Mama Uses Needles

Stylin' and Textilin'

2012-01-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

I CANNOT HELP IT WITH THE CHEESY POST TITLES. I AM SORRY! YOU WILL HAVE TO FILE A LAWSUIT.

I always get my best ideas in the shower. Apparently, something about scrubbing the sensual contours of the armpit helps my mind assimilate all the visual fragments that have been floating through during the previous night. Hey I know you wanted to know that.

I have been very interested for some time in textiles, as my dedicated reader knows. I have for a while been kicking around the idea of doing some pillow/ cushion covers...WAKE UP!...in sweatshirt fabric. And I have found that it provides for a very interesting set of challenges.

First, the same problem I have with the clothes I design using the fabric of pre-existing clothing is the size limitations. Since it would be nearly impossible to ever find more than one garment in exactly the same shade, I am confined to either making very small things, or conceding to mix the pallette in a single piece of clothing. Usually that's great. Sometimes it makes things look overworked and obvious.

So when I started making these textiles from sweatshirt fabric, I ran into the same problem, though now compounded by issues of scale and whatnot. I won't ever have enough fabric from say two colors to produce even two large cushion covers. Which at first I found frustrating, but now see as a really good exercise in color. I am basically forced to mix more colors than I usually would and it puts my color intuition and knowledge to the test. I am interested to see how I can stretch my tolerance for color in any single piece without crossing the line. When I imagine these objects in a room though, it means that they have so much color that the rest of the room has to be neutral. They basically suck up the color allowance for an entire room in the space of a 18 x 18 inch throw pillow. How nerve wracking!

In terms of sewing, there are also technical limitations with using this fabric for these designs. Picture, then explanation:

Here's the problem- these lobes are each like 6 inches wide, and they can't be made smaller because those opposing curves are a bear, and the serger will not comply with curves any tighter than these- especially on the concave lines. Holla:

So in order to give this pattern the breathing room it needs, I have to make at least a 24" x 24" piece. If I'm making two, as in a set of cushions, I will not have enough fabric in these three exact colors. NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO I ASK YOU?!

Use smaller pieces of fabric, so I can get more out of all the nooks and crannies of a single sweatshirt?

Then there's this piece, using the same colorways. I guess it could be cool if I handquilted the pieces, but I am not doing that. No I am not. So this design, with all its sewing, and final product that is less than perfect, is not practical.

See? Lots of sewing. Hey I kind of prefer the way this looks from the underside. Hmmm.

Non-Flattering Suit Fat Baby Boy

2011-12-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

My wife always says, "Babies are so fat, they should wear more black." TOTALLY TRUE, HONEY. Well, two of our three babies have gone through an adorable pudgy phase. In both cases I have, of course, chosen to accentuate thier portly proportions. As in this one-piece I just made for Griffin from an old sweater. I'm trying these new plastic snaps that I got from JoAnns. (I really hate saying or typing "JoAnn's".) They are cute, and they come in a good sized pack for cheap, but they are too hard to snap and unsnap so I'm always afraid they'll pop off, which they certainly will at some point. At least they are destined to tear the knit.

I will post a picture of portly in this outfit soon, hopefully.

Here, I resected the old collar onto the raw edge of the new jumper. Not bad, huh! I used a blind hem stitch, but not a blind hem foot. For some reason, my foot is designed such that the needle slams into it and breaks and almost pokes out my eyeballs with flying shards of evil. I guess the obvious explanation would be that it's the wrong foot for the machine, but I swear I've used it before with no trouble, and I can't remember what was different.

Lee Bontecoute

2011-12-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

You pronounce today's blog post title in a Michigan accent, so it sounds like this: "Lee Bon-tuh-CUOTE". Get it?! An art/ quilting play on words, yall. To what other mom blog can you go for such linguistic tom-foolery?

You see, once I got way far into this color scheme, I realized I didn't have green pieces big enough to complete the spokes, so I had to piece it together. I decided I was okay with the fractured glass pattern thing and then when the center of the quilt turned all vortexy and swollen, all I could think of was Bontecou sculptures. It makes me want to do a whole series of them.

Anyway, yeah, the whole thing is a wobble now, owing to the design of thin strips of bulky fabric conjoining at the center. I mean, I sort of knew that might happen, but you know- me and physics, we have an adversarial relationship. So I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. I have this two projects rule going so I can't just move on from it.

Oops, how did that picture get in here? Bonus cute. Annika Hedy. What a pleasure is this baby.

Show Me Crabs!

2011-12-19T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have found it. Something I truly hate about being a mom. I mean, it makes me want to hurl myself headlong into the nearest wall repeatedly until I black out. Putting on kids GLOB BAM FORKLING mittens! I can probably count on Phinny being an 8th grade drop-out and working the pole by fifteen with the number of times I've laid out a string of terrible cuss words while trying to get her to put her tiny, floppy starfish hands into a pair of mittens. (Which she won't wear unless they "work".)

"Thumbs, honey! THUMBS THESE ARE YOUR THUMBS! The short, fat one, c'mon, baby, just get your thumb into that ONE SEPARATE PART. There's only one seperate part, and you have only one thumb. That's it, just your thumb, NO NOT YOUR THUMB AND FIRST FINGER! Just the thumb, honey- YES YES, there it is, show Mama Crab Hands, show me crabs! Yes, pinch! It's on! See, your mittens are working! NO NO NO, don't pull that off, NO NO! Ohhhh. GLOBBAMMIT!! Okay, do over, ladybug."...

Aaaaand Repeat.

Girl needs mittens when it's cold, girl don't want to wear mittens nohow.

I thought if I made a pair of soft flexible mittens with an articulated thumb- you know, where the contoured thumb is attached from the palm, instead of a flat thumb-shaped appendage sticking flat out the side of the mitten, that she would be more likely to wear them. I thought, given the expert and natural fit, combined with a tight, but soft, ribbed cuff, the mittens would be comfortable and would stay on. Uh huh.

So while those world-class scientists in Geneva are waiting for the Hadron Collider to clue us into the deepest mysteries of physics, I challenge them to design a pair of usable toddler mittens. (Oh, and while they're at it, a sippy cup that doesn't leak.)

But let's talk about sewing. It is not easy to make a pattern for gloves with an articulated thumb!

Four attempts later...

And then there's the whole lining issue.

Nonetheless, I will concede that they look really good. In the end, I conclude that it's the toddler, not the mitten that maka me crazy.

God Gave Me a Red-Haired Child To Dress in Chartreuse

2011-12-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

To be fair, the leg warmers are a little more lime than the AMAZING chartreuse cords, but I think they count. It's pretty much a medicatable condition I have, my newfound compulsion toward chartreuse clothing. I'ma go with it though.

Evanston: freezing. "Hey, before you go out, let me whip up some leg warmers for Phinny." My wife, shifting impatiently from one foot to another while I craft these cableknit quickies. Well, guess what, one slice with the rotary cutter, two zips through the serger, WAH-LAH! She barely had time to get annoyed. It was really less than like 60 seconds. And now look how attractive and useful:

Beanbag Cover; 2011's Coiled Snake of Bitchery

2011-12-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

Say that you are looking at a beanbag covered in black canvas. And you think to yourself: "Self, how hard could it be to just look at that shape pattern and replicate it by sight? Not too hard." Say you, with pluck and abandon, reach for that amazing canvas linen blend vintage curtain you have and start cutting the pieces for a new cover for aforementioned beanbag.

STOP!! For here be dragons.

It is WAY harder to do, fitting these pieces together than you will imagine.

Given my new rule to not get more than two things going in the sewing room at a time, I was stalled for like a week on this blasted thing. Finally, I was basically jamming bunched fabric and velcro sections through the machine willing it all to go away and stop draining my lifeblood. (That side of the beanbag faces the floor. But it still looks pretty cute. Okay, it looks pretty cute when a cute baby is perched in it:

Breaking Out of Baby Jail

2011-12-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Baby Hobo is not dead. In fact, at this oddest of times, I am feeling a renaissance of affection for it, even as my Baby Griffin and Baby Annika threaten to pull me into a vortex of neediness and cute. I was all sorts of ready to shelve my creative aspirations and my entrepreneurial impulses for several years following the birth of these babies. "There won't be a moment to adequately shave my legs for the next five years, let alone sew," is what I rightly thought.

