Two of the three “bolts” of kimono silk I ordered from Ichiroya in Japan arrived this morning. Now I’m just going to have to look at them for a while before I have any idea what to make from the silk. I ordered the silk after the visit to Ann Williamson’s studio in Portland. I will make some kind of pieced jacket like one of Ann’s. The bolt still to come is in navy which should go with either the brick or the pale blue.
The swimsuit fabric arrived yesterday! I ordered it from Spandex House in NYC (I have actually shopped there) on Sunday, they called for my credit card info Monday afternoon, the parcel arrived Wednesday morning.
I have made swimsuits for myself for more than thirty years. Lately it’s become very difficult to find interesting patterned Lycra/spandex fabric. The day I shopped at Spandex House I wasn’t looking for swimsuit fabric; I bought a black and silver sequin fabric to make a dressy top.
I took a chance on the weight of this fabric – it turned out to be a good mid-weight. Now to make the two suits I’ve cut from other fabric. I’m down to a single suit – the pool “eats” them – I’ve tossed out three suits this past week. Since I do water aerobics three times a week, I need two/three suits on hand.
For some time I’ve been taken with sashiko embroidery. I have a book with ideas for using sashiko to make quilts. I came across a picture of a carry bag using sashiko designs. Made from sixteen squares, I embroidered sixteen squares of linen fabric with sixteen different sashiko designs, then made up the bag. The fittings to attach the handles I found in a notions store in NYC last year.
I sew for Morgan, daughter of my young friend, Katie. Katie had seen this dress in an expensive shop – I said I could make it for very little. So armed with Morgan’s chest measurement and height I modified a child’s dress pattern I had on hand, and made up the dress. What pleased me most, was how I managed to align the collar perfectly with the white panel on the front.
Morgan has since outgrown this dress – so I’ve asked Katie to send me her current measurements. I’ll come up with something for Morgan for Christmas.
Just finished a second t-shirt this morning. 
A light weight rayon knit (reminds me of the prints used by Desigual) – a bit easier to work with than the polyester I worked on yesterday. Pleased with the fit.
This is a third shirt finished as well – to wear with white or the pink pants I have.
Back to some garment sewing. Today a t-Shirt. I had some knit fabric I’m about to discard because it was difficult to work with, however, I thought I’d give the t-Shirt a try. Rather than a facing, I decided to use a simple binding, instead.
I made some modifications to the pattern – lengthened the sleeves, shortened the body length an inch. I was surprised this has turned out to be a wearable garment! I was expecting to chuck it out after I was done, but it fits quite well.
So I’ve just cut out another one from a rayon knit which I will assemble tomorrow. I’ve been wanting some t-Shirts with longer sleeves and a wee bit longer in the body than the ones I have. I have fabric for a half a dozen. I expect to busy for the next week on these.
These are the fabrics I purchased at the estate sale – I haven’t actually counted how many pieces are in the pile but there are quite a few and they’re a good size – certainly enough to get 8″ quilt blocks out of, or pieces for building other kinds of projects like hand bags, maybe even a jacket – who knows…
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I also have another piece (approx. a yard and a half) covered with sashiko designs – which will make something interesting.
I looked up Ann Williamson’s Blog – her clothing is spectacular, definitely worth following: http://annwilliamson.com/handmade-designer-womens-apparel/
I’m hoping to spend a bit of time on the website where she buys her kimono silks to see if I can come up with something to try a jacket on my own.
Today is the last day of the Portland Sewing Trip. The morning began with a useful session with Marla (who did the pattern fitting session Tuesday) – she offered lots of useful tips for modifying patterns and fine finishing techniques:
Afterward, we returned to the estate sale – the deceased, who passed away two years ago, was a quilter. She collected about a ton and a half of fabric all carefully sorted and stored in plastic bins. There was some amazing stuff there. I came away with three pounds of manufacturer sample sized Japanese fabrics for the grand price of $4 / pound:
Next a lovely lunch at a seafood restaurant, then a trek to Fabric Depot. Oh wow! Huge. Wonderful quilting fabric selection, lots of very nice garment fabrics. Too much to choose from when I’m limited by what I can pack. I ended up with two half-yard pieces from the “outdoor warehouse” to complement the Japanese fabrics – for $2.50!
To end the afternoon, Marla and I returned to Mill Ends to see if the piece of silk I had walked away from on Wednesday was still there – it was – I guess it had my name on it.
Dinner at Salties on the Oregon bank of the Columbia River, then home to pack.
It’s been a great week – the shopping, the classes, the designers, the sightseeing – I enjoyed it all.
Home tomorrow and back to my normal retired life.
We began the day with a visit to an estate sale where the woman had been a collector of fabrics and sewing supplies – turned out to be the wrong day – not until tomorrow! The house did have an interesting feature though: an espalier of some kind of evergreen along the roof edge – I’ve never seen anything like it:
After a stop for coffee we made our way to Ann Williamson’s design studio. Her silk jackets are exquisite:
The detail is very fine, her choice of fabrics amazing. Since 2003 she’s been using mainly kimono silk, from kimonos she’s taken apart as well as new kimono silk from Japan. She has a large stash of 14″ bolts of kimono silk:
We spent more than an hour with her, talking about technique, and seeing samples of her work.
Next stop – Josephine’s Fabrics. She specializes in “fine” fabrics – and although the selection isn’t large I came away with a Liberty cotton print for a shirt as well as some lovely reversible grey and off-white woolen fabric which I can see making into a pieced reversible jacket of some kind.
Then lunch at the Portland lunch carts: 
There’s a big choice of food, and after you’ve purchased what you want to eat there’s a small square nearby where you can sit and eat:
Our next stop was the Button Emporium. I was too busy looking for buttons to go with the purple fabric I bought Wednesday to remember to take photos of the wall of buttons! I also picked up three bits of lace and entredeux for heirloom sewing (not much of a selection in Halifax).
Around the corner we visited a designers’ consignment shop – lots of interesting ideas there.
One last stop at another small fabric outlet where I thought I might find more swimsuit fabric but they had little in the way of interesting lycra prints.
Finally back to the hotel, something to eat, and now for a quiet evening.
jmn 