Sewing clothes and having doubts.

Posted on 21.Mar.13 by kait

I have been a bit obsessed with the idea of sewing clothes lately. While I’ve never felt up to taking The Sew Weekly challenge or anything, I love the idea of making everything I can.

I learned to sew clothing about 6 years before I learned to quilt. I still have my first dress and although I never fully sewed on the lining and the zipper was inserted incorrectly, it’s not so bad. Currently, half of my dresses are made by me and while I’ve dabbled in tops and pants, I’d really like to expand my skills.

I completed this Cynthia Rowley dress a little while ago, made from a Khristian Howell fabric I fell in love with last year. I didn’t love the dress while I was working on it but by the time it was finished and I tried it on, I loved it.

My favorite part is the orange plaid pockets. If I make this again I will definitely shorten the bodice and maybe add an A-line skirt instead.

I am currently working on the Banksia top from Megan Nielsen and it’s needing a little altering. Hopefully though, it will be a staple piece. Then after that, I have this whole stack of fabric all washed and ready to become more dresses and tops, including my first ever voile purchase!

Stack includes, from top to bottom, Cameo voile by Amy Butler, Grey posies by Denyse Schmidt, Downtown Los Angeles by Jay McCarroll, Habitat by Michelle D’Amore, Nettie dot by Timeless Treasures, and Washi by Rashida Coleman Hale.

I have focused on clothing lately because I’m beginning to doubt my ability to do quilt commissions. I usually work well under pressure but the couple of times I’ve gone past a deadline, I’ve completely torn myself up about it. I don’t like disappointing people. I don’t like having to tell them that I’ve let them down. But is avoiding situations where that might happen the best way to deal with it?

Do you make quilts by commission? Do you have a contract of some sort you give the person? What does that entail? Is trial by error a good way to develop a business?

Happy New Year!

Posted on 11.Jan.13 by kait

I’m ready for this to be the best year of my life.

2012 was a tumultuous year, but one filled with a lot of personal growth. I’m excited to be living by myself with my puppies, dating such a wonderful guy, and being able to make money doing what I love. Here’s to a productive and rewarding new year!

Here are a few things I finished last year

1. Pin cushion, 2. IMG_0126, 3. Crafty organizer, 4. IMG_0142, 5. IMG_0152, 6. Finally! A finished dress, only two and a half years after I started it. Blogged soon., 7. for erik, 8. For Silas, 9. Clothespin bag for Charla, 10. For Kyle, 11. IMG_0125, 12. Tea cup journal cover, 13. Travel embroidery kit, 14. Baby quilt, 15. Tonight’s accomplishment: 18 lined zippered pouches. Now to bed!, 16. It’s Blowy Out There., 17. Patchwork dinner napkins, 18. IMAG0981, 19. LMP+QG: January: colored pencil roll, 20. Stacked Coins, 21. Rosie Peanut, 22. IMAG0632, 23. Duvet cover from LMP+QG, 24. Little Bits., 25. LMP+QG July: Pincushions

I finished 10 quilts in all, numerous other projects, and sold at four craft fairs.

Thanks for continuing to read my blog, despite my often erratic postings. That is also a new years goal so help me stick with it! Other goals are completing 15 quilts, reading at least one book a month, and keeping up with my One Line A Day journal.

Here’s to the best year in all our lives.

Things.

Posted on 12.Nov.12 by kait

Things have been a little up and down around here lately. A good friend passed last week and I traveled to spend some much needed time with my best friend as a result.

Moving past the sadness, it’s craft fair prep time! I’m doing two next month within two weeks of each other so I’ll just be making as much as I possibly can! I still have a good amount left over from the spring shows and things I started putting together but never finished. I used up all my zippers last time so I ordered some more, from the super fast ZipIt. I got an assortment of 12″ ones:and some 14″ metal ones which I’m pretty excited about:If all goes according to plan, I’ll have 6 quilts to sell, including this one. I posted a few different layouts last week on Instagram and this one seemed to be a hit so I added a couple more rows and columns and pieced it in a couple hours. A friend said it reminds her of the wind so I’m calling it “It’s Blowy Out There.” It’s made of scraps and FreeSpirit solids in Arctic White.I also ordered some Moo MiniCards to use as price tags and am working on printing some bags with my logo with my still unused Gocco Printer. I think layout and packaging is one of the most fun parts!

