Bye Bye Birdie, Fangirl outfits.

All told, Costume Crew made 15 fanclub outfits in all.  That's 15 jackets, 15 Conrad Birdie Fan Club appliques on each jacket, 15 skirts and 15 guitars and 60 notes for each skirt.  This was definitely a group effort!  We were all sick of them by the time opening night came around but...

 

 

...as you can see they looked pretty great on stage!

Fan Club Jacket

Conrad Birdie Fan Club logo design. The font is a modified Giddy Up and the inspiration was basically an Aeropostale hoodie.  I had to print it backwards, trace onto Wonder Under and then carefully cut it out.

The first applique I did onto a knit because it won't fray but it does this annoying curly thing so I scrapped that.



 

The second applique I did onto blue felt.  The jacket is made from a cream colored polyester gabardine which looks nice but is a huge pain to sew.   It frays as much as costume satin.  There's going to be a little bird added to the jacket but I have to have someone try it on first to see where it'll look good.  The 'fan club' part is stenciled and painted.  I didn't want to applique that part.

From Design to Fabric!

I got my swatches from Spoonflower today!   What I have learned is that in printing fabric, blue is pretty much a crapshoot.  My royal blues and periwinkles came out purple (and not the blue side of purple either) and the pinks and reds that I had thought were on the bluer side came out printed more orangey--but still pretty close.  Interestingly, the group of designs that came out best were the ones that were direct scans of original artwork that had minimal photoshopping (meaning I didn't fool with the color at all, just the design.)

This bunch came out perfect!

These were disappointingly purple but wouldn't you know, dang it, that they look BLUE again on my monitor, 'cept the Eggplants, they're straight up purple and not giving it up.  I am going to have to make a conversion chart.


 

Patriotic Super Stars

My entry into the Spoonflower's Stars and Stripes Contest.  There are lots of vote-worthy designs this week.  Take a look and choose your faves.

Subtle Design

When I make a design sure I want it to catch people's attention.  It should jump out and say "YO!  HERE I AM!!" (especially if it's part of a Spoonflower contest) shouldn't it?  But sometimes you just want a fabric with a bit of design to make things visually interesting but not so much that it dominates the whole room or outfit or quilt it's going to be a part of.  When you consider what you personally might do with a fabric would you want such a bold design? The above design, called "Circle Star" I think works best as a tone on tone but it can carry a two color scheme as well.  If you are a Spoonflower contest voter and you feel this design is worthy, give it a click in this week's limited palette contest.  The palette is the purple and green and the theme is 'geometric.'  There are a lot of great In-Your-Face designs in the contest this week and I voted for a lot of them, but I didn't discount some of the more subtle designs.  You shouldn't either (and I'm not just saying that because I want your vote.)

Glue Batik Redo

I had tried a glue batik tutorial with less than stellar results but I decided to try it again with a lighter colored shirt this time.  My daughter had spilled chocolate on one of her favorite shirts and it went through the dryer (setting in the stain for life) before I noticed it.  One of the best candidates for dying, IMO, is a shirt with a stain.  Also, last time I used acrylic paint mixed with a textile medium.  This time I used actual dye.

This is the result and it was much better than my previous attempt.

I made this as a get well card for my Mom (who doesn't actually listen to Jay-Z but I thought she'd find it funny anyway) plus she's an amazing quilter and seamstress. 

Happy Easter!

You'd think with this being such a mild Winter, I'd be all set for Easter, but no. Haven't dyed eggs, haven't decorated, haven't bought candy OR a ham. Why is it when you get older EVERYTHING sneaks up on you? The good news is that with this being such a mild Winter that we have an actual Spring Break this year which is almost unheard of. Not one single snow day! I hope that all of you have a lovely Easter!

New ACEO series

I've been working something new on that I am very excited about! When you create ACEOs you can do two types of editions. One kind is to create copies of an ACEO, number them and sell them until they are gone. These are called limited editions. Another kind is to create a set of artworks that are part of a series. The above is, right now, all one image but soon, it will be nine different ACEOs entitled "Spring Fever" 1-9. It's almost too pretty to cut but I'm going to do it anyway.

