If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Yellow Silk Sewing Case

I have to admit, when I opened the envelope from this month’s Fanciful Utility Silk Swap with the bright yellow silk, I thought “Wow, Bright!”. This bright yellow silk puzzled me. I was worried I would not find a sewing case project for it.

Then I was flipping through the photo files I’ve stacked up in my phone. There they were. Not one, but two sewing cases made with bright yellow silk! I remember saving these from an auction of Shaker items. Here they are cropped together:

Now, which to make? The on the right is fairly straight forward. The one on the left is very similar to one of the cases in Fanciful Utility. But, I’m not too keen on the closing case inside. Okay, I really think they, the auctioneer’s photographer, took a photo of the cases open and a photo of the cases closed, then layered the closed on top of the open. If I make the case on the right, I far prefer something like this:

This is the same case as above with the center piece from another case replacing the center. This structured center has a compartment and a pincushion. You can see the pincushion was well used. Actually, the light blue case shows far, far more wear than the other silk and leather cases in the lot.

Now, the problem… I have black leather rather than brown at the moment. So, I must decide whether to wait for super thin brown leather or use the black I have……

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on September 19, 2013 at 4:38 pm Comments (2)

A Modern Needle-book

Tonight we have a little modern sewing tangent – A coworker has been making little coffins for her Death and Dying health class this week. When I saw those little coffins, they scream “needle-book”.

Here is version 1 of my take on a Halloween Coffin Needle-book:

This fun case is made using the techniques in Fanciful Utility.The exterior is a silk I had stashed away with a bit of padding for the front. Inside, the pair of white wool needle pages are placed like a pillow at the top of the coffin, while a black wool pocket is at the bottom for a small pair of scissors. It closes with a silk ribbon. All the embroidery is cotton. I do have another sewing case version in mind as well. This would be a multi-sided case with a pillow-pincushion inside. I’ll add that to my project list.

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on September 18, 2013 at 8:01 pm Comments (2)

FanU Silk Swap

This month was our second Fanciful Utility Fabric Swap, the Silk Swap.

We had two groups of silk swappers, each swapping with 7 other people in their groups. This means a total of 16 pieces of silk were swapped!

We had an assortment of stripes, plaids, jacquards and solids greeting us in our mailboxes. This swap truly involved fabrics from around the world, as one silk was brought home from China by the swapper and another that is a Tartan plaid. We had two nearly identical silks in slightly different color sets. (I sent one of those.) There is a bright yellow nearly identical to the yellow in three Shaker attributed cases I happen to have saved in my phone.

I look forward to seeing what participants do with their new assortment of silks. Please share your photos as you complete your projects!

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Favorite Topics - Sewing Cases

on September 10, 2013 at 4:08 pm Leave a Comment

Must Love Shoes – Especially Lovely Shoes

Okay, so I’ve developed a little bit of a reproduction shoe problem. I love them. I want them all.

Now, there is a new shoe to want! American Duchess has a new shoe – A 1930s “Claremont” Oxford! Look at this shoe.

Want. This shoe would look so very pretty on my feet.

Psst – American Duchess is doing a give-away for this shoe.

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on September 9, 2013 at 6:00 pm Comments (2)

New Project – Late/Post-War Commemorative & Memorial Pieces

First off, this whole project does need a better name. That said…

The concept here is with the 1864 & 1865 anniversary years of the American Civil War approaching, I would like to see a comprehensive display of items made by the wives, mothers and daughters in commemoration or memorial of their loved ones serving in or who served in the War.

Recently, at an event for the Hunt, NY Memorial Hall, I was able to talk with a few ladies about this project. To my delight, they expressed interest in working on it as well. How wonderful to make this a community project!

During the war and in the years following, a great many handmade pieces were worked in memory of a family member or friend who served during the war and may or may not have died. I would like to see those interested in participating reproduce these items. The list is an ongoing, growing one, changing as we learn more about commemorative and memorial works. This is what we have so far:

Quilts – (Examples include: 1, 2, 3, 4 also GAR signature quilts and GAR ribbon crazy quilts)
Embroidery pieces – (Examples include: 1, these are each pre-war )
Pen and ink art – (Examples include: looking)
Personal items and jewelry – (Examples include: Handkerchiefs, Hair piece, silhouette brooch, gutta percha, jet, bog oak, etc.)
Hair Pieces (Examples include: 1 )
Memorial die-cuts (Examples include: scroll down)
Patriotic items that may or may not be memorial/commemorative pieces but are worth looking at & thinking about: Needle-book 1, poke bag?

If you are interested in participating, please send me a message or leave a comment. It will be nice to have some of these items available for visitors to see at events in the coming year with a comprehensive display available for 2015.

EDIT/ADDITION Sept. 17th:

While this particular piece (center) is earlier (1785-1793), I would like to see if this was still done in the mid-19th century. If this does turn out to be appropriate, the next question will be whether it would have been a commemorative/memorial piece for our purposes. Then comes the question of how to replicate it. This one has a simpler frame that may be easier to recreate. (must learn some jewelry techniques.)

Two earlier embroidered pieces: 1800 and 1875. It will be important to look at the development of memorial art as it progresses through the century.

