CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

New Pillows {red nails-red hands-red toes}

 

 

I finished my woven pillows last night in a frenzy. The determination to bring something finished to the Guild meeting has everything to do with it after about a year of nothing to show and tell. Taking the pictures to illustrate this awesome turn of events, in the way envisioned showed me something else about my health though, something I haven't been looking square in the face for some time. My hands and feet are cold and red. Sometimes my toes burn and itch terribly... not the cutest trait really. Well it's not what I thought and have been treating them for over a year (blaming it all on my running shoes and the pool's showers). The actual dermatologist I visited a last yesterday (this was not my first consultation on this subject) told me at once: You have perneo/chilblains. Not because of the cold so much as because your blood circulation is terrible... I hate taking pills, and was wishy washy about the treatment he prescribed until I saw these pictures of my hands. There is a problem, really. In the spirit of how things really are I will not even attempt to retouch the terrible blotchiness (is that even a word?)

 

 

The Pillows are not uniform in size, I didn't expect/remember-about the fabric take up (shrinking) off the loom. It was considerably more accentuated with the twill treadling (far right below). But never mind, I still managed to stuff in the feather inserts from Ikea. My favorite remains the large stripe in plain weave. It makes me think of a scandinavian summer just as I hoped, a first when it comes to weaving.

 

 

The cases are closed with simple 14" metal zippers. It has been so long since I put a zipper in, I almost had a moment of panic but the night glow of the Bernina soothed me, with cooing sounds of things not tangling underneath. Just kidding! But no laugh, it was very easy, again like riding a bicycle. I like to backstitch a bit before lifting my foot to slide or open the zipper pull out of the way, that too came back to mind right away.

 

 

Finn believes lately that pretending to sleep is the funniest trick in the book, as long as you make loud snoring noises bordering on drowning.

Not woven but sewn baskets

 

 

Finn has the talent that comes with his age to describe things exactly as they are. This morning as we were sitting together at our great table, he looking through Lego catalogues and I sewing a rope basket, he said: " Isn't it convenient that you remember how to sew and weave?". And I know precisely what he meant! I have had no time to do either since starting my apprenticeship as a floral designer and it's a kind of miracle when I just sit down and pick it right back up. Much like skiing or riding a bicycle...

This is not the first time Finn has pointed out my lack of crafting, last time he came up with: "Why do you keep all those calligraphy things since you don' t ever use them anymore?" Cough, cough, cough... I resolved this problem by dedicating a nib and holder just for him and now we practice together. So far we are focusing on not covering the table with tipped over bottles of ink (level difficulty: medium). 

 

 

This basket is meant for a collaboration with a new website, more on that later, and will be dip dyed hopefully ombre.  This one will keep the weaving bobbins, scissors and extra shuttles by my side on the loom bench. I love making those, they come up so fast and yet everyone of them is unique. The new tassel finish was a stroke of inspiration this morning. The resilience of the Bernina 580 never ceases to amaze me. At full speed, in such thick material while applying quite a bit of tension to the cord, the stitches stayed completely regular and the needle didn't break. I felt as if I was sewing instead on an industrial sewing machine, but in style!

 

{Winter Flowers} hair-ties pattern

 

I wrote a pattern for these Winter Flower hair ties for We All Sew. They came to be out of necessity one afternoon, when we were in need of a birthday gift for a little girl that same evening. I loved ruffling the leaves it gives them dimension and a more natural shape (even if they are purple!). You can find the pattern here, it's been made into a gorgeous pdf by the Bernina team.

 

drawstring sachets + bunnies

 

Pattern: A spoonful of sugar

pretty drawstring bags

Free embroidery pattern:

Smila's World

 

 

Two small drawstring bags to get back in the sewing and embroidery groove. I blew up the motif and also increased the stitch count for a substantial bunny grouping (!) right on the Bernina 580, which is extremely convenient if like me you are short a PC to work on an embroidery/computer interface. I am waiting to see if something will come out soon for Mac. It's almost certain that the moment I make the switch in operating systems a mac software will appear...

These little drawstring bags are perfect to recycle the last bit of precious fabric you might have horded kept in a bag/box/drawer somewhere. In this case it was japanese double gauze but this week it will be liberty, linen and flannel. I cut about 4 more last night, now to decide what to embroider, decisions, decisions...

By the way, I cut things up first, hoop tear away stabilizer and then spray some temporary adhesive on the stabilizer. I find it much easier to center my design where it is needed. Additionally, if you are working with odd pieces or very small leftovers, you might not have enough to hoop.

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A Wreath with a touch of the Great North {free Pattern}

Another Chickpeastudio pattern is up for free download at Bernina's We All Sew.

Follow this link!

This scandinavian inspired wreath is one of my favorite project, and I splurged on Danish linen for the sample. It's worth it, with its timeless dots and all! The pattern also includes a recipe for the little flag garlands that decorate our tree every year since last. You can find the linen in this etsy shop (randomly picked).

Felt Ogee in the making

This post is inspired by a tutorial posted by Betz White on her blog. You can find it here. She is fortunate to have very thick felt on hand. I on the other hand only could find regular old wool felt in my stash and local suppliers. Scarcity really is the mother of invention as I realized that I could fuse two squares using fusible web (and lots of heat and patience) and get a color block effect. I hope you like the resulting woodland mobiles. The green one is travelling to Germany, as a 'thank you' for the Herrnut stars while the red one is staying home with me for once!

 

They are impossible to photograph when hanging as they are long, skinny and won't stop twirling. I use sewing invisible thread doubled and for the hanging loop a bit of raffia from MayArts ribbons.