Howeverly, I was able to control my impulses for all of three weeks. Once my head stopped spinning- the moment it stopped spinning, I trained my weary eyeballs on the stack of imploring sweatshirt scraps in my sewing room, and decided that if I am making things for the kids, then it is A-OKAY to ignore them as people for a little while each day and instead sew myself to sanity. So there. And I have been making a sort of remarkable number of things, some of which I will show you here right now! Yay.

Introducing the most cozy and useful baby quilts I ever made. (Okay, they are are two of only three baby quilts I have ever made, but still!) They are basically like saddle blankets for babies, in that they are so heavy and sturdy (though crazy soft) you can practically mold them into an armchair recliner and leave your twins propped upright just about anywhere. NOT THAT I WOULD DO THAT.

And here are some details for you stitch-o-philes:

You'll have to ignore that t-shirt binding of course, since it is BALLS. I need to design a good way to make a proper binding, obviously. But I can't do everything, you guys, I have like two-hundred children.

My Excuse Is That I Was Too Pregnant to Sew

2011-10-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Let's start with the photographic evidence:

You will be so kind as to imagine trying to wedge that battleship into the space between a chair back and a sewing machine and then subtract the length of my arms. And you will come up a couple of inches short. And so no sew. It is hard work growing two humans, you guys! I was 8 months pregnant in this picture, due to give birth the next day, which I did. To these guys:

That's Annika Hedy on the left, and Griffin Matthew on the right. Imagine my shock when I first laid eyes on my son and he looked so much like Stanley Tucci. Luckily, once all his features unfurled or retreated to where they were meant to be, he turned out to look much more like himself. Which is to say, quite handsome.

And there you have my excuse for not posting on this blog for so very long. And I guess it would be overly ambitious to promise another post soon. But here's the thing: I am tethered here to this spot several times a day so that I can pump milk for these babies. Yes, like a cow. And that is the perfect excuse for continuing to write and post at least, even if I can't make it into the sewing room for a while.

What will I write about? I can't decide. I might like to blather on endlessly about all the trials and tribs of being a mother of three children under the age of three. I could do stroller reviews, brag about my homemade babyfood (I don't make babyfood) and reach out in search of advice for teething babies. I could do that.

I could also journal my existence from the perspective of a former career-having person and lament all that was glamorous and expansive about my life then. You know, play out my sould-searching right here on this handy blog for everyone to see. Hmmm, maybe not.

Maybe I'll make it a curatorial blog for a while, and siphon off the creativity and well-spent time of other more glamorous and expansive people. That sounds easy and appealing.

Anyway, I forgive myself for the absence and now I am going to go off-line so I can be neurotic in real life.

Piping Gone Wrong

2011-07-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

As soon as I laid eyes on this cotton duck fabric from IKEA, I was imbued with a superhero's confidence. "This fabric has drawings of planks of wood on it," I said to myself. "With this fabric, I can do anything clever and complicated, and the power of righteous design will send me aloft to new heights of cushion sewing achievement!"

Nevermind that I had only once before attempted a cushion with piping, and on a much smaller, ahem, less expensive scale. We have an uncommonly shaped table nook in our kitchen and once we found a solution to finding a table that fit (we had it made), I began to fantasize about the praise and appreciation I would get from my wife when I saved us no less that $800 on custom made cushions. I was very sure she would stroke the perfectly streamlined finished product over breakfast day after day and gaze at me lovingly over breakfast, if not just literally throw dollars at me as I sat in my pajamas in the dawny light of morning.

But then my goddamned cushion is all wrinkly and twisty! What?! What?! Arggggghhhh!

Exhibit A: Nook and first cushion, from afar:

Exhibit B: the incriminating view of the grand wobble:

How much does that suck?!

I swear this cover fits this cushion. When I first put it on, it was straight, and taught and amazing. Okay, not like, amaaaazing, but really really good. Look, it seems like it fits, generally:

And then after very few sittings, the piping got all googly and the fabric was all loose and all sort of goblins of physics broke free under our asses. So frustrating.

I wonder if it needs a lining. Maybe the fabric is catching and pulling onto the very rubbery upholstery foam? When you sit on it, it wants to curve up ever so slightly at the end and then stay that way. YES! As if it is caught in the evil grip of the faulty foam and just wants a nice slippery square covering between it and the foam! Yes. I think that's what it is.

What else could it be? Please, gods of sewing, answer me.

So then I sewed this coaster from boiled wool fused to sweatshirt, which is, as you can see, perfect. It's a sad day when a woman has to sew a coaster to get her mojo back.

Phinny's Tunic

2011-07-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Back to the topic of O.P.P...

Yes, I done sewed it wrong. Agin. Why can't I just listen to the pattern and do what it says?! I know how, I am just too stubborn. But still, this is a good pattern, called Charlie's Tunic from the Made by Rae blog. I did find that whole trim attachment to be a bit clumsy though. But I have been known to be be lazy on the iron. I would like to take this opportunity to praise, if not worship before this so called Rae for designing a kids shirt with the proper armscye! Yes, Rae, you did it.

Here's what it is supposed to look like (image from Made by Rae):

And here is how I botched it up good. I like to call my version (made from an old t-shirt and some pieces of a duvet cover) the "Burt Reynolds", for that more revealing, carefree look. I feel there is something more, hmmm.... biblical looking in my version too, so maybe I can re-work this into a set of nativity patterns.* Potentially lucrative! There are a lot of Christian Evangelical types out there that sew, from what I can tell. Oh wait. Maybe it's just Phinny's hand position. Asking for more Pirate's Booty, or blessing the masses? You decide.

*DO NOT use this exact idea if you are doing a set of nativity costumes, because I am almost certain there is a small linen blend in that trim, in which case, according to Leviticus, you could get yourself smote.

Pig Pig

2011-07-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

Speaking of O.P.P., my friend Danielle gave me this pattern for some stuffed toys recently, and I couldn't think of how to use it to make something interesting (because regular stuffed characters made from floral quilting cottons do not inspire me). Truthfully, I might have thought sewing an animal shape might be too hard. I mean, I know it wouldn't be literally too hard, but you know, if you're lazy, hard can sometimes mean- "My pee is orange, I really need to drink some water...fridge too far...forget it."

But then Phinny found the pattern envelope in my studio and came and dropped it in my lap. Resolutely, she said, "Make. Pig Pig. Mama." I said, "Okay, Boostink, pick some fabric from the box." She handed me purple. "Poople Pig Pig." And walked away. If you try and tell me you could say 'no' to that, I will call you a liar.

And mere moments later, Pig Pig was born. She smirks, because she is a knowing pig. A pig who knows. She doesn't look a damn thing like the pattern picture, but she's much more cuddly since she's made of old sweatshirt.

Yes, That's the Baby's Beer

2011-06-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

If I were a smaller person, I would avoid posting images of my blatant sewing failures, such as this birthday shirt for Phinny*. I would hide those failures from the public.

This little shirt had real potential as a useful all year shirt, but in my zeal to cut a roomier head hole with her giant bell, I over did it and the collar got completely weird. But the fabric was really nice, and the shirt worked for the day. So what. I tried to make it a little more girly and kept the little ragged, frilly collar from the original. You see how much good that did me.

*Of course, if I were a bigger person, I wouldn't need to post TWO not-very-descriptive pictures of the failed sewing project as a transparent excuse to show how cute and big my little bug looked on her second birthday.

New Proof Refuting My Laziness

2011-06-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

I am still playing catch up here, so excuse the disjointedness of the things I'm posting all at once.

First, a good clean view of the jacket I made from the Heidi and Finn pattern. It suffers from, as I admitted in a previous post, my insistence on trying to re-figure a pattern to suit my own utterly selfless desire to use old fabric with old details from other clothes. But forgive me for saving the world, okay?! This is the usual- an old sweatshirt and an old heavyweight stretchy t-shirt.

