Rushing to Get it All together And THEN—– IT Happened!

by Heidi Emmett

Wow, it was hot in my attic studio that day. I was working on a project for the “Upcyling” portion of my workshop.To the left of my sewing machine I store all my Kaffe Fassett fabrics. One-handed, I reached in for the perfect piece (in the middle of all the cubes) for my current project. Hmm..it wont come out. I’ll just give it a little tug…You guessed it! I watched my “tower” of fabric and large sewing notions in S-LO-W motion, CRASH! ON TOP OF MY SEWING MACHINE!  I just stared at it. I didn’t even say bad words because I knew that it was never IF the whole thing would fall, it was WHEN! And then I saw my sewing machine. Thank you Lord! The metal from the cubes rested in just the right place on my sewing machine. Machine is SAFE and FINE!  It’s old, but runs beautifully, and does everything I need a machine to do.

I’m sorry, once again I am not able to write above each picture. So I must tell the rest of the story here and you can scroll down for the rest of the pictures. I must say, just cleaning and rearranging that small area has put me in a new, quiet, relaxed place. I also show one picture of an “upcycling” project I was working on at the time of the crash, using a large scaled fabric and a man’s shirt. It’s too funny, I don’t remember WHAT piece I HAD to HAVE when the accident occurred!

Also, I had to include a picture of a few flowers and a fescue that were sooo sad when I planted them, and look at them now! Just a little fertilizer, who knew? I’m packing things up even now for the Retreat. All you students should receive your itineraries in the next few days. Room assignments will come next week. We’re working on getting as many lake view rooms as possible! Have a creative weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by. Hugs, Heidi   

 

 

 

Marcia Derse, Fabric Collection Fall 2018, What should I Do With It?

by Heidi Emmett

Here I am at the Marcia Derse booth at Quilt Market. I arrived at the precise moment she finished her little talk on her newest line of fabrics, “Art History:101″ So sad to miss it. But I was able to score 5″ squares of all 26 of her Art History collection. And later on, I was able to get one panel of the black(on the back wall to the left). Today, I’m going to focus on those 5” squares. Many of you might already know that I was asked to sign my book, Fashion Quilted Accessories, in the E.E. Schenck booth, at Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon. Pop over to my blog: Designsbyheidi.wordpress.com   to read more posts about Quilt Market.

Here they all are, out flat, and sort of lined up. There are two more, but I forgot them as I had them set aside. You’ll see them later. 

As with ANY collection of ANY designer, all the fabrics are meant to go together (this is to encourage us to buy more, not a problem for me).  Marcia’s fabric collections are so unique and visual, each piece a little gem. And I have found, as my collection  grows, each collection works with all her other previous groupings. Love that. I see a squirrel, and must follow it. After visiting for a few minutes with Marcia, I said goodbye and walked around the corner. I noticed the back of this ladies jacket. It’s a beautiful “little” modern quilt. I like that idea, so of course, I needed a picture. The “must do this someday” is now  on record.

“Upcycling” is a big part of my workshop for the Artistic Alchemy Retreat at Zephyr Point this September 3rd-7th.  There are just a few places left, so if you are thinking about it, now is the time to sign up. Below is just “touching the surface” for upcycling of a top.Yes, this is a great top as is, but I had to have a spark of color.

Sew, I took some random (truly, TRULY, don’t over think it, be brave, just pick!) pieces from that 5″ stack. I cut some into smaller pieces and pressed the edges under a tiny bit all the way around each piece. I always try to cut long and lean looking. The exception for ME is I want the “illusion” of a bust, hence a full 5″ square and sideways rectangle in the upper area. Hey, no laughing, it’s worth a try.

Here’s what I ended up with for the top, left section. 

I hate pins and poking, so it’s Elmer’s glue for me to hold the piece in place. I run a very small bead (and smear it) in the center of wrong side, about the size of a quarter. That’s it. One bit of glue on each piece. Let dry and edge stitch in place. 

Below is what NOT to do. And of course it’s the first one I stitched and smack dab in the front. I will remove the stitches and redo, but of course, I have a deadline. Good for you all to see that I’m not perfect. Ha, ha, ha.

I love, love, LOVE my new top. And the bleached out sections, while I did not do these on this store bought top, I have done it and will give you some do’s and don’t in the workshop (we wont actually do it though, not enough time).  I leave you with pictures of my Golden Chain Tree. It was the prettiest season EVER for this very s-l-o-w growing tree.

Have a great sewing weekend. Hugs, Heidi  P.S. Whatever site you view THIS particular post on, Designsbyheidi.wordpress.com, OR, Artisticalchemyblog.wordpress.com  you will see the same post on both (I need more sewing time!)

