Sunday, July 22, 2018

The 100 Day Project 2018

I DID it! I actually manged to complete the 100 Day Project!! It ran from April 3rd to July 11th. This was my first time participating and I have to admit I was a bit doubtful that I would see it all the way through and stay on schedule, but I DID!  I set a goal to draw each and everyday, there were times when a particular drawing took several days to complete so they were posted in stages and the rest of the time it was a new complete drawing everyday...and ....all drawn digitally on my iPad.
I used this challenge to try a few things that were out of my comfort zone.....mostly working with colour. If you have been following me a while, you are well aware that I normally work in black and white. Making a commitment like this required a bit of focus, it also meant that pretty much consumed my "creative" time. But I really enjoyed it learned a LOT along the way.

Obviously I am not going to show them all in this post....but here are a few of my favourites
















and if you are interested.....I created a video showing every drawing in the order I drew them from 1 to 100.



Monday, July 2, 2018

Pattern weights

Quite often when I am cutting out a garment, I simply "weigh" the pattern down instead of using pins. Unless I am dealing with tricky fabric, I often just trace the outline of the pattern piece, note important marks and notches, then cut it out. What I had been using for weights is some kind of chunk of metal wrapped in tape...effective, but rather unsightly.
I decided to make some that would be more attractive sitting here in my new workspace.

I began by making some simple little sand bags. I could have just stopped there...they are not very pretty but certainly more neat and tidy than what I had been using.  (I did not concern myself with the colour or neatness of the whip stitches closing these up as I planned on making little covers for each of them anyway.)


I always like to have some small hand stitching projects ready...AND am in "use up stuff" mode...so , of course I went a step further
I cut out some squares of wool, added some circles (or pennies as they are called)


Once each one was embellished with thread, (some hand dyed by me) beads, buttons and jewelry findings, it was time to add a back. I used water soluble thread to do a quick running stitch on 3 sides leaving a "pocket" this made doing the blanket stitch edge much easier as everything was held firmly in place with no need for pins.


when my blanket stitching covered 3 sides, I slipped in one of the sand bags, then continued with the blanket stitch to close the last side. With the pretty cover complete, I simply ran a wet finger over the edges to dissolve the water soluble thread


here they are...all dressed up and ready for work.




Copyright Jill Buckley