Waggons West Etsy Shop

Friday, October 25, 2013

Ouch

I have done something bad to my knee.  It is definitely slowing me down.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Problem Solving. Or Avoiding What I am Supposed to be Doing


 I am supposed to be making things for a couple shows.  I am supposed to be cleaning my house.  I am supposed to be packing up some things.  Most of all I am supposed to be making a mini art quilt for the estimable Mare Mare of craftster.org.


Instead, I found it absolutely essential that I make a carrier bag for the hangers I drag around to shows.  I have a couple cardboard hanger boxes that I borrowed stole from my mom.  She used to get them from the local dry cleaner.  I can't find any dry cleaner that has them.  They are perfect for keeping the hangers organized and ready to grab. 

The boxes are old.  I was completely stressed out about them when I sent one with Spud 1 and his buddy, Mr T,  to the last show they did.  I just knew that it would rip or that some one would throw it out as trash.  I am quite sure that Mr T was convinced I am a lunatic for worrying about a dumb old box.  But then given Mr T's status as a complete lunatic (incredibly practical, efficient and organized but entirely goofy) I am not sure I will give his opinion all that much credibility. 

Looking ahead, I realized that the next show I am doing, I will be on my own.  No Spuds to Sherpa the goods.  The most awkward thing I have is the hanger box.  clearly the box needed to have shoulder straps and a supporting bag to keep it intact and recognizable as a valuable tool. 

So... I made the hanger box bag!  I drew around the bottom of the box.  Stitched on a strip for the sides.  It has a muslin lining.  I stitched the lining and outer together at the top and turned it through the hanger opening sides.  Those I folded under and topstitched around the whole thing.  I added the straps, one inch twill tape over the surface going all the way around the bag and under the bottom for some extra support.  The little ties on the front are some more twill tape to keep things all together. 

Fits over my shoulder.  Is comfortable to carry. Looks better than the beat up cardboard.  Winning all the way around.  Now, if only I could make some decisions about Mare's quilt.  She loves modern and bright.  Any suggestions for making it artsy? 

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Rocket Girl




Boy blacksmith wanted me to make galaxy/nebula/space shirts.  I've been trying.



I'm getting mixed results.  I'm not too sure they look much like galaxies at a distance but there is some interesting depth in the close up view. 



Spud 3 says this one is just plain gross.  That is OK,  It is ripped and I was using it to experiment with overpainting. So I started adding some machine embroidery.  This one is a design from Embroidery Library. 





Rocket girl was one of my many reminders about why I don't typically use red/pink/orange paint as the dominant color.  The red pigment just doesn't move and so the prints are indistinct.  This one was leaves that barely showed.  I over painted with black and used lots of stars.  It is a cool print, but another one that may not translate well at a distance.

I found the rocket girl design over at Urban Threads and decided it would be perfect on this shirt.  Stitched out beautifully.  But that is what you expect from Urban Threads.  More importantly, it stitched out on the t-shirt material without a hitch.  Wonderful.  Thanks UT!

Since that worked, I have also tried embroidering over some of the other shirts that haven't printed well.

 This is a kokopeli print I tried to do in red and yellow.  Again, not such a good print. 



I added an embroidered Kokopeli.  Next one will be in turquoise.  You can see a bit of the printing just below the stitching.  This is also an EmbroideryLibrary design. 

Boots on the?


... Wherever you want with this little badge. 

Pardon me while I share my total cuteness overload.  I know that most of you would think that the kitties, bunnies and flowers are the cutest thing ever, but I just love this tiny little boot print.  I love it so much, I couldn't even wait for it to finish stitching to take a picture.


The other cool thing about this particular design is that I drew it electronically using paint.net.  Typically, I draw on paper, take a picture and then retouch using some sort of graphics program.  This one was a first.  It was digitized using stitch Era, which is sadly now unsupported.  I use a Babylock Ellegante 2 for my sewing and all my badges are made using upcycled denim. 

This particular badge is part of a group for a boys club.  The design will appear in the shop as soon as I finish up some other projects. 

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Welcome Fall?



It is the first of October and I am enjoying a lovely Caprese Salad, thanks to my friends named Mike who garden and share.