Monday Morning Inspiration

It seems I am a little late in finding out about Marit Fujiwara. Hey, better late than never. I came across a picture on Pinterest, was intrigued and went searching for more. What I found took my breath away.
You may already know about this incredible designer/artist, but if you don't, get ready to be inspired or at least, blown away.
Taken from www.patternbank.com, "Marit Fujiwara graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2009 and then set up her company Tanana Takite. Specialising in mixed media and constructive textiles, she creates some really unique pieces that push the boundaries between Art, Craft and Design. She adopts an experimental attitude towards materials, combining traditional printing techniques with embroidery and fabric manipulation. As a keen illustrator, she bases her work on drawing, bringing fluidity to her garments and projecting the idea of movement and time."

What's amazing to me is that she is able to layer so many fabrics and yet her pieces still seem to have such a lightness to them.

In this photo you can see the stitching alongside the fabrics.

The skirt almost looks to be plastic.

In the photo below you can see just how many layers there are.

The fabrics seem to take on the look of the skeleton.

A close up of the leggings.

The fabrics and the stitching blend together in what seems to be an effortless manor.

A close up of the stitching.

Her art work.

The pictures below are from a collection called "Hair."

If you would like to see more of Marit Fujiwara's work, and I would highly recommend it, click here.
Wishing you all an incredible week.
Rhonda

Sunday Night Reflections

Celebrate Vision
One spring day, Carolyn Edwards drove her mother up a twisting mountain road. Suddenly, her mother saw what Carolyn brought her to see. As far as the eye could see stretched a sea of red tulips, yellow daffodils, and purple hyacinths. She was speechless. "Who did this?" she gasped. A sign next to a small cottage explained, "What was done was done by one woman, one flower at a time, starting in 1958." "Think of it," her mother said, "One person with a vision turned drabness into beauty. It took fourty years, but she did it."  Imagine what I could do, if I had a vision and worked at it a little bit each day.

Taken from "Celebration of Hope."
Mark Link, S.J

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57437366/with-thousands-of-flags-honoring-fallen-heroes-hes-never-met/?tag=showDoorFlexGridRight;SunMoImageStack

Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs 29:18

Sunday Brunch

Bing cherries are finally back in season. I am so very happy. A bag of cherries is never safe around me. So since it's Bing Cherry time, it's time for some homemade waffles with a Bing Cherry Syrup.

I've already eaten and my mouths waters at the sight of the picture. The waffles are Walnut Waffles. You can substitute any nut you wish, or delete the nuts altogether.
Walnut Waffles
1 3/4 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 3/4 cups of milk
3 eggs separated
6 tablespoons of butter melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon of Almond Extract
Pinch of Cream of Tartar

Preheat waffle iron.

Begin by combining milk, egg yolks, melted butter, and extract. Whisk well. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Sift and then combine with liquid ingredients. At this point, add chopped walnuts.

In another bowl, combine Cream of Tartar with egg whites. Beat until soft peaks form. Fold into waffle mixture.

 There should be little clouds of white in the bowl, so don't stir until completely combined.

Grease your waffle iron and pour batter onto griddle. Cook until browned.
Bing Cherry Syrup
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of warm water
2 cups of stemmed and pitted bing cherries
1 teaspoon of almond extract
Combine sugars and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add cherries and lower heat and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes or until cherries are cooked.

Pour over waffles and enjoy!!!
I just want to give a quick shout out to Yuki of My Cat Loves Food and Fabric. Last week I posted a recipe for cake donuts. Yuki made them and they looked wonderful. The picture is below. Yum!

I would also like to thank Terri K of http://sewsophisticated.blogspot.com/. She sent a recipe for Baked Cake Donuts. They look great and I will be giving them a try very soon. If you would like to give them a try before I do, here is the link, http://www.mrsfieldssecrets.com/blogs/blog/2010/01/recipe-baked-cake-donuts/
Have a wonderful day. I'm out to do a little digging in my garden. I must be mad as this is supposed to be a record breaking day of 97 degrees. Oh well, Mad Dogs and English Men!!! 

Sleeves On Saturdays

The Shirred Wrist Sleeve

This sleeve offers shirring detail along the bottom edge of the sleeve. A very pretty, soft detail, perfect on a blouse, dress or even a t-shirt.

I have not finished my top as I haven't quite decided how I would like to finish the neckline. In the picture you can see the shirring detail on both sleeves. Since the sleeves are not on the body, they want to wing out. Once they are on the arm, they will lay flat against the arm.

I have tried to get a picture of what the sleeve looks like on my arm.

Sorry about the poor pictures. It's a little difficult to photograph your own arm.

I hope that you at least get the idea.

Begin with your straight sleeve pattern.

Determine where you would like the sleeve to end on your arm. I chose to make mine a 3/4 length sleeve. The dotted line in the picture below represents this.

