Sew What?! Pineapple Princess

For as much sewing as I do, the sad fact is that I kind of hate it - the cutting, the pinning, the hours spent hunched over the sewing machine breaking needle after needle because I am too lazy to remove pins (which only results in more work/time changing the needle).  When the mood strikes, however, you will always find me hunkered down there in the "treadle trenches" armed for battle with my disappearing-ink pen and scalloped shears.  Never knowing when inspiration will come, I of course shroud surround myself with an endless supply of fabric, thread, and notions so that I will have everything I need (except, of course, that one thing for which I will invariably have to make a last minute run to the fabric store).

As organized as ever...

As reluctant a seamster as I may be, the prospect of designing garments is my ideal.  The challenge of designing/constructing something with very little time and very little material creates enough motivation to rouse a little fire in my evidently-dormant competitive gene.  Last Saturday we were headed to our pal Emily's birthday barbecue.  Having just created one of my floral, basket purses as her gift, I still had some residual creative energy and found a scant yard of vintage, pineapple-printed material that we had picked up in a homemade, roadside, thrift shop on one of our desert adventure days.  Confounded for about a year over what to do with the material; the answer was really a cinch - a gathered bra top and bolero!

The yardage was just enough to eke out the top and the outer shell of the
 short-sleeved bolero (I had to piece together leftovers to make the string halter).
  Wanting to line the bolero with a solid grey like the one found in the pineapple
 print but knowing that I really didn't have enough time to go to the store AND
finish the project, I lined it with a remnant of white cotton that I had on hand.

I can't show what she wore on the bottom because I didn't have time to make ANYTHING!!!

The teal, grey, and white color story was one I had never used before and
I quite like it.  Next up will be some kind of coordinating skirt, shorts, or
combination of the two - inspiration might have struck but the clock was
 striking too and we didn't want to be late for the party!  

It is often believed that Annette Funicello never wore a two-piece bathing suit but the clip below not only provides thematically-appropriate musical accompaniment but also proof to the contrary.  YOWZA!!!

"Pineapple Princess" - Annette Funicello

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

Sew What?! Going Yo-Yo!

I am on the verge of being a fully-fledged hoarder.  As someone who sews and is constantly working on a project, I find myself drawn to remnants – and better still, yardage - of vintage and vintage-reproduction fabric.  Anytime I see a piece of material that looks a little “old timey,” I squirrel it away for some future design project.  Some might call that a collection…but it gets worse.  Having borderline, pre-hoarding tendencies, I have a very difficult (read impossible) time letting go of even the little scraps that are left behind from cutting out a pattern.  You might ask, “What are you going to use them for?”  Serious hoarders will give you some vague response about the Halloween costumes they intend to make for their cats.  They will mumble about the various fabric techniques one can implement for bundling that mountain of National Geographic back issues that is taking over the living room.  They will eagerly explain their ambition to train the cockroaches but insist that they need the fabric for the leashes.  With only a toe dipped into the abyss of “hoarderdom,” I have found a project that can turn the bits and pieces of my mania into something both functional and endlessly time consuming – yo-yos!!

Fabric yo-yos

According to the Alaska State Museum website, www.museum.state.ak.us, fabric yo-yos are thought to be a creation of Filipino fabric artists who developed the technique at least 100 years ago when inspired by the primitive (and not yet trademarked) yo-yo toy.  Since then, yo-yos have become a staple of American textile design, reaching their peak of popularity during the 1920’ – 1940’s.  These were the early days of wacky tacky when women found yo-yos easy to make in mass quantities and even easier to take with them as an alternative to knitting and crochet.  Moreover, during The Depression and in wartime, thrifty women found it wasteful to discard anything that might be useful.  They, I will remind you, were not slandered by the term “hoarder,” rather they were bestowed with the honors of  “frugal” and “patriot!”

 A vintage yo-yo clown toy dating from the 1930's-1940's

Initially, I failed to think much beyond the exercise of turning the scrap fabric into yo-yos.  After making so many, however, I realized that instead of flat scraps of fabric, I was now the proud owner of hundreds of these crazy rosettes that were begging to be turned into something bigger, something better.  Not having done much research on the subject, and pretty certain of my genius, I set out to create the world’s first yo-yo quilt!  Little did I know that yo-yo quilts are probably the most ubiquitous of all yo-yo projects.  Nevertheless, the yo-yo quilt project has begun!  Too deep into it to give up now, I recently calculated that based on the size of the finished yo-yos, I will need approximately 2595 to reach my goal – WINNING A BLUE RIBBON AT THE COUNTY FAIR! (not really)  I have been making these things for a while now and I am currently at 523.  I have decided that instead of a completely random assembly of the yo-yos, I would make 3x3 squares in a checkerboard pattern with a border of black in between - similar to a granny afghan.  

If you squint you can see Big Sandy, Jeff & Ashley.

Most of the yo-yos are made of cotton prints that I've used to make dresses.

Never having been the brightest bulb, Mary tries to tap into the brilliance of electric light.

A30's style ensemble made with a crazy fabric I found in the dollar section at the local fabric store.

Am I more like your grandma than you may have previously thought?  Probably.  Have I entered into the early stages of dementia?  More than likely.  Will you come running to me when you are in desperate need of a wacky tacky blanket that provides little-to-no warmth?  You betcha!  I’ll see you in 2019 when the quilt is done.

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny