Sharp(ie) Flowers

A Moya shirt made with dyed and printed fabric.

I’ve been experimenting with other ways to add color.  There are wonderful black on white fabric, some with large flowers.  I used Sharpie pens here.  Quick to color and definitely permanent!

The button is a found pebble with a hole–like a geode without the sparkle.

 

 

Back of sharpie shirt

Here’s a view of the back.

Several printed fabrics were included…dyed over white or gold on white fabric.

The fabric is a gold print of palm trees–makes me think of the South Carolina icon.

Someone saw my newest shirt and said that it looked like me.  (Hummmm.  They assured me that this was a good thing.)

Front (closed) of sharpie shirt

 

 

 

Another view of the front, with the overlay closed–overlay sounds better than flap 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Mickey Mouse Shirt

 

Mickey Mouse back

Just finished my Mickey Mouse shirt.  Depending how it’s said…that’s good, or bad!  

This uses a series of shirts with various graphics and dyed blue/green.  And, there are some shibori dyed pieces.

Someone enjoyed their trip to Disneyland…I enjoy their shirt!  And one of my favorites is the sheep that gets the middle spot.

 

 

 

Mickey Mouse front

Do what works…good words to live by. Think the toon green creature is freaked out by his neighbors or just freaky 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Love the Fitton

They offered me a t-shirt for the Fitton’s upcoming Season Launch (August 19 5-9pm everyone is invited) but I opted to make a summery shirt but with lots of the Fitton 🙂

Front of the I Love the Fitton Shirt

Starting with fabric dyed in Fitton red–some shibori and some pre-printed designs,  I added images from Fitton activities.

The Fitton Center for the Creative Arts is a community arts center in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.  See the new murals in downtown Hamilton–that’s Street Spark at work.  It’s partnership of the Fitton with the City of Hamilton.

The Big Blue Baby is quite the talk of Hamilton.

Back of the I Love the Fitton Shirt

I Love/heart the Fitton has Stephen Smith’s sketch of the Fitton.  And, of course I added pictures of the building, the bathroom (yup– the Fitton has the best bathrooms ever) and a wonderful photo of a youngster enjoying a class at the Fitton.  Fitton/Fitton/Fitton uses my rubber stamp of the name.

 

My Fitton shirt…so far.  With lots of room for more!

Summery shirts

Dipping into the stash bag is my favorite source for scrappy clothes. And, it’s a great way to use small pieces of fabric that I get from experimenting with dyeing.  Play with colors and techniques and use the results.

FIshy Fishy Front

Fishy Fishy is a summery top with cap sleeves, shaped lower hem and stamps, stencils and shibori prints.

Fishy Fish Back view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Stripes-Front view

Red stripes is an early version of the summery top.  It’s a simpler collage and includes a piece dyed with coreopsis–a natural dye.

Red Stripes – Back view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moonscape – front view

I cut in a big circle to put a motif in the center of the shirt.

Moonscape – back view

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orange shibori front

The first of the summery series.  The shibori (donut fold) is one of my favorites.  But, the shirt has too many parts–it’s the last time I put in separate sleeves.

Orange shibori back view

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding shapes to the body of the shirt and the lower hem were the goals of this series of shirts.

Rainbow Dyed

 

Series of fabric dyed in colors of the rainbow

With the recent event in Orlando, I wanted to do a Rainbow project to honor the resiliency of the LGBT movement.

First step for this project was to dye a series of fabrics in the color wheel series of colors.

I used fabric that is printed white on white.  The fabric paint that is printed on the fabric (white paint) acts as a resist to the dye.  The white dots are barely visible before dyeing.  After dyeing, the dots stand out!

Rainbow shirt

Next I stitched up the fabric to turn it into a summery shirt.

The fabric pieces were cut in half. The ends of the fabric were backed and then added as a decorative edge.

I used Butterick 5948 for the shirt–leaving the good folks at Butterick in charge of size and basic style. I did make a few changes.

I started by sewing long strips and then I cut out the pattern pieces.  The neck is enlarged a bit, then it was bound.  I modified the sleeves to be capped.  The length was shortened and the end fabric pieces were lined and then sewn to the bottom edge.

This series of dyed fabric will do double-duty as it became the header of the blog!

 

 

Under the Sea

 

Under the Sea

Under the Sea has the blues and greens reminding me of tropical water.

I found a series of blues and greens– all hand-dyed pieces.  Some are patterned with shibori techniques and some are done with white on white printed fabric.  The dots are done with small clamps.  The white print/paint acts as a resist–that’s the circles.

Under the Sea

I like to have pockets…the side seams were sewn up when I remembered.  So, I made up a couple pockets using some triangular scraps.

The back has lighter green pieces and more vertical stripes.

 

 

 

Finding Dory

Using the same pattern (Butterick 6171,) I incorporated fishy fabrics in Finding Dory.

I made up this shirt for a Fitton Center event which used Finding Dory as the theme.