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on September 4, 2013 at 4:00 am Leave a Comment

FanU Cotton Swap – Sewing Cases

In July, we did the very first of our Fanciful Utility fabric swaps, the Cotton Swap. We had two groups of 8 people each, who swapped 9″ squares of mid-nineteenth century appropriate cotton fabrics. These are the fabrics we swapped:

Plus these:

Some of the participants went right to work making their sewing cases. (I am remiss to say my pieces are still neatly stacked as I’ve been so focused on millinery.)

These pretty blue needle-books were made by Deborah in a sewing group that focused on making needle-books. I love the blues together.

This pocket filled sewing case is very worthy of being called a work pocket. This is made by Eileen.

Nicely done ladies. I look forward to adding more photos as more participants finish their projects.

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Favorite Topics - Sewing Cases

on August 25, 2013 at 7:48 pm Leave a Comment

FanU Silk Swap – Sign-up Day

Today is the day to sign-up for the FanU Silk Swap!

To Sign-up, simply comment below with your email and mailing address. (I’ll erase those before approving your comment, so the whole world doesn’t have that info.) You can also email me or send me a message on Facebook.

What is a Swap?

This is a chance for to exchange fabric with a small group of people. Each group will have 8 people exchanging pieces of fabric. All you need is a half yard of fabric and envelops along with your copy of Fanciful Utility.

To Participate:

1: Sign Up Day! On sign-up day, groups will be assigned on a first-in basis; the first eight will be the first swap group, second eight in the second group, etc.

Cotton Sign-Up Day: July 15 Silk Sign-Up Day: August 19 Crazy Sign-Up Day: September 30

2: Mail-Out Day: Place a 9×9″ piece of fabric suited to the mid-19th century in envelopes for each of the 7 other people in your swap group, stamp them (be sure to double check at the post office, but the small 9×9″ pieces should mail in a regular envelope with a normal stamp), and send them off no later than the Mail-Out Day. Cotton Mail-Out Day: July 23 Silk Mail-Out Day: August 26 Crazy Mail-Out Day: October 8th

3: Get Fanciful! Use your Fanciful Utility templates and techniques to make a project from the book, or copy your own from 19th century sources. We’ll all look forward to seeing your projects! You don’t have to sew right away, but don’t keep us waiting forever to see all the fun things!

(If you need a copy of Fanciful Utility, you can purchase them from the publisher at www.thesewingacademy.com

Fabric Guidelines:

For the cotton and silk categories, your fabric should be mid-nineteenth century appropriate. (If there is a want for an earlier or later group, we can do that.) Prints and motifs should reflect those available in the 1840s, 50s and 60s. Cotton should be 100% cotton. Silk should be 100% silk.
To keep the swap and sewing possibilities interesting, please avoid solids as best we can.
Fabrics that do not work well for sewing cases should not be swapped. These include sheers, gauzes, heavy, thick, easy-to-fray, slippery and stretch fabrics.
For the “crazy swap” category, think crazy quilt in a sewing case. This could include satins, velvets, textured fabrics. Quality synthetic fabrics are invited.

Q&A

Yes, you can participate in 1, 2 or 3 of the swaps.

Yes, if we end up with multiple groups, you can participate in more than one group to swap more fabric. If you participate in 2 groups, you should swap 2 fabrics.

Yes, you can swap large and small scale prints.

Yes, you can swap now and sew later.

Yes, we would love to see what you’ve made with the swapped fabric.

Yes, you can use your own fabric in your swapped project.

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Favorite Topics - Sewing Cases

on August 19, 2013 at 6:00 am Comments (10)

Bonnets of Summer… As summer winds down

Hello everyone! As the summer seems to have turned cool all too soon, school and fall are right around the corner. I am far from ready for that. I’ve have quite a bit of fun this summer making bonnets. I just love working with straw. I find the texture and the smell so very relaxing. I appreciate all my customers, returning and new.

Right now, I have an assortment of straw bonnet forms and finished drawn bonnets available. You can use my summer sale code (SUMMER10DOLLARS) for these bonnets. (This sale will end sometime around school starting.) Here are some photos I hope will tempt you…..

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Working on - For Sale

on August 14, 2013 at 8:51 pm Comments (1)

Maps of the Human Heart

This is a fun post about some Must See illustrations. Someone posted the Map of a Woman’s Heart on FB. Thank you to Beth and Micaila for pointing out more of the story. I would Love a poster of the woman’s and man’s hearts side-by-side. I think they are such quirky fun while being an interesting insight.

streetsofsalem

Heart-shaped maps are one thing, but maps of the human heart are quite another, and I’ve got both on this Valentine’s Day. The charting of emotional territory, as opposed to physical space, has resulted in the production of several interesting maps from the seventeenth century to the near-present. Below are the companion Map of the Open Country of a Woman’s Heart and Map of the Fortified Country of a Man’s Heart, ostensibly and anonymously drawn “by a lady” and published by the Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, Connecticut in the 1830s. These heart maps, along with lots of other examples of the Kellogg’s impressive lithography, can be viewed at the online gallery of the Connecticut Historical Society and Museum.

I’ve brightened and cropped both maps so that you can better see the different regions that make up these human hearts. It’s very interesting that the woman’s heart is an “open”…

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