Book review and give-away: Little Girls, Big Style

Little Girls, Big Style: Sew a Boutique Wardrobe from 4 Easy Patterns
by Mary Abreu
Stash Books, 2010
128 pages, plus tear-out patterns
$25.95

This book contains full-size patterns for 23 projects for little girls sizes 2-6.  The emphasis is on “boutique” clothing that “merges personality with a custom fit.” The book includes only four garments: a basic bodice, a peasant top/dress, pants and a skirt. BUT... and this is a big BUT… the patterns are almost infinitely adaptable, so you can create your own look very easily by altering the length, adding a ruffle or embellishment, changing the scale of the fabric print, or mix-and-matching something from one project to another.

All the full-size patterns are at the back of the book on perforated sheets you can tear out:

I’d almost buy this book for the photography alone. Where did they find so many cute, cute, cute little girls to model? (Okay, one of them is Mary’s daughter.) But not this cutie:

Photo courtesy of Mary Abreu

Because Stash Books are a new division (or “imprint”) of C&T Publishing, you can also count on them to be well designed, well edited, and carefully tested. Stash is dedicated to creating books for modern sewists that celebrate “fabric arts for a handmade lifestyle.”

There’s a size chart with chest, waist and hip measurements, so you can find the right size or add a bit extra or a bit less to fit your little girl perfectly. And with each basic garment, there is a page of 5 to 7 little line drawings to show how you can adapt the basic pattern to create just the look you want:

This is followed by detailed instructions for each variation, such as this one, the Barely Basic Top/Dress:

The written instructions are very concise and clear, and there are lots of photos to aid visual learners:

A description of basic techniques (backstitching, buttonholes, casings for elastic, shirring, topstitching, etc.) will keep even inexperienced garment sewers on track. Numerous tips scattered throughout the book add more valuable information to make things easier.

I met author Mary Abreu at International Quilt Market last month, and was lucky to score one of her books, and get it autographed! 

There’s only one thing about this book I don't like: my girls are already too big to fit in these patterns. Sigh. 

Mary dedicated this book to her late mother, and her darling daughter is featured in the photo on the cover. How neat to see generations of women connected by the craft of sewing! Mary is also a gifted journalist; she’s worked as an editor, writer and art director at newspapers and magazines in the Southeastern U.S., and won a Bronze award from the Parenting Publication of America for a story published in 2007. To learn more about Mary, click here.

Read more about Mary’s adventures on her blog, Confessions of a Craft Addict. Check out the Flickr group and Facebook page for more inspiration and insights.

I have a copy of Little Girls, Big Style to give away to one lucky blog reader! Leave a comment after this post telling me why you need this book; I’ll pull one person’s name at random at noon EST Saturday, December 11. If you sign up to follow my blog (see the sidebar on the right side of my blog and look for the "FOLLOW" button), I'll put your name in the hat a second time. And if you help me spread the news about my give-away through your blog, Facebook or Twitter, leave me a comment about that, and I’ll put your name in the hat another time!

This post is stop two on the Blog Tour for Mary’s book. So you have a lot more chances to win by checking in to the following blogs in the days ahead:

• December 6th The Domestic Diva’s Disasters
• December 7th Blue Moon River
• December 8th Juicy Bits
• December 9th Sew Take a Hike
• December 10th Boutique Café
• December 11th I Heart Linen
• December 12th Sew, Mama, Sew
• December 13th Stop Staring and Start Sewing
• December 14th True Up
• December 15th Bari J

I have another fabulous book to give away next week, so please come back and visit me then.


We have a winner! Kat wins Little Girls, Big Style.

Froggie is hopping off to a new home

Red-Eyed Tree Frog
11-3/4" x 9-1/4"
by Susan Brubaker Knapp

This is one of my very first thread-sketched art quilts. I made it in 2006, using a method of capturing cut pieces of fabric under tulle that I learned from Bonnie McCafferey in her Portrait Quilts: Painted Faces You Can Do book. Now, it is hopping off to a new home! 

A few weeks ago, I got a message from my friend Kelly Jackson. She told me that she had asked her husband to buy her this piece for Christmas. Apparently he didn’t get the hint right away. She was in the jewelers having her wedding ring cleaned, and her husband told her to take a look around and asked if there was anything she’d like for Christmas. “I said, ‘I don’t see any Red-Eyed Tree Frogs,’” Kelly wrote. “He cracked up laughing.”

