Sue Bleiweiss

Brown paper bags

I have spent a good deal of time this weekend experimenting with turning plain old brown paper grocery sacks into stitchable surfaces.   A little acrylic paint, fusible web and some patience managed to turn the very humble brown paper bag into something a bit more special.

This one has been stitched with some Wonderfil sizzle thread.  Wound on the bobbin and stitched from the back.

This one has been stitched with some black rayon thread. 

I wish these photo's were better.  All of these surfaces are on their way to being turned into journals of some sort. 

Joss paper surfaces

A little sneak peek at what I'm working on today:

Both of these surfaces are made with joss papers along with some skeleton leaves, paints, dyes etc.  They're still in the working stage and once they've been left overnight to completely dry will benefit from some additional surface treatments. 

A lot of you asked about what type of fabric the overdyed pieces were.  I believe it was a rayon blend.  It's a fairly heavy fabric like a decorator weight and has spots of a chenille like surface on it.  The fabric itself has sewn in folds and pleats which is what gives it such nice texture and body.  I got it at my local Joannes store in the garment fabric section near the wools.

Have a great weekend everybody!

good mail

Look what the postman brought me today:

some new Wonderfil threads in some very yummy colors.  I wanted to order more at the time but was waiting for these to show up:

It's so much easier to order thread when you are looking at the color cards.  So I spent this afternoon looking through the cards and deciding what to order in order to convert my entire thread collection to Wonderfil threads.  Now that's going to be a fun box to open when it gets here!

I also recently picked up this book:

Written with Wonderfil threads in mind but with techniques applicable to a wide range of threads this book covers a nice assortment of techniques such as thread painting, machine quiting, thread lace and many others.  There are some terrific projects in this book and it's a great thread reference book to have on hand.  You can get a copy here.

So what else besides ordering thread have I been up to?  I've been tied up mostly with getting prepared for Houston and working on issue 2 of Fibre&Stitch but I did manage to do a bit of dyeing over the weekend.  I bought this fabric last week because it had some great texture and I just couldn't pass it up:

But it looked a little boring and flat to me when I got it home.  So I decided to overdye it.  I cut it into 4 fat quarters and ended up with 4 very cool pieces:

Much more exciting don't you think?

Building a better date book

There was a time when I used an electronic date book and organizer.  Back before I "retired" from the corporate world I always carried the latest and greatest in electronic gadgets.  Now life is a bit simpler and I'm happy using the paper/pen method to keep track of where I'm supposed to be and what time I'm supposed to be there for.    I noticed the other day when I was in the office supply store that the 2008 calendars were out on the shelves so I picked myself up one along with a few mini notepads.  Then this morning as I was sorting through some of the fabric pieces in my scrap bin I decided to turn this:

Into this:

Which looks like this on the inside:

A pocket to hold a date book and another to hold a pad of paper.

A much nicer way to keep track of the days don't you think?

Have a great weekend everyone!

A new bag

I decided to take a break from working on my Fibre&Stitch article today and make myself a new bag:

I decided to use up some of my batik scraps that I've been collecting and paired them off with some nice heavyweight denim.  This bag measures about 13" wide x 12" tall x 4 1/2" deep.  It has leather straps and the front panel has a pocket which you can see in the photo above.  It looks a little wonky but it's not, it's just the way the bag is standing.  And the other side has a pocket as well:

The inside has clips for keys and other things as well as a zipper compartment, 2 patch pockets and 2 sleeves for holding water bottles:

I think this bag is going to make a great travel bag for when I go to Houston.

Now I must get back to working on my Fibre&Stitch article.  I'll leave you with a sneak peek...

Wonderfil Threads

I have been searching for quite some time now for a new line of threads to use.  Up until recently I've been using a popular brand of 40wt rayon thread for all my decorative stitching but have been unhappy with it's performance lately.  I've recently discovered  and started using Wonderfil threads and have been very happy with them.  They have a 30wt rayon thread that I just love and used on this box:

The outside surface is made with pattern tissue.  The box measures 8" wide x 6" deep by 4" high and is lined in pattern instruction sheets:

This box will be on display in the Wonderfil Threads booth (#659) in Houston at the Quilt Festival so stop by their booth if you're at the show.

art tags!

