Patchwork Underground

I’m soooo excited to introduce ya’ll to my very good friend and Eugene Saturday Market mate, Gillian Smithline of Indigo Inspired.

Gillian is a wonderwoman crafter and mama who makes beautiful, sexy AND super comfy hemp clothes right out of her home studio outside Eugene, OR.  Ever since the first day I met her, I have always been inspired by Gillian’s professionalism and work ethic.  This is one seriously savvy businesswoman.

Oh yeah, and I LOVE her clothes!  I am the proud owner of one of her purple womyn wraps, one of her pixied-out watermellon-colored skirts AND one of her racer-back tank tops. So comfy!

OK, I think I’ll let Gillian take it from here.  My questions in bold.

What do you create?

I design, sew an dye every item sold from my Indigo Inspired clothing line.
I am committed to making clothing out of sustainable hemp/organic cotton fabrics.

When and how did you decided to pursue your craft full-time?

I have been a full time designer/seamstress for most of my adult life, I never had the drive to take it very far tho and mostly just made ends meet and had fun sewing and traveling with my designs.

In 2006 I gave birth to my very radical son named Indigo.

Shortly after he was born I became a full time single mom and had to figure out how to create a life for my son without struggle and too much hardship.
I knew I wanted to continue to work at home so I could be around to experience his first “milestones” and I also knew I was an experienced seamstress the next step was just to take it to the next level.
I officially named my business Indigo Inspired and invested in high quality machines, threads, dyes and fabrics.
I started busting out a production line with a few designs and over the years I have tried to keep at least 25 constants in my on-line shop. At the moment I have 36. I have to say I have really been inspired this year..

How did you come up with your business name?

Hmmm, my son I suppose. I really wanted my business name to reflect my passion for being a independent single mom living life for her son. I am truly inspired by his youth and energy.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in starting your own crafty business?

Take time to look streamlined and professional.
Stay true to my roots and support other small businesses for my supplies I use (labels, business cards, fabric, dyes).

What inspires you most?

My son and I live in a super sweet cabin on some acerage in the woods outside of Eugene Oregon. Life in the woods is super influential in my designs; paradoxically so is my growing up in Los Angeles. I love to read European high fashion magazines while sitting in my garden. It’s all about balance I suppose.
Indigo inspired me in all ways.
He is a fearless, happy, delightful little soul and I love to take lessons from him in my acceptance to trying new things and putting myself “out there” without the fear of failing.
Being a tomboyish mama also inspires me to design clothing that looks fashion forward but is also easy and comfortable to run with the kids/friends and play hard.
Right now I have been loving on some looks from the early 70’s punk days and also Thai/Burmese/African body mod styles.
Ancient dieing tribal styles mixed with earth mother mixed with rock and roll.
Music is always on! At the moment Minor Threat is fueling this interview. I also have very strong roots in a fabulous spiritual center down in Los Angeles called Agape. It is a simple and beautiful message they walk and talk. I listen to the music from Agape and sermons most of the time when I am sewing. I have even added a line from one of my favorite songs onto my labels~ Blessed Always.
I need to feel happy and grateful when I am working. I will not attempt to sew, cut, dye or design if I am in a bad mood. I don’t want to put that energy into my clothing, and I find I make tons more mistakes. Having a simple mantra I can repeat is a great way to lift my spirits and help me create and be the working mama I want to be. Blessed Always.

haha.

Do I sound insane Erin?
A spiritual/punk/tribal/high fashion/city/woods/mama? hmmmm

What’s your favorite tool, technique or project?

My favorite part of my process is for sure the designing. Most of the time the designs come to me in dreamlike trances. I love figuring out how to transform an idea into a real live flattering comfortable item of clothing. Divine!
My favorite tool is a silver sharpie to make marks on black fabric.
I also love my big super power magnet for catching up all loose needles and such.

What the biggest challenge (if any) you’ve had to overcome in pursuing your craft?

Making a schedule and sticking to it.

Narrowing down my designs I make for my online shops to what I want to sell in my art fair/market and festival booths.
I am always unsure of what to consolidate into actually making for production for my shows since I vend in an 8by8 or 10by10 space on the weekends. There is really not that much clothing you can squeeze into a space that small…

Learning how to be a business woman when all I really want to be is the artist ♥

If you had time, what new medium would you want to learn/new thing would you want to do?

