Patchwork Underground

This made my morning…..

These Lady Gaga cookies were made by FadedLines6 and Catatonicpatient - you can see closeups of each outfit on their flikr stream. Can’t pick a favorite - too many awesome ones.  I was happy to see that even when she’s fat and cookie shaped, Gaga still looks hawt!

OMG! Hat Making - where have you been my whole life!?

This hat is insane and I love it!  The back story: I was bumping Lady Gaga in my sewing room and testing out a traditional Dresden plate pattern that I found on the internet. When it was done I was like, “OK, so, this is cute and would make a nice pillow or whatever - but seriously now - what would it look like on my head?”

BANG!

I used super stiff iron-on interfacing as the body for the brim, ironed it onto the Dresden plate, hand stitched a rad fake fur lining onto the other side and stitched a doily center onto the middle to form the crown.  I hid the unfinished bit where the brim meets the crown with matching lace so that it just looks like an extension of the doily.  I also hand-stitched wire into the brim so that I can move it all around and change its shape however I want to.  I used tiny stitches everywhere so that the whole thing is REVERSABLE.

Plans for the next hat are already in the making.  This time, I want to actually wet felt a vintage-looking hat together….with feathers and rhinestones and fake foliage, of course.  I already put a couple different millinery books on hold at the library and they should be shipping to the North Portland library for me soon.  There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this thing and I’d like to actually learn how to do it for reals.  Yay!

I found these freakin’ fantastic pumpkins at ExtremePumpkins.com.

Still don’t have my pumpkins yet.  Thinking about heading out to the Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze sometime this week.  Time is running out!!!!!  Now if I can just find a bit of time to work on my costume….

Marx…in hair. All I can say is WOW.

I found Professor Wei Jingxian & his art of hair embroidery when I was searching for modern-day practitioners of Victorian hairwork. (You already knew I was dorky. Whatever.) Professor Jingxian has been doing what he calls “sketch hair embroidery” since the 60s. Apparently, hairwork was also traditionally practiced in China but, like Victorian hairwork, has pretty much totally died out.

Well, except for Professor Jungxian.

I LOVE his choices of subjects. He has travelled all over the world doing “hair embroidery diplomatism.” And yeah…he’s done ALL 43 presidents of the United States.

So I’ve never seen anything like this (especially made in modern times) but I have seen some pretty amazing Victorian hairwork examples in several museums here in Oregon, including the Pioneer Museum in Brownsville, OR. The Brownsville museum is RAD but you wouldn’t know it from the janky sign on the I-5. (I went because of the janky sign but that’s just me. Thrift shops, junk yards, podunk DIY museums - what’s the difference?) Anyways, Brownsville’s museum was NOT what I was expecting. It’s totally well-managed, big and awesome. Not podunk at all. Their historical (and totally local) fiber arts collections is rockin’. They have quilts, weavings, native american basketwork and, yes, stuff that crazy white ladies made out of human hair over 100 years ago. Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.

In conclusion: Yay hair crafting!

I went to the Skill Share Studio Block Party the other night here in Portland! It was a freakin’ blast! Emily and Co. worked their hides off to bring us this lovely event. (Thanks guys! You did a fantastic job!)

I wanted to share a few of my pics with ya’ll….

We had fun even with the blistering heat. After a week or so of it, I think we’re all getting a but used to 95-105 degree weather here in Portland…

Double dutch!

This guy has a solar powered sewing machine and does free motion embroidered pictures on patches while you watch. I also saw him at Last Thursday this month on Alberta St. Purdy darn amazing. If anyone knows who this gentleman is and how I could link to him here, please email me!

(Side note: Ok, so, I love this…but…isn’t the whole battery/solar power thing a bit overkill when sewing machines can go with foot power just fine? You can rig one up with a bicycle wheel for extra hipster points. No icky batteries to dispose of…no hundreds of dollars to put down. Just saying. Still, his set-up is a super fun way to teach people about renewable energy!)

Revelers with the City Repair T-Horse Mobile Tea House in the background. I had a loveley hibiscus tea served by a very kind gentleman. Yum. Thanks, City Repair!

Awesome band! Can’t remember their name. This guy played a wicked accordian. Very dance-able.

Folks of all ages had a good time!

Well…that sums it up. Can’t wait until next year!

And, oh yeah…I’m teaching Patchwork 101: Patchy Pillows at Skill Share next week! We’ll be making retro checker board pillows using a retro strip-peicing technique called Seminole patchwork. If you can sew a straight line, then you can do this!

The class is going to be on Saturday, August 8th from 2-5pm, sliding scale $5-$25. You can register by emailing patchworkunderground@gmail.com or you can read more about it on DIY Alert. Come! It’s going to be fun!

Here’s a pic of what we’ll be making (you can choose whatever fabrics you want, of course!)

If you’re in Portland, you’ll probably see me trucking around town today flyering for the class! Say hi! I don’t bite. =)