Paisley of the Week - Paisley Girl

I haven't done a Paisley of the Week since before Christmas and for that I appologize. I've been lazy about it to be honest preferring to take the passive approach that if I saw a worthy paisley, I'd post it. Mousing around on Etsy this morning I found this super cool watercolor "Paisley Girl" by Jessica Stride of Purple Tree Bird on Etsy. I love her style, it's whimiscal and weird which is a lovely combination. It's reminiscent of Teesha Moore who motivated my Person-a-Day project. Synchronicity at work, eh? Be sure to visit the Purple Tree Bird blog as well!

Paisley of the Week! Mom & Me aprons

How cute are these?   Your young helper in the kitchen will love teaming up with you in matching paisley aprons while you bake cookies for Santa or a homemade holiday meal.  Comes with a matching set of napkins!

Wednesday Doodles in Color

Crayons.

Sharpies

Blue Pen

Paisley of the Week! Hand Painted Record Clock

How cool is this?  I found this unique timepiece in the Etsy shop of Kailey Hawthorn, also known as Studio K.  This clock is crafted out of an old recycled LP (that's a vinyl record for those of you born after the 80's) and hand painted with gorgeous blue paisley!  Studio K also offers many other hand painted goodies such as custom designed letters and numbers, clocks and original artwork. 

Watery Color on a Rainy Tuesday

I've been having fun trying out watercolor pencils (as I have dearth of non-dried out markers right now) and so far I've been pleased with the results. 

Blue Shirt + Blue Glue = Batik pt.2

Okay, so here is the end result.  I couldn't locate the camera when I did the painting part.  I think I didn't choose colors that contrasted enough with the original color of the shirt.  You can see my glue design but it's faint.  I think if the shirt had been lighter or white it would have turned out more pronounced.

 This is the back of the shirt.  It came out a bit better than the front.  I'm going to try this again on a white shirt next time.

Blue Shirt + Blue Glue = Batik pt.1

I ruined my favorite blue shirt by being overzealous with bleach in my laundry.  Rather than use it as a rag or a grungy painting shirt I decided to give it a glue batik, a technique I've been wanting to try.  So this is step one, applying blue gel glue.  I have done traditional hot wax batik before and the glue acts pretty much the same only it takes 24 hours to dry.  On the other hand, no burns which is definitely a plus!  So when it dries and I paint it, I'll post the next part.  I'm thinking green and purple.   

Paisley(s) of the Week! Crochet Pattern and ACEO

Last week I was on vacation and so I was unable to post a Paisley of the Week! for you all.  This week, to make up for it, you get a two-fer!  I have two excellent artists to highlight.

First is this fun and very cool Paisley Magic Crochet Pattern I found in Allescaro by Ch1306 's Etsy shop.  I haven't done any crochet in ages but this is very appealing both because it's a small project that can be finished quickly and it's portable.  Once  you crochet these paisleys in your fave colors you can applique them to all sorts of things like quilts or handbags.  Be sure to check out the whole Etsy shop for unique and adorable Amigurumi, dolls and patterns.

Next is this lovely ACEO titled Paisley-Blue by ArtByBeata.  ACEOs are a favorite art form of mine, they're like baseball cards only way more interesting.  They are an excellent way to start an art collection without breaking your budget.  Beata has many ACEOs and plenty of great artwork in her shop.  Be sure to take a look.

Paisley of the Week! Vintage Poker Chip Pendant

Hello again Paisley fans! After a long hiatus, I've decided to start Paisley of the Week! again. The reason is that Etsy has changed it's search engine to show relevant results instead of most recent. Bad news for people who used renewing as their main sales tool, good news for buyers who want to find what they are really looking for! Finding a whole crop of awesome paisleys got me all excited and I had to share!

This week's Paisley of the Week is this very cool, vintage poker chip pendant made by Kathy of Kathy Lambert Designs.  I just love blue and green together, it's very serene.

 

Be sure to also check out Kathy's blog and the other hand crafted goodies in her shop.  Have a great week and if you, or someone you love, has a suggestion for the Paisley of the Week, please leave me a comment!

Star Wishes

I'm working on a new collection to compliment this design that I created a while ago.  Looking at my designs, I notice that I tend toward blue and pink a LOT!  I'm imagining another children's theme with this one. 

Wordless Wednesday