List of projects

I thought I would make a list of all the projects that I want to complete, so that I could prioritise which ones were the most important to commit my time to.  Also I thought it would be helpful if my followers let me know which ones they were more interested in.


Projects under way


Modern day Edwardian inspired skirt
Patchwork quilt
Patchwork dress
Gold ruff




Projects not as yet started


Art Exhibition titled: The Trophy Wives

• Red ruff using red sari - sexuality, female energy

• White ruff using wedding dress - purity the bride the wife

• Black ruff - death darkness pain

Art Exhibition 100 little things


100 small canvases covered with embroideries and other textile works representing different moments in life.

Art Nouveau Embroidery






Textile Jewellery






Purses made out of doilies






Replica of rayon blouse

Phat pants for Francis

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/337/7/8/Dragon_Phat_Pants_by_RedheadThePirate.jpg

An update on the poodle collar

Hallo my poodle-lishious darlings. 

 I was sewing up the collar, and had finished putting in the buckle.  As I was working on it, I was thinking the buckle was a lighter weight than I had remembered, and suddenly it snapped in two.  Merde, I had broken it.  So I do not have a buckle of the right size to replace it at the moment.  I have a couple of options on Trade-me that look like they could be viable.   I think I will need to go to a metal buckle.

Broken buckle.

 The good news though is that the beading on the medallion is finished.

 Et suddonlee I ham feeling very shall we say tres Parisian.  

  Ohh la la

 So now how to finish the medallion, thought about a rope around the edge, but it was too heavy, and so went for a soutache cord which I think has finished it nicely.

Now we need to decide how to attach the medallion to the collar, I thought a strand of beads would look effective, what do you think?  C'est bon?

So anyway have a think and let me know if you like my idea for the beads joining the medallion to the collar or if you have some other suggestions.

A la prochaine Zho Zho

My first bead work project and inspiration for the 1919 Butterick coat.

Finished the first attempt at a bead work project, I know its a bit wonky.  I must say it was a joy to do though, very meditational, and I am keen to learn more and follow on with another project.  I am thinking I would like to incorporate beads into the embroidery design I am planning for the coat based on a 1919 Butterick pattern from the Brain Watkins' House Collection.  

  

The coat fabric is a black wool flannel and the large collar is cut from a black plush, (artificial fur).  Although I have not cut the collar out yet, so we still could change this. 

This is the design for the embroidery, applique, bead work (I haven't really decided what yet), which will run down the back of the coat, it has a kind of trailing willow form with blossom, if that makes any sense.

The coat for me symbolises the end of the Belle Epoch and that love of Orientalism and all that was exotic.  It was at this time that Paul Poiret was  designing fantasy beaded creations like this one.

     




 Just as a little aside this beautiful image on the left is by Paul Iribe, a French artist who was asked by Paul Poiret to create a brochure illustrating his designs in 1908.  His wonderful style, and simplicity of line brought him great fame as a fashion illustrator and he went on to work for many of the great designers of the day including Coco Chanel, the Callot Souers and Jacques Doucet.

From 1914, he spent 6 years working for Paramount Studios in America, but returned to France a the end of the war.

 This is another Poiret design, c'est fantastic non?  So beading is definitely in line with Poiret's design aesthetic, and now its time for me to play.

Embroidery on the 1919 Butterick Coat

Today I am working on the 1919 Butterick coat, yes I know this is such an old story we want something new.  It is a little frustrating as the embroidery is taking so long, and so it is difficult to find the time to write posts as well, and I miss you all so much my precious darlings.


 As I sit embroidering Falling Willow Blossom pattern on the black wool flannel of the back of the coat, my mind is free to wander.  It takes me back to an article I was reading at breakfast in the Listener, titled Crafty Calling, by Jane Clifton.  The article was commenting on crafts and a new annual craft venture called Handmade, started by Te Papa, which in June ran 159 workshops in food production, textiles and other artisan skills, which were no longer routinely passed down the generations.