While visiting my friend she gave me a TON of fabric. This roll is nearly 18 yards! I really like the design but I have no idea what I’m going to do with that much! It’s a home dec weight cotton. Upholster a couch and make curtains? That would be a little too mid-century overload. Clothing for me and my 5 closest friends? A little too VonTrapp family! I’ll figure something out :)

Okay, back to the sewing table!

The post craft fair calm. Sort of.

Posted on 23.Jul.12 by kait

The Krankies Craft Fair on Saturday went pretty well. The spring one is never as good as Christmas, which makes sense, but I had a good time and gained a little bit of a fabric budget :)

I also bought some really neat things like a t-shirt and screen print on wood from a really nice guy named Thomas Dean from Charlottesville, VA and a couple prints from Blue Raspberry Designs who is from here. It was a really good fair as far as vendors go.

For the last printing of my business cards I got my Etsy shop address on them, a shop that I’ve never actually opened. But now, I have enough things left over that I have no reason to not finally sit down, photograph, and post everything. I’m just not sure what to do about having 30 $5 things… Do I post them all separately and pay the posting fee? Do any of you sellers have any tips?

So now that that deadline has passed, I have two quilt commissions due in three weeks and July’s Last Minute Patchwork project which actually, proudly, I have already gotten to the quilting phase and made the binding for. Hopefully everything else will go as smoothly!

From zero to hyperspeed.

Posted on 15.Jul.12 by kait

I haven’t had any deadlines for a couple months, aside from the Last Minute Patchwork projects (which I’m gradually doing worse on, it feels like. I will finish the duvet cover!) but all of a sudden I find myself having a craft fair on Saturday and two quilts due by the middle of August, not to mention another LMP+QG quilt!

The weather has cooled a little around here (lower 90s instead of lower 100s) so the studio has been bearable. I went in yesterday after work and found myself trying to pick fabrics for a quilt, making a new ironing board cover, sorting my craft fair things to see what else I need to make, drawing out a quilt design, and starting a special request project and I got so overwhelmed! So of course I started with the ironing board cover, the least important thing on the list..

Needless to say I will be really busy these next three weeks. I haven’t bought fabric in what feels like forever but I think I might get to indulge myself a little bit with these two commissions. I’ll do my best to check back in and let you know how it’s going!

AWOL

Posted on 02.Jul.12 by kait

I’m sorry I’ve been so absent recently.

Many things have contributed to it… I no longer have a nice camera and taking pictures with my phone just isn’t the same, my studio has no air conditioning so with the 100 degree weather lately it’s been pretty miserable to work in (especially on quilts!), I have no internet at my new house (a virtual tour will come soon, I just painted my bedroom today and I love it) so the time I have to post here is slim, and to top it off, my lack of deadlines has lead to a lack of motivation. Argh…

June’s Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts project was due two days ago and I still haven’t finished it. I have sewn most of it, just not the snap tape, so I have yet to photograph it. We have yet another quilt to do this month but it has minimal piecing so hopefully it won’t take too long.

My friend Dan and I are going to the seashore tomorrow and I can’t wait. We are going to Wilmington, NC to see a band play, swim (bought a new bathing suit today that I love!), go on a scouting mission, and maybe get tattooed? It’s going to be so fun.

So, when I get back, I’ll write a real post. For real.

xoxo

Has it really been this long?!

Posted on 24.May.12 by kait

I have been crazy busy and distracted lately, but I can hardly believe I have neglected this space for so long! I’m so sorry guys; I’ve missed you! (Sorry the photos aren’t the best quality, they’re from Instagram.)

This first half of May was spent cutting, cutting, cutting,

and sewing, sewing, sewing (thanks to gutenTAGS for the rush printing of more labels!!)to make things to sell at the Hand to Hand Market this past weekend,

which, as it happened, didn’t go very well. I don’t know what happened but the attendance was not what was expected by anyone. It was nice to hang out with Caitlin for a day though, we met a couple other really awesome vendors, Andy and Nicole, and I have very little more to do to get ready for the Krankies Craft Faire in July, so that’s pretty nice.

