The Pattern :: Options 1 and 2

I was writing the pattern for the Bicycle Backpack the other day and started thinking about my own habits when working from a pattern. When I purchase a pattern I usually buy the fabric at the same time. In fact I almost always buy more fabric than the pattern calls for. I do that for a couple of reasons. First, leftover fabric is hardly a "burden" and, second, I buy extra as a knee jerk reaction to my mother's fabric buying habits. When I was a kid and my mom decided that she was going to sew something for me, she would take me to the fabric shop and we'd pick out a pattern. My mom, however, always felt like the pattern makers were in some strange cahoots with the fabric manufacturers and the recommended yardages on the back of the pattern envelope were deeply exaggerated to encourage excess fabric purchases. We'd often get home and have some difficulty cutting out the pattern with our limited fabric. This often inspired creative placement of the pattern with little or no regard for grain lines. The young me often rolled my eyes at this, but now I think of it as a sweet story for my youth. Isn't it great how time smooths things out?



Getting back to my original point, when I buy a pattern, I get all the necessary notions as well. I do not want to come home and discover that I'm missing a needed ingredient.
This personal preference prompted me to offer two options for the Bicycle Backpack pattern.
Option #1 is just the pattern emailed to you as a PDF. It includes a thorough materials list, step-by-step instructions and 5 images or illustrations. Everything that you need to make the pattern is probably already in your house, except the ladderlocs. Those are the fasteners I use to make the straps adjustable. I call for 5/8" ladderlocs in my pattern and I honestly can't guarantee that that exact size is available at your local store. Some people might see this as a fun search. They might choose to Google the item and, in about half a second, have plenty of online resources to purchase ladderlocs from. Others might want to try to substitute another fastener. But others might just plain get annoyed that they don't have all the necessary materials at hand.



That's where Option #2 comes in. For a little extra I will print the pattern, mail it via USPS First Class mail and include the two ladderlocs needed to make the backpack.



Simple.
I really had a good time writing this pattern. It's not my first time to write a pattern, but it is the first time I put both text and images together and drew the illustrations. At one point I said to Abi, "This is hard, but a lot of fun."
I hope you have as much fun making the pattern and I'd love to see your finished backpacks. Extra points to anyone who is wearing their backpack while riding a bike!

Bicycle Backpack

I'll start off by saying that if something looks a little different about this post it's because I've been relegated to composing my text in a word processing program and then copying it to my page. The logical explanation would be that I'm somewhere without a network signal, but that's not the case. I'm at my daughter's swim team waiting for her practice to end and allegedly they have wifi here. Except that every time I've tried to get on the network it's down. This past summer I plodded up here twice a day, once in the early morning and then again just a few hours later for her practice. I wasn't happy about the internet situation.
I may not be winning too much sympathy from many of you who have young children, but I've been there and done that. I've paid my chauffeuring dues and these are supposed to be the good times- when I manipulate my seventeen-year-old-in-need-of-my-car to drive her sisters to their various activities in exchange for a vehicle with gas and insurance paid.

So, where did I go wrong? What am I doing here?

Here's the exchange between my beloved eldest and me:

Me: The great thing about the fall swimming schedule is that you can take Abi up to swim team when you go there.
Her: Except Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Me: What's special about those days?
Her: On Tuesdays and Thursdays we start at 5:00, but she doesn't start until 7:00 and we're done at 7:00 while she doesn't get out until 8:45. Nobody wants to wait.

Nobody that is, but me. Actually I don't want to wait either, but that's what I'm doing.

What does that have to do with my bicycle backpack?
Nothing.

What is a bicycle backpack? I'm glad you asked (my mood instantly brightens).

A bicycle backpack is what you wear on your back when you're riding around and need to carry a few essentials like keys, gym membership card, bike lock, and a phone in case you need to call your husband to help you fix (read: fix for you) a flat tire.