The organiser Melanie Walker commented that the recession has probably had an impact on the resurgence in craft, but also: "people are reassessing their consumer habits and looking for more meaningful experiences than shopping for goods."  This along with green issues, not just throwing things away, but recycling were becoming more important to people.  It seemed the Handmade workshops were not gender exclusive, and that men and boys were taking up embroidery, and even exhibiting in this medium.  

Check out the work done by these young boys in this exhibition, No Rules, held at Auckland's Objectspace:  

http://www.objectspace.org.nz/programme/show.php?documentCode=1502

 Here is a close up detail of the design.

                                           

It is interesting to me, as it seems I am not so odd after all, but part of a larger move, a paradigm shift in certain sectors of society.  Isn't it wonderful?  Maybe the margins between craft and art are beginning to blur, and the defining line of Public Art Galleries, the great commodifiers of art, that art is about ideas, the great mantra of Art Curators, is wearing a little thin, maybe they are starting to lose control of being able to say what is art and what is not and maybe we will no longer be able to say: that a stitch dams any work as craft, decorative, and of lesser value.

The Poodle Collar

Poodle Style

Work on the poodle collar has progressed but first let me remind you what this is all about, the love of poodles. When you  get down to it, is there anything to compare with poodle style?

These are staunch dogs, trained to hunt, and clipped to protect their chests from attack, poodles are more than you may think.

So we went with the hounds-tooth tweed, loved the Chanel feel, and after all the poodle is quintessentially French.

Lined the collar with white silk taffeta, and found a retro black Bakelite buckle from my collection that seemed to suit.

The coloured threads turned out to be all wrong and so worked around the edges of the poodle with pearled seed beads.  So is it working?  The next problem is how to join the beaded poodle disc to the collar.  I am inspired by the remains of a chatelaine in the collection in the Brain Watkins House.

A beautiful piece of textile work, and something quite unusual don't you think.

Now I have looked a little more closely at it, I must say, I am intrigued, as I have no idea how this beautiful piece was made.  I will need to study it in closer depth, so wait for the big reveal, if you too are interested in how this chatelaine cord was made.

I like the raised satin stitch in this image, maybe a chain of rings made with this technique.  

What do you think? 

So it is Au Revoir ma cherie, et a la prochaine.

The Poodle Collar

I have been inspired to create a piece of textile jewellery by a beautiful friend, who has ........ well it's kinda a wee, (obsession might be too strong a word), love of, passion for, attraction to, poodles.

This is a rough sketch of what I imagine the piece to look like when it is finished, although I think the scale of the circle is a little larger than I expect it to look when completed.  

 So this is what I have done so far.  The poodle is worked in antique seed beads on linen fabric.  The scale rule you can see down the side is 10cm long to give you an idea of the size of the finished piece, and the embroidery threads are the colours I was thinking of filling in the circle around the poodle.

The collar around the neck has two options, or more if you have another idea, cos this is all about you my poodle loving friend, and if you haven't got a Google account you need to get one so that you can become a follower, coz I am going for 30 followers, and that is the price you have to pay, (tee hee).  Anyway, I quite liked the houndstooth tweed shown in this image, for the collar, what do you think?

The other fabric we could use to cover the neck collar, is this beautiful Thai silk shown on the left of this image, it really is quite divine, but doesn't have the Co Co Chanel feel of the tweed, just a luxurious feel that is probably quite Parisian enough, n'est pas.  It's up to you my workoholic (oops did I say that out loud) darling, cos I would really appreciate your creative input on this one.  So let me know what you think, and I promise, not another stitch will be sewn until I hear back from you.  I am still waiting to lunch with you too, so push all those must do's aside and think of yourself and what you would like to do just for yourself, my creative, precious and wonderful friend.

