Mr. Knickers is made from this pair of wonderful dark and tweedy woolen knickers:
The wool has tiny flecks of purple and green and I used my antique swim bloomers as well as bits of lace and antique glass buttons for eyes. The Mr. N pictured above is the first of a very small numbered edition – 1 and 2 are available now and more soon – as many as the knickers allow – I’m hoping for at least two more.
A couple previews of tomorrows shop update – I’ll post more here if time permits tomorrow morning ( there are 3 new owls too).
The hull is made from an antuique quilt top, the sail is antique ticking and the owl captain is made from a vintage feed sack.
And another made from mostly Japanese textiles (courtesy of Sri Threads) – in moody lavender grey tones.
seashell folk, off to celebrate
Thanks to everybody who showed up for the shop update yesterday – I’ll be packing everything up this weekend and getting things on their way right after the holiday. I’m working on things for Tuesday’s owl and ship update ( there will be one more songbird too) – here are some things in progress:
This is the bodice it’s made from- I bought it years ago and have been using bits of it ever since.
A grey owl – fabrics courtesy of Sri Threads.
And a pair of turn of the century wool swim bloomers I’m about to turn into an owl.
I got them for next to nothing – the seat is terribly moth eaten. The fabric is wonderful- weight, shade, fading , texture – everything ideal. Also, in the unlikely category, technically, I’ve just posted a picture of myself on the internet in a bathing suit.
These songbirds ( and probably one more) all made from vinatge and antique garments, as well as forest flower ballerinas will be available in my shop tomorrow at 11 AM ( new york time) . Also, I have a new and much speedier checkout – you no longer need to create an account if you prefer not to – just enter shipping and email and you’re done. Existing customers can still log in as usual.
The teal songbird is made from this antique jacket.
And this black songbird is made form this antique bodice.
There will be an owl and ship update on Tuesday Septmber 4th at 1 PM ( new york time) and you can check back here on Monday for previews.
Earlier this summer, on another trip to the Adirondack park, I made and photographed ( in front of my favorite mossy stump) a little troupe of forest fairy ballerinas.
The ballerinas:
miss daffodil
miss fern
miss rose
The ballerinas will be available in my shop on Thursday at 11 am ( New York time). Lately I moved ann wood handmade to a new server and this is long overdue -my old one could not handle the spikes in traffic that come with shop updates so I have been unable to share the date and time of updates to try to keep it manageable. I have felt unsure about how to test my new server in any significant way but I thought of a plan while I was away last week : it’s a particularly quiet end of summer week and a holiday weekend ( in the US anyway) so I’m going to have a couple small shop updates and share the date and time – here , and with my mailing list and facebook – I’ll share the whole schedule and another preview (songbirds) tomorrow.
I spent last week in the Adirondack forest, by a lake. The house is called Road’s End and it is among other things, a former turn of the century cure cottage.
There are lots of sleeping porches ( to facilitate the cure) and I used this one for my work room.
It was glorious and I sewed a ton. And when I wasn’t sewing or sleeping or swimming or reading I hiked up things. The views were spectacular.
The view from Whiteface Mountain – a frightening 3,676 ft.
And I collected twigs and whittled some beaks.
The beaks were for two songbirds I finished and photographed there – here’s a peek at those:
It turns out vacations really are good for people. I don’t take vacations. I barely take breaks or days off- partly because it needs to be that way (so far anyway) and partly because I like to work and partly because I’m pretty compulsive. I did make things and sew my ass off but there were breaks and activities outside that and there was almost no internet – that may have been what was really vacationy. What a relief. A discomfort too – but less so after a couple days.
I came home with an organized and clear head; motivated and with something that was puzzling me figured out – I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.
Introducing : The Shelleys! (mary and percy).
I never planned to make another cake topper, the birds ended up in the nuptials biz by accident. Earlier in the summer I discovered a vintage souvenir seashell doll at a barn sale. I love vintage souvenirs and this one hit all the right notes for me: a small and perfect memento of a special day , a time and place, a remembrance, sweet, a little bit sad and deeply nostalgic. It inspired these little figures and I tried hard to create that kind of sentiment – a memento of a happy day.
Almost a year ago I got together a box of linings with plans to make things but not much happened after that. I’ve lately pulled that box out and I’ll be posting progress and previews of finished pieces here throughout August. They will be available in September. I love linings and they often end up being my favorite part of a garment.
I’m working on the usual suspects : owls, spiders and songbirds but this collection will have a couple surprises too. I’ve made the most progress on a songbird made from the printed lining of an edwardian bodice.
I spent the weekend with it – stitching, restitching, experimenting and not worrying about progress or efficiency. I’m allowed to do that on the weekends. Pretty vacationey.
This bird, the layering of this print, reminds me of tramp art a little bit and I think I’ll experiment more with that idea.
fortuny owl
A long time ago, way back in 2010 I visited the Fortuny showroom here in NYC to talk about making some creatures with their exquisite fabrics. There have been fits and starts and interruptions in the process but lately solid progress has been made towards creating a full collection of creatures that will be available beginning this fall.
Working with patterns, large scale patterns, has challenged how I think about my owls in particular and some interesting things are happening.
More progress photos soon as well as information on where and when things will be available.
I’ve started several new owls including the two robust grey fellows below. The owl on the left is made from a silvery Fortuny pattern and the other from marvelous Japanese textiles courtesy of Sri.
I have also gathered a little pile of things for another fabric ship and owl captain – a moodier pallet than the last – I love the purplish tones – those are for the ship and the indigos are for the little captain. These are all Japanese and again courtesy of Sri. These are the colors I’ve been most attracted to for weeks now – silver, stone shades, and bits of violets and blues
I finished the quilt ship but I haven’t taken it’s official photo yet, this is an instagram shot of the very nearly finished ship and captain.
I finished several special orders for cake topper birds in the past couple weeks and I’m working on more this week as well as something brand new in the cake topper department that I’ll share soon I hope – I’m still missing an essential detail. Here are a couple photos of last week’s finished sets:
airforce!
Some fancy fascinators and boutonnieres :
And a family! Everybody is going to be on the cake – pretty sweet.
I found this great old quilt top upstate a while ago.
Unfortunately a lot of it is too damaged to sew but I love the colors and prints and there is enough for a couple boats and ships.
The pattern for this ship evolved out of my fabric sailboat pattern as I was revising it a little before teaching the boat making class at Squam. It’s just about complete now and I’ll photograph it later this week. There is a little gentleman sailor captain.
I ‘m pleased with the shape and I’ve already begun another ship in a kind of grayish hibiscus color that’s been on my mind lately.