 

 

 

Finding Dory

There’s a mixture of commercial fabrics and dyed pieces…the fish fabrics were leftovers from a project that I did for my great nieces who live in Florida.  The sleeve is indigo dyed with a shibori fold.

I couldn’t decide whether I liked one side or the other best, so I put pockets on both sides!

 

 

 

They gave me a t-shirt

The nice folks at Shared Harvest gave me a gift as a thank you for volunteering.  Their t-shirt was a generous gift.  But, it was lacking.

They gave me a tshirt

It needed some color.  It needed to be warmer to wear in the warehouse in the winter.  It needed COLOR.

So, I cut it up and dyed it…adding color using shibori techniques.  And, I combined it with other fabric friends to make a warm winter tunic.

Part of the Feeding America network, Shared Harvest works very hard to help feed the food insecure in Butler and the nearby counties.   As a food warehouse they provide food to local pantries.  And, they have special programs (Backpack and Senior food box) to feed the young and the old.

Shared Harvest hasn’t offered me another t-shirt.

The Fitton Art Center in Hamilton asked me to volunteer for an Open House.  So, I dyed up some fabric and made a vest in which I incorporated the Fitton logo.

The Fitton is a community arts center right on the Miami River amid downtown Hamilton.  There are lovely galleries that display work of artists from all over.  A theater and ballroom present musical and theatrical pieces and the Fitton offers a variety of classes.  The Fitton is a hub of the Hamilton arts scene.  Currently the Fitton is partnering with the city to paint murals on several downtown buildings.

The Fitton folks said they were going to give me a t-shirt.  But they didn’t.  Maybe they knew what happens to t-shirts that are given to me.

 

Zippy Jackets to De-Stash

De-Stash!!  That’s my new mission.  Pull out that fabric and use it.  Some fabric is hand-dyed/printed/tied and some is commercial.  Some big pieces and some small.  Most are pieced–like a quilt, I combine fabrics helping them play well with others!

Peppy Blue

Two zipper-front jackets used different fabrics for different effects.

Peppy Blue was made with a combination of cotton fabrics.  The body of the jacket was handwoven using ikat-indigo dyed yarn.  Ikat gives the white areas–that’s where the yarn was tied so the indigo couldn’t get in.  The handwoven is soft and has a nice drape.  The sleeves are commercial, also indigo dyed.

The jacket is zipper front–the white zipper works well with the ikat white spots.

V8779

The pattern that I used was from Vogue-Marcy Tilton.  #8779  It’s a great pattern–looks boxey, but with the right fabric it makes a fun, jacket with different fits/drapes.  Unfortunately, it’s now out of print (:

Because of the loose structure of the handwoven fabric, I finished some of the Peppy Blue seams with bias binding.

 

Basic Shapes

Another jacket with a different look is Basic Shapes.

I had a good sized piece of a fabric that I had printed in a workshop.  It sat in the stash box for years–too fun to throw, but not right for any project that was at hand.

I used the same pattern (V8779) and paired the printed fabric with denim.  I have a project that needed lots of denim–so I purchased used jeans from my local consignment/thrift store.  Now I have a big pile.

So, they’re going into clothing.  Cut and pieced.  One of the fronts I sewed with “outie” seams that I clipped.  After washing, the seams fuzz up–like chenille.  I modified the jacket a bit.  I like longer jackets (to cover my butt when I’m wearing leggings) but it was a bit long in the front, so I made a circular cut in the front.  Yup it’s shorter in the front–but not so visible in my pic.

This jacket is lined–that’s my choice when there are lots of seams.

Wow Meow

A shirt from shirts…from upcycled and dyed shirts!  And it has a cat and books to boot.  I wore this last night and it was most fun to get totally unsolicited compliments.  YAYAY!!

Upcycled tees

Switch Gears

Time to switch gears.

I’ve been posting about dyeing and using natural dyes.  I’ve searched my backyard and I’ve walked the neighborhood.  I’ve purchased dyes that were sustainable, and shipped from the other side of the world.  Fun to see what plants and some critters (cochineal) can do on fiber.  Here’s a shirt that’s pieced using indigo dyed fabric.

But after a while, I realized that most of what I was getting from my backyard was backyard yellow.  Yup, nice colors and fun to collect.   Combined with other dyes they give greens and oranges.  But, mostly yellows.

One day it occurred to me that I missed that burst of color that synthetic dyes give.  Bright colors.  Instant gratification.

So, I’m back to using synthetics.  Bright colors.  Combining lights and darks.  Mixing and matching.

Catalyst for Change

And, along the way I got into t-shirts, especially upcycled tees.  I’ve been rediscovering shibori–folding, tyeing, pressing to get patterns.

That’s fun.  And, the words and pictures on tee-shirts.  What fun to combine the words and graphics.  More funky!

Here’s one that is most appropriate–Catalyst for Change.

So, onward to new fun!