Oh boy. Time.. I wish I did have it!
I used to have a hand in all sorts of creative endeavors but now it seems like I really only have time for this since I am still doing every aspect of it all.
I would love to learn screen printing, carpentry/woodworking/general handy*womyn stuff..
I wish I could skateboard like a pro.
Hammock weaving!
I have a trombone I really want to have more time to play.
And I just know I would be a damn good craps player if anyone would teach me how to hustle.
For reals.

THE END!

Thanks, Gillian!!  Be sure to check out all of Gillian’s work at her etsy shop!

OK, if you are one of the very select group of folks who has been following my crafty exploits since I was in high school then you may recognize the center of this wall hanging in progress…

It started as a crewel embroidery sampler on fabric I ripped out of an old floor pillow.  I began in the center and then just worked around that first flower you see in the middle.  It just kept growing.

I would take it to work with me at the Games Gallery in the Santa Rosa Mall (yes, the old Dungeons and Dragons store that closed like 10 years ago) and stitch on it behind the counter.  I would take it to Mme. Newlon’s french class with me and work on it there.  (Best way to determine a teacher’s craft politics is to bust out a needlework project in class, right?)

People were really drawn in by it so I started making it more and more trippy and cosmic because that seems like what it wanted to be.  If you start in the middle and work your way out towards the edges I think you can really see the progression from tidy sampler to tripsoidfloyd mandala.

Anyway, once I stitched on the women (which are stuffed applique) and filled in the sunrise to match the added fabric color, I figured I was done.  I pretty much ran out of fabric to work on.

Then, something unexpected happened: PANIC!

I never really had a plan beyond the stitching itself.  I thought maybe an insert on the back of a jacket?  Or?  Then the white background started to wear on me.  I had pangs of regret for not stitching on a cream or light blue piece of cloth.

With all this uneasy indecision I put it in my top drawer and forgot about it.

Then, moving into my new house I rediscovered it and really looked at it for the first time in years.  I still really like it so I hung it up, unfinished, in my sewing room.  I still had no idea what to do with it.

A few days later, I was working on piecing a small log cabin quilt. I had a few of the blocks laying out on my cutting table when I suddenly realized that the colors in the log cabins matched the colors in the embroidery PERFECTLY.

Sometimes I trick myself like that - I start making something for one purpose and then in the middle of the process I realize that I am actually making it for another purpose.  Cool.

Thanks, sewing angels!

(P.S.  I am in the process of thoroughly testing my new Gingher Dressmaking Shears and Pinking Shears.  Rest assured, it is VERY scientific work.  Stay tuned for a detailed review of these lovely cutting tools!)

My Patchwork Lace Top and my Alphabet Baby Quilt have never looked so good!

It’s always fun to see what the photographers do….especially in Stitch!

Go get yours now!

You should NEVER do these things.

Here are five former bad habits of mine, for the world to see, in no particular order:

1. Not pinning.

Just like, not at all. Ever. Why?  Because pinning is for wussies. If things didn’t match up, it was because I wasn’t trying hard enough. (Never mind paying attention to the direction of my pins in relation to the seam - Pins? What pins?) When I started “experimenting” with pins, whole new worlds opened up to me.

I try to just laugh about this now.

2.  Winding more than one kind of thread onto a single bobbin.

I know, you only have so many bobbins. But when you do this – and you already know who you are – eventually you get to the break in the bobbin thread and it WILL snag and you WILL regret it. You’ll curse yourself for doing this to yourself (again) but then you’ll go ahead and do it about 100 more times before you finally knock it off. No one knows why.

3.  Smacking the presser foot down HARD.

It does make a satisfying noise. And you look like a badass to the uninitiated when you do this. However, the first time I did this in a professional sewing space I was almost crucified. Smacking the presser foot down is hell on the machine and wears out the lever mechanism faster. Doing this on someone elses’ machine is like flipping them the bird. Doing it to your own machine is suicide.  Don’t do it.  *Gently* and gracefully guide the presser foot lever to the down position.

4.  Never changing the needle

You only need to change it when it breaks, right?

5.  Trusting commercial patterns.

Pattern paranoia is healthy.  When I first started sewing, I blindly followed the instructions that came with commercial patterns. It said press, I pressed. It said baste, I basted. It said spin around 5 times and…you get the idea. I think it was Kathleen Fasanella at Fashion Incubator that said that sewing instructions for the big three – McCalls, Simplicity and Vogue – are written by sadists. I couldn’t agree more. Read their instructions if you want to know the least efficient, most painful way to possibly sew your pattern together.