The week before the market I was fortunate enough to go to the beach with some friends for my birthday! I spent 4 days in Emerald Isle with a fun group of people and got to begin my 27th year relaxing with a good book and the ocean.

I went from the beach to Columbia South Carolina to see my friend Joe and my favorite band, mewithoutYou. The show was so good. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen something I posted afterwards that said, “I fell in love with a boy @mewithoutYou tonight. We danced next to each other & then he shook my hand & walked out of my life.” to which mewithoutYou responded “missed connections, find him!” Am I the post-to-missed-connections type? Why not! *blush*

So coming back to town, it was right back to work Monday morning and I have begun moving into my new place. I wish I could fast forward and just get in there and get settled but it’ll probably be a two week process and it will definitely be a sparsely decorated house for a while. But I’ve never lived alone and I’m really excited about it!I don’t have too much on the creative front right now. I have May’s LMP+QG project to get started on, another quilt I REALLY need to finish, and I’m anxious to finish the hand quilting on my Single Girl quilt which is taking forever.

Sorry again for my absence but thank you for sticking around! I’ll be back soon, I promise. xo

Recent happenings.

Posted on 12.Apr.12 by kait

I had a really long post written up, catching you up on all the latest happenings.

And then it felt like a chore, getting it done and getting everything in there.

So I deleted everything I wrote and will just say this: Instagram is on Android and I couldn’t be happier (except that it doesn’t upload to Flickr quite yet). So, at least you can see what happened recently. It includes a music festival in town put on by my friend Philip, fabric, beautiful weather, beer, and friends. It was the best weekend ever.

I feel an amazing summer coming on.

Studio space.

Posted on 04.Mar.12 by kait

One of the changes around here is that I’ve moved into a studio space outside where I live. I didn’t think I wanted that for a long time because I figured it would hinder late night productivity sessions and such, but I now have a space in the building where I work and I’m super excited about it.

I work at a coffee shop called Krankies and the building they inhabit, which was originally a meat packing plant, is filled with many other things. There are apartments and a web design company upstairs, a guitar repair place, some practice/teaching studios, and Device, a screen printing business in the basement, the Electric Moustache gallery on the main floor and the studio with spaces for 8 artists (including Laura Lashley, Liz Simmons, and Ian Dennis). I moved in and set up pretty quickly, minus shelving to hold my fabric. I had built in shelves in my last space so now I have to figure something else out, something to put in a concrete wall, no less.

What's on my design wall: The Undertoad

Things show no signs of slowing down. I’m powering through to finish a commission this week, hopefully going up to Roanoke this weekend for some quilting action with Lindsay and to hang out with Catherine, finishing another quilt for a shower on St Patrick’s Day, having another sewing date with Cait for our next LMP+QG project, and then going to DC for a long weekend. Looking farther ahead, my dad is coming in April, I’m going to the beach for my birthday in May, I’m still trying to go to Toronto this spring, and I’m hoping to get four quilts that have been in the works for awhile off the WIP list, and sew a couple more dresses. Let the productivity commence!

New dress!

Posted on 10.Feb.12 by kait

I showed a little sneak peek of this dress on Instagram (@kaitcetera, follow me!) a few days ago with the promise of showing it off and here it is!

I felt beyond silly taking pictures of myself (my face was too embarrassing to show!) and they don’t do the dress justice. It’s the coffee date dress (a free pattern!) from BurdaStyle that I started probably two and a half years ago. The fabric I used was from stash and it was hard to cut out accurately and the instructions seemed incomplete to me (at the time, at least). I had the bodice almost completed and the skirt pieces sewn together so when I pulled it out a few days ago, I realized how little was left to do and sewed it right up. And wouldn’t you know, it’s my new favorite dress!

I fudged the neckline facing and didn’t trim the length before I hemmed it, but what I’m really proud of is the zipper. It really is invisible! I hardly tried to match up the seams but it’s almost perfect!I’m definitely going to make this pattern again (perhaps without the ruffle, maybe add a waistband and pockets); I love the way it fits. I might even use the Bryant Park poppies I just got!

kaitcetera

quilting and other sundries.

Category Archives: me