Then she kept checking on my website to see if the piece had sold (to her husband). It hadn’t. So she wrote to tell me that she was putting a check in the mail. “I’m having the Red-Eyed Tree Frog one way or another before someone else buys it,” she said. “I love frogs and I so admire your work that it will be wonderful to have it here to enjoy every day. I guess you can now brag that your work is more precious than diamonds and gold. :)”

What a fun story. And how flattering that she wanted my art – and something handmade – more than a piece of jewelry! I am totally thrilled. It is an amazing feeling to know that your work is going to someone who will love and appreciate it. Thanks, Kelly!

Red-Eyed Tree Frog (detail)
by Susan Brubaker Knapp

The shot above shows some of the thread detail on the frog’s chest. I know this is totally against the rules of the Quilt Police (and quilt show judges), but I often adjust the tension on my machine so that some of the little flecks of bobbin thread come up to the top. It adds really cool spots of color, and texture.

Eazy Peazy gargantuan giveaway!

Margaret Travis of Eazy Peazy

Allow me to introduce you to a very nice new pattern designer I met at Quilt Market this fall in Houston: Margaret Travis of Eazy Peazy designs. She has some wonderful patterns, including a special line for those who rely on wheelchairs and walkers. Her booth caught my eye because she had the most amazing encrusted walker on display, with a nifty saddlebag hanging on it. (That’s her, and it, in the photo above.)

 

Your Eazier Livin’ designs are fabulous… What inspired you to make them?  

They were inspired both by my mom and by a dear handicapped friend. I designed the Sassy Smock, and my special friend did the walker saddlebag and wheelchair backpack. I was happy to publish her two patterns under the Eazy Peazy name. It was inspiring to watch her write down her ideas, then the directions. All I had to do was edit and format them. All three were thoroughly researched and are functional for the handicapped.

It looks like you've had a LOT of people test your patterns. Why is this important to you? I do believe in testing of the patterns. Not all of the testers listed on my website test every pattern, but they are my “angels” and I especially appreciate those who will challenge every step and will test from the words on the page. It makes my product better. I admit to having nightmares about publishing a pattern with a bad instructions. My concept for my company was to have easy instructions that would be user friendly. Along the way I've improved my instruction writing. Little things like starting each step with a verb. Wish I had started it with the first pattern. I’m learning! One secret I have is a husband who is a golf writer who will edit for me. He has no idea how to sew, but can check grammar, tense, etc.  So, as you see, I have a “village” behind each Eazy Peazy pattern.

Tell me more about the Double Diamond Ruler you used in your beautiful Divine Diamonds Handbag. How does it work, who makes it, and where can you buy it? 

It was designed by Kim Templin of Bright Quilting Notions. It’s a fun ruler that takes out all the hassle of measuring and cutting exactly. You select either the 3.5" or 1.5" ruler (both come in the package). Fuse your medium- and light-valued fabrics with Heat’n Bond Lite.  Then fold and use your rotary cutter in the slots provided, fold back the diamonds, place on a dark piece of fabric and secure by quilting. It’s a great way to showcase your light, medium and dark fabrics.

Photo courtesy of Kim Templin/Bright Quilting Notions

Photo courtesy of Kim Templin/Bright Quilting Notions

You can purchase it from the Bright Quilting Notions website, other online retailers, and from quilt shops. (The retail price is $21.95.) Or keep reading, and find out how to enter for a chance to win Margaret’s pattern and the ruler, too!

You have another handbag (the Heavenly Textured Handbag) that uses Texture Magic. This is another material I've never used, but I've heard great things about it. Can you describe it a bit?  

Texture Magic is a great product when you want to play with fabric. It is a steam-activated shrinking fabric that can be used with or without batting and with fancy stitches and quilting methods. Without batting it resembles smocking and is great for garments. With batting, it is super in quilts and handbags. Another use is in art quilts with the varied textures which can be achieved. A version of the product has been used in the aircraft industry since the 1960s. In fact, in a recent trip to Fantasy of Flight here in Florida, a mechanic gave me a piece (but in a much heavier weight). Leave it to the quilters to find a way to repurpose an existing product! My Second Heaven Handbag pattern uses Texture Magic, too.

