Caftan!

Once, when I was 24 and I had absolutely had it, had it, had it with the Man and Capitalism and the Mall, I decided I needed to make my own clothes. Fueled by nothing other than an art school girl’s sheer cojones, I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make a dress. Who needed designer labels anyway? Who would want to be branded by the machine of hegemony, homogeneity, and normalcy? Huh? Who? So, with ego in hand, I set out to make a dress with no skills other than being an abstract painter and the fact that I had taken home-ec in 7th grade. Needless to say, it didn’t go very well. read more

Craft Punk Giveaway :: My little punk rock girl in GenQ!

Pinhead Pincushion pattern available over at GenerationQ Magazine.
She’s kinda cute and kinda tough– totally spunky, craft-punky and rad. She’s bad-ass and adorable– my little punk rock girl. I sketched this idea for a pincushion two years ago on a napkin.  I was pondering pins and pincushions and it occurred to me that the pins could be piercings. Now, I’m not a pierced person myself–other than the obligatory (and short-lived) double left-ear-pierced phase in college…which I might need to revisit ;)…but my husband was all pierced-up when we met… …so anyway, my little punk rock girl isn’t a self portrait, but I think I am in love with her.  When the hip, new modern sewing magazine, GenerationQ, asked me to submit a project, you can imagine that I thought of her right away. She’s featured in the new issue (Fall 2012). They named her the Pinhead Pincushion, which I just love. The pattern is available on the GenQ website here for you to download. They even created a flickr group to showcase what you make! Some of my ideas are so weird, that I’m not sure if they are good or not–but I hope you like her as much as I do. Oh, and yes, that is blush on her cheeks…what? She needed a little color!

Anyway, leave a comment by August 23rd about your double left-ear-piercing phase (or some other phase) or your favorite pincushion and I’ll draw two lucky winners to receive the new GenerationQ Magazine!

summer sewing

One of the bestest parts about having a sewing studio is that it seems to beckon all children who visit and eventually we end up wandering in to sew something. I just luh-uve these spontaneous sewing encounters. It is fun for me to facilitate plans the kiddos dream up. On a recent play date, our friend decided she’d like to make a pillow. She drew this sketch: read more

Generation Q GIVEAWAY

I’m sure you’ve already heard and maybe even seen the adorablest, coolest magazine for sewinistas—GenerationQ? Man, is it fun to read…

GenerationQ founders, Jake Finch, Melissa Maher, and Megan Dougherty, have backgrounds in quilting journalism. They recently decided there was a spot in the market for a publication focusing on the community of the modern quilting/sewing movement and GenQ was born as an online magazine. (They even featured me right here.) read more

cobbler’s kids

…the best part about returning from Market is that my kiddos get their stuff back! This particular cobbler’s kids totally have no shoes. Much of my company is founded on designing things for my children and their interests, yet they aren’t allowed to actually have the things I make because they end up being my samples! Ha! So happy to let them have their things… read more

To Market, to market…

Getting very excited. We are packing up for Spring Quilt Market 2012 in Kansas City—boxes and bins everywhere. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole sewing world next week! What fun we’ll have. If you’ll be there, come see us.

I’ll be presenting a Schoolhouse talk to shop owners about my brand, merchandising my products, and selecting artful, tonal fabrics for the modern sewinista! Am focusing on one single question for Market: read more