Stitch Magic Stitch-Along: Smocking

 Hello and welcome to week 6 of our Stitch Magic Stitch-Along! This is our final installment, smocking. I saved this technique for last because it’s always seemed so mysterious to me. I’m happy to say that I now have a novice understanding of how this whole thing works. We’re going to do a honeycomb smocking technique to add to your group of samples. You can follow along on page 115 of Stitch Magic by Alison Reid. The above image of smocked and embroidered melton wool is taken from the book and you can see lots more pictures in the gallery.

Cut a long strip of fabric that is 10” tall by about 30” wide. Make a grid of dots on the wrong side, 1” apart from each other. I made 16 horizontal dots and 8 vertical dots.

 

Thread a needle with a long strand of all-purpose thread and enter the fabric on the uppermost righthand dot. Using your dots as a guide, stitch a running stitch through your dot pattern, going in at one dot and up at the next.

 

Pull the threads, two at a time, so that they form even folds.

Secure the thread ends together by placing a pin in the fabric and looping the thread tails around it in a figure 8 pattern.

Now you’re ready to smock! Note: Do NOT do what I did and do your smocking on the wrong side of the fabric, where your dots are. Those are meant to be on the backside. Oops!

Thread a large-eyed needle with 6-strand embroidery floss. Start at the uppermost left fold and enter the fabric from the back. Stitch the two folds together using a couple backstitches. From the back of the fabric, proceed to the 2nd and 3rd folds, moving down a row diagonally. I loved Alison’s illustrations explaining this:

 

Continue in this way until you’ve smocked the whole grid. Here it is! Pencil marks and all, I still think it's pretty cool.

I love how stretchy and sculptural it is. I’m eager to try this on some garment projects, and Stitch Magic has a great apron with smocked pockets for inspiration.

Well, readers, that concludes our stitching portion of the Stitch-Along. But I have a treat for you! An interview with the author is coming soon, which will wrap up the whole series.

My Diary of a Wimpy Kid Repurposed Tee

 

Two years ago, Amulet Books (part of Abrams Books, just like STC Craft is) released the fourth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series--Dog Days. The Abrams marketing department went all out promoting the book, even organizing a cross-country ice cream truck tour. One day that summer, all Abrams employees walked into their offices to find a bright yellow Dog Days T-shirt on their desks. Just a little gift to get us excited about the book. And truly, I thought it was a very sweet gift. But deep down, I felt a little bit guilty because, well...I don't wear T-shirts. Pretty much ever. Let's just say that the boxy sleeves and straight waist of a standard tee don't do me any favors. So I took the shirt home and it sat in a drawer. I thought to myself, maybe I should hang onto the shirt and take it to Antiques Roadshow in 40 years when it will have become a true collector's item. But then, as summer 2011 rolled around, and I came up with an even better idea. Being a craft editor, I was, in fact, a little embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it earlier. I decided to cut up that boxy tee and turn it into a cute girly tank.

I first considered using the corset pattern from Alabama Stitch Book, but those tanks require cutting up an extra-large shirt and the Dog Days T-shirt was a trim ladies medium. Instead, I reached for a fabulous all-purpose T-shirt transformation book--Save This Shirt--which was, incidentally, the very first STC Craft book I ever helped edit.

I settled on the design for Fit to Be Thai-d, a tank with a high front (so I could preserve the Dog Days logo), and an ornate laced up back. One of the first steps is to spread out your T-shirt, place a tank top that fits you really well on top of it, then trace around the edges. Once you've transferred the shape of your tank, you pin along the shoulders and sides and stitch along the tracing lines on a sewing machine.

 

I realized about halfway into making the shirt that I wasn't going to have enough material on the sides (or the bottom for that matter) to do the fancy lace-up ties in the back. Yes, it's true, even craft book editors sometimes skim the instructions and make silly mistakes. But, never one to be discouraged, it was at that point that I strayed from the pattern and improvised! I trimmed away the excess material from the neck, shoulders, and sides, and tried on the tank to check the fit. The top looked nice, but I didn’t like the way it fit at the hips. I wanted it to flare out a bit more like a tunic. So I cut slits up the sides and then cut out two triangles of fabric from one of the sleeves. I sewed the triangles into the slits, and voila, instant flares. And now I have a lovely tank to wear during these last long dog days of summer...perfect for barbecues, picnics, water balloon fights, naps in hammocks, and of course, eating ice cream cones.

 

Stitch Magic Stitch-Along: Cording

 

Welcome to week five of our Stitch Magic Stitch-Along! Today we’re talking about cording, which begins on page 85 of Stitch Magic by Alison Reid. Alison has tons of great ideas for unusual cording techniques. I have to say, today’s exercise was one of my favorites. I’ve been hard at work on my own book and doing this cording experiment was a great reminder of how fun and spontaneous sewing really is! It was just the break I needed.

Let’s start with the technique that the author uses on the awesome pillow pictured above. I was especially drawn to this because I feel like it could be incorporated very easily and charmingly into apparel sewing. Wouldn’t these little loops look adorable around the border of a skirt?

I started by marking my lines on a 10” square piece of scrap fabric. I made lines 2” apart and drew little marks 1-1/2” apart on each line to mark where the loops would occur.

Now grab some cord (I used some natural-colored cotton cord that I had around the house). You can use a cording foot on your machine, but I wasn’t able to get one in time for this post. I started with my zigzag foot, but then found that my buttonhole foot was more effective since it has grooves on the bottom for the cording to pass through. (Mine is a traditional multi-step buttonhole foot, not one of the automatic buttonhole feet.) Zigzag over the cord and when you get to your little marks, stop with the needle down. Lift the presser foot and arrange the cord into a little loop with a twist at the top. Put your presser foot down and continue zigzagging. That’s it!