It looks like your patterns list exactly the products you use to achieve a designer look.   They do; here’s another example: I personally hate purses and accessories that have no “body.” Proper interfacings are key to achieving a beautiful product. The newest interfacing which found me by way of Annie Unrein at Houston Market is  Soft and Stable. You can buy it from Annie at her website, and I predict will be a big seller for quilting stores. It is a polyester-covered foam. The machine needle glides effortlessly though it, and it gives lightweight softness while providing super body. I'll be recommending it in future patterns.

You just started your company in 2009, and went to your first Quilt Market this fall, right? Yes. A year ago at this time, I had four patterns. Now there are 11, with the twelfth almost finished.  The decision to go to Quilt Market seemed to be the logical next step for growth.

What was your experience there like? It was amazing. Hard work but very rewarding… now I know some shortcuts for setting up a booth. I had the most fun meeting shop owners from across the country and Australia and Canada who were already stocking my patterns in their shops. It was gratifying to be able to thank them personally. The networking possibilities were endless. Going to Houston was one of the best business decisions I’ve made.

Have you been sewing for a long time? What other crafts do you enjoy? I've been playing with needles and thread since childhood. Fabric and sewing have always fascinated me.  Crochet is the only thing I've tried that has absolutely eluded me. My mentor and cheerleader is Marie Seroskie of Katie Lane Quilts. Marie helped me when I started quilting and continues to aide by answering questions via e-mail.

Is that Julie Creus from La Todera as a model on your pattern covers? She was in the booth next to yours at Quilt Market, right? Are you two friends? Yes, Julie Creus is a friend and fellow quilter. I twisted her arm to get her to pose for the covers! She just had the look I was searching for to represent my company. Julie and I jokingly call each other “Thelma and Louise.” We've been sharing information about pattern publication, printing, distributing, etc. as we grow our businesses, which we started at about the same time. It’s nice to have someone traveling the same road to bounce ideas off of. Together we swallowed hard, wrote our checks to go to Houston, loaded an SUV with our stuff and had a wonderful trip and experience at our first Quilt Market. 

GARGANTUAN GIVEAWAY!

Margaret has generously given me one of each of her 11 patterns to give away to my readers. Isn’t that sweet? She has a bunch of patterns for things that would make wonderful handmade holiday gifts (stuff like cell phone cases, coupon cases, and spectacle or rotary cutter cases). To enter this giveaway, please go to the Eazy Peazy website and take a look at Margaret’s patterns. Then leave a comment after this blog post and tell me which design you'd like to win, and why. I'll pull 11 names at noon EST on Dec. 10. 

The winner of the Divine Diamonds Handbag pattern will also win a Double Diamond Ruler, courtesy of Kim Templin of Bright Quilting Notions. (Thanks, Kim!)

I will also pull the name of a twelfth person to win a 18" x 58" package of Soft and Stable, courtesy of Annie Unrein of ByAnnie. (Thanks, Annie!)

Pattern and product photos courtesy of Margaret Travis.

WINNERS!

Can you believe it? Margaret sent me another set of patterns. So lots of you are winners! I drew names at random, and when possible, matched you up with the pattern you liked best. 

Sassy Smock: MamaCrow and Tami@LemonTreeTales

Stroller or Wheelchair Backpack: Kathleen and Laura T. 

Walker Saddlebag: Robin C. and Debbie (Woolen Sails)

Bodacious Brag Bag: Jackie and Dolores

Divine Diamonds Handbag pattern and Double Diamond Ruler: Marcia and Rhonda G.

Second Heaven: TZel and Cara

Heavenly Textured Handbag: Mary Jo and Dinah T.

Spectacular Spectacle or Rotary Cutter Cases: Mimi and Karen

Captivating Cell Phone Caddy: QuiltNQueen and Sandee

Convenient Coupon Caddy:  and RustyBird

Luverly Luggage Tag and Marvelous MiniWallet: Fulvia and Gill

Soft & Stable: Di

I’m going to be on The Quilt Show!

I’m so excited… I’ve just been asked to be on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims! The filming will take place in April, and the shows will air starting in the summer. 