I would like to point out a couple of things: a.) sewing a lining for something is easier than it seems (OH YES, I DID NOT WRITE..."easier than it 'SEAMS...' BECAUSE I CARE FOR YOU AND WOULD NOT PUT YOU THROUGH THAT). b.) using a serger when the pattern calls for a regular machine requires some care in measurement of the seam allowance...par-tic-u-lar-ly around the...ARMSCYE! c.) and when you're using some other old shirt with its own hem/ cuff, you'll want to again measure and double check that against the pattern, because if you slip up, your shirt will be a dress, or will be cropped too short and then need to be paired with a tight slinky pair of Hannah Montana glitter shorts for an overall cohesive Prostitot ensemble. d.) I always decide to use the smaller sized hood from a pattern and pair it with a bigger main piece. A 5T hood on a 5T pullover kind of drags the whole shirt down is my feeling. Don't get me wrong, Phinny's head is enormous, but I don't need her to look like the Grim Reaper in those rare times of hood use, so I cut it a bit smaller.

The jacket from (roughly) the Heidi and Finn pattern:

I love me some topstitching. It's so gritty and challenging. It makes my machine and needles angry but oh well, I am the boss of them.

Who's Down With O.P.P.?

2011-06-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Other People's Patterns

Here's why I hesitate to sew from preexisting patterns. Because they ugly. The End. No, just kidding. For one thing, the shirts? The shirts seem to always have too tight an armscye. "Oooooh, she said, "armscye". She's so faaancy. I will like to take her on a date of veal parmesan and speak to her on the mysteries of sewing..."

What the hell is an armscye. It's the seam that connects the sleeve to the body of the garment, and it is no simple line, let me tell you. Too tight armscyes is an ironic problem at my house too, since my child has an especially dainty upper body shoulder area (due to laziness and muscle atrophy). So the problem is not fat toddler armpits. It's not like I'm trying to stuff a 5T into a 3T or anything either. I know how hard it is to make a roomy armhole without having extra wagging material in the armpit. But kids clothes should be made for comfort and movement, right? Right. So why can't I get a pattern with a good proportion of arm to torso?

Consequently, shirts and jackets have been a little bit of a challenge. The ones by Burda and Simplicity or any that I see in the fabric store always look boxy and homemade, so I don't use them. And I haven't found too many online whose style is what I'm looking for. I am ready though! I am ready people, lead me to the motherland!

I like the well known Oliver + S, though I haven't gotten anything yet. I also like some of what I have bought from Heidi and Finn (though the GOBDONG ARMSCYE still seems off to me!). To wit, I have made this sweater jacket from a Heidi and Finn pattern twice, and though I know my fabrics are thicker than the pattern recommends, I still seems to need to go up to a size that is overall too big in order to get the arms comfortable and flexible. It's me. You can say it. SAY IT!

To be completely fair, this pattern is meant to be a closed front and made from thinner fabrics, and has been shown to produce some very adorable garments. Just not by me. (Okay, mine's adorable in a way, but it has hidden technical difficulties, as I have here admitted).

Here's a shot of what the piece would ideally look like:

So there you have it.

And pants, there's always a problem with the butt. I haven't so far seen a pattern that looks truly well-fitted (even the baggy style ones). I want to see some thoughtful crotch contouring here or I am not going to pay. And that stance is firm. Bring me a pattern that both follows the sensual lines of the diapered booty yet does not bind and I will be yours forever.

For now, I am going to give this pattern from Made by Rae a go. It's called the Charlie Tunic. I'll let you know if it works. It's so cute, no?!

Why Knit Pants on a Day Like This

2011-06-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, because I was sooooo busy freaking out over having twins chiles in my belly that I have gotten really behind on some things. I explained before how I was on a hiatus from sewing after all grief and drama here in my house/ heart, but as I emerged, I managed to put a few things together.

I did in fact have some wares up on Supermarket like I said I would- it wasn't an unkept promise! I just never announced it because I done sold a few things then didn't get anymore up there, so it kept feeling too anemic to make a real broadcast about shop being open.

But you know what? You should check out the site anyway, it is the sane person's version of Etsy (which in my opinion quickly become a tragic wasteland of badly made crud and a truly endless dumping ground of multiple listing mayhem).

Supermarket

So have a look, I posted these re-purposed knit pants and bibs in the winter:

They are all either 100% cotton for lighter weather, or cashmere. Ooooh, cozy. Phinny wore some about every day of winter and into spring (which as you may know, on the north shore of Chicago, was the same as winter). Now it's hot as balls. A pregnant chick can't win.

Okay, well you know what? Let's look on the bright side. There was an opportunity for several attractive fashions late into the season and a few of the days, it turned out that Phinny was in head-to-toe homemade, or almost. I can already envision her teenage eye-rolling while looking back at pictures. But you know what?! I never had a perm or super giant eyeglasses that she'll be able to make fun of, so the embarrassments will be confined to pictures of her. And that's only half as embarrassing as her being embarrassed of both us. See? Looking at the bright side. See here, a couple of sweet freezing spring looks:

Oh and I have a finalized bib pattern that I made a big batch from- those on sale there too:

There, now I feel better.

100 Times I've Blathered!

2011-04-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

Look. One hundred posts about my creative successes and failures. Well that's something. I should QUIT! Because then I could define that 100th post as a final goal and for once say I finished something. That is a good plan.

Bye.

Just kidding. I'm way too manic to stop.

Here's a recent commission for a friend who has a baby gift to give. Nothing is better than someone saying they "trust you" and for you to make them whatever you want. That is so fun except the time that one lady commissioned a whole boatload of things because she just marveled at my aesthetics and "trusted me completely". And then didn't want more than half of what I made. I encourage her to look up the definition of commission. But I digress.

Here's a bib/ burp cloth set and a pair of cotton knit pants with matching cravat. Dapper dude, this guy's gonna be. Just because you have to throw up on your own body day after day, it doesn't mean you should settle for sub-par accessories. These are french terry sweatshirt (always an excellent find) and t-shirt scraps.

Stay cozy in the fall, little man.

Getting Back on the Horse

2011-04-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start, with all that has happened since I last posted here. I've lost and gained some incredibly important things in that time, and since I've always reserved this blog for my creative endeavors and don't often post about the personal, I've been at an impasse. But my creative life and my personal life have been tangled up in a big ball of happy and sad and crazy and scared and all around confusion.

So I have basically conceded that I can't have one without the other at the moment, and anyone who plods through this long post can get the whole picture, good and bad of these past few months. Maybe you can set up some kind of highlighter that just shows you the parts that include words like "stitch" and "I made this out of an old sweatshirt" and that will block out the words, "died", "heartbroken" and "scared shitless".

At the end of December, the last trickle of a very trying year, I lost my anchor. My dear grandma Josephine Rings passed away. That wasn't supposed to ever happen.

She was such a force, creatively, and as a person in general. I could go on and on and tell you about every single time she did things like peg a pair of jeans so close to my ankles for me that it cut off the circulation to my boat shoes. And then detail how she would happily put a panel of fabric back into another pair of jeans when flares came into style. My urge to tell you all the sweet things she ever did is overwhelming. The time she handmade me a Geraldine Ferraro teddy bear complete with pinstripe suit and "Mondale for President" button and showed that she, of all people, knew me the best. My god, you'd be floored if I could ever really sit you down and described the depth of her caring.

She is, genetically speaking, responsible for every creative talent I have, and therefore everything I've ever posted on this blog. Of course she taught me to sew (with help from my other grandma Agnes) and could create anything from scratch, starting my dream prom and wedding dresses with a pattern drawn on paper bags.

When she left us, I couldn't even look at my sewing room for two months. I tried to go in and start something simple, but as my hands guided fabric through the machine, all I could see were her hands. And I can't stand the missing her.

This little note about her feels like the introduction to a tribute that would be as long as I could ever write. I just needed to get it down and give her credit and ask for her to be with me as I move forward in my sewing room and the rest of my crazy life.

Okay and speaking of this crazy life, there came another reason I couldn't get into my sewing room. On the very exact day she died, I got pregnant. With twins. Well now, given that my wife and I couldn't exactly get knocked up by way of too much good wine and bad birth control, and that we had a little help from technology, you might think I was prepared for the possibility of twins. You might not expect that the ultrasound tech's report, "Oh, okay, looks like there are two babies," would not send me reeling into a sudden hysteria of tears and disbelief. But I guess we didn't think that whole 25% thing applied to us.

