glittergoods

inky fingers

I have been looking longingly at the Pratt Fine Arts Center catalog for a couple of years now, my specific art fantasies changing from moment to moment:  letterpress, jewelrymaking, screenprinting, maybe a little glass fusing, drawing.  Lately, with both kids in school & the whole idea of taking a serious class becoming a little realer around the edges, it's been back & forth between screenprinting, jewelry, screenprinting, jewelry, & so forth.

So of course when I had the chance to take a small group screenprinting workshop there, I didn't say no.

The space is amazing.  (That press had nothing to do with us, but look at that wheel!)

I'm self-taught when it comes to this stuff, so it was really interesting for me to be in the studio with a real, live, print artist.  She was very nice, & I was very pleased to discover that I am not completely off-base in my techniques. 

I'm thinking about taking the 8-week class next term.  For real.  (Or, well, maybe that jewelry class.)

can't blog now, too busy sewing Ottobre patterns

Oh, hello.  Here I am, taking a break from my current sewing obsession (Ottobre patterns), awkwardly posing casually hanging around in the Ottobre tunic top (5/08, #3, in linen, without the belt) I made yesterday, which might not actually be that flattering but I don't care all that much because, well, see above re: obsession, but also because it has sleeves!  And an invisible zipper!  And I made it!

My youngest started kindergarten a few weeks ago, & apparently my reaction to all of the various emotions this stirred up is to try to accumulate all the fabric in the world & then sew it into clothes for her (and me!).  You may remember the preschool graduation dress I sewed for her lo these several months ago:

That one's #12 from 2/05, & it was the first Ottobre pattern I tackled (along with some excellent linen pants for my son, which have since been abandoned in his embrace of skater fashion, so we won't talk about those).  The very most impressive thing about these patterns, I have to say, is not so much that they're lovely, which many of them, are, but that the drafting is impeccable.  Impeccable as in:  I trace the pattern from the sheet, I add my seam allowance, I cut the fabric, & even after three different opportunities to allow some slop to creep in, the pieces still go together just about perfectly.

So when it came time to start drowning my all-the-babies-are-grown sorrows, I decided to get a little more ambitious.

With a fully-lined corduroy jacket, the obvious next step.  Never let it be said that I don't believe in rolling up my sleeves & diving in.  This is #21 from 4/08, the most recent children's issue.  I actually had some problems getting pieces to line up with this one, but then it turned out that I'd sewed the yoke pieces on backwards, so I guess even an impeccable rating can't overcome sheer incompetence.  The directions in the magazine are pretty minimal (though they generally provide specific instructions for the trickier techniques required), which I love -- I do sometimes have to stop & either puzzle things out or look them up, but I think that I'm really learning a lot more than I do when I just blindly follow confusing pattern directions.

After the jacket success, I felt bold enough to tackle knits (6/07, #27).   I suspect that these little raglan-sleeve dresses maybe look sort of pajama-esque in action, but apparently they are the perfect monkey bar dresses (especially with matching leggings), & I don't think there's much higher praise to be had from my newly-minted kindergartener.

So, that's what I've been doing.  (Well, part of what I've been doing, there's a skirt & a pair of pants in the wash, I think.)  Now that the kids are back in school, I have all the best blogging intentions, & maybe even some time to actually carry them out.  After I've finished sewing all the fabric in the world, I mean.