textiles

Exploring Beauty

| poppypeach

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With all the wonderful rain we have been having our Sunday family day was an inside affair with a trip to the San Jose Museum of Art to check out the Beauty exhibition. I have been studying for an exam on literacy and math as part of the degree program I am undertaking for Education – apparently, it is a new initiative by the Australian Government to examine the skills of potential educators. A lot of the work is for me to revise a lot of the concepts and will come in handy for my next units of math and science and thank goodness for Khan Academy helping me understand some of the math concepts that have completely left my mind.

Rather than spending my weekend away revising on the computer, I granted myself a break in exchange for working in the evenings. It was so refreshing going to a gallery and checking out art that I can totally relate to in this exhibit covered the gamut of design including industrial, textile, scientific, graphic, fine art, fashion, technological and architectural.  The exhibit was the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial and brought together innovative designers from around the world and really appealed to my design background. I especially loved the fine arts, technological and fashion design.

A couple of my favourite pieces included some 3D printing inspired by the interior of bones. To the right is an amazing blown glass sculpture with incredible detail which to me looks like intestines.

As I love textiles and fashion I enjoy checking out the innovation in the industry I found these a the show. A jacquard woven wool tapestry with incredible detail by the Finnish designer Kustaa Saski using a combination of rubber, acrylic, lurex, and phosphorescent yarn with mohair and cashmere wool.

The white crochet armour was so detailed I wonder about the math that went into designing the pattern. Next to the crochet was this incredible printing technique by a company out of the Netherlands, Vlisco who specialise in Dutch wax prints popular in West and Central Africa and made using an industrialised version of the Indonesian batik process. The prints are created in conjunction with local African traders who suggest colorways or themes to Vlisco. I really enjoyed seeing this much colour together, and I had always enjoyed African textiles when my friend married her husband from Mali she came back to Australia with this incredible collection of clothes from Africa that I absolutely adored.

The skirt with the pyjama top was breathtaking with that amount of fabric on the skirt, and the design of the top is something I would love to create for a summer top. I loved the details in the skirt with the changes in colour gradations, and I just love the combination of colours! The final pic

The image with the detail was created by a student from Central St Martin’s in London who uses plastic in her work – the skirt was made of ruffles of plastic including the detail on the blouse creating a three-dimensional effect.

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The exhibition continued upstairs where I found a collection the Haas Brothers from Los Angeles. This was the first time I had seen their work, so the impact of the colour attracted me to investigate further. Their collection was entitled the Afreaks series created in conjunction with the Haas Sisters in South Africa – using a specific beading technique. Their work is highly sought after and these guys are true renaissance men with their knowledge of various artistic and traditional techniques.

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To complete the visit to the gallery the San Jose Museum of Art has an exhibition entitled Your Mind, This Moment – art and the practice of attention. This is a peaceful part of the gallery that encourages you to sit down and admire the art and embrace the space of meditation.

Our family day out was enjoyed by the kids and as this was the last day of the Beauty exhibit we were very lucky to have had the opportunity to see it. The kids always rush through exhibitions, but at least there were some interactive pieces for them to enjoy and introduce them to art and technology. Hopefully, we can have more of this art here in this valley as it is something that I feel I have to travel to the city to get my fix of inspiration!

The Grand Finalé

| poppypeach

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The time has finally come with 3 days to the show I have been working towards. My inventory of stock has finally come together! This weekend is the FabMo Textile Art Boutique from 10am to 4pm at the Elks Lodge in Palo Alto. I finally completed my final piece for the day of the show which is a dress made from the cascades of colored fabric I have collected over time which I made into the skirt for the dress. As well the bodice is fabric that I found at FabMo – I love how it turned out and the skirt is a lot of fun to wear as I puffed up the hem with gathers to enhance the differences in the fabric.

My last few garments have been completed somewhat slowly in the last couple of weeks with little bits of time here and there and I finally made all the pieces that I have cut out ready to be sewn. The shift dress in the 1960s green and orange fabric has terrific hanger appeal and is very fun to wear – fancy a bloody mary anyone? The checked yoga PJs are super comfortable to wear and the feel of the fabric is wonderful, I am sure they will find a good home with someone. I know I used my fox yoga PJs all throughout my Australia holiday in the winter mornings doing my yoga sessions.

 

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Close up of the skirt above – I love the detail in this fabric

 

I found this velvet collection of cascades on my last visit to FabMo and it makes an amazing looking huge tote with denim straps – it is a mix of the luxurious and the utilitarian that will hold a heck load of stuff!

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As much as I would like to make more denim totes this is the last one as time is fleeting away and I think I have a lot in my collection and I need to have room on my table too! This beautiful butterfly fabric worked so well with this final bag for the show.

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So anyone in the Bay Area who is wanting to check out an inspiring textile show head on over to the FabMo Textile Art Boutique this Saturday, October 22, 2016 – hopefully I will see some of you there. I am looking forward to presenting my ‘Traveling Not So Light’ range inspired by my 8 weeks of travels and coming home to my sewing room.