Don’t know about The Quilt Show? You should! It is “the world’s first full-servic interactive online video/web magazine created just for quilters worldwide,” according to Alex’s website. The web “TV” show is produced just like a television show, but viewed online for a monthly or annual fee. Each show features quilting inspiration and instruction from well-known quilters. Some of the episodes are shot in front of a live audience, and others are shot at interesting locations. You can watch a free show on the website before you decide to join.

When I first started designing quilt patterns, I dreamed on being on Alex’s “Simply Quilts” TV show, which aired on Home and Garden TV (HGTV) for 11 years. I watched it all the time, and I was so upset when it went off the air!

Alex went on to create this amazing new show with Ricky Tims, contemporary quiltmaker, author, musician and quilting teacher. The Quilt Show’s website is an online community of quilters nearly 70,000 strong. They have contests, projects, a quilt gallery, classes, and a store. They also offer some amazing block-of-the-month programs like this fabulous “Ruffled Roses” by Sue Garman (one of my favorite designers; I just adore her stuff!), coming in 2011: 

 

I’ve been a reader of Alex and Ricky’s wonderful Daily Blog for a while. I also love their new magazine, The Quilt Life, which is produced through the American Quilter’s Society (AQS). You can read more about it, and subscribe, here. It has great articles, very high-quality patterns and instructions, and to top it all off, it is really beautifully designed and the printing and paper are also top-notch (as a graphic designer, I pay attention to these things!)

When I was discussing my segments with Alex this morning, she told me that they are offering a free membership to The Quilt Show for the month of December. This is a great way to try it out for yourself before you decide to join. Just click here, fill out a short registration form, and you’re in. Enjoy!

Brrrrrrrr!

Snow Squall
by Susan Brubaker Knapp (2010)
20" x 16.5"

Baby, it’s cold outside! Here near Charlotte, North Carolina, where I live, it is starting to get chilly, just in time for December. So I thought it the perfect time to share with you my latest piece, Snow Squall. This piece is featured in the current issue of Quilting Arts magazine (the December 2010/January 2011 issue).

We don’t get much snow here, just about 5" a year. I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., where we got a lot of snow, and I miss it. This year I’ve been writing a series of articles on thread sketching for Quilting Arts magazine, and when I needed to make a piece about creating movement with thread, I stitched myself up a flurry!

I started with a dark blue batik fabric that was mottled all over, and used a mechanical chalk pencil to trace some snowflake designs and swirls onto it. I pinned the fabric to interfacing (Pellon 910), and thread sketched the swirls using varigated blue Aurifil Cotton Mako 50 thread, and for the snowflakes, the same weight thread in solid white. Then I highlighted a few areas with a bit of metallic acrylic paint. Doesn’t this look frosty?

Snow Squall (detail)

After adding batting and backing fabric, I quilted around the swirls and snowflakes to make them come forward, and quilted the background to accentuate the sensation of movement. 

If you want to stitch your own snowflake, you can download the design for one of these snowflakes on the Quilting Arts community website (go to Free Stuff, and then Online Extras). If you want my snowflakes instead, this piece is for sale. You can find all the details on my website.

Snow Squall (detail)

Happy Birthday, Quilting Arts!

Happy Birthday postcard by Susan Brubaker Knapp

Did you know that Quilting Arts magazine is 10 years old this month? Hooray! 

My fabric postcard (above) commemorating their birthday is featured in the current issue (December 2010/January 2011) on page 7. I made this piece by first painting the design on white Pimatex cotton fabric, then free-motion quilting it very simply by outlining the candles, flames and the number 10, and doing a bit of quilting on the cake. I finished it with satin stitching around the outside edge.

For a chance to have your work featured in an upcoming issue or on the Quilting Arts website, simply create a 4" x 6" fabric postcard with the number 10 prominently featured or stitched, and mail it to: 

Quilting Arts @ 10
P.O. Box 685
Stow, MA 01775

Happy Birthday, Quilting Arts! Here’s to many wonderful years ahead!

Website revisions: What do YOU think?

My new Gallery main page

In the last few days, I have been working on revising a few sections of my website. I created my website myself, and I am not a web designer. (Well, I guess technically I am, since I designed my website, but I’ve never designed anyone else’s, and I’ve never taken a class in web design.) What I know I taught myself, so there are a lot of things I’ve been wanting to do, but have no idea how. Little bit by little bit, I am figuring some things out. 