I already have one backpack for this purpose, but lately I've been riding my bike a lot more and Texas can be a sweaty place and I really need more than one. So I designed another. This one includes several necessities such as patchwork, hand dyed cottons, and a cool button as well as a few luxuries like adjustable straps and three deep pockets. I've been so excited about sharing this backpack with you all because

A. I enjoy talking about my craft adventures here.
2. I'm putting together a pattern for this backpack that will hopefully go into my shop next week.

Do you have to ride a bike to make this backpack?
No.
Do you have to even own a bike to make this backpack?
No.
Is this backpack appropriate for your loved ones who only have two hands and therefore need assistance carrying their stuff?
I think you know the answer to that.

Being Renewed

One quick note: Jennifer at Runner Girl Fabrics is offering my readers a special discount through the month of September. Your purchase will receive a 10% discount. Yay! Just enter the promo code, HANDMADE, at checkout.


When I think about my mother and her sewing machine I usually refer to it as "the machine she avoided sewing on". It wasn't just that her machine was difficult to work with. It was. But she just didn't seem to enjoy the process of sewing. She deeply admired handcrafted items, but I'm not convinced that she loved crafting them herself.
Nonetheless, she came from a crafting background, associating sewing and knitting with her own mother who passed away when she was only 10. When she did sit down to sew, she had a little ritual that she remembered from my grandmother. It may even go farther back in our family, but it was definitely something my grandmother did. As my grandmother was cutting a pattern, but before she made the first cut, she turned to the intended recipient and said, in Hebrew, "Tidchadshi"(phonetically: TEED-KHAD-SHEE). It literally wishes that the recipient be renewed by the item.
Despite her ambivalence about sewing, my mother always said that word as she began cutting a pattern. I'm convinced that if, under threat of assault, she were to sew today, she would still say that word. And I say it as well, even if I'm making something for myself or giving a handmade item to a friend. I like the idea that you can be renewed by something hand crafted. It elevates the process of making to an act of healing.
I'm happy to live in a time when appreciation for the handmade is on the upswing and there is so much information and inspiration available. I love having the opportunity to share my designs, especially ones that encourage us to create for those we love.


I've got two designs in this year's issue of Quilting Arts Gifts. It's great that the focus of this special issue is making for others. I realize the release is timed primarily for folks to make Christmas gifts, but when they asked to include my designs I wanted my contributions to relate to my own winter traditions. So, I made some Hannukah coasters, pieced to mimic the letters on the dreidel.


Oh, and I designed a scarf because everyone needs those.


I made a similar scarf a year or so back and my friend, Terry, really seemed to like it. My plan is to give this one it to her.


And hope that she'll be renewed by it.

It Brings Us Together

The other day I went by my daughter's Orthodontist's office to pick up her retainer. Straightening this child's teeth has been a long, arduous, and expensive process and I've visited this office a lot over the past three years. I've also interacted with the office staff, doctors, and technicians that work there. It must be a decent place to work because there doesn't seem to be a lot of turnover. So, the other day, the technician that approached me to discuss Rachel's retainer was not unfamiliar to me. I hadn't chatted with her before, but I'd definitely seen her there.
At this point in my little tale I should note that I was wearing a top I'd made using this pattern. This too is not unusual as I make a lot of tops and am often wearing something homemade.
The technician approached me and complimented me on my shirt. I thanked her and asked a question about the retainer. In answering my question, she motioned me over to her computer and asked me where I had purchased my top. That's when I got to proudly proclaim that I made it myself, probably one of my top ten favorite statements. The technician smiled and said something that would bring us together not as patient and care provider, but as sisters. She said she loved the pattern, she also sews, and do I remember the pattern number so she can buy a copy.

These pictures have nothing to do with the post. They're just here to look pretty.