Ahh, but it's better now. I have two adorable little somersaulters in there, spinning around trying to get bigger despite their counter-productive efforts to be make me queasy all day long. I will win, little babies, even if your calories come from Big Macs and greek yogurt, I will win. You will stay put and become properly chubby before joining us.

So after I emerged from the month long panic named "Three Children Under Three", I was sort of able to get back into the studio. Things are changing, yes they are. The first thing I had to do was call up the divine stitcher I had just hired before all this and tell her she was, at least temporarily, unhired. That "Baby Hobo" is way on hold and I can't yet tell if it will manage to keep its legs and carry on at any point in the near future. At first I thought it was a sure goner, but now I am wondering if some part of it can't carry the torch until I am out of the constant state of nursing, sleeping/ not-sleeping marathon of child-care. We'll see. I've accepted that I can't stress about that while I am busy growing two whole human beings from a single cell to full-blown babies.

Just when I was trying to get used to that little bomb, another really good person went away. My mom's big brother, my uncle John Rings, died. He was living on borrowed time with a heart that wouldn't do its job, and took the huge leap of faith with a heart transplant. Thanks to a some amazing person and their family, he had a new chance to keep going. He fought so hard for many weeks in intensive care, but a hospital infection eventually won. It's so not fair.

He had a good helping of my grandma's spirit and left a lot of good memories with a lot of people. Like the time he let me travel with him to Northern Michigan to a hot dog factory on a business trip. I mean, what guy wants to talk to an 8 year old girl for 9 hours straight? Or when he once dropped a catalog on the table in front of me in oh, about 1991ish and said, "Hey kiddo, if you have ten bucks you should use it to buy stock in this company. It's going to be the thing." Starbucks. I didn't buy stock, he didn't buy stock, but that's the kind of vision he had. Living in a small town in northern Michigan, he could look at a coffee catalog from a relatively unknown coffee shop in Seattle and predict that it would take over the world. I'd like to take this opportunity though to confess that the one time he brought me some piece of candy from Africa that he had bought on a trip to Detroit, I was only pretending to like it! It was nasty, but I wanted to like it if he liked it. That says something I suppose.

He was really proud of me. He posted that on Huffington Post when the store that sells my stuff was featured there. He made a comment in the comments section about how awesome and talented I am and then messaged me twice that he was worried that he had embarrassed me. Anything but, Uncle John. It meant so much to me that you were paying attention. He was always e-mailing me advice about my baby clothes, which might surprise people, and he always had really good ideas. I always listened. I changed the cravats because of his advice (okay it maybe wasn't advice, so much as a direct order) and have been thinking of him a lot while I try to design a pair of pants/ capris with good pockets. Because he sent me a message one day that just said, "Pockets, Lis. Every kid loves to have pockets to put all their little kid stuff in." So true.

I'm working on it, Uncle John, and I'm thinking of you and wishing I had years more of your advice.

(Okay, so that wasn't a lot about sewing, but it was important, so there.)

In my next post, I will show the things I've made since emerging from the Ball of Sad Freakout 2011. For now I am just going to go to bed and feel my crazy babies twirl and kick me to sleep while I remember my grandma and my uncle and how great they were and how you should never take anyone for granted ever.

Surviving the Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

Geez, it's as if it's never snowed a lot before. But we are about to get good and buried. I want you to know I just had a string of witty yet dad-like puns and jokes about snowing and sewing right here, but I did the bigger thing and I deleted them. Don't say I never do anything for you.

So I tried my first real garment from pattern the other day that I bought from Heidi & Finn. It's lined, even! I ~~botched~~ modified the pattern to suit my own irrepressible habit of using other garments to build from. Some might call it a laziness in not wanting to work on finishing details like, oh, say, a hem. I call it me saving the earth one ugly sweater at a time.

First, here it is and you can say it's cute. Then I'll go on a self-flagellating bender about all that I did wrong.

Okay. It's totally slick, right? Supes cozy with a fine gauge sweater on the outside, soft jersey layer lining. Noice.

But because I got all cocky about modifying the pattern and going all renegade on fabric choices, things didn't go as perfectly as I thought they would. Too small because the fabric is too thick. Also, I thought maybe I would not use my serger and be "down with the people" and their zig-zag stitch. I clearly do not understand how it is done, because that too, I think contributed to the too-small final product.

And also this freakish separating of the seams. Oh, how I wish I knew how to sew.

And last, the proportions are wrong because I used the features of a pre-existing sweater and forgot to account for that, you know, mathwise. Sleeves too long, waist too short. OH, and I almost forgot. I made the button holes too big. Crap. But that's Singer's fault because the buttonhole foot DOES NOT WORK. Or at least it never does with the fabrics I use. So I have to draw a perfect little slot border out of a tight, narrow satin stitch and then surgically slice it open with an X-Acto knife. I mean, honestly. The indignity.

A Free Hat for Baby Spongebob

2011-01-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am working on a hat design. It's a square. Done.

No, but seriously, I have been making these boxy hat's for Josephine and they look really pretty cute on her, but they can look a little, mmm, pope-like on other kids, I don't know why. I think I need to concede to changing the pattern, and get into contouring it, but I was so liking the simplicity of these.

As shown here, Phinny The Chin is quite delighted with a fine gauge knit one like this, that stretches well over her enormous bulb.

(Okay, that gleeful full-body running shot was gratuitous, but C'MON!)

Another version of the hat is two layers of densely knit stretchy sweater + a t-shirt jersey knit lining. So warm, right? She wears this daily and it's field-testing very well.

And finally, the little newborn seamless hats. I have to admit, I haven't actually tested these on any little noggins, in person, myself, but it would seem that the same principles of fit would apply. I've given them as gifts and have some at Green Genes, but I need a good fit model.

What person wants a free newborn hat, like the one in this picture, in exchange for promising to send me really good snapshots of it, on an actual baby?! (PS, the tag goes in the back. I'm not THAT self-promoting.)

Slowly Losing the Frontbutt

2011-01-20T10:45:00.000-08:00

It would seem easy to alter the baby pants pattern I am working on. Poochy in the front? Shorten and straighten the front. Not so easy, Hoss. I don't know why I couldn't get this extra space out of the front of the pants! I kept shaving off the line of the front seam on the pattern, but it was never enough (/shaking fist at the Gods of sewing).

Several times, I have referred to the INCREDIBLY handy primer for altering baby pants at Sew, Mama, Sew, which has helped me before on this beginner's quest. To no avail. I'm going for the slickest, most perfectly tailored cut for the Baby Hobo sweater pants and it's hard to have them allow room for diapers- especially cloth diapers, yet not be poofy and awkward. Since they are sweater pants, I need them to be snug-but-not-quite-leggings.

Trying to make a pattern that worked with sweatshirt fabric too is a no-go. Fo' sho'. I know that now.

Here is a run-down of the pattern's evolution:

FIRST PATTERN

A good butt cut to start with. Got sort of binding after only a wash or two though.

Cozy looking, right? But here you see the start of the problem with Frontbutt 2010. Also they are ever-slightly too tight at the bottom.

Here's a shot of the back end. I am trying to achieve extra space on the butt only. These are obviously too evenly weighted in the front/ back ratio.

ITERATION 2:

Booty near perfection.

Somehow still smuggling items up front. This pattern was overall a little looser, so I have the right length and all that now.

Here's the front. The front seam is much shorter that before and less curved. Duh. Pants Patterning 101.

And the back. You see that seam sticking out, that's good buttroom.

Here's the line of the butt seam.

And here's the line of the front seam. Still too curved out.

ITERATION 3

Yes.

Super Yes.

Mega super ultra Yes.

Really short, straight front seam.

I Like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie!

(Ignore that pucker by the waistband, it doesn't exist in real life.)

Sweet detailing courtesy of my old sweatpants, Champion brand "G9" from Target.

So, I tweaked it one more time, and the next two pair will be for sale on Supermarket! More on that this weekend!

And Now For the Fun Part...

2011-01-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have been spending a lot of time sewing. I want to spend more time designing. Who can help me?!