Once you have determined where you would like the sleeve to finish, cut that portion away. Now determine how high up the arm you would like the gathers to go. The dotted line in the picture below represents this.

Now draw in the center tab. Mine is 2". Draw in the tab lines as you see below.

Measure the section where the gathers will be and divide this measurement into 4 equal parts. If your gathers will go further up the sleeve, you may want to divide this number by 6 or even 8. Draw in the sections as you see below. Make sure to number them.

Cut along the tab lines and then over to the under arm seam as you see below. Be careful to not cut through the seam you want your pieces to remain attached. If by chance you do cut through, your pieces are numbered so you will not have a problem with putting them back together.

Cut all of the sections to the underarm seam as you see below.

Spread the sections equally and tape or pin in place. My sections were spread 1 1/2" each. If your fabric is a little bulkier than a light weight fabric, you may want to reduce this amount to 1" between each section.

Now that the sections have been equally spread, connect the lines. The dots that you see in the above picture are at the top of the tab section. Add 1/4" seam allowance to the tab as well as the shirring lines.

The final pattern. Before you sew in the gathering stitches, you will want to clip just shy of the dots. Sew in the gathering lines and gather up. Pin to the tab and then sew the pieces together. Do not sew the gathering stitches in the hem.
As I said, this is a lovely detail on a sleeve. It can turn something basic into something interesting. We will revisit this sleeve in the future as there are other details that can be added.
Hope you're having a lovely weekend.
Rhonda

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

Dashiki Easy

I recently found this beautiful Dashiki on Ebay. The colors are so very vibrant and tribal prints are so hot right now. When I saw it, I immediately knew that this would make a great piece for Fabulous Free Pattern Friday as it is nothing more than a rectangle.

As I played around with it a bit on my form, I decided that I am going to have to get another one as this would make a great maxi dress. Cut the neckline area and do a beaded necklace and make it into a halter dress. So many possibilities.

As I did a little more research on the Dashikis, I found that all of them have a name. Mine is King Star.

So this is what I did with it. I am in love with this top. As you can see the neckline was cut open and elastic was added at the waistline. Other than that, the only other stitching I did was at the hem. The Dashikis are printed as panels and when this one was cut, it was not cut as straight as it should have been, so I had to eliminate the gold design that you see along the sides. This was along the bottom as well. No problem, I think it turned out just fine.

To begin with, I cut out the circle that was in the middle.

This would not allow for enough room to get it over my head, so I cut down the center front.

I used a piece of bias tape to finish the edges. As you can see it is mitered at the corner.

In case you don't know this, you can press your bias tape into the shape of where you will be sewing it prior to sewing it to the garment.

Take one end and hold it down with the iron and then curve the bias strip. Press.

The curve will be in place.

In this picture I am holding it upside down to show that it will hold it's shape. If for some reason you no longer want that shape once you have pressed it, just place your iron on the end once again and press it back into a straight piece. If you've never done this, give it a try, it's rather fun.

For the next step you will need to sew in the lines that are on either side of the piece. Forgive me, but I forgot to take a picture of this. You will need your hip measurement for this. If your hip measurement is 38", add at least 2" for ease. Measure out from the center of the piece 1/4 of this measurement and place a mark. This will determine where to sew the lines that are on either side of the top. The lines will stop 10" to 12" from the top of the garment. This will be the opening for your arms.

To add the casing for the elastic, try the piece on and determine where your waist is. Give yourself a little bit of ease as you will want to be able to comfortably raise your arms. If this measurement is 15" from the bottom, you will then mark this measurement all the way around. Pin the bottom edge of the bias tape on this line. I used a 2" wide piece of bias tape. As you see in the picture above, the stitching must stop at the lines you sewed for your side seams in order for the flutter edges to remain free. 

This is the outside of the garment and you can see how the stitching stops at that side seam.

Now take a piece of elastic and pull it comfortably around your waist. Allow enough for a small seam allowance. Thread the elastic through the casing. Once threaded through, sew the ends together.

The elastic casing.

A view from the front.

So that is it, a super simple top that is really quite special.
Now you may be wondering depending upon where you live, just where you can find the fabric. I did a little research to get you started.

I found this piece,

and this piece on Ebay. This particular shop also has some other fabulous pieces of African fabrics. Really worth checking out.

As I looked around a bit more, I came across this picture. Isn't this skirt incredible? Really lovely.
With all of my searching , I found an African shop here in Chicago that carries Dashikis as well as many other very interesting fabrics. I'm on my way!!
Today's addition of Fabulous Free Pattern Friday is not so much about how to do the top, but hopefully opening up your world to new possibilities. I know it has mine. I can't wait to make a trip to the African shop.
Have a wonderful day!
Rhonda