 

Here’s my practice version, which I did without marking lines and just improvising. Experiment with less regimented lines and loops!

 

Next I wanted to try something that was a little more intricate, inspired by this corded blouse tutorial. Get a new piece of fabric and arrange your cord however you please. You can make loops, bows, lines—whatever you want! Pin your design in place. Now stitch it down by hand, using a slip stitch. This means that you’ll take one little stitch out of the base fabric, followed immediately by one little stitch out of the cord. Your stitches should be on the underside of the cord to make them invisible.  Match your thread to your base fabric to help it blend in.

Ta-da! Wouldn’t this be pretty on the neckline of a blouse?

 

I'm dying to try this with some premade satin cord, which is also called rattail cord. Ooh, I wonder if it comes in metallics?!

That wraps up this week’s stitch-along fun. Next week is our last week—smocking!

P.S. To see lots of images from Stitch Magic, cick here.

Stitch Magic Stitch-Along: Pleats

 

Welcome to week three of the Stitch Magic Stitch-Along! My apologies for the delayed post this week. I’m writing to you from lovely Cleveland, where I’m filming an episode of a PBS sewing show.

Today we’re talking about pleating, which begins on page 41 of Stitch Magic by Alison Reid. But first, a note: the author uses the terms pleats and tucks to apply to her own techniques, which are gorgeous (like the beautiful throw pillows pictured above). In the sewing community, there have been downright impassioned discussions about the difference in terms. For this sew-along, don’t worry too much about what the “proper” terminology is, but rather focus on how the author utilizes the techniques in her own designs—and how you can customize them for yourself!

Okay, let's dive in. Pleating requires very precise marking and folding, so I’ve only gone over two design samples this week. There are several more techniques in the book to try; I especially like the origami box pleats, shown below.

 

We’re going to start out with knife pleats, which are flat pleats that are generally uniform in size. Each pleat takes up three times its width. So, for a one-inch pleat, you need to allow yourself three inches of fabric. Make sense?

Start by marking your pleat lines. Mark two-inch pleat sections one inch away form each other. Mark them on the bottom of the fabric as well. Bring one pleat line to the other and pin in place.

 

To retain the soft, sculptural feel of the pleats, we’re not going to press our sample. (If you want crisper pleats, go ahead and press them.) Now take some six-strand embroidery thread and stitch the pleats down in incremental lines with running stitches.

 

It’s hard to get a straight line, so mark your fabric with disappearing ink or some sort of tape that doesn’t leave a residue. Masking tape has worked well for me; you might also want to look for Tiger Tape, a quilting notion that has incremental stitch marks along a tape that doesn’t leave any gunk on your fabric. Genius!

Now let’s try another technique. This is a sort of grid, with small projecting pleats in both the horizontal and vertical directions.

Make ¼” pleat marks on your fabric. The pleat marks should be 1-1/4” away from each other.

Fold and pin the vertical pleats. Now, stitch along the side of the pleat that isn’t folded. Next, do the same with the horizontal pleats. But! When you stitch the sections that intersect, pull back the little flap to form a sculptural detail. Your presser foot will want to do this naturally anyway, so you’ll only need to help it along a bit.

My sample got a little crooked at points (See? Marking well is so important!) but I still like how it looks. In fact, it reminds me of the bodice of a designer dress I saw recently. Zac Posen, anyone?

I hope you’ve enjoyed a look at Stitch Magic’s pleating techniques! Next week we’ll be trying cording, which is completely new to me. If you can, get yourself a cording or braiding foot for your machine. This isn’t crucial though—methods with a regular presser foot as well as hand stitches will be shown.

Tell Us: Who Inspired You to Knit? A Guest Post from Larissa Brown

The second-ever Sock Summit was held in my home town of Portland, Oregon, last week, and it was the most joyful gathering of knitters I've ever seen. From flash mobs to fleeces, the convention center was overflowing with creativity and stuff. A huge marketplace showcased a world of gorgeous hand-dyed yarns from the tiniest dye company to Blue Moon Fiber Arts itself. I was introduced to MacKintosh Yarns and Black Trillium for the first time, got samples of gorgeous buttons from Lantern Moon, and made notes about several new yarns, including my favorite of the weekend—a linen-esque recycled denim from Kollage. A highlight of the summit was the final morning, when darling lambs were herded into the convention center and sheared onsite for the start of the Fleece to Foot team spinning and knitting race.

I was attending the Sock Summit for fun, but also as the excited author of a very new book, My Grandmother’s Knitting. The book features family stories, and even baby pictures, from 17 top designers. The book honors the people who made us the crafters we are today.

Looking around at the 6,000 summiteers, I figured that amounted to at least 6,000 inspiring teachers and mentors. I managed to capture the names of about a hundred of them, by asking 100 knitters to hold up signs.

It was kind of an odd request, and I’m shy, so I recruited my friend to approach those hundred people. Stevanie (of Pico AccuardiDyeworks) worked the room with a big stack of white paper and a fat black Sharpie. The assignment: Write down who taught you to knit or who inspired you. Then smile big for the camera.

So many people joined in, from the famous to the amazingly anonymous, it was impossible to get all their names. But I have recorded “on flim” the names of those who came before them, who inspired and nudged and supported them. Or in many cases, I have a smiling photo of someone who taught themselves to knit (there were lots of signs that said “Me!”)