Baby Hobo is on the cusp now, I think, of needing to make some big decisions. As a hobby, it has become hard work. I had several commissions over the holidays and was forced to really sit through and sew sew sew for dollars. I don't need the dollars that bad, so it was hard to do so much work for not that much money.

As a business, there's a ton of potential in this tiny brand. I have an abundance of design ideas and I go ballistic with zen happiness when I have the time to work on them. What I need to do is make a bridge from the small, personal scaled production that I do for one store, to a larger scale operation that will at some point pay me for my efforts. I have that entrepreneurial craze, I can't help it.

Problem is, I don't want a job! I mean, not a real job where I am slaving away at my sewing machine hours and hours on end. But there's got to be a way, right? I am interested in finding models for design brands made from re-purposed materials that have found a sane way to grow into money-making ventures. I could, surely, find some benevolent soul to trust in me thousands upon thousands of dollars, and make what the business people call an "investment". I may have to do that. I would rather grow from the inside out though, if possible, and take on very little risk in inching this whole shebang forward.

I have been looking at brands like Cate & Levi, for example (see here, a supremely adorbs monkey from re-purposed sweaters).

This is a brand that started, seemingly, exactly as I have started. With a parent who ventured into design using re-purposed materials. He has in the last few years found a way to systematize the specialized creation of these one-of-a-kind items, such that the brand has grown large enough to be offered through West Elm!

Now, I don't know if dude had a money tree in his house or what, but he describes the trajectory of the brand in terms that seem really doable. Starting with him and a few artist friends sewing in a small studio office together. I can do that. I just need help. I have interviewed a couple of people, still waiting to see how it will all work. What with the no capital and all. There's a lot more to be discussed about this.

In the meantime, I wish I could spend more time on the most fun stuff. Like this part (bib colors):

And this part (working on a design for floor textiles!):

Stay tuned, my trusty reader, and I'll find a way to get this show on the road.

Can't Stop Believing...

2011-01-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here I am sewing these many years hence (okay, like 2), and I still refuse to believe that re-purposed sweatshirt fabric can't be used to make most things. I keep trying to make little clothes from it and it just doesn't have the stretch once it's cut down to such a small scale. Weird, right?

It doesn't stop me from trying (and failing repeatedly) to make things from it though. Mis-shapen, badly fitting things. Like this hat, for example:

"SO CUUUOTE!", Right?

WRONG. It doesn't stretch, therefore fits like a medieval helmet. But check out my bebe's hilarious "Boyfriend Jeans". That was actually the name of them in the store. They have stitching all over that is supposed to look like inkpen doodling. "Boyfriend Jeans" for a 1 year old. Hilarming.

Anyway, back to the evil known as re-purposed sweatshirt fabric. It's a mirage, you guys: looks cozy and clingy from afar, and then fits about as well waxed canvas once you use it to produce small clothes. See here:

Reverse sweatshirt. Clever! Stylish! Comfortable! It cannot be denied.

Then why my baby look like she's channeling Grimace from McDonald's?! Okay, I will concede that there was a problem with this pattern (what with the smuggling compartment up front there), but it's not all because of the bad cut, because I made another pair from this pattern before I fixed it and they aren't nearly as poochy. It's the heavy stiffness of the sweatshirt. I blame. I blame.

And finally, in case I still hadn't learned about cotton blends, I worked on this lap-shoulder sweater again using the most lovely salmon colored sweatshirt. I don't have a picture of the kid wearing it because she hates it and screamed the few times I tried to put it on her. It's boxy, ill-fitting and restrictive. Because of the fabric. Not because of my pattern, of course.

Okay, maybe some of its because of my pattern. It looks pretty good flat though, so I'm going to post it.

I have a lot of ideas for Baby Hobo that involved this kind of fabric, but alas, I don't think I can source enough of it in the right stretch blend, in the right colors, at the right price. So I need to re-think some designs. Please try not to let this keep you awake at night.

Industrial Felt Bowl

2010-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, it's really designed to be a "valet", that useful object designed for men with pockets full of stuff that needs a place to go at the end of the day. Placed on a dresser or bureau, it's the best landing spot for change, keys and a wallet. This was a commission for a client who gave me completely free reign and just asked that I design something for her art-minded grandfather.

I should have included my raggedy thumbnail for scale, but you'll probably get the idea.

This use of the two materials here is loosely inspired by the sculpture of Anish Kapoor. I love the play on matte against reflective in his work and I was after the feeling of the lushness he finds in his concave surfaces. The wool striped material is re-purposed of course, but the industrial felt is new.

Who on earth knows where I could get pre-used industrial felt without finding myself lost for hours on the internet, tangled in a devious web of chinese wholesalers and resources for industriual materials exchange? I do not, as it turns out, have 4 pallets of a semi-conductor lubricating grease to trade for a bolt of toxic assembly line felt. Okay, so I think it's obvious that I've already tried looking.

I digress.

I think that these two materials work really well together and I am headed upstairs now to the labratory to see what else happens with it.

Seamless Hats for Tiny Noggins

2010-12-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

So I was making hats for baby Simon when an odd thing occurred to me. All the seams inside a hat seems gnarly and cumbersome up against such a fragile, sensitive noggin. That's why we all ended up putting that boring little hospital-issue hat on baby for the first month at home. Lame, people. Lame. Babies need style too. That's when everyone is coming to check them out, and the last thing they want is to be seen in that ratty little thing with a giant "Northwestern Memorial" stamp on it. So now I am making seamless hats for newborns (and older babies too), that have all flat, internal seams. They are double layered jersey, so they are quite cozy.

Here's pictures of them seen from the back, where they are shamelessly emblazoned with the Baby Hobo tag. It's not nearly as intrusive in real life as it seems in these pictures.

Made from old t-shirts, as is the Baby Hobo custom:

Trapped Inside? Super Toddler Cape is the Answer.

2010-12-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

I know this isn't the newest idea on the planet or anything, but I find that a little person, like ages 2 through 5, really enjoys having a super cape with which they can transform their foot-walking earthbound selves into super heroes with unlimited powers.

I'm trying to make them in colors and textures that are fun for the kids and not an eyesore to the parents of the kids. Shiny red polyester and satin just really makes me squick.
Here's an example of a set I made for a set of twins:

Oh Simon...

2010-11-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you meet a baby boy whose name is Simon. And he is so little and lovely and precious, you just need to run home and start making very tiny little things for him to wear. Yesterday afternoon's bounty- headed to my new little muse tomorrow:

Old sweaters, old t-shirts, naturally.

If You Want To Destroy a Sweater...

2010-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

...pull one of the strings on this 3-thread overlock edge and, sure enough, this sweater can be destroyed almost instantaneously.

This here is Round One of a design that I'm working on. I made a pattern and just cut the pieces from a bigger, older sweater. The only original detail is the bottom ribbing.

Looks simple, does it not? Oh, ladies and man, it isn't that simple. There's a lot of pitfalls when making a garment that so prominently features a serged edge. Namely, a serged edge. I'm going to talk sewing nuts and bolts now, so anyone here for the sexy stuff is free to go.

The first issue is the most basic problem of skipped serger stitches. Why, bloody mother of Ahab, can I be clipping along just fine, then for no reason run a patch of burly, un-cut sweater edge with a stretch of no overedge stitches?! I'll tell you why: you must let the serger to its job, young Jedi, and CUT. I realized I must always run the edge of the sweater well under the knife as it goes, or the edge won't be super tidy for the little stitchers to do their job.

AND, I also recognized the importance of stitch length. Fatter the sweater, the higher the stitch length number. I now adjust it every piece according to how thick the fabric is. Duh.

So when that happens, what can I do? Not much, as seen here, because in order to run the whole edge of the piece again to make a perfect continuous presentation of stitches, I have to do what the serger knife wants, and let it cut. Thus, shaving off part of the pattern. And then all hell breaks loose and leprechauns come flying out of the machine and begin pelting my face, obscuring my vision and causing disasters so much greater than a few missed stitches.

But you know, at least there isn't any scalloping on the edges that did work out! I mean, doesn't a good run of overlock stitches just soothe the soul?! ( I know, I should just smoke down, but I never learned to get high, so I have to rely on mechanized pleasures):

And now, what did I learn? That one has to let the serger totally munch the fabric. No pushing, pulling, or trying to surf the very edge. Let it cut.

