News from the classroom (at Grampians Texture... ahem.. a couple of weeks ago)

Lately, there has been much to show and tell, and my inner-blogger is always taking photos and mental notes.  My outer-blogger appears to be otherwise occupied, and things like my fabulous week at Grampians Texture nearly slipped through the net of bloggy documentation.... I'm remedying that NOW!

 



What a fabulous week it was... spent in beautiful Hall's Gap with hundreds of textiles-loving people, and 2-day and 4-day workshops in all manner of textile-related skills and projects.

 

My 4-day Pattern-Free Garment workshop was a hoot.  With 4 days, and 11 bodies of varying size, shape, age and personality, we were able to explore the concept and come up with lots of great garments and ideas.

 

These are just a few of the photos of garments that were made. It's a very image-heavy post, so I'll lighten the load on the wordy bit and let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many more... and lots of giggles, collaboration and creativity.  It must have looked like fun, from the outside looking in.... this fella really wanted to join us!

 

My 2-day workshop was a bells-and-whistles Travel Bag, with loads of different zips and pocket construction methods.  We had a few finishes and lots of nearly-finished bags by the end of the 2 days, but absolutely no photos of the actual class.  We were too busy!

 

 

These are a few of the bags on "show and tell" display at the end of Sunday, when all the workshop participants and tutors gather to see the results of all of the different workshops.

 

 

Grampians Texture was so much more than the snippet I've shown here.  I have more photos, more stories and more thoughts to share.  I may or may not get back to doing that.... there are other very exciting things to tell.  I'll be back soon... or when I can! 

 

If you're interested in learning some zipper pocket and zipper closure methods, there's a class coming up in a few weeks in Melbourne, and there are a couple of places left in it.  You can book here.

 

If you'd like to do a 1-day Pattern-Free class, I have one coming up (and booking up!) in May - book here (quickly).

 

 

Think-music sewing (and a few new classes)

In between teaching and working on the book manuscript, lately I've been doing a bit of think-music sewing.



I've been freshening up the samples for classes and for the trip to Quilt Market in Portland and freeing up my mind as I sew up old standards.  This Large Tote bag is pimped up with techniques from the Zippers for Bags workshop.

I'll be teaching the Zippers For Bags workshop at Addicted To Fabric in Canberra in a few weeks, and I've just scheduled another one for 27th April, here in my studio in Northcote (you can book into that one here). 

I finished off these two bags from samples that were used to demonstrate the various stages of zipper methods in classes.  I thought it was a shame to waste the gorgeous fabrics by not finishing the bags.

I love this old Robyn Pandolf print (below).  It's a lightweight quilting fabric, teamed with decor-weight Joel Dewberry fabric.  I used Vilene S320 and wadding (fleece) to plump up the fabrics to give them the same sort of structure.

And then I fancied it up with internal zippers and a zippered gusset closure....

And a sneaky little lapped zip pocket on the back...

I've also been sewing (and delegating a bit of sewing) of samples for the Quilt Market display.  We've been using some new Riley Blake fabrics, like on this Geeky Chic Laptop Bag, so we can do a bit of cross-promotion at the show. 



 I'd forgotten what a satisfying sew the Laptop Bag is.  It's a lot of cutting and a lot of different components, but none of the sewing is actually too difficult.  And when it comes together, it looks really sharp.

Again, I've used Vilene S320 and fusible wadding to give the light fabric the structure it needs, and because it fuses like a dream.

I had to do a bit of patching-together to make the laptop sleeve (I ran out of fabric), but I didn't want to leave it without the vital component for carrying a computer, since that's what the design says it's meant to carry.

Mind you, I've seen this bag used as a nappy (diaper) bag,  and more often as a college or school bag, and as a general-purpose messenger-style tote.

The expandable pocket inside the bag fits an iPad in its case, very comfortably.

I also made the Sling Bag, and I think that this is the very best version of it I've ever made, and I just adore the super-fresh print from the Serenity range from Riley Blake.

I took the time to take the interfacing off all the seam allowances, and it made a massive difference to the overall finish. 

It's a while since I've made a Sling bag, and I notice each time I remake an older design, just how far my skills have come over the last ten years of doing this,  There's always so much more to learn and improve upon.

I have a few lovely ladies doing some sewing for me, too, making a few more samples, that I hope to be able to share with you soon.

I've also just listed another Customised Bag in a Day workshop for 15th June, in my studio.  If you'd like to brush up your bag-making skills and learn a few new tricks to tart up any old bag design, this one might be for you.

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Oh... and I nearly forgot to mention... we have a last-minute place on this weekend's Purse Frames Class.  If you'd like to book in, we'll throw in a free purse pattern (up to the value of $35) for you!  You can book here!

Zipper feet and zipped purses.

Yes, it is possible to put in a zipper without too much angst, and it's possible to finish with great results. 

Good instructions, a few hints and the right sort of zipper foot can all make a difference.

I can help you out with the first two of these... the foot is up to you.

People often ask what they're doing wrong, that they can't get a sharp finish on their zippers. Having seen lots of machines and presser feet in action, and having demonstrated zippers on other people's machines in classes, I've come to the conclusion that the style of zipper foot is a big player.