Just a few proud knitters seen below include Clara Parkes, Emily from Portland’s Twisted yarn shop, Gryphon (of The Sanguine Gryphon), Shannon Okey of Cooperative Press with her sweet purple hair, Benjamin Levisay, designers Marnie MacLean and Star Athena, and bon vivant Franklin Habit. A highlight for me was taking Joan McGowan-Michael’s photograph with a sign honoring “her dear mom” Angelina, whose story and photograph are featured in My Grandmother’s Knitting. As I took Joan’s picture I could feel her love for her late mom. You can see her in the center of the mosaic. 

The photos are now on Flickr and Facebook, where more are joining them each day. Knitters from all over the world are adding their own.

All that is missing is you.

We’d love to get 1,000 knitters posting their photos on Flickr and Facebook by the time the book hits stores on September 1.

Please get out some paper and a Magic Marker and take your photo and the photos of your friends. We’d love to see your face and the name of that special person, and we’d love to know if you blog about it, Tweet it, or Facebook it.  There were 6,000 knitters at the Sock Summit. There must be at least ten times that number who have a special person to honor, right? Show us!

See the project on Flickr.

And on Facebook.

 

Stitch Magic Stitch-Along: Pintucks

 Welcome to week 2 of the Stitch Magic Stitch-Along! Today we’re talking pintucks, a beautiful design detail to add texture and interest to your sewing projects. This chapter begins on page 55 of Stitch Magic by Alison Reid. Do check it out, as there are tons of great ideas plus two beautiful projects—a table runner and a very cool tote bag.

First, let’s talk about the method that the author uses, which is a twin-needle pintuck with a special pintuck foot on your sewing machine. (Don’t worry if you don’t have these supplies, I’ll give you hand and machine alternatives later in this post.)

Pintucking with a Twin Needle and a Pintuck Presser Foot 

Install the foot and needle in your machine, and thread two spools of all-purpose thread in your upper thread mechanism. (Yes, I just wrote the word thread three times in a sentence. It couldn’t be helped, I’m afraid!) It’s just like threading as normal, but with two strands, which then go into the two separate needles. You can use different colored threads if you like, which will give you a different color of stitching on each side of your tuck.

Grab some test fabric. I’m using 10” tall strips of muslin that I can cut down into 10” squares once I’m done experimenting. (The idea is that we’ll have a bunch of 10” samples at the end of the Stitch-Along. For this exercise, you need to cut the squares down to size after stitching, since the tucks make the fabric smaller. Make sense?)

Now, just sew as you normally would! Start by sewing down the lengthwise grain of the fabric in rows. A tuck forms in the groove of your foot as you sew. When you go on to the next tuck, your first tuck should go into a parallel groove on your foot to keep the tucks evenly spaced.

Try making groups of tucks. 

 

Experiment with printed fabric too. I’m using a beautiful floral silk organza here. Make perpendicular groups of tucks for a plaid effect. I love this look! I will definitely be doing this when I finally make this fabric into a dress.

Next, try some creative loops and curves. When you’re using a pintuck foot, you don’t have to tuck along a straight grain. Go crazy! This would be a fun effect for whimsical home décor, especially in a child’s room. 

You can try all sorts of experiments with your pintuck foot: using stripes, prints, curved tucks, and different spacing options. Have fun!

Machine Tucks with a Single Needle

You don’t need a twin needle and pintuck foot to make pintucks. In fact, “authentic” pintucks (such as those used in historical costumes and heirloom sewing) are made by pressing the fabric in a fold and sewing along the fold with a single needle. This method is best used only on the straight grain of the fabric.

Start by marking your line with chalk or disappearing ink and then press the fabric on your line. Stitch 1/8” (or however far you choose) from the fold. Press the tuck to one side. That’s it!

Try groups of pintucks. To get evenly spaced tucks, mark all the lines on your fabric first, before you begin tucking. The distance between the lines should be the desired width between tucks plus two times the finished tuck width.

You can try bigger tucks too! (Though these aren’t technically pintucks anymore, just regular old tucks.) I had a dress from Anthropologie that had a series of big tucks placed horizontally around the hem. It was so cute! I tried out a 5/8” tuck on the bottom of my sample below. 

 

Pintucks by Hand

 You can also recreate this effect by stitching along the fold by hand rather than machine. Use the technique above, but substitute a running stitch by hand for the machine stitching. Use tiny stitches and press to one side.

Aren't pintucks fun? I can't wait to incorporate them into some garments. To do this, you'll likely want to pintuck your fabric first, and then cut out your garment pieces.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of the Stitch-Along. How are your samples going?

Shooting Heather Ross's Book at Melanie's House

Over the years I have worked at STC Craft, many photos for many of our books have been photographed at Melanie’s house. (When I’ve seen these photos after the shoot is finished, I’ve actually found myself thinking “and now it’s really a Melanie Falick Book.”) From Sewing Green to Knitalong to Weekend Sewing, Melanie’s home makes numerous appearances. And if you look closely, in almost all of these books, you’ll even see the infamous grass-green cabinet. (It’s shown above on the lefthand side, though the cover of Sewing Green is where the cabinet makes its most prominent appearance.)

And so, as we set out last week to do a final day of shooting for Heather Ross’s upcoming book, Heather Ross Prints (due in stores in fall 2012), we decided to keep things easy and head up to Melanie’s house in Beacon.

One thing that is great about shooting at Melanie’s house is that she has loads of antiques and interesting home wares, many of which we integrated into the shots. For instance, the Anthropologie dishes in the photo above are shown along with her grandmother’s silver--together they make a fabulous not-too-matchy match with Heather’s tablecloth and napkin projects.

But of course, if you know Melanie at all, you know that she is a Tab soda fanatic. And so, along with the antiques, we had to give Tab a cameo in a detail shot of the sarong project (the sarong is on the chair, just out of frame). I snapped this low shot while the real shot that will be in the book was being set up.