I also learned that a serged edge on a child's sweater cuff lasts approximately 14.3 seconds under field testing at the playground. So this whole design may be a pipe dream. But I'm going to work on another installment anyway, because it's so fun trying. And plus, look at my bebe:

(We can talk about that effed up hat in another post.)

Adult-sized cravats from Baby Hobo are here!

2010-10-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

I know, you were sitting there on one of your self-imposed bi-hourly cubicle breaks, munching on BB-Q Cheetos, lost in a staring zone with that crazy sunglass-wearing cheetah when it occurred to you: "When is that Baby Hobo (TM) going to bring adult sized cravats made from re-purposed materials to the masses? It's freezing up in this shizzy. Adult-sized cravats are overdue. Overdue."

Then this post popped up in your Google Reader and you were like, "YES!" And you frantically searched for a tissue or something to wipe the greasy, radioactive red powder off your hand so you could scroll down and see these pictures of the first batch. Finally, you settled on using the edge of your office chair thinking that hey, your pant leg would probably brush it off over time. That's what happened.

Look for these at Green Genes in Chicago on Clark Street.

Time For Sweater Pants, YES!

2010-10-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

My baby got blown down yesterday. Like, actually blown over from the wind here. Twice. Luckily, I was spotting her, so she didn't go all the way down, but still! Skeery. So we went inside and made these sweater pants to start preparing her for harsher times.

And my serger now actually works which has changed my life. I took it to the shop and the guy looked at me, all not wanting to embarass me and told me, "Yeah, this happens with a lot of beginners, which is that your thread just isn't pulled into your tension knob at all up here at the top..."

WHAT? An year and half of being tangled up and cursing my way through every battle with that thing and my thread just wasn't in the tension knob? If you know about a serger, you know they are notoriously complicated and I thought I was all big in my britches because I could thread it correctly. It's like brain surgery, what with having to use tweezers and everything. Looks like this:

So, I had all that worked out and then found out my thread just wasn't nesting down into the tension guide at the top of the machine. Seriously, the hours lost!

But we've conquered, and I made these:

See here, my expert serging technique. HA!

For once, someone could look at the inside of something I've sewn and it would actually look finished and sewn correctly. Here's to Firsts.

Maria Vinker for IKEA

2010-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Can't believe this piece is at IKEA. I'ma have to git it. That is all.

Here I Am With a Finished Quilt!

2010-10-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in so long, I almost have to relearn how to use my Blogger function. Here are a list of things that may or may not have happened that may or may not have kept me from posting in so long:

1.) My sewing room was infested with Senegalese weasels and I had to hire the Animal Planet Police to come and film an episode of "Catch and Care: Animal 911" before I could get back in there and put the pedal to the metal.

2.) Our dear friends Abby and Michael are having a baby and I have been working on a quilt done by hand for them.

3.) We moved from the city to the suburbs. Where's my Green Acre, bitches?

4.) I have a small child. Her height is in the 75th percentile, her weight in the 50th, and her head in the 95th. Which makes her a living bobble-head. Her high maintenance 'tude is in the 436th percentile, so she requires a lot of time.

So, mostly it was the quilt and the moving. But finally (!) I have pics to post of the quilt. It is, as I've posted before, my first quilt. It's made from re-purposed materials (sweatshirts and a sheet), and I made it without using a quilting hoop. Still can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But here it is. I like it very much and am scared to make another because I might not like it this much.

"Heeead! Bring Me My Pants!"

2010-08-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

That's a line from "So I Married An Axe Murderer". That movie is quite funny and since Phinny's head measures in the 95th percentile, I was reminded of the scene where Mike Myers is talking about how big his head was when he was little and was imitating his Scottish father. "It's like...Sputnik! It's like an orange on a stick!"

Still, big head= big brains. And big beauty. Plus, more head for the amazing red hair!

I haven't been sitting around doing nothing, you know. I'm working on the fabled quilt. In fact most nights I am working on it and soon this evening I am going to make like Beth from "Little Women" and lay down to bed before 8:30 and quilt while listening to NPR. Okay, I'm not going to listen to NPR, but I might doing something simultaneously sophisticated, like tweak my recipe for authentic 19th century absynthe.

Pants. From an old shirt. The knee patches are for rabble-rousing young girls, such as Josephine is. Nice fit, if I do say so myself. And really lovely worn and twisted original seams.

(Oh and if you're wondering who that is in the stroller behind her, that's Harvey, her prescribed milk jug therapy baby for increasing upper-body strength. Harvey is a sweet baby and never complains.)

Don't Call Them Bloomers

2010-07-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

Her are a pair of please-don't-call-them-bloomers-because-that-word-is-weird. Knickers. How's that? I need to ask my friend Stephanie the word for them in french because everything sounds better in french. And because they sort of look French, don't you think? In fact, after I designed these and made them in the sweatshirt fabric, sure enough this same Stephanie and her baby girl Romy came back from France itself wearing a pair designed very similar to these. I will need to file a lawsuit of course, against the French, as soon as I find out how they stole this revolutionary design from me. Obviously, they saw the blog, "Mama Utilise des Aiguilles". Hacks. I wish for once the French could come up with ONE single good design for clothing.

Anyway, I digress.

Knickers:

Super J.

2010-07-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

In the ongoing series "Bored of a Onesie", here's a personalized version. As I've mentioned before, we save big dollars here at the Solar household by buying a pack of discounted Cater's onesies and then dyeing them and adding some babybling. Super handy. And pretty cute too for your average day at the playground.

Check Baby, Check Baby, 1, 2, 3!

2010-07-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

See here this set of three bibs for a boy, as requested by the gift-giver, in a color combination of my choice. For these bibs, I received a cash dollar donation to my personal bank account. Just like that. It's a great feeling to be making things that people really love and have them give me their hard earned money for it.

And all the Baby Hobo items are now, as you can see, "branded" with the Baby Hobo logo, yo yo. Pretty professional, isn't it?

I also had the thirtieth person ask me if I make the Baby Hobo shorts in adult sizes, but so far have not have any brave takers volunteer to be my Guinea pig, so our vision of a grown up in peasant style bloomers made from old sweatshirts will have to wait.

Rachael Burs, maybe you'd like to volunteer! Yes!

Sweet Clarissa

2010-07-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

I will totally admit to this: sometimes I post something I've made waaaay more for the opportunity to share a picture of an edible little munchkin bug than to showcase my actual work. Here is one of those times.

For lovely Clarissa the baby, I made this little fall weight hat from a t-shirt with a banded cuff on the arm. I will also confess I did not surge this crazy wiggly jersey knit because getting it through the serger in anything like a straight line would be like trying to dress and eel in a tuxedo. I added the little twill tabs for that oh so Baby Hobo appeal and here it is. We just slipped in on her little noggin while she slept like mama photo burglars.

Fireplace Baby-proofed in Style...

2010-07-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Our little lady Josephine is a little wobbly on the feet these days. She likes to take an epic digger every few days and give me a tiny heart attack. Falling onto the iron grate in the fireplace could cause some serious cranial disaster so I made this foam panel to fit in there and covered it with canvas fabric from Ikea.

Oh, and I wanted to use this opportunity to post my first tutorial! I love them and always feel like I should be more generous about detailing the stuff I make. So, here's how you can do this project at home:

1. Double-stick some tape to a piece of foam core.

The End.

I'm Getting Straighter Every Day

2010-07-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

(Right now, some ex-girlfriend of mine is thinking, "A-Ha! I knew it!" No. No, honey, it really was just you.)

I'm talking about my quilting effort, people.

Here are the fruits of my labor in the department of stretching and pinning this bugger in order to get the grid straight. Not too bad, right? Had a bad run-in after that though when I soaked the quilt and it let loose red dye all over onto the yellow pieces. Those rose colored patches bled like an octopus squirting ink on it's own self! So self-defeating! Whyyyyy?!?!?!

But I'm not deterred, no. I will prevail. Got some velvet trim the other day at an awesome secret sourcing place in Forest Park.

