Tracey

A Silver Lining

07.19.2015 by Tracey //

Shirt by Tracey

Pattern, drafted by Tracey and Lindsey Knott

Fabric, Liberty Lawn Paisley Print, B&J Fabric

Did I fool you with the title? Since it’s a sewing blog, you may have thought that I meant a silver lining literally. Like a lining on a garment. In this case I meant a silver lining as in what a dark cloud always has. My grand plan for this week was to post pictures of a dress that I’ve been working on for awhile. But like many grand plans, it just didn’t work out. I had a choice point a few days ago that I could rush through to get it done or I could take a little more time and get it right. I opted for the latter. So, as of Thursday, I had nothing to post. Santiago and I talked through our ideas and discussed skipping a week, but neither of us wanted to do that. Then I thought of this shirt. I really hadn’t planned on putting it up on our blog. Not that I don’t like it. I actually love this shirt. It’s one of the first patterns that I designed and drafted and therefore it’s intentionally simple. Because it’s more of an everyday shirt, it wasn’t an obvious choice to post.

Santiago and I looked it over and well…I can’t say that we were overwhelmed with ideas about how to photograph it. But you know, sometimes having limits can really be a blessing. What we had–a basic shirt, a small amount of time, our own home as a location, and my bad mood, forced us to get creative. Not only do I like how the images turned out, but I love it that this humble little shirt is getting its moment in the spotlight (literally!).

As I said earlier, this is one of the patterns that I designed myself and then drafted with my instructor Lindsey (read more about her here). It’s made from a really nice Liberty paisley print and it turned out to be a great project to further my pattern making skills.

Next week we are going to show you something fun. And if all goes according to plan (haha!!), you will see a dress in two weeks. If you don’t, then you’ll know I’ve gone further down the rabbit hole with this thing.

See you soon.

Anna’s Heirlooms

07.12.2015 by Tracey //

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

You would think that we would have stirred up some ghosts with this photo shoot. Not really. Mostly just stirred up dust. But it was worth it to endure the 120 degree heat of the attic and all that dust to get these images.

These absolutely lovely gowns belong to my friend Anna. I saw them for the first time when I was at Anna’s for one of her lunches for her “girls”. I am so lucky to have a friend like her. She is one of the best storytellers that I know and she has a way of elevating the simplest thing to something special. So it was at one of Anna’s lunches that she pulled out a box and started to pass around these garments, explaining how most of them belonged to her grandmother and her mother. The whole experience was so feminine and so nostalgic with all of us women sitting in a circle, eating chicken salad, sharing stories, and handling such beautiful, sentimental heirlooms.

I have to admit, I’m kind of obsessed with these gowns. The pin tucks and the lace insertions, these are the elements that I want to be putting into the garments that I make. One of the reasons that I started this blog is to hold myself accountable for my creativity. It’s way too easy to let all the responsibilities of life completely take over. With this post, I’m setting the intention to take the plunge into heirloom sewing and to figuring out different ways to use these techniques in modern garments. I don’t fully understand why, but there are times when I am mentally blocked. I guess I want to be good at it so much that I’m stuck. I laugh at my kids when they get so worked up when they can’t do something successfully the first time they try it. I tell them, “You silly goofballs, of course you can’t do it yet, you’ve never tried it before!” I need to start taking my own advice. Just start. And know that I’m going to make mistakes along the way. It’s going to be worth the effort.

Have a great week!

This Land Is Your Land

07.05.2015 by Tracey //

California, Pacific Ocean, Santiago Vanegas

San Francisco, California, Point Lobos, Tracey Hogan

Death Valley, California, Santiago Vanegas

Arches National Park, Utah, Santiago Vanegas

Meteor Crater, Arizona, Santiago Vanegas

Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, Santiago Vanegas

Cochiti Lake, New Mexico, Santiago Vanegas

Mississippi River, Louisiana, Santiago Vanegas

Stone Mountain, Georgia, Santiago Vanegas

Cumberland Island, Georgia, Tracey Hogan

Cumberland Island, Georgia, Santiago Vanegas

Atlantic Ocean, Georgia, Santiago Vanegas

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!

To celebrate, here are some landscapes from west to east. The photographs were taken between 2002 and the present by Santiago and by me, starting with the image from Death Valley. (We are particularly sentimental about Death Valley because it’s where Santiago and I met.)

We’ll see you next Sunday.