While every person at a photo shoot plays a key role, from the photographer (of course) to the person who goes to pick up the food for lunch (a VERY important job), our stylist, Karen Schaupeter, was a huge player. From keeping us on schedule to beautifully matching Heather’s prints within a setting, Karen moved quickly and kept things fun. In the photo above, she’s actually texting while ironing—talk about a multi-tasker!

As the stylist, Karen is in charge of bringing every possible prop we might need that day and organizing it so it will be at the ready. Shown above is just a small portion of the props spread out amongst the projects.

And here are two adorable pincushions that Heather provided as possible props. They may not have made it into the book, but they did make it onto the blog.

Shooting in a house can give you a world of options, but it can also have its limitations. For this shower curtain shot, Karen, the stylist, and John Gruen, the photographer, had their work cut out for them. Not only is the bathroom so small that you can’t possibly shoot a shower curtain from inside of it, but there wasn’t even a shower rod (only a tub). With some lighting poles and studio magic, we were able to fabricate a curtain rod and get just the right angle out in the hallway, producing what turned out to be one of our favorite shots. In fact, we liked the light in the bathroom so much that we wound up moving a table in there and shooting some still lifes on it.

And of course, on a photo shoot there are three things that you’ll see people doing a lot: checking their phones, snacking, and huddling over the camera to see how the shots are turning out. In this photo, Karen, John, and I gather around the camera to flip through the apron shots. And that’s right, I’m the one wearing the apron. (Again, when you shoot at Melanie’s house, you use the props on hand—including people.)

But the best part of shooting at Melanie’s house, aside from the great hospitality and the unlimited Tab, has to be her loyal companion, Molly—one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met. I love how you can barely see her tail in this photo because it’s wagging so happily. Aside from a bit of dog hair that needed to be lint-rolled off of the projects now and then, there’s nothing like a sweet pup to make a day of shooting that much more fun.

Stitch Magic Stitch-Along: Quilting

Welcome to the first week of the Stitch Magic Stitch-Along! This week's theme is quilting, which begins on page 70 of the book Stitch Magic by Alison Reid. The book shows you several examples of hand and machine quilting and incorporates them into inspiring projects like a beautiful chair cushion and adorable egg cozies.

Here, I've taken the author's methods and practiced some of them exactly as written (like diamond quilting and tuft quilting with scraps), and also devised a few of my own exercises, like channel stitching and zigzag quilting, two techniques often used in clothing. If you’re a garment sewer like me, it’s tempting to write quilting off and never learn to do it! But quilted effects are not only great for home décor, they’re a staple of modern designer garments and vintage pieces alike. (See my quilted garment inspiration post for lots of ideas on how to incorporate quilting into fashion sewing.)

Now, on to the techniques! First you’ll need to prep your fabric squares. (If you'd like to read up on the prep process, Stitch Magic goes into a lot of detail on pages 74-75). Start by cutting eight 10” squares of muslin or other cotton fabric. Pink the edges so they don’t fray.

Now cut four 10” squares of your thin cotton batting. Sandwich the batting squares between two pieces of your cotton fabric and pin to secure. Now we’re going to hand baste the layers together so they don’t shift when we quilt them. Thread a needle with a single strand of all-purpose sewing thread. Start by making big diagonal running stitches from one upper corner to a lower corner. Repeat these lines of stitches in regular intervals. Now, do the same thing in the other direction. I used a different color thread so you can see my second direction of basting. As you can see, neatness doesn’t really count here! These are temporary stitches.

 

Now we’re ready to quilt! We’re going to start with some simple channel-stitching and diagonal quilting by hand. Prepare your square by marking it with a disappearing ink pen or some other removeable chalk. On the upper half of the square, draw about 7 parallel lines ¼” away from each other. On the bottom half of the square, make a 1” grid of diagonal lines. 

Now we’re ready to try some channel stitching. This just means simple rows of stitching ¼” away from each other. (I’ve been in love with channel stitching ever since I saw it on a beautiful Diane Von Furstenberg dress a couple years ago. It was a glorious bright red wool jersey with a full circle skirt and a wide midriff band with channel stitching.) Load a large-eye needle with some embroidery thread and make a running straight stitch across your lines. Here's what the running stitch looks like in process.

 

Now make the running stitch along your marked lines. Try to make your stitches as even as possible. Experiment with different effects by using fewer strands of embroidery floss. I started with 6 and then split the thread down to 3, 2, and 1 strands as I went up my lines. It gave a cool pseudo-ombre effect.

 

You can mark the back of your sample with the thread used (or any other notes) to remind yourself!

 Now for the diagonal quilting. Again, we’re just using a simple running stitch, but this time we’re quilting along our diagonal lines. I used 6 strands of embroidery floss for all of my lines here, but played around with two different colors to achieve an argyle effect.

 

Isn’t your sample pretty? 

 

Next, you can try the exact same exercise with machine quilting. I used regular all-purpose thread in my machine and used a 3.5mm straight stitch and a straight stitch presser foot. Make sure that you smooth out the square as you quilt to avoid puckers. 

 

Now you can play around with different patterns if you like. I was eager to try some zigzag quilting. I drew one big zigzag on the upper half of a new square. Then I quilted the line by machine (you can do it by hand if you prefer). Next, I used the edge of my presser foot to make ¼” lines that echoed the first zigzag. 

 

I found it a little difficult to get perfect lines using my presser foot edge, so  next I did a ½” zigzag pattern, making each line with disappearing ink before quilting. 

This is my favorite sample I think! I would love to make an entire circle skirt quilted in this pattern.

Last, you can try a fun effect that incorporates tiny fabric scraps and tufts made by tying off embroidery thread. Start by cutting small squares of two different fabrics, one a bit bigger than the other. I did my tiny squares in blue ultrasuede and my slightly bigger squares in a cotton print. 

