of sewing frenzy (all by hand, mind you).

That frenzy also produced the dress you see above this weekend. I got the idea for this when Threadless had their $5 sale a couple weeks ago. This was one of the designs I had been waiting for like FOREVER for them to reprint on a kid-sized t-shirt. It happened to be on sale for $5, so I bought a girly-sized t-shirt instead and turned it into a dress. I'm gonna have to go through all my old band t-shirts that I don't wear any more...

Go see more folk's Best Shot's on Tracey' Mother May I.

Sew Therapeutic

Some of you may remember that I caught the sewing bug some time around last Christmas. To be quite frank with you, I didn't do much more with it after the holidays. Until this past Christmas. I had this idea of making gift sleeves for mix CDs with felt, and it actually turned out to be a lot of fun.

It's been a while since I've used the buttonhole stitch. I'm talking 25 years plus. So it took me forever to figure it out, especially because I didn't know the name of the stitch to search for it on google.

Once my fingers remembered what to do, however, it was pure contentment. I like sewing in straight lines, as there is a meditative quality to the repetitive movements. Yes, I've got callouses on my right thumb and index finger, not to mention more needle pricks that you can count, but it's all good. And I've even gotten a little more ambitious...

I found me this totally awesome vintage shirt at the Salvation Army on Christmas Eve, and I thought it would look pretty rad as a bag with those pockets and the stitching and all. I wasn't sure how to proceed, but I found a very simple pattern for a lined tote bag which I modified to include a zipper.

It's far from perfect, but it was definitely a worthwile learning experience, and I can't wait to make another one, if I happen to find the right shirt.

I won't get into my little journey into felting wool sweaters and making mittens just now, as I haven't got any photos (because I haven't got anything worth photographing). Maybe one of these days I'll be able to salvage that project...

Well, I don't think I'll be getting a booth at the DIY Trunkshow or Renegade Craft fair anytime soon, but it was fun to make something with my hands for a change, instead of just pushing buttons on a keyboard or a camera.

a meeting with destiny

i have found my new purpose in life. it is something that has been welling up within me for the past 9 months or so, gaining momentum day by day, until i could deny it no longer. it is something about which i have wondered again and again, 'can i really do this? little ole me?' it is something i have daydreamed about, something i have sighed long and hard about, something i have longed for with fear and trembling. and now finally, like a flannery o'connor character, i can no longer run away from my destiny.

and that destiny, my dear friends, is to STITCH. no, not like a surgeon. i'm talking sublime stitching like THIS.

...it all started last march at ted's first show playing with tim lowly. i spied our friend katie behind the merch table with a thread and needle and a black t-shirt creating the beautiful creation you see ted sporting above. that's what sparked the sleeping inner crafty goddess in me, and after months of thinking i lack the manual dexterity, let alone the spare time and patience, i finally couldn't resist any longer and last tuesday night, i went out and bought the stitch-it kit, created by the proprietor of Sublime Stitching herself, Jenny Hart (of Austin, TX, not to be confused with Jenny Hart of Chicago who introduced me to Douglas Coupland's books).

i have to confess that i initially hesitated to share this here because now everybody who's reading this will want to go out and buy one of these stitch-it kits (yes, even YOU, josh) and i know for a fact you all are going to be so much better at it then i am. you see, i've never been that crafty kind of girl. oh, sure, i made my own doll clothes and the requisite pin cushions and what not. i learned the basics of crocheting and knitting, thanks to my childhood chum Ruthy's older sister Esther. however, no matter how hard i tried, nothing i made ever had any aesthetic appeal to them. okay, i admit i didn't try all that hard, but still…i'm sure if i had any potential for the mastery of these needle arts, it would have manifested by my teenage years.

i have been sitting on the sidelines during the DIY crafty revolution while my fellow gal (and a few guy) pals have been sitting in knitting circles with their needles flashing and clicking away at blinding speeds. i tried to make my own cards with rubber stamps and fancy scissors, but my creations just sucked. bad. i have toyed with the idea of getting a sewing machine so i can make 'slow clothing,' but who the hell was i kidding?

STITCHING, on the other hand, now THAT is something even a craft clutz like i can do! i had no idea that running a needle threaded with embroidery floss through fabric stretched over a plastic hoop could be so fulfilling. so i decided, six days before christmas, that i would STITCH some t-shirts for presents. ted was a little doubtful at first, but when he saw some of my initial handiwork, he decided to give it a go. we ran out to american apparel for a bunch of t-shirts on thursday, which gave me four days to get everything stitched. i was a bit rushed, but the end results weren't half as bad as i was expecting, if i may say so myself.

...of course, i had to choose the most difficult design for my first project. this was for auntie lore who would be coming in for christmas with her douglas all the way from sweden. all those french knots and lazy daisies took me HOURS.

...the kitty cat was for becki, uncle dave's fiancee whose cats cadence loves to play with (although i don't think they return the sentiment). this was much simpler than the butterfly shirt, thank goodness.

...and this last design was for uncle dave, which ted drew himself. i finished it sunday afternoon, which was the very last slot of free time i had before christmas morning, when we were due to go out to the P's. what can i say; i love living dangerously.

anyhoo, i am anxiously awaiting my shipment of hip design transfers from sublime stitching so that i can make the coolest tea towels on the block.