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A piece a Week – A new tote and some ceramics, yet more bowls! And farewell to summer camping!

| poppypeach
This week my tote from last year had a breakdown of buttons so I had to quickly whip one up – this is just a sample of the pattern I will be trying out for the FabMo Show in October. There are generally plenty of bags and I will road test this one first, to see if it is worth the time. The fabric reminds me of bamboo and there is a surprise patchwork inside that I added – as it was meant to be on the outside, the fun of working with unfamiliar patterns. The tote is lined with an interior pocket for organization of your bits and bobs. 
A new tote to carry the day to day bits and bobs

Surprise patchwork interior

This week I was happy to find in the pottery studio two bowls I made in a matte black and white crackle glaze. I love the effect of calligraphy ink into the glaze – though this bowl is just for decoration now as you cannot eat from it. I am so happy to be able to throw on the wheel and made 3 in the class last week – now to trim and glaze them all!

Amazing bowls that are similar in size!!

The detail of the glaze, it makes it look antique 🙂
Over the weekend we ventured out with some Australian friends of ours to a site I booked in January to Manresa State Beach. The fun thing was that same weekend my friend celebrated his 50th birthday at the beach and we were camping at the campsite down the road. So it has been a very busy weekend which explains why this posting is so late!! It is a beautiful campsite and so hard to get into as it is super close to the Bay Area and the walk to the beach is down a ramp rather than up a hill and back down again at Sunset State Beach just next door. We loved it, though we were dust balls by the time we returned on Sunday. 
A tree climbing monkey

Falling into the backwash

Enjoying the really cold water

Looking cool at the beach – why not go swimming in your clothes??

Missy gets some air

A future naturalist checking out the seaweed

Our dusty campsite!!

This beach is beautiful – Manresa State Beach, go there!

A piece a Week – A Back Pack Bag for my friend and the FabMo Textile Art Boutique

| poppypeach
Finally I can breathe without all the deadlines of having to complete pieces for the inventory for my collection for the boutique. Last Saturday’s Textile Art Boutique was wonderful at it’s new location in Palo Alto on El Camino with over 900 people attending!! I was so busy at my booth all morning and the day went by so fast. It was great to see people coming by to have a chat and checking out my booth. Even better was having my friend’s visiting and saying hello! The boutique is so well organized and we were saved by volunteer ‘angels’ to come by and look after our booth for us so we could have a break and eat lunch. I sold around half of my stock with the rest for the next couple of shows I am having near Thanksgiving and also at school. I also have to give some to the Mountain View General Store! 

The backpack bag was suggested to me by a friend of mine and I decided to make a prototype for her just to see how it goes. I presented it to her at the show and she loved it so much that she bought it! What a surprise that was!! So here it is on my friend giving it a trial run and since the show she says that she loves it and it is very comfortable 🙂 I love the velvet fabric!!

My friend ME with her new poppypeach back pack bag
The Textile Art Boutique was such a success this year with many guests and an incredible array of artisans creating so many amazing pieces out of re-purposing FabMo fabrics and more. I found these beautiful earrings that have a fabric back on these beautiful faceted findings. Also at the end of the show one of the artists who worked with clothes offered me this amazing leather driving coat that she had added some lovely velvet applique to the front for a very special price that I could not refuse! That is the thing with being among such wonderful work you have to grab it when you can, and of course support local artists!!
My booth overflowing with my stock! The 8 x 30 table was too small so I had to use the space behind me.

With this hectic week of deadlines I also had a couple of events over the weekend – Trunk or Treat at school and Diwali, Festival of Lights on Saturday night. For Trunk or Treat I went as an ’80s witch with my padded shoulder bolero and vintage Gunne Sax dress I found at Goodwill – boy it was hard to breathe in all that boning in the bodice. It is so much fun to dress up for Halloween, my favourite time of the year!! I am working on my official costume at the moment – it is taking a bit of time but is fun to have a bit of a play with some clothes until the next show…

Trunk or Treat – ready or not here I come! 

Missy wanted to be a magic black cat this year and here she is in her costume of a cat suit and ears and a tail with a treat bag full of goodies!! She collected all the pieces for her costume including the face paint in a bag ready for Halloween – now that we have had a rehearsal it is time for the real deal this Friday!!

What’s new Magic Cat??

 Mr Ash was not so keen for a costume – so his idea for a costume is an elven warrior from Lord of the Rings. He is using his hat in his hand for a treat bag! He has his ragged shorts on and was supposed to have a scar on his face but decided last minute just to go casual with the hat. Let’s hope it comes together this Friday. But the good thing for him this week was that he won an art competition to draw a Halloween monster and was thrilled to get $50 worth of goodies from International Arrivals stationery. Check out his scary monster below!!!