 

Layer the squares on top of each other and arrange them on your fabric square. Load a needle with embroidery thread and stitch down and back up through each square. Tie the embroidery thread in a knot and cut it off at about ¼” for cute little tufts. 

 This would be really cute on a pillow, don't you think?

That’s it for this week, stitch-alongers. Next week we’ll be doing pintucks, which we’ll also do both by hand and machine. I’ll also discuss the pintuck presser foot and twin needles.

Happy stitching!

Gertie at STC Craft: A Stitch-Along!

While I’ve been gearing up to do some ribbon embroidery from the new Alabama Chanin book, I’ve also been thinking of ways we can make my posts here more interactive. And what better way than a little sew-along? Or rather, a stitch-along! I’ve been reading the book Stitch Magic by Alison Reid and it has tons of fun ways to spruce up your sewing. I can’t stop thinking about adding pintucks, pleats, and cording to my projects. Being a lover of vintage fashion, I see these details all the time in gorgeous dresses but have never taken the time to properly learn the techniques.

So here’s what I propose: each week we will do a little stitch sample trying out one of the techniques. I’ll guide you through the how-to and give you inspirational ideas for adding these flourishes to your handmade garments. At the end of the stitch-along, you’ll have a little sample book of swatches to refer back to!

The standard supplies needed will be thread, hand-sewing needles, and some cotton fabric. If you have a sewing machine, that's great. If not, I'll give hand-stitching options for each technique. Here’s what I’m thinking for the schedule (with special supplies needed in parentheses):

 

Week of 7/ 25: Quilting (six-strand embroidery floss, batting)

Week of 8/1: Pintucks (twin machine needle, pintuck foot helpful but optional)

Week of 8/8: Pleating

Week of 8/15: Cording (cotton piping cord, cording foot optional)

Week of 8/22: Smocking

 

Are you in? What do you think? Personally, I think this is going to be great fun! Please leave any questions in the comments.



Designing Fabric with Heather Ross--Lucky Me


Last week I hit the jackpot when it comes to being a craft book editor. I learned how to design my own fabric with none other than Heather Ross. We were working together on her next book, Heather Ross Prints, which we will publish in Fall 2012. While Weekend Sewing, Heather's first book, was a tour de force full of gorgeous, doable sewing projects, her next book will focus on all manner of crafts that can be made using fabulous repeating designs, hers (see sampling below) and your own (just keep reading). 

One of the first chapters in Heather Ross Prints is dedicated to teaching crafters how to make their own repeating designs using artwork of their making and/or choosing. Up until last week, this section of the book was making Heather and I feel both nervous (“How exactly will we do this?”) and excited (“It will be so cool if we can do this!”). So, once Heather had written her first draft, I printed it out, wrote out a million notes and questions, and headed downtown to Heather’s apartment. After being treated to an amazing homemade lunch—Heather is 8½ months pregnant, and so, according to her, lunch is a “big deal”—we sat down at the computer and started reviewing the manuscript.

About five minutes into the process, I turned to Heather and said, “I really think it would be most effective if I tried to create my own repeating design following your instructions…you know, to see if it works.” And so she handed over a sketchpad and said, “Sure, what would you like to draw?”

As she warned in her manuscript, this would be the scariest moment of the design process. What should I draw? Can I draw? These questions were running through my head. But before I committed to just drawing a simple circle or star, I thought, I’d like to try to draw my favorite animal: a bear. With some artistic tips from Heather regarding the shape of the nose and the hulk of the belly, I suddenly had a bear (shown below alongside Heather's bafflingly cute donkey.)

Once the sketch was done, we scanned it into the computer and Heather taught me how to turn it into an illustration. It was my first time drawing with a stylus, and true to another warning in her manuscript, it was pretty awkward. While coloring in my bear, I could not stop laughing every time I got near the “outline,” knowing that mine would be super wobbly. But after some practice, I got the hang of it and could make fairly controlled strokes.

After about an hour or so of coloring in the background, playing with different hues, and shading some areas of the bear, we saved the file and uploaded it to Spoonflower—a site where you can print your own designs onto fabric of your choosing and buy it by the yard.

Next we played with the repeating design.

Seeing my silly little bear design up on the screen felt so empowering. It was unbelievable that in just an afternoon, I was able to use my humble artistic skills to create a fabric design that I will proudly use to make pajama bottoms for the whole family next Christmas. How cool is that?

Having gone through the process myself now, I feel confident that this is something anyone can do, and I personally can't wait to sit down and do more. But for now, I should probably get back to the editing.

Thanks again, Heather!

 

Gertie at STC Craft

Hello there! I’m Gretchen Hirsch, but I’m better known as just “Gertie” in the blogosphere. I write Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing, where modern seamstresses come learn and share sewing tips and tricks. We also discuss vintage and contemporary fashion, body image, and feminism, and recommend good cat videos on YouTube. (Who doesn’t love a good cat video?)

I’m thrilled to be here blogging for STC Craft. I’m lucky to call this my publishing home, and now it’s my freelance work home too! Melanie Falick took on my book project last year, and I’m looking forward to its release in fall 2012. And if that weren’t enough, she also gave me the courage to quit my day job by giving me editing work at STC Craft. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of hers.

Last week, I spent my first couple days in the office. My inaugural task was to do a “cold read” of Natalie Chanin’s new book, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, which will be published in spring 2012. This meant lending a pair of fresh eyes to the proofs in their late stage, and bringing a seamstress’s perspective to the instructions and projects. As someone who has read and loved both of Natalie’s previous books, it’s kind of hard to believe that this is called “work.” If you haven’t read Alabama Stitch Book or Alabama Studio Style, it’s high time you did. They have something to inspire every type of seamstress—whether you love sparkly embellishments, deconstructed fashion, or the art of hand sewing.