About a month ago at our Fiber Art Options (a group of Charlotte-area fiber artists) meeting, I asked the other members if they’d critique my website. I was particularly interested in their thoughts about my Gallery section, where I show my fiber art, because I was unhappy with it.

My old Gallery main page

At the time, the main Gallery page looked like the shot above. It had small images of each full piece, with the name underneath, and if you clicked on it, you went to a page with a larger image of the quilt and information, including materials, techniques, size, date, and availability or price. Then you had to click a “back” button, which took you back to the main Gallery page, to see the next page. To put it mildly, the Fiber Art Options members did not like this.

We agreed on the primary faults of the original Gallery page: 

• The quilts were all of different sizes, so the images on this page were all different proportions, and there was no way to fit them into a clean grid. It looked cluttered and disorganized.
• It was not convenient to keep having to go back and forth between the main Gallery page and the individual pages for each piece. 
• This process also interrupted the “flow” of viewing my work and made it difficult and somewhat stressful, when it should invite the viewer to linger.

My fellow FAO members first suggested that I put my work into separate “folders,” divided by theme, series or year created. I have never been a fan of this approach, because it means that you have to go back to the main page when you are done with one folder in order to see the next. Deciding what goes in which folders can also seem somewhat arbitrary. And dividing work up into these kinds of folders means that you can’t quickly scan all the work at once.

The FAO members then suggested using something popular with many fiber artists: a line or block with tiny images of each piece, or with tiny chunks of each piece that the viewer could roll her cursor over or click to pop open a new window with a larger view of the piece. I decided against this approach, too, because I dislike websites with images that are really small, or with images that are such a tiny slice of the piece that you can’t get a decent idea of what the piece looks like without opening the second window or page. It seems like such a tease, and a waste of my time.

I decided that the approach that would best solve the problems of this page and still make me happy was to put my pieces in a grid, using large square chunks of each piece (see the photo at the top of this post). I tried to make the chunks big enough that they would be a decent representation of the whole work. If you click on the chunks, you go to a page with a larger image and more information. On each of these pages, there are buttons in the main sidebar you can click to go back to the first piece, to the previous piece, to the next piece, or to the last piece. I’m pretty happy with how it looks and works; it is much cleaner, and it is very easy to keep clicking the “next” button to view the entire gallery fairly seamlessly. 

I have also cleaned up my “In the News” page (and the page called “News Archive” with older news items that links from the In the News page). I’m thinking that I should apply the same sort of grid system to my Patterns page, too.

So… if you have the time and the inclination, please take a look at my website and tell me what you think about the changes I’ve made so far, and about things I need to change … What do you love? hate? think I should change? I’d really like to know. Just be gentle, dear blog readers. Constructive criticism, please. 

Well, lookee here…

My piece, Lepidoptera, is featured in Quilters Newsletter magazine’s current issue! I didn’t know about it until some of my Facebook quilter friends told me. It is featured in a newsbrief in the eyeQ section about two current Studio Art Quilt Associates’ exhibitions, Art Meets Science and Small Works.

The Art Meets Science exhibition is at the Pfizer headquarters in New York City now through March 16, 2011. After that, it will be at the Visions Art Quilt Gallery in Oceanside, California from Jan. 1 – April 1, 2012. 

I love the quilt on the cover this issue. It is by artist and quilt shop owner Claudia Pfeil of Krefeld, Germany. 

Business card holders: Whip up a quick gift!

 

Want to whip up a quick and easy handmade gift? Try my stenciled and stitched business card holders! The directions are in today’s Cloth Paper Scissors Today e-mail newsletter. The project will be featured in the upcoming season of Quilting Arts TV (series 700). 

I used metallic textile paint and stencils from Crafter’s Workshop to stencil the designs on batik fabrics, then accentuated the designs with machine free-motion stitching. You can purchase some of these stencils at Embellishment Village and Quilting Arts. Here are some of the results up close:

The 700 series of Quilting Arts TV is now available for pre-order, and is expected to be available at the end of the year, so if your public TV station doesn’t carry it, you can still see all the great episodes by ordering the DVD. I’m featured in three episodes.

