Embroidered Levi Denim Jacket

I think I've finished the Levi jacket.  Its hard to finish, even though working on denim is challenging and requires larger needles and larger thread.   Now I need a new project....

Full back shot

Snake in the grass 

Twining vines

Center panel.  At the top right I did the
Scorpio sign floating in a swirl
of variegated blue thread...
doodling...the round gold thingies
are vintage 1920s brass sequins
The eye uses glass seed beads, the
tears are mother of pearl beads

New Jacket

I've finished another jacket.  This one is made from a pha sin from Laos, very old silk supplementary weft, quite thick.  I had to add some linen cotton open weave fabric at the top shoulders, and I used a wide skirt border of silk from Laos, also an old piece.  It came out beautifully and looked much nicer than I thought it would when I started, quite a handsome piece with an elegant simplicity.  A simple design shows off the complex hand woven fabric best.  It is unlined, and the collar piece is also the linen cotton fabric I found at JoAnn Fabrics.  I've used this fabric for other jackets including the Khamu jackets I made when I brought the original back from Laos a few years ago.

Finished jacket

Close up of front

Back showing full skirt panel

Sleeve from unusually wide Laos skirt border

Back close up

Full shot

The Indigo Vat

I finally got around to making up the indigo vat.  At first I thought I'd screwed it up.  Where was the bloom?  What is it supposed to look like?  I am a tentative explorer, and since I am mostly self-taught, I have to rely on sheer moxy.  What the hell, I thought, if it doesn't have a "bloom", maybe it will still work.  So I over-dyed a very blah April Cornell smock coat I found at Ragfinery, and then did the remaining yardage of a beautiful piece of bamboo/cotton I bought from Dharma Trading.  Yes, ugly yellow green and then, viola!, dark dark dark indigo after about 10 minutes in the air.  And I still have a question about dyes...just how clear does the rinse water have to run before you put it in the machine and wash the hell out of it?  I never know, and by the rinse stage my back is usually screaming and I'm tired of being in the dank basement.  But on the other hand, I won't have the luxury of a huge cement double sink to use when we sell this house and move to a smaller one.  I love the result of dying cloth. Since I approach it with the same attitude I do travel, I have few expectations.  Therefore, I am seldom disappointed.  Fun fun fun.  I will post photos.

Oh, and the "bloom"?  It showed up as soon as I started moving the dye bath around...introducing oxygen into it.  I get it, and I'm not quite as intimidated as I was when I started.

Day one:

Formerly a blah beige April Cornell jacket
in a nicely worn linen.  Some streaks, but
I kind of like that.

2 1/2 yards of bamboo/cotton.  The dots are spots
of light from a disco ball in the garden.  They
are not on the fabric.

Day two:

Linen/cotton fabric tied with cotton twine.

I began to untie the cotton twine.

3 yards of linen/cotton.  The fabric is still
wet.  After washing and drying, the
color is a softer blue.

The Jacket Projects

And another jacket.  Materials:  indigo dyed hand spun, hand woven cotton from a Lienten village in northern Laos, 2003.  The fabric is very thick with indigo and not easy to work with.  The white hand woven cotton is from Japan, katazome, which is a resist paste of indigo, either block printed or done free hand, here in a butterfly design.  This fabric is about the same weight and texture as the dark blue.  The collar is a 50/50 silk cotton I picked up in Myanmar a couple of years ago.  The design is a modified kimono style.  It has irregular shaped pockets and "picking", or sashiko, a Japanese running stitch.  I used DMC perle cotton white for the sashiko.

Next project is to embroider my old Levi jacket.  I am doing scroll work, a moon and Tibetan clouds.

Jackets

The jacket:  I used an Indonesian tube skirt from Flores for the body, back and front, and part of the sleeves.  For the collar, I used a very old silk hand woven partial pha sin from Laos that was part of a phasin that had been cobbled together.  I took the old skirt apart and salvaged the pieces.  The very dark pieces near the bottom of the sleeves are from pieces left over from another old phasin, hand woven with indigo dyed threads.  The large sections of the sleeves is a skirt border, old, silk, from Laos.  It felt good to use all the small sections and pieces I have been saving because the seem to precious to just throw away.  This jacket came out beautifully and I will wear it a lot, I'm sure.  I did have to shorten the sleeves a bit, and did that by adding black rayon/linen to the reverse sides of the sleeves, and turning up the cuffs a bit.  I also added pockets.  It's quite a coat!

New Project...the poem

Travel
by Robert Lewis Stevenson

Partial poem in red DMC 3 strand
on an antique linen tea towel

Now for the illustrations

done with the jacket

The finished jacket:

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As finished as finished can be

the back

 It's as finished as finished will be for now.  I need to move on to other projects...I'm starting on some very old heavy linen and doing a poem with illustration.  And illustration is never my strong suit but I just have a bug up my butt about embroidery right now.  I also found a stash of antique brass sequins that used to be on one of my dance costumes.  Glad I didn't get rid of those in my purging.  I love metal shiny things, I guess that's why.  I am also working on using the silk chiffon burn-out piece I bought from Rebecca years ago when I thought maybe Lise would want it for her wedding dress.  It will start to yellow with age, and I will never make anything from it that I will wear, so I am combining it with a lovely little Edwardian bodice I got a while back from Etsy or Ebay or somewhere...cheap.  I will post photos.  And I completed two pair of earrings that I am quite proud of.  A stretch for me.

