“… when I started doing it, it was better than drugs, alcohol, anything that I have ever tried.”
–Jenny Hart from the indie craft documentary Handmade Nation.
I had to try it. Wouldn’t you? What is she talking about?
Here is the whole quote:
“I thought it would be stressful to embroider. It looked tedious, like I would want to pull my hair out. But when I started doing it, it was better than drugs, alcohol, anything that I have ever tried.”
Embroidery!?!… I have had one of Jenny Hart’s books, Sublime Stitching, on my shelf for over a year, unused. So watching the Handmade Nation DVD ( borrowed from the library) finally pushed me over the edge to actually do some embroidery. I also wanted to try out another book, Alabama Chanin Studio Sewing + Design, that has been sitting on my shelf, up to now only admired, but not used. So it all came together in this project. Ta Da…
The colour blocked tank: I chopped up 3 t-shirts and sewed them together with my serger. I started out with a neckline like this tank (thanks Jessica at Subtle Tee and Pinterest) with raw edges, but I also wanted to try this technique for sewing a knit binding – which I messed up by over stretching – so I cut it off, avoiding any grumpiness. It looks like a fine method, I will try it again some time. Finally, I used this seam binding method, clearly described and photographed by Kay the Sewing Lawyer, and shown in this Jalie video. I like this method and I have been using it for gym suits as well. After cutting off the first failed attempt, there was not enough fabric left to do the initial neckline.
Then I started to play with embroidery and applique and reverse applique. I used watercolour pencil crayons to draw on the fabric and some I did freehand. I want to do another one.
Thank you Luann for taking the first and last photos!
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