Featherstitch Avenue

Style and Couture Sewing

Working at the Car Wash

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Car Wash Skirt Sketch

Hi Everybody!  It’s so good to be back!  As we approach the end of the year, it’s probably inevitable that I review what we have done here at Featherstitch Avenue, and figure out where we want to go in the future.  When I started the blog, I wanted to give myself deadlines and a framework for my creative life.  It’s too easy to ignore my artistic side with all the pressures and responsibities of family life.  Looking back over the year, I am somewhat amazed at our productivity!  I don’t fully understand how that happened but most of the credit goes to the blog.  Now it’s time to make the blog work for me again.  I’m ready to really challenge myself and break through some creative blocks that are in my way.  The projects I’m going to take on require skills that I’m still learning and I will need A LOT more time to complete them.  It’s going to mean some changes in the way we present things, so expect to see a few tweaks here and there.  My productivity will be down in quantity, but hopefully way up on quality!  And of course, Santiago will be there to photograph it every step of the way.

First up!  A car wash skirt!  Call me crazy, but I love this skirt.  It’s all about taking something very lady-like and zapping it with a rock-n-roll edge.  Now that’s a trend I can totally get behind!  With this project, I get to apply the education that I’ve gotten from Julien Cristofoli in draping and Susan Khalje in couture sewing.  Using Christian Dior’s version as inspiration, I’ve sketched out what I’d like to try.  (To see more inspiration, go to my Pinterest page here.)

Black and White Wool Tweed

Here’s the fabric that I’ll be using.  I’ve had this in my stash for years.  And while I really love it, I haven’t been able to get my head around using it because it felt a little too girly for me.  But taking this fabric and essentially shredding it is going to give it enough of a punk feel that I think is going to make it feel more like me.

Wool Tweed Detail

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

Next week, I’m going to introduce you to my dress form and we’re going to do some draping!!

One more thing before I go.  As many of you know, I was in Paris at the beginning of the month.  I have been sitting here at my computer typing and deleting, and typing and deleting, trying to process the horrible events that occurred.  The truth is, I don’t know what to say.  The only thing I know for sure is that I am heartbroken for the people of Paris and everyone affected by the attack.  My thoughts and prayers are with them.

The Creative Process and a Beautiful Song

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Crossing the bridge

This has been a tough year.  It’s been about loss, grief, and struggle.  When I decided in the fall of 2014 to start a blog at the beginning of the new year, I had no idea what 2015 had in store for me.  If I had known, I probably would have decided to start blogging some other time, but as it turns out, Featherstitch Avenue has been my saving grace.

On the beach

My main reason for wanting to blog was to create a structure for my creativity and a way to hold myself accountable.  Many of us have busy, hectic lives and I’m no different.  Finding time for soul nourishing activities is a challenge itself, but necessary for me so that I don’t turn into a complete lunatic!

Looking out

At this early stage in my blogging career, I’m realizing how important it is to thoughtfully consider each post.  Otherwise, it’s just noise.  We all have too much noise in our lives.  Lately, I’ve been experiencing such extreme image fatigue.  Images on Facebook and Instagram.  Images coming at me through email.  Too many magazine subscriptions.  And yes, blogs too.

Looking Down

So what does this mean for our blog that puts more images into the world?  After spending a lot of time thinking it over, if what we are doing is not meaningful, what’s the point?  I happen to believe that creativity is very meaningful.  And while Santiago and I have had a great time showing you the finished product, we both know the process of creating is just as important, if not more so.  In the future, we will be sharing more posts about our process and speaking more openly about the bumpy road of creativity.

Over the Road

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

And as it often happens, life sends you a message that you need to hear.  In this case it came in the form of a beautiful song.  My friend Auna has had her struggles.  After sustaining an arm and hand injury, she found that she could no longer play classical music on the piano.  Although the injury never fully healed, Auna let her love of music carry her through.  And so she plays the keyboard instead, as a keyboard has a lighter touch than the more heavy handed piano.  Her resilience through struggle is a message that I’ve taken to heart.

Follow the link to play the song.  Right Place by Auna Sims

Auna Sims, Right Place

Have a good week.  We’ll see you soon.

Ikat Skirt

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Ikat Skirt

Ikat Skirt

Santiago Vanegas Photography

Triple pocket of ikat skirt

Turquoise Lining on Ikat Skirt

Skirt made by Tracey

Pattern, Marfy 3094

Fabric, Ikat Cotton from Mood Fabrics

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

Making this skirt kept me up at night!  Those triple pockets gave me such a headache.  As many of you know, Marfy does not include instructions with their patterns.  They assume you know what you are doing.  Ha!  I did not know what the heck I was doing with this one.  I was obsessed with how to construct this skirt and more than any other project I’ve done, the choices I made early on, lead me to only one or sometimes no good choice at the end.  With every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  To say the least!!  I think I have just about every type of finishing on the inside of this thing.  Slowly but surely, it started to come together, and once I had the triple pockets all functioning as true pockets, I could sleep much better.  I took a lot of care with cutting the fabric.  I knew it would be close to impossible to match the design of the fabric exactly because there are so many asymmetrical pieces coming together and shifting grainlines, but I figured that I could at least preserve the turquoise and coral bands of color in a linear way.  And I’m proud of how it turned out.  Oh, yeah, and I also tweaked the design a bit.  The original design had a sharper angle on one side of the wrap.  I curved it to give it more of a tulip hem.

Enjoy your week, everyone.  See you next time.