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The Newest Rag for June 2008 is here!
Click here to download it
Did you miss out on the past issues of The Rag? No problem, you can download all current and back issues on the "Newsletter" page of this website.
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NEW: Kimono Scarves: The Cathay Vest & Jacket pattern has been reprinted due to popular demand. If you haven’t had the opportunity to add this to your Design & Sew collection, now is the time. We have already presold about half of these patterns to our wholesale customers, so please act quickly if you want this pattern. The price is $12 plus $3 p&h. To view and order this pattern click here. Designer Templates Now Available! All Fabrics Now on Sale for $9.95! |
In the Studio - 2 - Vest/Skirt
In the Studio - 3 - Jacket/Blouse
In the Studio - 4 - Ponchos
In the Studio - 5 - Pillows
In the Studio - 6 - Jacket
Other patterns to check out:
Button-Down #340 & My Favorite Pants #341
Book special: Opening & Closing, Options and What Goes Around for $42.00.
Click here for details
My goal in presenting the Design & Sew Collection of patterns is to make sewing more personal, more rewarding and definitely more fun! What a difference there is when you sew creatively. Your whole wardrobe can be unique, the everyday choice can be an 'event.'
When contemplating a new design for a pattern, I think about how all the parts make the whole.
A unique closure, unusual pockets or interesting sleeve treatments are considered.Textured or manipulated surfaces can be created with ordinary cloth to add a special quality to a garment, one that deserves a second look. In the Design & Sew pattern instructions the last page is called Options. This page features many ideas to prompt the sewers imagination and to encourage creativity. One avid 'fan' says, "The first thing I check out, in the new pattern, is the innovative ideas -there for the taking."
How do we get ideas? Sharpen your awareness in several areas, not necessarily related to sewing.! One important way to do this is to look at the way things work, the way things open or fasten or fold or expand or condense or layer or ? Think about it. Your next garment could fasten the same way as the
limited edition book at the Art Show you recently visited. The new jacket design could be inspired by the carved door at the museum or the curving stairway in the old mansion on the house tour.A few years ago I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Japan. Most all the pictures I took were closeups of building materials, rocks, trees, stone streets, etc. that I then translated to fabric textures. This experience inspired me to re-focus on the techniques I've used in the past. Just when there seems to be nothing new to experiment with.... not so, I find! I love it!
I was definitely in my element in Japan. I enjoyed seeing first hand the simplicity and sense of design in Japanese art. The designs on kimono fabric are exquisite and understated. If a former life is possible, this Swedish woman ... was Japanese.
Making it come together!Combine a lovely red rayon/wool with a great pattern (#308) the 1st Class Shirt, add the black textured dinner napkins for the 'pages' /cuffs and you have a sure winner! The red embroidered flower on the black is from my CD "Studio Designs". The stencil for the leaves can be found in the Revisions website. Another possibility would be to use the stamps from the Purrfection website for the stems and leaves.
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