And Natalie’s new book is just as wonderful, filled with the beautiful garments and amazing embellishment techniques that her brand is known for. There are lots of patterns for garments and accessories, like a glamorous long dress with a small train and an adorable bucket hat. All the projects are gorgeous, but one of my favorites is her ribbon embroidery, done with cotton tape.

Which brings me to my next task here at STC Craft: blogging weekly about techniques from STC Craft books. I’ve decided that my first project just has to be the cotton tape embroidery from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design. So I’m going to be gathering up my supplies and getting ready to do some stitching. I can’t wait to share the results with you.

Until next time!

Fall 11 Books from STC Craft

While it's most certainly Summer 2011 outside, in our offices we're excitedly reviewing advances for Fall 11 books and actually working on books for Spring 12 and beyond. I've worked in publishing for over 20 years and I've always found it hard to keep track of the seasons. My first job was at a bimonthly food magazine where we worked on the holiday issue in July. I remember having this odd feeling in December, as though Christmas had already happened. A chocolate Santa or a party invitation would land on my desk and I would wonder: Didn't we already do this?

I love summer (how could anyone not enjoy a season so full of flip-flops and ice cream cones?), so I'm the last person to want to rush through it. But I can't help but think about the books that we will publish in September (Weekend Handmade, My Grandmother's Knitting, and Sewing Basics) and October (The BUST DIY Guide to Life and Custom Knits 2). Our Fall 11 flyer is complete (we worked on that in May) and we have posted the digital version here. So, I hope you'll enjoy looking at it, perhaps while leaning back in a lounge chair poolside. Tell us what you think in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you. 

Custom Knits Photo Shoot

What you see when you look at a knitting book is the finished product: patterns that have been exhaustively reviewed; graphic design that has been overhauled nine times until every detail—from fonts and palettes to captions and dingbats—is exactly right; and beautiful photography, which is one of the most challenging (and important) aspects of the book-making process. Photography makes the first impression and sets the tone for the whole presentation. And that, of course, is why photo shoots can be so stressful—for the author, for the photographer and stylist, for the editor, for everyone. Everything you’ve been working on has built up to this moment, when every participant must tap into his or her most creative and fashionable resources, work together as a team, and record the garments in a matter of just a few days. And if you don’t get it right? Well, you either decide you can live with it or you find the time and resources to shoot it again. But the underlying tone of every photo shoot is this: Get it right.    

So when it came time to photograph the garments for the third book in the Custom Knits series—a book that will be entirely devoted to accessories—I decided to fly out to Los Angeles and station myself on set. The role of the editor on a photo shoot is fairly straightforward: Make sure that the knits are being photographed from every important angle, make sure that the right side of the garment is facing front (really!), and regulate anything that may look silly in the end. Like shiny pants on men. Or a model wearing yoga pants and a luxurious bouffant up-do. But most importantly, an editor must do all of this while giving the creative people space to do their thing.

On the first day of our shoot, our lovely, talented, and hilarious author Wendy Bernard (see above) pulled out her needles and started working on a fingerless mitt. We had forgotten that we needed one more basic example of a glove type in the book, and so there she was, knitting a mitt that would be photographed the very next day. Red Dodge, our fabulous makeup and hair stylist, looked on with a sort of disbelieving amusement.

Our amazing stylist, Mark Auria, pulled out all the stops when it came to wardrobe. Mark stationed his racks of clothing—a mix of vintage dresses and lovely new items—on the porch at the house where we shot the first day, and between shots we would run to the garment racks and play with ideas, oohing, aahing, and vetoing until we found the perfect outfits for our darling models.

When you look at the final photos in a book, you’d never guess that there was a whole crew of people surrounding the model. Below are some of my behind-the-scenes shots: photo assistants holding reflectors, the stylist on hand to adjust the garment if it starts to go wonky, Wendy or I nearby to make sure the stitch pattern is showing, the makeup-and-hair whiz on hand to fix errant locks, and always someone in the background munching on a cookie, slurping a Coke, or fussing with a cell phone.

In the photo above, Mark, the stylist, adjusts the model’s scarf, as Joe Budd, our photographer, checks out light levels.

A group assembles around a 1950s Chevy (above) as the model drapes herself over the  steering wheel for a coy beret shot.

After taking the photo of these legwarmers (above), we decided that the white wall behind her was too cold and bare. So we moved the whole set-up across the patio so that we could use a wall with a little brickwork.

One of the most memorable days of the shoot was in Marina del Rey, out on a sailboat. It wouldn’t be a Custom Knits book without models in bikinis wearing knits, right?

It was a chilly day by California standards, with lots of wind creating some mighty big waves. Our model was an absolute pro, so when you look at the photos, all you can see are her beautiful smile and Wendy's shawl in the golden glow of sunset—thankfully, you don't see her goose bumps or her trepidation about the boat tilting wildly from side to side.

Between shots, she wrapped herself up in a big, comfy sweatshirt and Joe, the photographer, showed her the photos so that they could talk about facial expressions and best angles before shooting the piece again.

For the shot below, inspired by the cover of the May 2011 Anthropologie catalog, we went below deck. I love the dramatic way light is filtering through the shawl.

Once we set out to sea, we had quite the rollicking time. Amidst the huge waves, a bikini-clad model wearing a poncho hung onto the boat for dear life, and out of ten people on the boat, only three of them turned green during the ride. Oh, what we won’t do for a really great photo! And while I won’t share with you that particularly epic poncho shot just yet, I will share this photo of me and one of our male models (or M.P., a name we made up for the Custom Knits books which stands for “male prop”), laughing and laughing because we can’t believe how big the waves are and how much the boat is rocking.