Is That a BEAR?- Exciting and Creative Times at our Artistic Alchemy Retreat 2017

September 4th-8th, I was busy, busy,  at Zephyr Point, Lake Tahoe.  Two mornings into the retreat, my friend from Portland, Oregon, Linda & I were enjoying our early morning coffee (7:15a.m.) at the edge of Lake Tahoe. I turned to see another student about 20 ft. away. Started to say hi, and saw a bear about 20 ft. behind her. OMG!!!!! Wha’ do we do? Wha’ do we do? The pictures of the teenage bear are courtesy of Marti (another student at her second floor window). We took off at a very, very, fast walk and so DID THE BEAR! We have lived to tell the tale. And I didn’t spill a drop of coffee in the race to the door to get inside. Ha, ha, ha. In fact, I didn’t need anymore coffee the rest of the day!

The clearing where we were enjoying the view. The bear entered, stage right, from behind the boulder. We were to the left of the “Portal of Prayer” sign (my prayers were short, and to the point, “Dear Lord, HELP!). 

Now,back to some creative fun. Candace, one of my students,  was very productive. In fact, she was the first of ALL the students in the whole retreat who started and completed her first project, less than half way through the 3 full days retreat! She even brought her serger to speed things along.

My workshop was called “Pick a Pattern.” Each student brought two different patterns from my collection, or my new book. We discussed fabrics for each project via emails. My students had so much creativity on their own. I was there to help with fit and design ideas that would make it, their very own “Art to Wear” piece. Candace’s first piece was the Rafiki Skirt.

We hung her Rafiki skirt on the design wall and after an afternoon swim, she got started on a second project, Whisper Blouse.

Each one of my students gave me, GREAT ideas that I had NEVER thought of.  Candace had a marvelous way of putting the tie into the skirt. A buttonhole goes in the front. Make the tie belt and thread each end in the buttonhole. 

The tie belt must be threaded in a circle first. The circle fits right under the top edge that will be folded down to form the casing.

She folds the casing right over the tie making certain that the piece is out of the way when she stitches down the casing all the way around the skirt. Sooo simple! Thank you Candace.

Here is Patty, another student. Patty wanted to create her own “Earthy colored” Terrific Tabard vest for her first project.

Patty has been ALL OVER THE WORLD! She has amazing stories to tell. She has promised to show me her photo albums. I love seeing and traveling with others through pictures and stories. When we spoke about her fabric choices she said, “Oh, I have silks from my travels to India, Vietnam, Asia, and I just picked up a beautiful batik when I was in Morocco.” WOW, wow, let’s see what she creates. 

Isn’t it beautiful? She was very happy with her creation. Patty celebrated by going for an early afternoon kayaking break. When she returned she whipped out the cutest purse with her vest scraps.

Oh, then she decided to make the cutest fabric earrings  from more scraps. Silk is perfect for these “frayed” earrings.

Carol, another one of my creative students wanted to use a picture panel that she had saved for something special. She decided to make my “Simply Super Vest” pattern from my new book, Fashion Quilted Accessories. This is the pattern,on the cover. It is a unique way to use your favorite picture panel piece. 

Here’s Carol with the back of the vest and one front piece up on her design board. 

I encourage everyone to get their projects up on a design board and stand back to get a good view of what they are creating. Carol has such a good eye for placement. She tells me that she used to teach math and it shows in the great care she took in measuring and placement.

This vest is really coming along……then her trusty, older Singer started giving her problems. And then she began suffering from a terrible case of Vertigo. In spite of how badly she felt, she was determined to continue to work on her vest AND wanted to discuss her second project, her version of Rafiki skirt.  

Below is Candace’s second project (almost done out of silks that a family member brought back from Hong Kong 30+ years ago). 

We also had lightening, thunder, and rain almost every afternoon. After all the heat we had all suffered through, the rain, oh the blessed rain, and drop in temperature was such a relief. 

Here are the teachers from another successful year of workshops at our annual Artistic Alchemy Retreat. From the left, Mary Boalt, Sandra Bruce, me, Heidi Emmett, and Christine Barnes. 

Maybe YOU will attend next year! Please visit and sign up for my personal blog: Designsbyheidi.wordpress.com  for more creative ideas,  My mantra, “Make it up, make it fun, and get it done!” Hugs, Heidi

 

A Quick and Easy Summer Project- and then some..

by Heidi Emmett

 

Grab a glass of iced tea and let’s take some time to be creative. Let’s make some fiber jewelry. Pull out your copy of my new book, Fashion Quilted Accessories. What? You don’t have it yet? I sell them at my Etsy store/DesignsbyHeidi, Sugar Pine Quilt Shop in Grass Valley, CA sells them, and yes, find it on Amazon. Only $12.99 for some nifty projects. Two pull out patterns included. A great gift idea. On page 2, the first project is the Easy and Fun, Circles Earrings and Necklace. 