Terri and I wanted to have something that we made to give to all of the students who take one of my Mistyfuse sponsored Sew it/Take it classes in Houston and after kicking around several ideas we came up with these:

We're calling these Art Tags.  1"x3" pieces of art that are embellished on one side with our names and contact info on the back and then hung on an 8" ball chain.  You can use them as key chains or just hang them on your handbag as embellishments.  The two in the center are mine and the others are Terri's.  She also did the shrink tags with the Fibre&Stitch logo on them too.  She's been very very busy!  Once we had the first 75 made we thought well why not make up some extras to give away in the Mistyfuse booth too.  So...

We made up 288 total!  Yup 288 of them.  So if you're in Houston at the festival stop by the Mistyfuse booth 861 where Terri and I will be working and introduce yourself and we'll give you one or even better bring along one of your own and we'll make it a trade!

Lutradur, presents and a wrapfolio

The Fibre&Stitch subscriber yahoo group  is really going strong with their lutradur experiments thanks to Carol McFee's outstanding article on working with this very versatile material.   I am thrilled that Fibre&Stitch is the cause of putting a new spin on working with it and its been so much fun to see so many of you blogging  and talking about your experiments with lutradur because of what you've read in Fibre&Stitch.  If you didn't receive your invite to the subscriber group yet  please drop me an email at sue@fibreandstitch.com. 

I'd give you a sneak peak into issue 2's contents but I don't want to give too much away!  Suffice it to say that if you think the first issue was jam packed with things to do and be inspired by then you're in for a real treat with issue 2.    I myself am knee deep in working on an article  involving fiber and texture that I think you're really going to enjoy...

So what else besides F&S have I been up to?  well yesterdays mail brought a most wonderful present for me...

I fell in love with these pouches that Marie makes and wrote to her asking if she would make me one.  I absolutely love it.  So much color and texture and it's the perfect size.  Don't you just love it?   If you want to learn how to make one of these little treasures then you're in luck because Marie is writing all about them for Fibre&Stitch!

A friend of mine emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking for a large wrapfolio and I finally got it finished yesterday:

The text block on the lower left is actually a pocket and the inside looks like this and holds a 8 1/2" x 11" pad:

These fabrics are all by Lonni Rossi.  I just love her fabrics such great colors and the quality of the cotton is so nice to work with.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Thank you

A huge thank you to all of you who have written me about the Fibre&Stitch premier issue.  All of us on the Fibre&Stitch staff have been absolutely overwhelmed by your support and excitement over our first issue.  And on that note, you ain't seen nothing yet - there are some fabulous things in store for you in issue 2!  Take a look at the guest line up for the upcoming issues here.

If you haven't heard yet, we have started up a special subscriber only yahoo group so that our subscribers can interact with the staff, post questions, participate in challenges and more.  Our first challenge is based on Carol McFee's Lutradur and Lace article and it's been a lot of fun watching everyone experiment with Lutradur.   I'm sure that her article has caused quite a run on Lutradur at retailers all over the web!  If you are a subscriber and haven't received your invite to this group, please email me to let me know.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of getting to spend some time with the incredibly talented Summerset at the Vintage Textile Show.  What a treat it was to inspect the garments up close with someone whose such an expert at garment design and construction.   And the fact that she's fun to spend time with was just icing on the cake.  She also brought some goodies for me:

Love those sparkly leaves, those are being reserved for use in something special.  Not sure what that is yet but whatever it is, it's going to be way better because of those leaves.  Thanks so much Summerset!

While I was at the show I did buy a few buttons:

I paid a small fortune  (well for a button anyway) for that one on the left but once I picked it up I just couldn't seem to put it down.

And my friend Vicki indulged my obsession for buttons by sending me this pile of goodies:

along with some fabulous sun printed fabrics.  I love all of it Vicki - thanks so much!

And this morning I actually managed to get in some studio time so I put together a padfolio for a friend.

I hope she likes it!