When it was all said and done, we couldn’t have been happier with our gorgeous shots. And we can’t wait to share them with you in a couple of seasons! In the meantime, keep your eye out for the next beautiful book in the series—Custom Knits 2!—which is due to hit bookstores this October.

STC Craft Authors at TNNA This Weekend

This weekend, knitting industry insiders will gather in Columbus, Ohio for the annual TNNA summer show. TNNA attendees get a preview of what lies ahead for fall--exciting products, new publications, and fresh trends in the yarniverse. If you're Columbus-bound, we hope you'll join us for several STC Craft author events throughout the show.

On Saturday and Sunday, Teva Durham will be signing copies of Loop-d-Loop Lace, the latest addition to her groundbreaking Loop-d-Loop series. Stop by R & M West Coast on Saturday at 11:00 am or visit Unicorn's Booth on Sunday at 3:30 pm to congratulate Teva on her beautiful new book. 

One of our new fall titles making its debut at the show: My Grandmother's Knitting, by Knitalong author Larissa Brown. My Grandmother's Knitting is a collection of stories and patterns inspired by those who taught us how to knit. Contributors include some today's biggest names in knitting: Ysolda Teague, Jared Flood, Meg Swansen, Cookie A., Ann Hansen, Teva Durham, and Wendy Bernard, among others.

Showgoers can learn more about My Grandmother's Knitting and its contributors at R & M's booth on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Larissa will be signing a limited quantity of advance copies so be sure to get there early! Later that day, Pico Accuardi Dyeworks will be toasting the book's launch at its booth. Head over at 4:00 pm for an exclusive giveaway and a peek at some of the beautiful projects from the book.

You don't have to attend TNNA to get a sneak peek at fall crafting. Online readers, stay tuned! Over the next few weeks, we'll be revealing more info, images, and behind-the-scene details about our upcoming titles.

Until then--enjoy a breezy summer weekend, everyone!

Spring Chickens and A Knitter's Home Companion

Michelle Edwards, author of A Knitter's Home Companion, lives in Iowa City. Like many crafters, she finds inspiration in her everyday surroundings. The idea to knit chicken egg warmers was hatched during one of her visits to Fae Ridge, a nearby fiber farm beloved by local yarn enthusiasts.

Of all the projects in her book, Michelle's chicken egg warmers might be the gosh-darn cutest. Boldly colored, with bright eyes and tiny beaks, these wooly birds make for playful guests at any breakfast table. 

And elsewhere. To celebrate the release of A Knitter's Home Companion, Iowa City craft shop Home Ec. is decorated with a brood of chickens made by local knitters.

What a wonderful way to be welcomed to the neighborhood.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend,

The STC Craft Team

Crafting for Dad + Free Book Giveaway!

Dads are kind of hard to shop for, right? Ask a typical dad what he wants for Father's Day and he'll likely shrug his shoulders and--with a smile, of course--say "I don't know." I don't think that they mean to torture us with their ambiguity. For many dads, it's simply a matter of not really having much of a wish list. Except maybe love, a little respect, and for someone to laugh at their corny jokes (or at least make fun of them). 

But for those of us who want to give a gift beyond love, respect, and laughter, we have to get a little creative. Lucky for crafty types, we've got creativity in spades!

For the knitters amongst us, look no further than Knits Men Want. As the subtitle states, it's all inclusive: "The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man--Plus the Only 10 Patterns She'll Ever Need." A few photos from the book are shown below, including lots of quick-knits for Dad, and even a few dude-approved sweaters. And for another classic dad gift with a knitterly twist, try your hand at the Rusted Elegant Tie from Knitting Classic Style (shown above). Father's Day is June 19--just over a month away--so get out your needles and get crackin'!

 

For the non-knitters amongst us--or for those who are pressed for time--we've got more great ideas for handmade dad gifts. Shown below, clockwise from top left:

Gus's Dog Bed from Printing by Hand (A screen-printed fabric that is then sewn into a pillow--this is the perfect gift for Dad and his best buddy.)

Pickles from Alabama Studio Style (Several recipes for making homemade pickles for Dad. Perfect for sandwiches or for a Bloody Mary brunch on Father's Day.)

Hexagon Storage Bin from Modern Paper Crafts (A receptacle you can make yourself to hold anything from fishing rods to recycled papers.)

Pajamas for Everyone from Weekend Sewing (An easy-to sew project for every member of the family. If the Dad in your life is a lounger, this is the perfect gift for him.)

Story Time Clock from The Repurposed Library (A unique clock, perfect for Dad's den or office. Pick a book tailored to his interests (golf, baseball, computers, a volume of an outdated encyclopedia featuring the first letter of his initials, or maybe even an old cookbook for culinary types).

Decoupaged Fridge from Crafting a Meaningful Home (A cool way for Dad to remember his favorite city. Or if he's more of a nature guy, use maps from a hiking trail. If Mom won't let you decoupage the fridge, consider decoupaging him a tackle box or a stepladder...or something else that can stay in the garage.)

So, readers, we hope this post gets your creative juices flowing! Tell us which of these gifts your Dad would like the most in the Comments section and you'll autmatically be entered to win the STC Craft book of your choice (see the choices here). Enter by noon on June 1. Three winners will be picked at random and notified that day. 

For official sweepstakes rules, click here.