Most of the felt balls were sourced from Amazon (look for felt beads). But the tiny mushroom were the result of my very first etsy purchase from a woman whose blog I cannot find anymore. tI was called Paper Scissors Glue (she's thinking).

The little leaves were cut out of the excess fused felt and then embroidered with a strait stitch using embroidery thread on the Bernina 580. I picked foot 20 for this job as it is very open and lets you see what you are doing. Setting the needle down and pivoting instead of the just using the backstitch button was a tremendous help. For too small a leaf, I  have no trick, the feed dogs will simply have nothing to grab... still working on it...

Can you tell it's terribly late and Thomas is out of town? I feel like a zombie blogger, after a wonderfully full day of single mothering with the help of great friends. I always pack too much in the days when the woolf(daddy) is away and cannot let the evening alone end.

The Return of The Nisse

Remember the nisse? He was my first pattern for this blog and so popular too for a little while until Maileg shut us down with not so subtle threats. I must admit to have been saddened and rather turned off from their the company adorable image ever since (except of course for the brief lapse during which I purchased a 5 ft tall elf advent calendar...). But it's time to put all this brooding behind and maybe sew up some new friends. After all they cannot prevent me from using my own pattern at home... Cue the helicopters with tiny elves wearing camo descending on the house!

The first order of business was giving this long fellow some clothes. He is destined to travel back to the European north and settle in Köln, Germany where I hope he will delight and watch over a little boy. After taking him out of storage quickly came the realisation that he was naked, very much so, and his long limbs made him appear more insect  than pixie.

First the entirely improvised sweater, knit in Noro Retro, a blend of wool/angora/silk. I took lots of mental notes and wrote an easy pattern for it on Ravelry. You can find it here.

Wearing a sweater only made the bum more bare and I had to sew up some linen pantaloons, trim them up... and finally knit a scarf (cascade ecological). Finn is completely enamored with him so I am off to start the sequence again with my last prototype.

The pattern for the wreath behind the elf should be available on We All Sew very soon.

Monograms, monograms, I love monograms....

  Two weeks ago, I had the single most successful trip to Goodwill since they opened. There, T. and I found 6 antique linen sheets with spectacular monograms, some of them pairs (!). I believe them to be French in origin but if anyone knows better I would love to learn from you. Some have holes that need darning, and so far my experiments with the free motion foot on the Bernina 580 have been satisfactory. Still, I like to get validation from a higher authority and will have to write my sewing-savant contact at headquarters... Now without further blabla, behold the monogram galore:

The most spectacular maybe is missing from the pictures above as the sheet is enormous and I lost steam literaly and figuratively after ironing all this linen. Instead I added a napkin found as a set of twelve by my aunt in France. B L is my complete monogram, but so far I have not found a compelling digitized example and therefore only use L. Which leads to this weekend effort, yet another embroidered flatware cover. Taking advantage of the oval hoop (largest size furnished with the B580) I went for white on white. The wreath is meant to contain at least six colors but I like it much better with just one. Many motifs can benefit from less garishness, it lends them a classic look and is much faster/easier to complete.

Looking at it closely I notice only now that I must have skipped the caps of the acorns, oh well... too late now to do much about it.

Forgetfulness is not the only issue alas, as each slot is 1.25 inches when really 1.5" would have been more adequate. It's the tricky part with these covers, trying to guess how big the slots should be... which  generally, in my case, turn out too large in the end. From now on it will be 1.5" for knives and might vary  for the forks and spoons. To further protect the forks I sewed an additional rectangle of matelasse to place behind the blades. This cover will probably end up housing dessert flatware in the long run as it might accommodate those better.

cones! free pattern

My new pattern is up at We All Sew. You can now make gifting and hanging cones for all occasions. It's been my favorite accessory to sew this year and I bet that once you make one you will love how elegant they make anything you place in them.

I love the way the pattern pdf looks, it's really rewarding seeing my work all dolled up that way!

I gave one to Thomas to fill with my birthday gifts, which was a boon on his end as wrapping isn't his forte. A bit like a birthday stocking I suppose, but lined in Liberty.

You can leave the back blank or embroider it, with or without an Embroidery Computer (I used the Bernina 580), with the recipient's initials. Here, Finn's preschool teacher:

I hope you give them a try, they are fabulous to use up scraps and please send me pictures of your lovely creations!

Embroidery for the graduate

My friend Lisa's daughter graduated from the University of Utah last week and following a last second idea of Quilt+Embroidery we got some things together and got cracking!

First Lisa bought a finished but unbound quilt at the Whimsy Cottage closing sale (sad sad news for all of us). Being the genius seamstress that she is, she made two pieced borders for the top and bottom with space for a quote in the front and label in the back. She sews them (right sides together on front and back to the edge of the quilt then spray glue with 505 the batting in between the two new layers and you would never know it wasn't part of the original (except of course the quilting will be a bit different).

Lisa picked "follow your heart but take your brain with you", to keep the 'child' company in grad school. We thought a bit late that with her being so brainy already we should have reversed the quote for a little attempt at humour. We used the OESD machine embroidery starter kit generously sent to me by Bernina when I sliced my finger. It contains their recommended products such as needles, threads spools, stabilizers and 505 spray glue. After a few trials we settled on the cut away stabilizer, it completely prevented any puckering.

We managed to put a lot of information in the oval loop for the back label. I hardy could believe it all fit! the white all around it will be signed by Barbra's friend with gel pens. I hope she likes it and to get some finished pictures!