>>>>BABY HOBO UPDATE<<<<<

I haven't just been obsessing over the quilt. I have also been slowly, ever so slowly working on moving the Baby Hobo line forward. Found someone to make patterns, found someone to grade patterns. Found someone to sew. Maybe, MAYBE found some knit ribbing. Knit ribbing? Yes, it's the stuff they make sweatshirt cuffs from, and that shit is like extremely, extremely hard to find in quantities less than a bajillion yards. But I might be on it, thank you Etsy.

Next step will be to get a sample made then cut all a whole bunch of pieces and drop them off for sewing of the first batch of Crabby Jackets! It could happen in time for fall. I mean, probably not, but maybe. I'll keep you updated so that you don't fall off the edge of that seat there that you're sitting on.

Since it's been a long time since I posted, here's a bonus picture of our main Baby Hobo model:

Inside the Twisted Mind of a First Quilt

2010-06-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

The number of ways in which this baby quilt is trying to defy me is infinite. This quilt is thinking, "Really? A knit quilt made of a million thin strips of different knits, each cut without regard for the grain of the fabric? You really think you're going to get away with this, rookie?"

Well you know what? I challenge you and your bastardized geometries to a duel. Sure, little quilt, you may have won the first round, all bowed and wobbly after the piecing. I concede you this. But how do you like being soaked and then ruthlessly pinned to a huge fat board of foam- having your every corner forced into a right angle by 180 pins so that when you dry you will be painfully straighter than you were? Scared now? Maybe you didn't know that I spent most nights before final critique in art school frantically brutalizing a piece of canvas onto a stretcher and sizing it with rabbit skin glue. Did you ever think of that? That just maybe your headstrong fibers and, may I say somewhat predictable plan to mess with me might just backfire? That I know how to force fabric to dry the way I want it to dry?! HUH?! DO YOU FREAKING HEAR ME, WET QUILT? I WILL STRAIGHTEN YOU OUT FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY 'BASTE'!

Shu.

Stage 1; The Hopeful and Naive Stage

2010-05-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

As a person who has never made a quilt, or anything near as complicated, I embark on this task with low expectations. I'm trying to be all zen and "It's about the process, not the product," and enjoy the meditative pleasure of cutting and piecing and all that. We'll see how long that lasts.

Already I've got measurement problems. Already I have taken things apart. And already I am having trouble with my machine and my confidence. I was pointing out to Phinny's sweetheart, Rachael, who comes over once a week so I can work, that I am pretty sure I have picked exactly the hardest quilt to start with. It's knit. The pieces are small and cut on random grain. I am sewing it with some weirdo idea of the seams looking some weirdo way. And then there's the whole issue of the backing and the hand-stitching. While I'm at it, maybe I should just glue some sharp glass bits to my sewing machine pedal for when I'm sewing barefoot.

It's cut up sweatshirts that will be pieced together with the exposed seams facing upward. Think of it as a collection of fields with little hedgerows. I might have to hand quilt the backing on. Aye. Well that's another thing I have NO idea how to do. But I'll worry about that later.

But right now at hour five, it shore does look purty all laid out and innocent:

Pants Fail. Free Pants.

2010-05-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

Two pairs of pants, many lessons learned.

For the first pair, which are a draft for a Baby Hobo design, several things didn't go down the way I hoped. The shape is based on an idea of some Japanese baby pants I've seen- or at least the concept of them, which is that baby clothes be shaped like baby clothes and not like small adult clothes. They always look like maybe the baby is hiding another baby in there. They're balloony, swaddly and crazy fitting. Lots of emphasis on the backside. Rightly so. Cute.

My first pass at this design is, to my eye, in the wrong colors and looks overwrought. A little too much detail and contrast. And the cuffs will have to be tighter to get the fitting I want. But they are a good, cute, sturdy pair of pants. Probably for a boy is my guess. So you can have them. They fit about a 12 monther and they're pretty thick and snuggly- not summer pants.

These other ones I'm keeping, even though the kneepads are in the wrong spot and the waistband is just a little tight. But they're a good summer weight. T-shirts of course.

A hat for in-between weather...

2010-05-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

You know what this hat is perfect for? A pre-8am walk on a spring/ summer morning. Not a chook and not a summer hat, it's a t-shirt layer and a sweatshirt layer, living together in freaking adorable harmony. A classic bicyclist shape.

I want to tell you how surprised I am that I made this hat and that its shape is exactly how I wanted it to be. I mean, the chances! I'm pretty proud of myself, I won't lie. An old gentleman on that morning walk today said, "Great hat!" and I was satisfied at the immediate opportunity to brag. It's bad like that and I'm sorry. But whatever, a hat is really hard to make, you guys!

(It's just pure luck that it's the same color as the Weiner Mobile.)

Go hobo.

Want

2010-05-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Look, I don't know what some of this stuff is at first glance, but I want all of it. All of it. Find the people who are buying it for me and tell them to report asap.

These are all knitted objects designed by Anne Masson and Eric Chevalier, whose work can be seen in full at their website http://www.chevalier-masson.be/index.html. They live in Belgium- you know, up in that northern chunk of Europe where all my favo designers come from.

Dying...

...dying...

DEAD.

Thanks to the awesome blog il-ne-kore for the tip. And many tips always.

Mother's Well with Motherwell

2010-04-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry! I couldn't resist that title. I tried, I was like, "It's dorky, Lisa. And not in a cute way. Don't post it." and then my other personality was all, "Shut up, it's true. It is true that a Mother's well with Motherwell, in this particular case." And so that's what I wrote, thus ending a small schizophrenic battle in my head.

Onto the threads. This fine quality sweatshirt, of a brand I won't name, set me back a whopping 30 cents. It put thirteen Boll weevils out of work since I was re-using an already existing garment, and it made me dig deep and re-consider my aversion to yellow of this shade. Not least, it gave me a canvas on which to lay down a quick and simple design based on today's inspiration- 1970's Robert Motherwell collages.

And there you have it.

As Promised, the Shrinking Shorts

2010-04-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

What better way to show off some long rolly legs than in a pair of shorts even shorter than the last. These are made looser, and as is my custom of late, feature double sewn seams for durability and fashions. The cuffs are a bit looser especially, but still prevent a view of London and France during multi-directional playground athletics.

These will be part of the Baby Hobo line sometime soon. If you want a pair now, e-mail me and I'll make you some for dollars numbering 28 + shipping. I will. You can be an Early Adopter. Of baby shorts by Baby Hobo. Heck, I will go so far as to handcraft these in larger kids sizes should you have the wherewithal to measure the waist of the kids in question.

Oh, and speaking of Baby Hobo, I'm going all out and including a little half-inch side tag on all my garments (disclosure: it's not like there are rolling racks of the Baby Hobo collection lining the walls, but there might be in the coming months if I can figure out, from scratch, how to begin a small children's clothing label).

Designed by the fabulous Libby Vanderploeg. Check it out:

Giveitaway, giveitaway, giveitaway now!

2010-04-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, you remember those bibs I posted yesterday- well on one of them I put the snaps on in a slightly silly way, so now it's what's called a "second". And that means you can have it. If you promise to send me a photo of the baby who ultimately wears it once they're wearing it.

The first person to pinkie promise that they will take a picture and send it back to me gets this for free:

Showing Love Through Material Goods

2010-04-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

It's best if you just buy someone something in order to show them that you care. If you do anything weird like give them an unsolicited back rub, or offer to take the dog out when its really their turn because they are suffering from an upper respiratory infection, it will all just lead to a monstrous pattern of quid pro quo behaviors and more than likely destroy your relationship.

Plus, when you give someone a gift, they feel obligated to give one back (yay!) at an unspecified future celebration focused on you, or your offspring. For the sake of the future, make it easy, make it clear, buy them something first.

Har, just kidding. But, if you should find yourself in a position that requires you to gift someone, well then make it something nice. For example, you could buy these bibs I made, for sale at Green Genes. By doing this, you also serve a greater good. You support an uber-sustainable enterprise and funnel money to ~~an educated white lady who already has enough of it~~ a struggling female entrepeneur such as myself.

Better yet, you provide a stylish alternative to those whack terry bibs that say painfully obvious things like, "Mommy Loves You". Maybe my next series of bibs will say, "Question yourself, baby. Does Mommy love you enough to keep feeding you minutely diced health foods in a panoply of colors and textures, just to have you throw them at the dog so you can watch her snort and yipe in the air in an effort to consume all of our six hundred dollars of this week's organic produce? Does she?"

