Decisions, decisions...

Wow.  I know I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't been doing anything interesting up until very recently.  Lately it's just been a mixture of attempting to finish up old quilts, starting new projects and "commissions" (no, not paid), and figuring out my life plan!

When school ended, so did my internship with a designer that I had been working for on-and-off for about a year.  She's a Chicago fashion designer (with really cute things, actually!), her name is Anastasia Chatzka and I had such a great experience working for her.  My main duties were to construct various garments for her boutique like skirts and dresses, adjust patterns, work events... (now I sound like I'm writing a resume).  It was at times grueling, especially in her studio without proper air conditioning in 90+ degree weather in July, but I really had a blast and learned so much that I wouldn't have been able to learn in the classroom.  When I look back on the day I left, I feel that I didn't properly thank her for the experience and knowledge I gained that I so greatly appreciated, so I decided the right thing to do was to make her an applique quilt!  I know I've been pretty much making tattoo appliques exclusively, but I thought, "Wouldn't a logo translate well with applique, too?"

My inspiration was the back of her business card:

And this is my loose interpretation:

(I hadn't sewn the binding down on the back yet, so if you're wondering why the binding is horribly misshapen...) I even put a sleeve on the back to hang with a dowel!  I can safely say that this is the very first quilt that I had started and finished all by myself (even the quilting!)

My parents were so impressed by how well it turned out, they suggested making applique quilts of businesses' logos as a business.  I have found an excuse to dismiss every business venture they have suggested, as they are big proponents of being your own boss.  The experience of making this logo quilt was very enjoyable, though, and I wouldn't mind doing it for a living, but are businesses willing to shell out cash for a wall hanging of their logo made out of fabric?  I'm skeptical.  But my parents are unrelenting, so my mom has asked me to make one for the medical coding company she works for.

Here is their logo:

And here is what I have so far:

This is my attempt to show gradation with fabric.  I had to buy a purple fat quarter bundle online in order to get those in-between colors as my local fabric store sucks and does not have much of a purple selection apparently (*coughJOANNScough*).

And I have a few updates on my tattoo quilts in progress.  The quilt of my own tattoo is coming along nicely...

Honestly, this picture doesn't really do the silk dupioni justice, the colors pop much, much more in person.  I'm almost done with the top and have decided to make it a horizontal orientation.  I hope to finish it by the end of the month (I'm trying to be realistic).  Even since this picture was taken I have added a line of clouds in the background with silver metallic thread!  I still need to add music notes and the text.

Here is how my koi fish is coming along:

So far, I have quilted all of the black outlines, the inside of the waves, and a portion of the background with that metallic silver thread.  It is proving to be a little difficult to work with, as the inner thread is maybe like, a ply and a half with metallic crap twisted around the outside of it.  Very frequently the tension of the eye of my machine's needle pushes the metallic part off and then the inner thread breaks. This is very frustrating since the quilting design of slightly curved lines close together that I decided to do for the background, which seemed simple in my brain, is now TAKING FOREVER.  The pure labor alone would make this quilt a million dollars.  Well, not literally.  I just keep telling myself that it'll look awesome when it's done (whenever that will be).

And now here I am with piles of unfinished work.  Not too sure where this whole thing is going, but we'll see what happens! It's been tough trying to figure out my place in the sewing world, but I seem to be gravitating toward quilting and fiber arts rather than fashion right now.  I've been considering careers in quilting.  Shall I even utter the "L-A" word?  No, maybe not just yet...

Sailing Away...

As I continue my adventure into raw-edge applique quilting, I have found that it is taking no time at all (relatively) to finish these quilt tops!  I am so used to the long process of designing a garment, creating a pattern, sewing the sample, finding fit adjustments and fixing the pattern, then sewing the garment in final fabric.  All for one garment!  It's only been about 4 or 5 weeks and I already have 3 (and a half) quilt tops done!

I have set aside the quilt of my own tattoo to finish the pirate ship quilt.  This is what I have so far:

All the applique is done, but I still have to add the satin-stitching of the swirlies around the sides and some seagulls.  I bought some quilting stencils from The Stencil Company with a nautical theme, so I'm excited to incorporate those somehow.

The two other tops that I have finished have a backing and have been quilted, but just around the main image and its details.  They still have yet to be quilted around the sides and have a binding put on.  This the most recent one I finished :

I really wanted to experiment with sewing curvy lines, and it actually was pretty fun!  This design has been the most difficult one to stitch so far.  The sheer amount of satin stitching for the scales and fins was the biggest pain, along with layering the water splashes and stitching around those tight curves.  You can see my attempt to add a quilting pattern on the top left side, which I have tried to sew with my machine's free motion spring foot but I just can not get the hang of it!