You see this style of snap-on zipper foot...?

Not even I can put in a good zipper with it.  And I can put in a good zipper. 

Especially when making bags, with all their enclosed spaces, bulky fabrics and bulky zips, that big lump on the back of the foot just gets in the way and causes trouble. 

Some machines come with a lovely narrow zipper foot (like the Bernina foot, in the photo directly above), and some come with adjustable or sliding zipper feet, like the feet in the photos below.  Others have that wide snap-on number.  If your machine came equipped with one of those wide ones, I'd suggest you start looking at the alternatives.

The designs of adjustable feet vary a bit between brands and vintage, but they all do the same thing.  They all allow the full length of the foot to glide easily along the side of a zipper or any other raised object, just behind the needle.  This means that you can sew in tricky places and around tricky things like zips, piping cord and magnetic catches.

The two pictures above are current model generic zipper feet, and are available in long or short shank fittings.  These particular ones are from Sew Much Easier (a YOU SEW GIRL stockist).

The two pictures below are from my 1980's model Singer and my 1960's model Janome machine. They both fit current model Janome, Singer and Brother machines.  Check any old machines you have about the place, you might just have one!

 

The foot can slide either side of the needle so that you can sew as close to the edge of the zipper as you like.  They're also good for sewing piping and getting close to other lumpy things that might be on your fabric (magnetic catches, beads and whatnot).

This is another adjustable zipper foot that I have.  It's a snap-on for another 1960's Singer machine of mine.

The little plastic bit near the snap-on bar thing (serious tech-talk here!) moves from side to side, allowing the foot to snap on either side of the needle.  Clever and effective ...but really tiny and fiddly.

Really, it doesn't matter how your machine handles the arrangement between needle, foot and zipper, as long as the effect is that you can always sew as close to any sort of obstruction as you like, without a great big lump of presser-foot getting in the way. 

Sort that bit out, and you're a third of the way to better zippers!

Now... for the good instructions, tips and hints, we have the newly-revised extended-dance-mix version of my old Coin Purse Kit .... I've added lots of extra full-colour photos to completely explain the whole process and I've tweaked the instructions substantially.  Best of all, it's now a PDF that you can find HERE and download immediately.

I use these little purses as my go-to gift for kinder and schoolteachers (and for staff Christmas presents one year), combined with inkjet fabric and my girl's artwork.  They're always a hit!

Fancypants Hobo

If you're looking for me today, I'll be at Treehouse Textiles, teaching in a gorgeous Australian bush setting, eating gourmet food and feeling a bit fancy.

 For the rest of the forseeable week, I'll be chained to the sewing machine, buried under a pile of new samples I'm sewing up for the Australasian Quilt Market and my classes in Sydney the following week.  Not so fancy.

 I've finished this new sample, which has somehow been dubbed "The Fancypants Hobo".... it's a bit special with those two exposed zippers in the front.  They're there as an example of how to use one of the techniques in the zipper class I'll be teaching at Peg's Pieces (and back at my studio in Melbourne later in the year).

 Mind you, the Hobo was always was a bit fancy.  The instructions teach lots of bag-making tricks that bridge the gap between beginner and intermediate bag-making skills -  all in a gently, gently sort of way, of course.

I must fly... time to find my way through the wilds of the eastern suburbs to the serene south.  I believe there's a lemon tart with my name on it there.

Take a scroll through the Treehouse Blog. (I feel a bit calmer just LOOKING at it...)

Zipping along....

...on the sewing machine, at least.  In real life, it's all butter-menthols and early nights (and a few hot whiskeys).

 While I'm not quite running on all eight cylinders, I'm using my limited energy to sew up samples, using the zipper samples I've made for ZIPPERS FOR BAGS workshops.  Next task is to cut and make up a new batch of zipper samples for classes.
I'm adding zips to bags where zips were not originally in the pattern, just to show you what's possible when you know a few zippy tricks.  The pocket configuration in this Laptop Bag is nothing like the original design, but could serve a different range of pockety needs.  (Yes - I just made up another word.)

I used Amy Butler's "Lark" for this bag, interfaced with a combination of Vilene S320 and H640 fusible wadding.  I find that for large areas of fabric, the low melting-point adhesive on Vilene S320's makes it a breeze to apply.  The addition of H640 wadding gives the bag a springy, self-supporting structure that is easy to manipulate around the sewing machine.  You can see that I've waxed lyrical about this before..

I've used the same combination of interfacings on my project for Australian Homespun's project of the month, which should be out very soon ( I thought it was the May edition...?EDITED TO ADD - it's the JUNE edition).  Again, the fabric is Amy Butler's "Lark" range.

You can see how smooth the surface of the fabric is, and how self-supporting this bag is.  That'd be the interfacing combo....

Right now, I'm sipping hot lemon, honey and ginger at home, but I'm planning more zippered bag variations as we speak.

Oh, and since my August Zipper Workshop has booked out, I've schedued another date for a class in my studio - November 17th.  Needless to say, places book up quickly, so get in while you can!

LATE-BREAKING NEWS -
 Pattern Review have posted reviews and a giveaway of my book - HERE.  This might be a good opportunity for those of you in the USA to get your hands on it!