Here’s a quick synopsis. Sew two of your favorite, small scaled, fabrics together. Mindless sewing, rows and rows of stiching, straight, gentle waves, Whrrrrrrr…..  Here is the reverse side and one circle cut out.  Before cutting out the circles some spiral stitching is done. This is time consuming. I only do it on the earrings. Adds some interest and weight to the earrings. 

Whoa, are you dizzy yet?  They are so addictive to make, these cute circles. Use little black eyelets to give a nice finished look. Attach them to cording and voila!   I mailed all my projects off in the early fall of 2016. I had to take a picture of them, as I thought I would never see them again. As you can see, these work all year!  Here are 4 more pieces I stitched, ready to be cut out.  I try to have some pieces ready to go at all times and ready to stitch( with that mindless stitching (great time for thinking up NEW projects!). 

Finished and ready to wear! There is still room in my workshop, Mary’s, and Sandra’s. Do something fun for yourself this year, and sign up to come to Zephyr Point! You wont regret it. Make new friends, enjoy a great view, and learn new things. And you don’t have to cook!

Speaking of “Thinking up More Projects,” I came up with a fun ring idea. You will need one of those pull tabs from 1/2 & 1/2, orange juice, and the like(next picture). Cut out a circle of stitched fabric about 2 1/2″ or larger. Picture #2, wrong side showing, shows the spiral shape I cut out. Form it into a flower shape (picture #3) and glue that shape in place and then fabric glue the flower to the top of the pull tab thingy. I wear mine as a pinky ring. If you cut that ring open at the bottom, it will open up more to fit any finger. Thanks for stopping by and get creative this weekend! Hugs, Heidi

“Off The Grid” Vest Pattern—How it Came to Be!”

by Heidi Emmett

Once upon a time, I took the Urban Ombre’s quilt class from Christine. It was great fun. It was the first time I had seen the Diawabo ombre’ from E.E. Schneck in grey or is it gray?Throughout the class I kept thinking, all these fabrics together would make the coolest vest. But what design? So, I took my blocks, along with everyone’s scraps (I ASKED them first), and put them on my design board and began to think.

 

Later, Christine said she was doing a lecture at the E.E. Schenck Trends Show (a show for shop owners from western states and the Asian Pacific The show is located in Porland, OR). Since Schenck sells the grey background fabric Christine was showing her quilt and then she said, hey, that vest idea you had, that would be great, I’ll take that too, so we can get your name out there. O.K., that sounds good, when is it? 

In a month. Whaaaaattt?! I have done NOTHING! The little pieces were falling off the design board, or covered by other projects that were creeping in.

An hour later, I stood at my ironing board, fabrics spread out and I said a prayer. I had a nice chat with God and said, Help!! I walked over to my little garment rack of purchased pieces (whether from a “Real” store or the thrift shop)all for ideas for future project. I pulled out a super short jacket that had bad fabric and design, but the collar!! and while that jacket had a skinny front band, I liked how it connected to the collar.  

I whipped out my sketch pad and started with rectangles. I knew I wanted a long, lean, look to this vest pattern. The rectangles kept coming to mind. 

I also wanted to showcase the interesting fabrics on the front, so I made the front panels really wide . Those pieces, the rectangle  shaped log cabin blocks, and the “sticks” (remember those pieces people discarded?), again they are all rectangle shapes.  

It all came together so smoothly (remember that prayer at the ironing board?). I was sewing up a storm and it was time to add the front panel pieces. WAIT A MINUTE!! They are too short at the bottom, no, no, NO! (Oh, dear, I just told the world that I made a major measuring mistake). And NO TIME to make new front panel pieces. 

Upon further trying it on, looking, thinking, I came to the conclusion that I LIKED it that way! Who knew? I like it being “off” at the bottom edges (hint, hint, Off the Grid).  You will be happy to know that yes, I finished it in time for Christine to take up to the Portland show. She said it was a big hit. Yea….

I use Terial Magic on the strips used for the blocks and sticks. I love how this product keeps things from fraying while I”m raw edge stitching them down.

It’s so fun to use Marcia Derse prints, and other ombre’ fabrics. The blocks have their edges turned under and are edge stitched to the gray ombre’ background fabric. 

I use glue (the bottle in the picture is basting glue), but I also use basic school glue (like Elmer’s). You can see the subtle change in the background fabric. I really enjoy turning it this way and that, darker portions verses lighter sections. It’ what YOU like. That’s why I call for 3 yds. for the background (room to play). 