Full Circle with Loop-d-Loop Lace

About six years ago (or was it seven?), I quit my job as an editor of physics books to pursue a more creative life. I had many ambitions, including finishing my novel, drinking more coffee, writing more songs, knitting a lot, eating breakfast with friends frequently, and trying to publish magazine articles. And so, it was on one of these lovely unemployed afternoons that I found myself at Borders in San Francisco's Union Square perusing the magazines. Stacked nearby on a rack all of its own was the book Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. To be honest, I was not immediately sure that it was a knitting book. I had never really seen anything like it before. The styling was so other-worldy, yet absolutely pretty and captivating. The book's paper was so thick! The dimensions were so large! It was the first knitting book I had ever seen that felt more like a coffee table book—an art collection, really—than something that a person would use in a utilitarian fashion (i.e., to knit from). Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my obsession with high-quality craft books.

Through a series of amazing incidents, fateful coincidence, and just plain luck, I found myself in New York City two years later, working as an editor at STC Craft (Teva's publisher). When I first arrived, Melanie and Teva were just wrapping up Loop-d-Loop Crochet, and were just beginning to talk about doing a third book, Loop-d-Loop Lace—a book that I wound up editing. It's rather surreal when you can actually recall the moment you first saw a designer's work—where you were, how it felt, the impression it made on you—and then later you find yourself working side by side with her.

As we planned the photo shoot, Teva and I sat in my office with the book’s amazing photographer, Adrian Buckmaster, admiring the garments and contemplating abstract hairstyles and wondering: To loop, or not to loop? The first book was chock-full of interesting hairstyle choices, which, over time, became a signature of Teva's brand. We laughed, because I have been looping my hair up into twists not unlike the model shown above (from the first book) for years. I had to wonder if I had been subconsciously inspired by Teva's first book. To my surprise, when Teva published a pattern called Lady Lovelace on Knitty.com a few months ago, she asked me to lend my hair twists to the photo shoot. I agreed, and after a quick and chilly shoot with Marianne Rafter (the result of which is shown below), here we are. Full circle.

Loop-d-Loop Lace picks up where the other books in the series left off. We wanted to maintain the edgy, modern feel from the first book, but integrate a slightly softer touch to complement the pretty lace stitches. As you can see, we’ve continued the loopy hairstyles (as shown below), but we kept them a bit tousled to go with the feminine styling. And while the garments may have a contemporary aesthetic, Teva’s thoughtful essays and pattern introductions root the lacework in history, reminding us where lace came from and why we still love it today. To see more images from this pretty book, click here.

 

From The Repurposed Library: A New Sewing Box

If you’re reading this blog, you are most likely a person who A) loves crafts, and B) loves books. If you meet both of those criterion, then chances are you'll be interested in one of our newest STC Craft titles: The Repurposed Library.

When we first acquired this book nearly two years ago, e-readers were new on the scene. The Nook may not have existed yet, but we could see which way the wind was blowing. The Repurposed Library felt like the perfect response to a tech-savvy world that’s changing before our eyes. Both ironic and beautiful, The Repurposed Library presents craft projects to make, literally, out of old books, lifting obscure tomes off of dusty shelves, and putting them in a new light. 

I edited this book and worked closely with the author, Lisa Occhipinti, from beginning to end. When I finally decided to make a project from the book, I was drawn to so many things—from the decorative book bursts made from folded book pages to the shelves made from a sturdy stack of drilled hardcovers—but the sewing box seemed like an excellent choice for me since I love to sew and am constantly leaving my notions about. Shown above is the inside of my finished sewing box, and below is what it looks like when it's closed.

I must say, the hardest part of making this project was picking out the book. As a book lover, it is very hard to find a book you feel okay about putting under the knife. Especially with old books, there’s a certain amount of reverence—a sense that it has been passed through many hands, perhaps loved, perhaps not—and that you are now the keeper of this book in a vast "world library." So, I’m not going to lie: I bought four used books before I found the one I felt okay about transforming into a sewing box. Luckily, Lisa provides us with a very helpful section on selecting books—from how to identify first edition and rare books (which you should not cut up) to the importance of evaluating sentimental value—so when I found the book I wanted, I felt good about my choice.

I chose an old Reader’s Digest Condensed Book from the 1950s. The books in this series all have wonderful, decorative hardback covers hiding beneath their jackets, and almost no value whatsoever. As an added bonus, there are cute little illustrations throughout, which I’ve been cutting out and gluing onto homemade cards (shown below is a card I sent to my mom for Mother’s Day…)

The sewing box project couldn’t have been easier. To get started, you simply remove the pages from the book with two slices of an Xacto knife down the inside spine (the pages will all be glued or sewn together, so they come out in one big chunk). Then you measure your balsa wood, which you can find in sheets at craft or art supply stores, and trim it to size with an Xacto knife (the wood is very soft and easy to cut through). Then comes the fun part: You get out your hot glue gun and glue the compartments in place! I managed to complete all of these steps, beginning to end, in under two hours.

If you’d like to try your hand at making the sewing box, download the instructions here! And if you’d like to see more projects from the book, click here.

STC Craft Presents: A Book Trailer for The Repurposed Library


Say what you will about the convenience of e-readers—in my opinion, nothing could ever replace the feel of a real book. Fellow bibliophiles, take note: our May release The Repurposed Library offers a creative antidote to the digital age. Author and artist Lisa Occhipinti rescues old and orphaned books, transforming their careworn hardcovers and yellowed pages into stylish home decor and objets d'art. Her collection of 33 projects includes a Literary Lampshade, a Story Time Clock, and Narrative Vases (click here for an image gallery).

To mark the launch of The Repurposed Library, STC Craft is proud to present a beautiful trailer produced by Lisa herself. Enjoy this peek inside her studio; hopefully you'll be inspired to think outside the bookshelf and breathe new life into a book of your own.