Sterling silver Turkoman beads with sterling quality
Afghani drops.  The one on the left has a tiny
turquoise and carnelian bead.  Sterling round
spacer beads as accents.

Sterling silver Lao butterfly buttons
with sterling content Afghani
drops.

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Return to Embroidery

Now that the hectic holiday season is over I am back at my embroidery. I have a new chair, which helps, and I'm doing some of my work in the daytime, which is HUGE! Better light, better back, better inspiration and less fatigue. The purple tunic is getting full. I have to remember not to try to do projects on it in very dark colors. They just don't show up. I found some antique linen tea towels, old, heavy linen, and I'm going to do a series of hangings on these. I want to do one for the RL Stevenson poem, Travel. After all, it is what set my mind to travel as a child, hearing my grandmother and then my mother, reciting the poems from A Child's Garden of Verses. So that is my new goal. In the meantime, I have much to do before I go back to SE Asia. I have a mission at Samphan Lane to find some embroidery thread, perhaps silk or rayon, and different buttons, perhaps some nice trims. Who knows what I will find in the rat's nest of alleys and packed lanes? It's taken me two years to think up a valid reason to return there. Now if I can only find it.

Creative Impasse

Since this seems to be the only place I'm doing any writing, what the hell. I rescued another mistake today. A Chinese style tunic I made for myself turned out way too large at the top. Who knows what pattern I was using, but I cut it down, did some clever trim, added gussets, which made it hang correctly, and after taking it apart, removing facings and changing them a couple of times, I actually think I'm almost done and it might be good. Still embroidering, and looking at knitting some neck cowls as gifts. I used a gift certificate from my mother from last year and bought some beautiful yarn. I've taken 4 sweaters apart in the last 4 years and wound the yarn to reuse, reused it, and taken it apart again. Maybe things made with one ball of yarn will be easier to finish. How is it that my skills have fallen by the wayside, like making my pie crusts. I used to make wonderful pie crusts, for years, and then every pie crust I made was like an old worn tire, rubbery and chewy. But now my pie crusts are good, actually, a little better than good. Can I redeem my sewing, my embroidery, my knitting skills? Who knows, but I'm tryin' to find out.

Creative Musings

Having worked meticulously within the confines of a commercial pattern, I finally finished a jacket made from a kantha quilt I obtained from an Afghani merchant friend. I had great hopes for this jacket. It seemed a good choice of fabric and the pattern was exactly what I was looking for. However, upon finishing and trying it on, I realized that this really wasn't the pattern for me, at least not in this fabric. The pattern will work, but will require modifications. So, the jacket is quite charming and well made, but I will never wear it. This is a common theme for me. There seems to be a disconnect between what I like and what looks well on me. I use up more fabric that way. I will put this jacket up for sale and move on.

The next project I made from some linen I dyed this summer. The Asian style tunic came out splendid. I made some modifications to the pattern and it is well suited to my style.

I moved on to a vest I made from hand woven indigo dyed cotton I bought on my first trip to Laos. I got it from a Lienten village outside of Luang Namtha and chose to make a traditional Chinese style vest. I have made this pattern before and I didn't like it then and didn't like it this time so I took the seams out and began modifying the design. It took a lot of patching and cutting and shaping but I finally ended up with something that is very cute and works.

Then I tackled a 16th century pattern I made of a jacket worn by everyday people in the Netherlands and England...a sort of a "Cut Your Cote" style using the maximum amount of loomed fabric, very simple. I made some adaptations again and the result is a jacket is a jacket that I will definitely wear. I used another length of linen I dyed a couple of years ago and ended up having to piece the sleeves because I ran out of fabric. It looks like every seam was intentional. I faced the sleeves and front openings with some vintage cotton feedsack print I bought from Etsy and I just love it. I am contemplating an embroidered border of some sort. It would look just dandy!

My conclusion is that I am better at adapting and rescuing things than following strict pattern guidelines. I do well under pressure, whether in my writing or my cooking or my sewing. I just wish that instead of spending a lot of time making something and then having to take it apart and re-construct it, I could cut that part out and go right to the garment proper. Could it be that this is my "process"? If so, it is a tedious way to create, but the only one that seems to work for me.

Photos will be posted of these four garments.

Embroidery Obsessed

I am exploring stitches and having a blast. It's frustrating, crazy tense at times but just really interesting what a needle and beautiful thread can do. Why not?
The photo at the top of the Owl and the Pussycat came out a really crazy color. I still have poor photography skills. I loved doing the eyes and want to do a hand as well as master the feather stitch, which has me baffled. I'm trying to let go of "have to" and "should" and just let my mistakes speak to my journey of learning. I have no idea how I ended up here.

New Jewelry

These earrings are made from vintage turquoise beads I've had in stock for years, 2 nice antique coral beads, and new sterling silver beads from India. So nice I may have to keep them!



More new stuff...

Kantha Jacket

The embroidery continues. The jacket looks like a crazy sampler since I use it to practice stitches that have completely slipped my mind and fingers. I love learning new techniques and seeing the patterns grow. In the meantime, I used a lovely kantha quilt I got from Frioz on his last visit to Bellingham and made a jacket from a Simplicity pattern classed as "easy". Well, most of it was easy, until I got to the front lining and the collar, when it looked like a crazy jigsaw puzzle. But it worked! All it needs now is buttons.

Finished...here are the photos