My last thread sketching article

This month, I am a little bit sad, because this issue (Quilting Arts December 2010/January 2011) has my last thread sketching column in it. I have loved writing these columns throughout 2010, and I have loved being part of such a fabulous magazine. Quilting Arts has really changed my life. 

Did you know that with the current issue, the magazine is 10 years old? I’ve been a subscriber for most of that time. I’ve learned a lot of techniques, and made a lot of projects after reading the articles in it. It has encouraged the Pandoras, my local fiber arts group, to try many new things we would not have ventured into without reading about it in Quilting Arts first. 

I’ve also loved the challenge of creating a project on a specific theme for the Quilting Arts Calendar competitions. (There is a lot to be said for the deadline pressure provided by competitions like this; it can really bring out the best in you, and it can also teach you how to brainstorm and stretch yourself.)

My last thread sketching column focuses on creating movement with thread. One of the pieces I did for this column is Windswept (below). It is only 13-1/2" x 10-1/4".

The piece is based on a photo I took this summer at Bald Head Island, a spectacular barrier island at the south-eastern edge of North Carolina: 

This is an island I feel so fortunate to have visited many summers with my extended family. It is almost pristine, protected by conservationists from excessive development, and is a prime nesting spot for loggerhead sea turtles. 

Here is a detail shot of Windswept:

In a future post, I’ll share the other piece I created for this issue. It also deals with something in motion because of wind, but it is wintery, rather than summery! Can you guess what it is?

A chance to win

Just a head’s up: You could win my new Quilting Arts Workshop DVD, Master Machine Stitching: Thread Sketching Beyond the Basics! 

Kelly Jackson, who has a very fun blog and an online store called I Have a Notion, (and isn’t that such a clever name?) is giving away a copy of my DVD on her blog. Just follow the instructions in her post, and leave a comment to be entered in her drawing. 

Kelly watched my first DVD, too, and then did a little thread sketching on a cool piece of fabric, enhancing the design. What a great idea!

If you are in the mood to do a little holiday gift shopping for yourself, check out all the wonderful fabrics, tools, thread and notions in her online store. 

And don’t miss all of Kelly’s wonderful posts from Quilt Market a bit farther back on her blog. She gets people to do the silliest stuff. Kelly gives away a TON of great stuff, so do yourself a favor and follow her blog so you’ll be in the know! ;-)

Mom’s Mistletoe

 

Look what my mom just whipped up! She made it from my  “Magical Mistletoe” pattern featured in Quilting Arts Gifts 2010.

 Isn’t my mom talented? (And you wondered where I got it from.)

The special issue is packed with great ideas for wonderful, whimsical hand-made gifts for the holidays. It is available through Quilting Arts, and on  newsstands.

Looking for the little felted wool balls to make this project? Ask at your local quilt or craft shop, or shop online at Handbehg Felts. And if you are planning to make some of these as gifts, hurry; Christmas is coming sooner than we’d all like!

You can see my version in a previous blog post here. 

Autumn burning brightly

Autumn burned brightly,
a running flame through the mountains,
a torch flung to the trees.
— Faith Baldwin

I have two large sugar maples in my front yard that are a constant source of inspiration. You may remember that I based a piece on them (Harbinger’s Hope, shown below) after fighting with my power company to keep them from hacking the trees’ branches back to the trunk (to provide clearance for the power lines) a few years ago. 

The trees are estimated to be more than 80 years old, and are in decline, and every fall I wonder if it will be their last. It makes me notice them more, appreciate them more. They are certainly the most spectacular autumn foliage on my street. Yesterday I went out and took these photos. The light was wonderful, and the leaves were luminous, in shades of gold and chartreuse, orange and bronze.

I love the contrast between the dark trunk and branches and the colorful leaves. 

 

One of the tree’s leaves are greeny-gold, and the other (above and below) is going more orange. 

High up on one tree, the branches have been swept nearly bare by the wind, with only a few leaves still hanging on:

I would love to do three more pieces the same size and format as Harbinger’s Hope, each a different season, with a different creature to symbolize each season. Wouldn’t they look wonderful hanging together? I hope I live as long as these maples, and have the time to make half the quilts that are in my head!