This is the very first design I attempted:

It's a sugar skull from the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  I thought it would be fun to play with the colors, especially with the selection I have of silk dupioni fat quarters I received for Christmas this past year.  This one's a little rough, and there are definitely things about it I would change... like not making him look so angry... but this one proved to be a very good learning experience.

So I continue to sail on with this applique quilting thing... once I finish the quilt top of my tattoo I will be on the hunt for my next design inspiration...

Quilt Show

I am a no longer a Quilt Show virgin!  This past weekend was the Batavia Quilt Show and the gown I had designed for my Senior Thesis collection was on exhibit.  While I did not win any awards (boo) it was fun to see my dress on display (and doing something other than hanging in a closet!)

I was amazed to see all the different types of quilts on display and felt that the efforts and great designs were very inspiring.  

The quilt show has refueled my vigor for sewing, and today I continue working on my tattoo quilts. This one I had started over a week ago but was waiting on the background fabric.  Now that it is here, I'm excited to move forth!  More pics to come when I am further along...

To Quilt or Not to Quilt...

After a long two year stint of non-stop garment sewing, I have decided to set aside the headaches of zippers, buttons, even hems, and fitting, and trade them for the headaches of my new endeavor:  Raw-Edge Applique Quilting.  Like I've said before, patchwork quilting isn't really my thing and I have always been attracted to art quilts but wasn't sure how to dive in.

I've been told by some seasoned quilters that art quilts are "hard" and a beginner like me shouldn't even try until I've done a few more patchwork quilts.  This sounded like a challenge to me.  But instead of trying it without any kind of knowledge of how to do it at all (like I usually do), I at least went on a hunt for a book about it.  I stumbled across a book by Leni Levenson Wiener called "Photo-Inspired Art Quilts,"  which not only has examples of her intricate and beautiful photo-quilts, but she also includes detailed instructions on how to create your own!

Although I was ready to jump right in, it did seem a little out of my league still.  So I tried to think of images that weren't as detailed as photos but could still transfer well into an image that can be made out of fabric.  That's when I thought: Tattoos!  I LOVE tattoo art, especially traditional tattoo flash.  I have a few tattoos of my own that I got mainly when I was too young to think of an actual good tattoo idea (but we won't talk about that...) I do have one that I'm particularly proud of on my upper back.  I got it done in the fall of 2008 by a really great artist in Chicago.  This was the second tattoo he's done for me, and it was well worth the money!  It's the coolest tattoo ever, but unfortunately it's on my back... so I can't see it!  That's when I thought of making it into an applique quilt.

I took a photo of it, printed it, enlarged it x3 by hand, cut out the pieces in cotton and 100% silk dupioni (one of my all-time favorite fabrics) and now am in the stage of having my main image but no background to put it on (I still have yet to rifle through my stash and find some suitable background fabric.) My hope is to finish by this weekend.

I think it's going pretty well.  I can't wait until it's a wall-hanging and finally be able to look at my tattoo!

New Venture...

So this is blogging.  For years I had heard of blogging, even used some tutorials in blogs to help me out of sticky sewing situations, but never thought of creating my own.  Now that I have graduated with my degree in Fashion Design (making me unemployed) it gives me much free time to work on my own projects and share with those who also enjoy the creative process.

I call myself a "radical seamstress" because I feel that I have never really belonged to any one group of sewing enthusiasts.  While studying fashion in school I was outcast because I found myself not being interested in "high fashion."  I was more interested in creating fun, colorful clothing for every day people, which did not go over well with my instructors or fellow classmates, for some reason.  After taking a quilting class, I yet again felt outcast, not only because I was the youngest person there (being 21 at the time), but I was more drawn to quilting as art rather than piecing blocks.  My personal style is also a little "unconventional" for traditional quilters, me having several tattoos and enjoying a little rock n' roll.

While I appreciate high fashion and patchwork quilting, neither defined me as a seamstress.  So now I am trying to find that definition by working on as many projects as I can handle while finding my niche in the fashion/sewing/quilting/textile design/whatever is creative industry.

I plan on posting pictures (and maybe some tutorials) on past and current projects, so follow my journey on defining myself and redefining the word "seamstress".