Notice please that I use a zig zag stitch (rectangles again), and it also encases the raw edge of the fabric. 

And I do, what I call, “Shadow quilting.” They are always done in a rectangle shape . I like the look and it adds more quilting to the piece. 

I do any all over quilting in gentle curves because it’s easier on the eyes (if they were straight it’s too hard to sew perfectly straight) and adds movement. 

Look at the SUPER COOL necklace my 93 year young friend, Lila Sugg made for me (she is a MASTER sewist). It is so perfect with my vest (a secret, shhh…the gorgeous chunks of turquoise are made from potatoes).  Google that one, people! 

My workshop is called “Pick a Pattern.” I have at least 9 patterns to choose from or you could pick some from my NEW book! It’s out now! Buy it from me, your quilt shop, or Amazon. I’d love to see YOU in my workshop this September at Zephyr Point.

And listen to this, E.E.Schenck now carries my patterns and my book! And I have been asked to come to the next Trends Show and present a trunk show on my Art to Wear patterns and book. Sharon, the buyer, said that “Art to Wear” is coming back in a big way in the quilting world and I’ll be right there!  Hugs, Heidi

FASHION QUILTED ACCESSORIES-A Book by Heidi Emmett & Leisure Arts

FASHION QUILTED ACCESSORIES by HEIDI EMMETT & LEISURE ARTS

My new book, Fashion Quilted Accessories, is for anyone who enjoys sewing, quilting, and creating something new and different. Each project is geared toward my motto: “Make it up, make it fun, and get it done! I hope this book will inspire you to want to take my workshop, “Pick a Pattern.” It doesn’t have to be clothing. Pick several of the projects in my NEW book.

I’d love to tell you what inspired me to create the projects for this book.

The cover of the book shows Simply Super Quilted Vest. With a cityscape panel as the centerpiece, I auditioned other fabrics around it. A textured home decorating fabric that has a quilted ‘look and feel’ became the foundation of the vest. Panel pieces are really popular. Whatever panel you choose, use this vest pattern to create your own-one-of-a-kind Art-to-Wear piece.

I have really enjoyed the “big” necklaces that are out there. I own a couple. By the end of the day, my neck is so tired by the weight of all those ‘jewels’! I was sitting at my sewing machine and looking at a scrap of heavily machine quilted fabric. The colors of the fabric and stitching reminded me of faceted jewels. What if…… and yes, the “Colorful Circles Necklace and Earrings” project was born. Fun to make and light as a feather, you won’t want to stop at just one set!

I knew I wanted to create a really different scarf and make a headband (or hat band) to match. I started walking the isles of Joann’s. The allover butterflies in the quilting fabric section caught my eye. I carried that bolt over to the home decorating fabric department. I needed a “sheer” fabric that had some texture to hold the scarf knot in place and be easy to sew on. Use Terial Magic and an easy method to stitch down the motifs. What a chic and easy project to create.

Check out the picture of the 1960’s tote from South America. I had to bring it home from the thrift shop. It was so different from anything I had seen. As I looked at it more closely, it reminded me of saddlebags used by the Pony Express riders. I added the unusual idea of using a belt as the handle for this tote. I like being able to make the handle shorter or longer. Use all your favorite quilting fabrics in this one.

From this to to what is below. Only I could take that leap! Ha, ha.

 

I have a little draw-string jewelry holder which I use when I travel. I love how it almost opens flat, so I can find all the jewelry pieces that are stored inside.  I took the same circle and drawstring idea and blew it waaay up. The large circle I made needed to be a fun design in itself. Pinwheels are so interesting to look at, so that’s what I did. Use four of your favorite colors together in this Pinwheel purse.

There are so many beautiful scarf weight fabrics out there. Some are silk, rayon, or polyesters. I was looking at a printed piece that I had and doubled it in my hands and looked again. I loved the way the print showed through so subtly. The design had to be simple and easier to sew (very few seams) because of the slippery nature of the fabric. I had been looking through a design book by the great designer of the early 20^th century, Erte’. His designs, while very intricate in nature, inspired me to go in reverse with my thinking. I started sketching what design would add a slimming silhouette while showing off a doubled sheer fabric to its best advantage. This vest will be a sensational piece to add to your wardrobe!

.

I think I have succeeded in creating accessories that fit all levels of sewing skills from beginner to advanced. I want you to take your quilting to another level with these eye-catching fashions that show off your passion for beautiful fabrics!

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. Also, visit my own blog to see what other fun projects I’m working on now: Designsbyheidi.wordpress.com Buy this book at Amazon (and leave a comment pretty please? help boost me in my Amazon #’s). Hugs, Heidi