Same goes with the sizing and the cover photo on commercial patterns. Every time, I wondered why my finished product didn’t look as cute as it did in the picture and why it was always too big on me even when it was the “right” size according to the pattern. When I first started sewing, I didn’t even know what a muslin was. Now I make a muslin of my pattern before I cut into my fashion fabric every time – and I always end up making significant alterations at that important stage. Imagine that!

I’m so excited to share my new tutorial with you guys! It just might be my favorite so far. This vintage-inspired project is wonderful for using up those little scraps of fabric, batting and ric-rac you already have laying around the house. Throw an orphaned vintage button on top and you have a seriously cute pin cushion that looks good enough to eat!

Ever since I found this vintage yo-yo-faced pillow at the bins, I’ve been itching to try my hand at yo-yos. When one of my best friends, Lara, told me she was buying an AMAZING 1920’s farm house outside of Eugene, OR I decided to make her something to celebrate. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to make but she was moving in with her husband and her 6-year-old twins this month so the pressure was on. After some tinkering, I settled on a pin cushion…with yo-yos on it, of course! Here’s hoping it’ll warm her new home some.

~~~~*The Tutorial*~~~~~

Materials

• One 12” x 12” scrap of light blue fabric (or enough in any shape to make six 3.25”-diameter circles)
• Two 6” diameter circles of yellow fabric
• One 3.25” diameter circle of yellow fabric
• 12” of matching light blue ric-rac
• 2 buttons (one for the top, one for the bottom)
• Matching thread
• Pencil or fabric marker

Instructions
1 – Cut out six 3.25” diameter circles from your light blue fabric and one 3.25”-diameter circle from your yellow fabric.

I used the mouth of a Ball canning jar as my template for the yo-yos and just traced the shape with a regular pencil. You can use a fabric marker or chalk for this, too.

2 – Cut out the two 6” diameter circles from your yellow fabric. I just marked a center point for my circle, lined it up with the 3.25” mark on my ruler and spun the ruler around that center point, marking out the circumference of the circle as a I went.

3- Fold a ¼” seam allowance in towards the center of your yo-yos, pressing them flat as you go. Don’t stress about perfection here, any imperfections will be hidden in the gathers.

4- With a hand sewing needle and knotted thread, sew a running stitch all the way around the circumference of your yo-yo. Pull the string taut and make a few back stitches to secure the gathers.

5 - Flatten out the yo-yo, even out the gathers and press with steam. Repeat this process for all 7 yo-yos.

6 – Attach all of the yo-yos together using small whip stitches. I used one long piece of thread for this purpose and just hid the “jumps” on the reverse side of the yo-yos. (See picture) Remember to put the yellow one in the center!

7 – Attach the ric-rac to the right side of one of the large yellow circles before you join the top piece of the pincushion to the bottom piece. To do this, I lined the edge of the ric-rac up with the very edge of the yellow circle and stitched around the circle using a 1/4” seam allowance. In doing so, I only caught one side of the ric-rac in my seam, generating the “petal” effect you see in the finished pictures. When you’re sewing the ric-rac down, arrange the ends of the ric-rac so that the tails will be tucked inside the pincushion when it’s turned inside out. (See the second image below.)

8 – With right sides facing, sew the two large yellow circles together, using a 1/4” seam allowance again. For extra accuracy, I stitched directly into the line of stitching I created in step 6 when I attached the ric-rac. When you’re joining the top piece of the pin cushion to the bottom piece, make sure to leave an opening so that you can turn it right side out when you’re done.

9 - Turn the pin cushion right side out and stuff it with polyfil or cut up chunks of quilt batting. Whip stitch the opening closed with matching thread.

10 – Center the mandala of yo-yos you created in step 5 on the stuffed pin cushion. Pin it in place and tack it down using a hand sewing needle.

11 – Attach the buttons. To do this, I knotted a thread around a plain button and passed the thread through the bottom of the pincushion to the top so that the plain button was on the bottom of the pin cushion.

There, I passed the thread through my vintage button and back down through the center of the pincushion and through the bottom button again.

I went back through the bottom button one more time, pulled the thread taut so that I created a dimple in the pincushion and then wrapped the thread around the shank of that bottom button a few times, knotting it as I went.

(Note: You may be asking yourself, “Why two buttons?” Well, my inclusion of the bottom button is designed to take the pressure of the “pinch” off the fabric - otherwise, the knot would eventually pull through the fabric, undo the “pinch” and leave a nasty hole in the bottom of the pin cushion.)

12. Trim off any excess thread and you’re done!