Little girl's dresses and doilies

You may remember the beautiful Princess Isabella.  Here she is wearing a sweet little dress inspired by the wonderful work of handmade doilies and retro fabric, and buttons.

Using a simple white cotton singlet as a foundation made the construction of this dress a quick little project.  The really wonderful thing of course is that some of these beautifully made hand crafts can be brought out into the world and enjoyed again.  Don't you love the sweetness of the apricot pink fabric, a retro Japanese made synthetic.

It was so much fun I had to make another one or two, this one was for little Maddi.

So as you look through those old doilies and wonder what on earth would I do with them now?  Let them inspire you to create new delights from old, there are so many possibilities for renewal.

Until we meet again, much love Jo Jo.

Beading and Radiotherapy

Recently I had four days of free time on my own, away from friends and family, with no responsibilities, not even to cook for myself. So my creative darlings in a situation like that, what does one do?

I took a little project away with me, and although it is not finished yet, this is the result. The first attempt with a new medium, beading. I had purchased some glass seed beads, that looked Victorian and was keen to have a play with them. Lesson learned if I am going to pursue this I need a tapestry frame, fabric needs be stretched when you are working on it.

It was intensely absorbing and I barely left my room for the whole four days.

I have mentioned Rafaella Serena's book in a previous post, and I was inspired by an image in her book.

It was a detail of a sampler from her book, embroidered in cross stitch, in silk thread on linen and worked in Italy the first half of the 19thC. It is from the collection of the Palazzo Danvanzati, in Florence. Put a link in for you if you would like to take a little trip to Florence, what an incredible museum.

http://www.museumsinflorence.com

Below are the front and back of a small purse worked in glass pearls, from a private collection in Milan, also taken from Raffaella's book.

The detail in this work is extraordinary, but then glass and beads were refined to some of the highest levels in this part of the world.

So there is probably at least 30 hours work in my feeble attempt at bead work at the head of this article, imagine the hours that went into this little purse. This was at a time when we were not just consumers as so many of us are today, but producers, and skilled artisans were highly valued. It was not about the cheapest, it was about the most beautiful, the highest quality. We have lost so much in the way we value things today. Clothes made from cotton that has sucked lakes dry, and pegged young Chinese girls eyelids open, so that we only need to spend $10.00 on a piece of clothing, that will shortly be thrown into a landfill, because it was actually rubbish when we bought it.

The Best Way Series No.16 Coat Completed

Hallo my precious darlings, it has been so long, and I have not been in touch. Other more pressing things have taken my time and I was torn away for a time. However I have still had needle and thread in hand, and here is some wonderful news, a completed project to show you.

A coat made from a pattern found in the collection of The Brain Watkins House in Tauranga. The pattern was adapted from the enclosed free pattern in a Best Way sewing magazine to the style of one of the illustrated coats in the magazine. It is from the early 1900's, and the finished coat stays true to the cut of the era.

Here it is in all its Autumnal glory.

I thought I would show you some of the inner workings of the coat, and here you can see the horse hair interfacing used on the lapels. This wonderful fabric is getting hard to find, it is the tailor's sculptural medium.

Worked with pad stitching as shown here, two layers of fabric can be made to hold form and shape. Its a wonderful thing.

Here is the collar, with completed pad stitching.

Pressing is as important as sewing in tailoring, and the tools of this trade, rounded pressing pads, baby muslin pressing cloths, and sleeve boards are indispensible.

And of course I have to show you the button, only one, but this was the biggest button in my collection. So there it is finished in time for the oncoming winter, and we know what that means don't we, I can buy some more fabric, or a pattern or .......... Tee Hee and Away!

If you want to follow the development of this coat here are the links in this blog to the posts.

http://zhozhofabart.blogspot.com/2010/09/back-in-day.html

http://zhozhofabart.blogspot.com/2010/10/design-of-embroidery.html

http://zhozhofabart.blogspot.com/2010/10/best-way-series-no-16-coat.html