Special NameTape

The logo mentioned in the previous post is one I have used for my art business.

I still use that metal dye to mark my artwork.

So when I began to make ethnic clothing some years ago, I ordered a custom "name tape" to sew inside as a label.

The company that made this tape is still in business and can be found on:

http://www.sterlingnametape.com

Badges? Badges? We don't need no.......

Delving into my sewing drawer the other day, I unearthed this little badge/bag.

It is about 4 inches long, 3 inches wide and has a long with a long, closed loop attached.

Why would you make that, you ask?

At one time I belonged to a quilt group that was just forming and we had no official name tags or badges.

And, being tired of writing my name on a paper badge and slapping it on my shoulder,

And because I always had trouble locating my embroidery scissors, I made this small permanent badge.

I could put my little scissors into it, just loop over my head and march off to the meetings.

The fabric is a delicious scrap of some kind of miraculous canvas. I have no clue where it came from, being the fabric hoarder that I am, but it is not all cotton.

It must be some kind of commercial grade poly blend. But whatever it is, I sure wish I could get my hands on more. It goes into the washer and comes out looking exactly the same.

The inner lining is another scrap of decorator fabric from a sample tablet I scrounged from somewhere. (I have boxes of this stuff.) It makes a very nice surprise when you lift the fold-over.

The strapping and trim is made from yet another scrap of felty-fake-leather-y fabric.

And the knot for the loop is made by taking a bit of this, making it into a tape and then tying it into a monkey's fist knot.

The logo on the front is made with Coats & Clark cotton embroidery thread over a free-hand pencil copy of my logo.

Previously, I used this logo for a metal dye and stamp made to mark my art books and books I want to keep in my collection.

Later on, the metal dye became a stamp for my clay pottery.

I still use it at times on my clay art, but only on pieces that have a flat bottom.

Progress.....

The old kitchen was charming, but old, decrepit and worn out.

The drawers were the old style--wood sliding on wood--and every time I pulled one out, I was making sawdust in the bottom of the cabinet or into the drawer beneath.

When they were taken out and the wall boards removed, we found there was no insulation whatsoever between the interior walls and the shiplap or wooden walls behind the studs.

The roof was the same, except there had been a flat ceiling before and a modicum of insulation blown in there.

Above all that, a beautiful ceiling had been hiding.

I wish we could leave it like this, but insulation is needed. So the ceiling will be brought to code by adding more rafters and laying in batts of insulation.

Instead of a flat, low ceiling, we now have a lofty, airy one! Yea

Renovation Revolution

Coffee and Dog Food are now available in the guest bathroom,

dinner will be served in the Living Room,

and the laundry room is the new multi-purpose room.

The kitchen renovation has begun!

Mirror or Shishah Cloth - I

Shishah or mirror cloth is made in areas of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Wikipedia says:

"Shisheh (Persian: شيشه) embroidery, or mirror-work, is a type of embroidery which attaches small pieces of mirrors reflective metal to fabric. The term "shisheh" means glass in Persian, from where the word transferred to Urdu/Hindi and other related languages. Shisheh embroidery was brought to India by the Persian Mogul Dynasty and is now most common on the Indian subcontinent especially in parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. This type of embroidery lends a sparkling appearance to the brightly-colored clothes worn in the region, and is very popular for use on clothing, hangings, and domestic textiles.

Shisheh is also used to describe the small mirrors purchased for use in embroidery, which come in varying shapes and sizes. Traditionally, shisheh work was done using mica flakes, but was later subsumed by glass blown into large thin bubbles and broken into small pieces for this use. Contemporary shisheh work almost entirely consists of mass-produced, machine-cut glass shishah with a silvered backing."

Antique pieces are becoming more recognized as pieces of art and the price of good examples is rising.

Contemporary cloth artists are also incorporating shishah or shisha into their work. Linda Matthews of http://www.LindaMathews.com has a great tutorial and beautiful example of using shisha in embroidery today:

A well photographed and clear tutorial is also available on shishah stitching on: www.joyfulabode.com/2008/02/12/tutorial-indian-shisha-mirror-embroidery

Time Out

Well.

It's been a while.

We're in the throes* of all-consuming kitchen renovation planning. Ugh!

*The other day I saw that someone wrote 'throws'. Maybe that's right after all.

Decisions, decisions. My head is spinning with cabinet fronts, appliance specs, electrical wiring layouts, blueprints, estimates, etc.

We have spent 3 days, so far looking at humongous slabs of granite, soapstone, marble. How do you balance beauty and practicality?

Like the Mud Lady in the mop ad, I stuck to a beautifully undulating-patterned, buttery sea of slab of marble. Going back to look at my kitchen brought me back down to reality and I realized it was infatuation, not a marriage. I'd still like to live with that slab of rock in my house. It was beautiful. But soapstone it will be for the countertops.

So be warned, fair reader, I will probably subject you to the agony and the ecstasy of renovation.

Altering Clothes

I buy men's shirts and alter them.

One of the reasons why I like men's shirts is they are usually made of better fabric.

They are sewn up better, most of the seams are French seams.

The shirts last longer and have roomier armholes, shoulders and sleeves.

The pleat in the back also gives a more comfortable fit.

A lot of the time, the permanent press is better too.

I customize the shirts by removing the collar, but leave the base portion intact to make a band collar.

I sometimes cut off the shirt tail too. The shirts have a longer cut and removing the shirt tail doesn't change the shirt that much. But it does give it a better line and proportion for me.

Besides, if you cut the shirt tail off, the re-designed shirt can now be worn over a T-shirt and look more like a tailored top. And a shorter shirt fits underneath a blazer or jacket.