Looking for treats with his friend the creeper from Minecraft

Ash’s art – the original on ruled notepaper 🙂

A piece a week – a Dress for the Show, My Collection of Pieces and a Ceramic Birdbath

| poppypeach
I cannot believe that the time has come for the show and it is this weekend! I wanted to whip up a tunic for the show and I have used a pattern that I made a favorite summer dress thought this time I added sleeves. The silhouette pattern is from FabMo fabric and the black and gold fabric throughout was a fabric in my stash. I love the way it turned out and it may be a bit short so I think it will be a tunic with some skinny jeans. 
Fabric that inspired the tunic
Back of the dress with brown and white
Here is my collection for the show this year in video…
To other forms of creation that I am exploring this year – ceramics. I made this little bird bath for a garden decoration – I hope they like it!
Sitting in the succulent garden

Arts Focus 2013 – what a wonderful Art Show

| poppypeach
I volunteer at my children’s school for the Arts Focus program to help out with teaching the children Textiles (Sewing). We have a class of 27 Kinder through 5th grade children and give them needles, scissors, fabric and thread and they truly enjoy themselves. At the end of our 6 week Arts session we then have an exhibition of works on display at City Hall. This year I took time out to check it out when I could absorb the pieces on display and I was so blown away with what the children had created. I love the Arts Focus program as you can really see the children shine when experimenting with art in it’s many mediums. There are 14 classes on campus on a Thursday morning that inlclude 3D, Animation, Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, Global Beat, Materials, Paper, Musical Theater, Physical Theater, Photography, Textiles (sewing), Textiles (Weaving and Dyeing) and Video. Whew that is a lot of parents on campus and what an amazing feeling it is to have such a community of parent volunteers ready to help out in the arts – yay! 
A marbling piece from the Printmaking class

My daughter embroidered ‘H’ on the group quilt for the Sewing class

Projects from the Sewing class include felt toys, fabric collage, pillows and pipe cleaner dolls

More Sewing projects include hats and tassels

From the Textiles (Weaving and Dyeing) class

Wheel work from the ceramics class

Mask from the Global Beats class

Papel Picado from the Paper class

The culmination of creativity happens this weekend at the Textile Art Boutique

| poppypeach
Time is closing in and it is my last week to prepare for the show this Sunday October 27th. I have been working like a busy little bee since the kids went back to school in August. The last couple of months has been intense and very challenging with crazy things happening like a power black out (therefore time dedicated to sew could not happen and I lost hours), my iron giving up the ghost (all fine till I could head on over to Target and grab another one) and a whole week of minimum days for the kids. Even with these time sucks I have managed to create an inventory of over 35 items (13 of which are small hair clips / lapel pins). So here are some highlights of my collection – more can be seen here.

I have loved the organic unfolding of the creations and just working randomly with the fabric. Knowing how many pieces of each item I wanted to create and letting the fabric and colours come together. It has been an incredible experience to be working with colour and experimenting happily. So here goes the following pics are some of my faves!

The colours in the bag are so vibrant – I would be a happy market shopper with this tote

This is a linen fabric by Jim Thomson and it is just beautiful 

The fabric on this reminds me of pixels and the pocket is a cool contrast to the colours

What a sweet little handkerchief embroidered onto a pillow

I used to do a lot of patchwork and my husband said do more so I came up with this with these incredible fabrics

More of the patchwork in a linen fabric

The handbag I have been road testing – oh my I love this fabric so much, it is vintage from the 1930s

This fabric was from a 1970s skirt and now it is a super cute hat – perfect for the beach! 
I love these and they are going to be hair clips or lapel pins as there’s an alligator clip on the back

10 days to go till the show…

| poppypeach
I am participating in the FabMo Textile Art Boutique on the 27th November in Menlo Park with 50 or so other textile artists. The show I have heard is wonderful and full of creative energy according to the folks at FabMo. The excitement is building and here is a postcard…

The flyer for the show!

Still the preparations are going along and I still have to make and attach the swing tags to all of my pieces – 40 in all. There are Pillows, Aprons, Brooches, Pincushions, Market and Tote Bags. Check out a preview here at my etsy site – finally updated with a new About page – check it out.

The Domestic Goddess

| poppypeach
After much deliberating about what to name the collection of pieces for the FabMo Textile Art Boutique I realised that Domestic Goddess summed up what my collection was all about.

With the inspiration of hanging out in my kitchen most of the time – initially aprons came to mind. Not too long everything else came together with mamas being crafty there is a vintage style pincushion and we all like to relax on the couch with cool cushions so I made some of those too. I have also some market bags for shopping at the Farmers Market and smaller Totes for all those goodies when you BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag – not Booze!) out and about. Oh and of course how can I forget looking good with some silk brooches to wear on your jackets and tees.

It is very exciting to have a cohesive collection finally coming together – there are a few more things to make and then it is time to prep for the booth, yikes! Lucky I have bought a mannequin called ‘lady’ from craigslist this week to help out with the photography and the booth for the day. Well I will be by myself but it will be great to have a mannequin wearing the apron instead of draping it over a table. Without further ado here she is, apron and all…

‘Lady’ wearing an apron from the collection

And yes I have been playing around with filters – I suppose I can’t help it as I am taking pics with my phone! There will be a real photo shoot happening soon so I’ll post them when I have the shots all done. What a terrific process it is with only one month to go today!