I have been very busy sewing ever since August and have not even had time to paint! I have to get out the fall line of clothes and the Holiday collection, both of which are nearly done and also did a small sweater jacket collecion which is selling well too. The clothes, Pineapple Express for little girls on the go is a business. I developed it to help Suzy at her store to fill a niche. On the west coast, reconstructed clothing out of used clothes is very popular so that is what I do usually with vintage fabrics etc when I can find them. I will post one of the sweaters from that group as they were fun. I boil down women's wool sweaters to shrink them, cut them and reconstruct them so they become something different in appearance. THis sweater closes on the side which makes it asymetrical which is popular out there right now.
Today I go to talk to the seniors at our college who are graduating in fine art. My book is officially out now and being advertised in art magazines etc and I have had other successes internationally but the reality is I have no money. These kids need a reality check as they think they can live here and make a living with their art which is not going to happen. They will have to move away and fine a place that is willing to buy originals etc. So this will be interesting...bring in a stranger to pop their bubble I guess! Ha! So I will be the bad boy and do just that and hopefully get them thinking about what they need to do to prepare for the real world!
My workshop schedule is filling up, even a cruise! It would be fun if some of you could take the cruise and at least at meals and at port we could have fun! Just a pipe dream I am sure.
One of these days I hope to have time to maybe scan a few old pictures to add here...but so glad Gayle and David are keeping it going! Thanks guys!
6 comments:
Your sewing projects sound great. Wish I were closer to see it all.
Hi Janie! Nice job on the sweater! That is very creative to rework sweaters like that. I was just to the Hostfest in Minot with Mom, Marilyn and Gayle. There we saw a video of how wool was placed together, wet down and pressed together with heat. Now I don't remember what that process was called. It was interesting to see how it was done.
I had never even heard of sewing new clothes from old ones...just quilts. ;-) Speaking of wool, I happened to be involved in a project outside Bozeman a few years back where we used solar heat to wash wool at Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool. They use diffusers we built to bubble air through the wool under 160°F water to clean it without turning it into felt. Their wool hats and sweaters are very nice.
Very interesting Andrew! I sent the site on to my daughter Suzy who has an organic store just in case there was something there she was interested in! Yes, reconstructed clothing is very popular in ORegon and Washington as they are so green and prefer to recycle anyway they can...that movement is showing up with raw edges in popular brand clothing now...even in Target...when you see the raw edges or things inside out, it is copying the trend of recycled stuff...but of course theirs is new and not ecologically sound in most cases.
Janie, you never cease to amaze me with all of your creativity. What a great idea. I know someone that bought on sale very large men's wool cardigan sweaters and boiled them to size. There is one hot sweater. Where do you find your sweaters?
When and where is the cruise? How do we sign up. Just dreaming!
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