Any interest I had in Rachel's retainer, the state of her teeth, or anything dentally oriented flew right out the window. The technician wanted to know if I could recommend other patterns that were fun and easy to sew and, best of all, did I have any preferences for sourcing fabrics. We were speaking the same language. And, as I told her, it's a language I don't speak that often in my day-to-day interactions. She apologized for taking up my time with non-orthodontic questions, but I didn't mind. I was so happy to talk to a fellow sewer, I could have spent the rest of the afternoon there. I even found that I noticed things about this woman that I'd never seen before. Were her eyes always so bright? Had she always had such a great hair color? Her interest in sewing was making her more appealing in general. I was so excited about what she might sew and in what fabric.


When I walked into the office I felt rushed and a little annoyed. This was my second trip there in the same day because they'd taken the mold for the retainer that morning. I just wanted to get what I needed and go. When I left though I was smiling and felt content and happy. It's amazing what finding a kindred spirit and a few minutes spent chatting about seam allowances can do for a hot, summer afternoon.

Hex Pincushions

I don't know what sent me over the edge, but there definitely came a point when I couldn't take it anymore. Everyone else seemed to have one and I felt deprived and a wee bit resentful. So, I took action.

For years I've been using a store-bought pincushion which has been growing more and more ratty with time. It had gotten so bad that I'd stopped returning the pins to the pincushion and they'd scattered around my studio. Couple that with all the cute pincushions I'd seen on the internets and I was ready to remedy the situation.

I've had a minor obsession with hexagons lately so it seemed appropriate that my pincushion should take that form. I was super happy with the way it turned out and quickly adorned it with pins gathered from table and floor. My joy lasted a good five minutes before I started wishing I had a another pincushion devoted to needles. Spurred on by my initial success I made a second one, but with a little variation.


I string pieced the parts of this pincushion and focused on fabrics in shades of red for the body and paired that with an aqua fabric for the binding.
Having righted the wrong that is having to use a crappy pincushion, I felt inspired to share my joy with others. Knowing that you all are a crafty bunch I've written up this tutorial to help you make your own Hex Pincushion. The tutorial includes a template which I'll include as an image in this post. I'm guessing you can run your cursor over that image and print yourself a copy of the template.

Edited to add: Reduce the size of the copy by 65% to get an accurate template.
OK. Here we go.

Hex Pincushion Tutorial

Finished size: About 5" from point to point

Materials:

Scrap fabrics
1/4 yard of fabric for binding
Hex pincushion template (figure 1)
Paper scissors
Rotary cutter and self-healing mat
Quilter's clear acrylic ruler
Sewing machine
Sewing machine thread
Hand sewing needle
Hand sewing thread
Pins
Iron and ironing board
Stuffing

Figure 1

Cutting the fabric:

Using template cut 6 hexagon thirds out of 6 different scrap fabrics
From binding fabric cut 1 1/2" strips on the bias.
Note: To cut bias binding, I begin by making sure I have a straight edge along the lengthwise or crosswise grain. Align the short edge of a clear ruler with straight fabric edge along 45 degree line and cut. Reposition ruler so that cut line measure 1 1/2" from long edge of ruler and cut. Repeat to make more binding strips.

Sewing Hexagon Top and Bottom:

Note: All seam allowances are 1/4"

Figure 2

1. Referring to figure 2, pin piece #1 and piece#2, right sides together matching outer corner and center point.
2. Machine stitch together from outer corner to center point stopping 1/4" short of center point.
3. Cut thread.
4. Match outer corner and center point of piece #3 and piece #1, right sides together, and pin. (figure 3)
5. Starting at outer corner, stitch towards center, stopping 1/4" short of center.

Figure 3

6. Finger press seam allowance of pieces #1 and 2 towards piece #2.
7. Align the center and outer corner of piece #3 and piece #2 and pin. (figure 4)

Figure 4

8. Starting 1/4" from center, stitch to outer corner.

9. Press seams toward piece #3.

10. Repeat steps 1-8 to make a second hexagon.

Assembling the Pincushion:

