The Heart Wants, What the Heart Wants...

Be it man or...fabric.

In my case it was fabric. Maybe I didn't fall in love with enough "Bad Boys" in my youth so I am trying to make up for it now by falling in love with "Bad Fabrics" Who knows? I just know that I was bound and determined to make this stuff work!

So I set out to tame this slippery, slidey fabric that wanted to disintegrate at the slightest touch. I searched the archives of PatternReview.com and the CMNewsletter. I re-read my favorite books on the subject: Sandra Betzina's More Fabric Savy and Claire Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide



Both great references for working with any kind of fabric. I was going to go into this fully armed.

After some trial and error, I found that I needed a VERY gentle hand in every stage of the cutting and construction process. From the finest needle, to the lightest of pressure from both the iron and the pressure foot.

I even replaced the standard needle in my BabyLock Evolve with a very fine Microtex** to do Kayla Kennington's rolled hem technique. I feared that even the finest ELX705 needle would just shred the silk and, if not immediately, would eventually just pull away from the edge. As you can see here, it worked beautifully:



Notice how the look of braiding was achieved by the use of different colors of Rayon threads. To get this look I used a very dark Peacock Blue in the upper looper, Lt. Peacock Blue that almost dissapeared, in the lower looper and a lovely and unexpected Golden Tan in the needle position.

Where two seams were attached to each other, I used a multi-stitch zig-zag with a verigated metalic Sulky thread in shades of Aqua, Gold and Lavender.

At the seams with the greatest stress, like the shoulders and where the ties would go, I fused silk organza strips along the edge prior to serging, in the hope that it would keep the seam from slipping.

Next up~ Softening up that print...

**A word of warning: ELX and Microtex needles are of different lengths, I believe the Microtex are a smidge longer. I asked my dealer about the advisability of using the Microtex in my Evolve and his response was "Well, if your not hearing anything funny or having any problems, I don't see why you can't" While I wouldn't exactly call that an endorsement, I, personally (nor did my machine) suffer any ill effects from using them in my Evolve for this project. Your mileage may vary...

Can I be her when I grow up?

Kayla Kennington is an Artiste Extraordinaire!

I have long admired her work and collected her patterns with dreams of some day incorporating a little of her genius into my own art.

As many of you already know, my first attempt at this was for VBG, where I used Kayla's unique seaming technique quite successfully. Here are a couple of close-ups of that:



After that I was hooked! I wanted to jump in to the deep end and make one of Kayla's amazing patterns! In July of this year I had the perfect excuse, my cousin was getting married in a small ceremony on the beach in Carmel, CA. and she wanted all of the guests to wear 'Ocean' blues.

I decided to make "Fantasia"


This is a beautiful jacket pattern I have had in my stash since it first came out. It is really quite simple when made as drafted, composed of mainly rectangles and triangles.

Of course, my brain just can't comprehend things like 'simple' or 'easy' nooo...that would be, well, too easy ;-) and apparently I must prefer my life a little more complicated.

The examples of finished garments made from this pattern on Kayla's site are truly astounding and inspiring! The one that really got my creative juices flowing was the floral silk georgette summer dress. Perfect! Except that the dress is not a draft that is included in the pattern. I did say that "Fantasia" is a jacket pattern, didn't I? But after seeing that summer dress, I had my heart set on making Fantasia into a dress for the wedding!

Since this pattern is comprised of mainly rectangles, it should be a fairly simple thing to just lengthen them all and make a dress. Right? Wrong! There are also triangles. Lots of triangles. And when you add triangles, you go from simple math to geometry. When I said my brain didn't like simple, this was NOT what I was talking about!

So what a girl to do? Call the designers website contact number for tech support, what else? I called on a Saturday afternoon, 'cause, well that was when I was getting frustrated. Not really expecting an answer, I got a recording of Ms. Kennington herself saying she was on the road until the following day. I hung-up without leaving a message.

Imagine my utter shock when the phone rang the following day, Sunday, and it was Ms. Kennington calling to say that she saw I had called, recognized my name on the caller ID (what? who? me???) and wanted to know how she could help me. OMG! It took me a second (OK a really long second) to compose myself enough to ask her about the dress draft.

We had a wonderful conversation and I must say that she is the kindest, patient and most generous woman you could ever hope to meet. She freely shared drafting help with me, even going so far as to tell me what size my rectangles should be based on my measurements and my height.

Kayla, if you happen to be reading this, Thank you Thank you Thank you! You are the best! I am just sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted, please see 'I am a baaad blogger' ;-)

Coming up: The journey of the Beach Fantasy Dress and Falling in Love with the Wrong Fabric ~

I'm Published!

Last summer Anne Marie Soto, the Editor of Notions, asked me to write an article on using Tyvek. Apparently after seeing how I had used this great stuff on VBG, she thought her readers would like a How-to article. I was more than happy to oblige, but nervous as all get out!

With more than a few false starts, a computer crash, LOTS of help from my friends (Thank you Denise and Marylynn!) and Anne Marie's mad editorial skills my article was published in the Summer '08 issue of Notions.

For those of you not familiar with Notions, it is a great trade mag published by the American Sewing Guild, or ASG. ASG is a wonderful non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sewing as a rewarding and creative activity. They do a great job!

Oh, and if it weren't for the loving support and encouragement I got from Anne Marie, VBG would never have seen the light of day!

Stay tuned for the Tyvek Tutorial...

SewExotic Adventures

Why 'SewExotic'? Because I love to sew and I love to travel to exotic places and I really love to combine the two! As in finding great handwoven textiles, incorporating architectural design elements, inspired color combinations, ethnic design, etc. into my creations.

So I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos from my trips to Morocco ~ Who knows maybe you will find some SewExotic Inspiration too!

This was taken at a party we were having in the Riad one night. First let me just say for the record that I hate having my picture taken. Hate it, hate it, hate it! Probably because I will then have to actually see the *usually* embarrassing results that show without mercy every lump, bump, crooked jaw and flaw that I prefer to live in denial about ;-) Now that I've got that out of the way, I actually LOVE this picture!

The Guembri/Sintir is hiding all the really bad bits and as you can see from the look on our faces, we were having a magical time!

Don't you just love their costumes? Speaking of costumes...

And here is one for the boys ;-)


Now that I've got a small sample of the 'ethnic' shown, albeit in the form of Kitschy Costume for the Tacky Tourist, I will move on to some more traditional everyday, about town fun.

But that will have to wait for Part two as blogger insists on putting every pic at the TOP of my post. errrg!

40 Tips for an Exceptional, Superb & Powerful Life!

I just got this e-mail from my dear friend MaryLynn and I loved it so much I had to share. I hope you like it, too!

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These are really very powerful. Implement whatever you can.

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3. Tape your late night shows and get more sleep.
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to__________ _ today.'
5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.
18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy lingerie (not you guys.) Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
32. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
33. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
34. The best is yet to come.
35. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
36. Do the right thing!
37. Call your family often.
38. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: 'I am thankful for __________.' Today I accomplished _________.
39. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
40. Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

May your troubles be less,
May your blessings be more,
May nothing but happiness come through your door!