Sharing the Sweater Love to Support Breast Cancer Research & Recovery

Recently a friend asked me if I would be interested in creating a sweater wrap to donate to a fundraiser silent auction. The event is By Women, For Women (http://www.bwfwgolf.com/) a local, annual women's golf event that raises money to assist in the battle against breast cancer. Of course I was thrilled to be asked and said YES!

The only request was it be a pink-themed sweater...so this past week I came up with the following creation:



I hope it gets lots of bids and the "winner" wears it proudly!

Patchwork is the *Word*

I am currently obsessed with patchwork! I think it is carrying over from all the reconstructed sweaters, scarves and arm warmers I've spent the past 10 months creating!

Here's a new patchwork Frances Skirt (so dubbed "Patchwork Fran") that I just debuted in my Etsy shop last week:





And an ugly pic of me wearing a red...



These were born out of my inability to throw out scraps. I had 4 60 gallon garbage bags FULL of scraps. So I sorted them, trimmed and starting sewing together yardage in color families. Dark red, bright red and cinnamon brown are done. Next up, peach/orange, blues and dark brown, to be followed by greens, golds, pink, fuschia and blacks.

I also have a dozen pieces of patched together scraps of cotton fabric. My mom is a very talented quilter and I give her my bags of sorted cotton scraps and she pieces them together into pleasing yardage for totes and bags. Those will be coming soon, as well as some simpler twill totes with tattered ruffles!

So much for keeping up with the blog....starting over!

So the first 5 months of 2011 have gone by in a blur. A blur of sweaters, sweater dust and upcycled sweater creations! Here's a very, very small sampling of what I've been up to:

A few weeks ago I finally pulled the plug on the sweater machine, in order to work on a few lighter weight, spring/summer creations. Since then I've been making skirts, vacuuming sweater dust and scheming new ideas and possibilities.

I've also been restocking all the neglected shops that have so graciously carried my handmade clothing for the past 18 months. So far, I've stocked/restocked Glitter Workshop, Wholly Craft and a new shop, D.I.Y. Studio & Gifts. Coming shortly will be stock for Anthology, and two additional new shops, Weathered Goods and Modern Mercantile. I added links (if available) to these cool shopping destinations in the sidebar to the right.

Other shop updates include the sad news that Jack 'N Jill in Helena, Montana is closing at the end of May because the owner's spouse has taken a job out of state, and recently Dainty Daisies in Oshkosh, Wisconsin has downsized to a smaller studio and is only taking consignment on a very limited basis. You will be able to find The Painted Daisy products there the month of October - I will be the guest gallery artist for that month!

Let's see...other news....2011 SHOW SCHEDULE!

July 9 - Contructor Fair, NW Chicago Suburbs (Fitzgeralds, Berwyn, IL 10-6)
http://www.constructorcraftfair.com/

July 24th - Summer Craftacular, Madison, WI (East Side Club 10-5)
www.glitterworkshop.com/craftacular

T.B.A. September - Annual Trunk Show, Lexington KY

October 1st - Gallery Walk, Dainty Daisies, Oshkosh, WI (6-9pm)
http://www.daintydaisies.com/

and hopefully...

November 19th - Handmade for the Holidays, Oshkosh, WI
www.daintydaisies.com/handmadefortheholidays.html

December 3rd - Holiday Craftacular, Madison, WI

Keep an eye on my blog for updates about my upcoming shows, new products, tidbits and non-sensical trivia about my sewing, family and life in-general!

Latest Special Projects - Week 4 2011 (a little late)

So I'm still not caught up on posts yet, but I'm still only one week behind...so that's good, right?

Anyway...I've been very busy with special projects, in between getting ready for a great little Valentine Trunk Show (www.glitterworkshop.com/craftacular) on February 6. For all you Madison-area fans you can hit the show early (starts at 10:00am) and still have plenty of time to get your party on for the Packers later that day!

A lovely Holiday Craftacular customer placed a special order for a long, twirly, Katwise-esque sweater coat. She was gracious enough to wait until after the new year. We recently met a few times to measure, exchange ideas and she even provided a lot of the materials! Here are some pictures of the fabulous, decadent, wonderfully rich and unique results! (As always, I apologize in advance for my poor photography skills!)

I'm wrapping up a few more special projects this week, so more coming soon!

Special Project Fun! Week 2 2011

Well, week 2 of 2011 ended on Saturday...and its now Monday, so I'm 2 days behind already! I think I'll have to get working on the post for this week (3) right away so this year doesn't get away from me!

Week 2 was spent working on several projects. I narrowed down my ideas for spring and summer skirts, created patterns and began sewing prototypes. I thought I would have them done by now and ready to photograph and solicit feedback. But....it wasn't meant to be. I got sidelined by several special requests for custom sweaters. Here are some glimpses of a few that I turned out last week.

The first is a super colorful compilation of aqua/teal, red, orange and some crazy color argyle with black. This was created for a new artists friend, Kim Geiser. I highly recommend you check out her blog at http://www.persimmonsgal54220.blogspot.com/ as well as her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/persimmonsgal . She wanted a bright, colorful, long, wrap cardigan...it goes out in the mail tomorrow. I hope she loves it!

The next two lovelies were created for a high school friend I recently got reaquainted with, via the products I sell at a great shop in Madison, WI http://anthology.typepad.com/. Alyssa wanted to "remake" a few of the sweaters she already owned, and these are the results! The Cowl Tunic on the left was a much plainer turtleneck sweater in its former life... I added the flow-y brown and multicolor bands at the neck for the cowl and spliced in some color at the midsection. The other is a great "katwise-esque" sweater coat made from two sweater dusters my friend already owned + some scraps of multi-color sweater knit I had leftover from another project. I left the neckline and sleeve cuffs alone because the fraggle trim was already super cool.

The last project was a custom creation for a repeat customer who is also a patron of an eclectic clothing/vintage/handmade shop in Appleton, WI http://www.daintydaisies.blogspot.com/. Kelly wanted a super colorful, bright, crazy color combo, long tie front cardigan. After emailing a palette of sweaters/scraps we came up with this rambunctious combination of bright orange bodice with splashes of yellow, kelly green, red, lavender, fuschia, black and that awesome argyle made its first appearance in this sweater. Kelly received her sweater last week and I'm hoping to receive some fan pics soon!

I'm working on several more special orders over the next few weeks and will keep posting the results. I love to collaborate with customers to create something unique and "just right" for them.

Happy snow storm to everyone in the upper midwest today. Kids were off school anyway for MLK Day and I'm going to head out and snowblow...then back to the sewing machine.