1. Stitch together binding strips using diagonal seams .

2. Attach binding strip to right side of one of the hexagons as you would for a quilt top.

3. Align hexagon without binding strip underneath hexagon binding strip, wrong sides facing. 

4. Pin hexagons together through center.

5. Turn binding toward underside hexagon.

6. Begin hand stitching binding, remembering to turn under 1/4" seam allowance as you work, to hexagon.

7. Gently miter the corners as you come to them.

8. Stop short of stitching binding all the way around shape, leaving a small gap along one of the hexagon sides.

9. Stuff pincushion so it is full, making sure to push stuffing into corners.

10. Sew remaining binding to hexagon.

11. Machine top stitch close to binding seam.

12. Add pins and smile! 

A Wee Disclaimer: Feel free to make as many of these puppies as you like for friends, family, neighbors, and others suffering through life with store-bought pincushions, but please do not make these for sale.

Thanks and enjoy!

Cobbled Together

I cut into some fabric the other day with the intention of making my first project from this Japanese sewing book . I was feeling pretty emboldened by a previous success. Admittedly, that one did involve instructions in English, but it didn't have the plethora of diagrams that the Japanese pattern had. Actually my major impediment in making both patterns was that I had to trace the pattern and add seam allowances. There's something about methodically adding seam allowances to mark the cutting lines that just reminds me of emptying the dishwasher-- I'm glad when it's done, but the process feels so unsatisfying. My first attempts to trace the pattern were stymied by my choice of tracing paper. I couldn't find the near entire roll of tracing paper I'd bought and tried to use a very thin Japanese paper I had on hand. I saw the appropriateness of using Japanese paper, but it wasn't exactly transparent and I felt like I was trying to see the lines of the pattern through spilled milk. Add to that the fact that the pattern I was tracing wasn't the only one on the page and my first attempt at a Japanese pattern was looking to be my last. Eventually, I made a more wholehearted effort to find the tracing paper and discovered it pretty much where it should be, on my cutting table. Armed with the gift of transparency, I ventured forth and traced. It went much faster this time and there wasn't nearly as much cursing.
I happily cut and sewed and generally found that not being able to read Japanese might have left me out of a few specifics, but that the diagrams and my existing knowledge were going to get me through. As usual I didn't make a muslin, but I was reassured when I tried on the bodice. This was before I added the skirt, but I figured the biggest hurdle was that it fit well around my bust since the skirt needed gathering and would have a little more room for adjustment. The bodice looked great and I was feeling pretty self-satisfied.
I added the skirt, tried it on again, and although it fit, I was relatively sure I hadn't worn something that full since I was 9 months pregnant. I know that loose and formless is a "look", but it's not "my look". I was so frustrated that I just buried the top underneath some other fabric. Usually, it would stay buried for at least a couple months, but that night I had what I thought was a solution to my cute bodice/skirt that ate Cleveland top. The next morning I separated top from bottom, added a pair of darts along both the front and the back of the bodice and attached a skirt from a different pattern, one whose skirt I'd sewn before and liked. I finished the top with the sleeves from the Japanese pattern and tried it on.
Before I show you my cobbled together version, I wanted to share the example pictured in the pattern book.


She looks pretty jaunty, doesn't she?
Well, I've got a rolling chair too.


And mine spins.

I've got mail

Today my eldest daughter was beginning the college application process. Pretty daunting, but that's a whole other post. Anyway, she wanted to know what to list my profession as. I answered her over my shoulder as I opened the day's mail, saying " I guess you can call me a textile designer...that seems pretty accurate." Then I opened my mail and decided my job description needed amending.


" Add author to the job description," I said, because today the mail carrier brought me an advanced copy of my book.
There are things that you assume you'll do in your lifetime, so when they happen, you're pleased, but not surprised. I always thought I'd get married, so happy as I was on my wedding day, I wasn't exactly astonished. The same is true for being a parent. I was thrilled, excited, nervous, but not taken aback because I never thought it would happen. Even with my work and business, which I thoroughly love, I never had a hard time envisioning myself in that role. But, being an author, having a book out there with my name on it, I never imagined that happening. It makes me realize that as great an experience as writing the book and designing the projects was, the best part of this journey has been being surprised by life. That's the real gift.