Anyway, what do you think of my bibs?

She Wears Short Shorts

2010-04-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well, they're not really very short. They're more like knickers. But I also made shorter ones that I will post soon. And after that, the shortest ones of all- Baby Hobo Hotpants. I mean, twice now, women (both of them from Latin America) have called my baby 'sexy', so I thought she should dress the part.

I made these from, you guessed it, sweatshirts. I attached the cuffs and trim of one to the body of another. Frankenshorts.

In related news, Baby Hobo (TM) is alive and well, if not abundantly stocked. I am back on the horse with regard to branding and am ordering a new set of labels today. This time with a little centerfold loop tag for the outside of garments. Design thanks to Libby Vanderploeg, who is a lovely, helpful friend (and also the Art Director for Saveur Magazine).

Lately I have been working on patterns and prototyping. After that, I start to seriously look into having professional patterns made and getting this party started in time for fall. I have been accepted to Supermarket on-line and now that I have help once a week (Rachael, you rock all things that are for rocking!), I should be able to blast off. Stay tuned.

And PS: Happy Second Birthday to Green Genes, the awesome store in Chicago on Clark Street that is far and away the best eco-conscious retail store for children's wares that I know of. (And I don't just say that because she sells my stuff. Okay, I PARTLY say that because she sells my stuff, but there are so many crazy good things for the taking over there.) Visit! www.green-genes.com.

The Post Wherein I Celebrate Josephine's 1st Year!

2010-04-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

She's one year old. 365 days. Only like 5 of them being very very difficult, about 25 being "challenging" about 335 being everything that is a good about life.

We were lounging poolside in Miami during the the birthday week, see here (we'll talk about the shorts soon!):

...and traveling on the actual birthday, so our party is in a couple of weeks, but we did some minor celebrating and major fawning of this little bug bug. Just when you think it isn't possible to love someone more. This first year has basically been a radical shift in my understanding about the capacity to love. (--->end sappy part here<---)

The birthday banner was done in time, as was the birthday shirt. Little pudger is not going to fit in this shirt during her party though, sadly. It was adorable for a day though!

The banner:

And, so you can get a sense of the scale ~~of my large ass~~, a pic of the family:

PS: You should know that that there banner cost all of about 2 dollars to make, from the scraps of sweatshirts, t-shirts and little kids patterned shirts, which I gleaned from the thrift store at 3 for a buck. A lifetime heirloom, for 2 dollars. Sweet, right?

Josef Albers: The Onesie

2010-03-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

First, let's talk about how attractive this infant is. His name is Kiernan, and I adore him and his natty comb-over pretty deeply. I made this onesie for him while he was busy doing backflips in his mama's belly in Miami. I had a feeling he would approve of getting some Color Theory up in his shizzy.

I dyed the onesie and, I suppose it's obvious, I then appliqued the square scraps on. I may have to explore this homage to Albers concept in a series.

But, really, this baby. So handsome!

All Kids Should Have a Birthday Shirt.

2010-03-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Don't you think?

I made this one for Phinny's upcoming very first birthday. I won't go all on and on yet about how I can't believe she's a year old and all that, but I'll admit I'm going all on and on about it in my head.

And at my sewing machine.

It reminds me once when I was a wee person and on my birthday was wearing a new outfit my grandma gave me for the first time. I walked into the room and proudly announced that I was celebrating this birthday in my Birthday Suit. There was a lot of laughing, and I didn't know why! But then I laughed too, because, hey why not?

Skirt portion of Phinny's birthday suit forthcoming.

Every Day Banner

2010-03-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the family birthday banner and am a good way through it, as you can see here:

Would it be cheesy to say the most important part is done? That I could quit now and have this be our every day banner? That it's a banner to celebrate every day since Josephine Anaheed was born? I could even stretch it out and use it retroactively starting the day I met my wife.

Well it's true, so shut it.

Next up is a special birthday shirt of course. I am more or less using the 90-minute shirt plan that was so popular from the blog MADE, which is a veritable bacchanalia of inspiration when it comes to sewing for your kids.

Here's an example, made by Dana, from her above mentioned blogue:

You can check out the tutorial for this 90-minute shirt on her blog too, because she's that kind of patient, generous person, and not a selfish, secretive troll like me.

The Crabby Jacket is Born!

2010-03-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

My design collaborator and good friend, Steve H. and I were discussing ways to make our babies less crabby about getting their jackets on and Steve suggested a stylish poncho. I am all for a world replete with babies ponchos, yes of course I am. So we got to work and did some sketches and whatnot.

After coming to terms with the sad fact that that boy babies are less likely to wear ponchos, I modified the design some. Then I had to actually construct it, which was a comedy of many many errors. I am surprised that I haven't found the seat of my own pants mistakenly sewn into this jacket. All the pinning and seam ripping, and re-pinning, and gentle, innocent cursing of the Holy Trinity.

So, it just drops over the baby's head and then zips down the underside of the arms. No wrangling of the flailing baby wings, and no zipper up in the face. It's a little big on the bunny, but all the better for crabby-free application.

Thanks Steve for the ideas and for helping me try and figure out the pattern, a feat which almost caused me permanent brain damage.

In Over Our Heads

2010-03-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't been lazing in front of the TV. In fact, I have walked away from TWO! episodes of Gossip Girl to go and sew. The universe has experienced a radical, sickening inversion, I know. I've been working with an incredible diligence on a couple of projects, one of which turned out beautifully (but is a secret until the gift is given), another of which is trying to relieve me of my sanity and one that is going just fine.

I've been trying to construct a pop-over jacket that I co-designed with my friend Steve Hettrich, and the initial design is great, but the construction is basically more than me or my machine can handle. I have taken this little mother apart like thirteen times and put it back together in some way that didn't work. Oh, it's ON, Little Jacket! I will not be intimidated.

On of the main problems is that my machine (a new Singer "Confidence", yesthat'sreallythename) won't bore through several layers of thick knit such as these. Even with a heavy duty ball-point needle. What am I supposed to do?!

I don't want to reveal in total the design until I'm done. And I will be done. Oh I will be done.

Moving on.

A certain little baby is turning One in a couple of weeks, on April 2, to be exact. I am making her a nice party at home. And I have started on a personalized family birthday banner, starting with hers, to be hung in the house for everyone's birthday from here to eternity. It's going to be a series of loose pendant flags on a string. So fun to make. No technical issues here.

And just for fun, blog post Bonus! The girl...well I just love her.

Tunic- Take Two

2010-03-08T08:21:00.000-08:00

In order to better accommodate my voluptuous little girl, Phinny, I had to re-pattern the tunic I made. Arm-flapping room needed to be added, and neck room. If she's anything like me, she won't want a collar anywhere near her neck. Which, an oxymoron, yes.

It has the right proportions now, though it is a little big for the bunny.

Anyway, I have SeamStress! I can't figure out why this is happening, but after I wash things after sewing, the hems on both the bottom edge of the tunic and on the bottom edge of the lining keep flipping up and acting like an asshole. Does anyone know how to prevent this from happening? I'm worried you'll say something about like, fabric bias. Or grain. Either way, sounds complicated. But this happens on a lot of my stuff with this combination of heavy knit backed with a t-shirt fabric. Demons.

Quilt Madness

2010-03-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Because I am person of my word, I have here a small selection of quilts I admire.

Of course any pre-novice of modern quilting would be remiss not to have something by Denyse Schmidt on their list, so here's my pick, from her "Lebanon" Series:

And Leah Evans makes these truly clever, beautiful topographical map quilts that I really really wish I had thought of first.

I

Oh, and Kim at Dioramarama made this. I found it on Quilter's Buzz. Because I was looking at Quilter's Buzz.

I am fond of these brave color combinations. If someone said, "Hey, what do you think if I put some acid green in a quilt with some jet black in it?" To that person I would say, "Do not show me this quilt. It is an ugly quilt." And I would be wrong.

And last but definitely not least, this gorgeous one from Katie Did.

Barfing in Style

2010-02-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

I completed my first commission, which is this set of six burp cloths- inspired by the work of Ellsworth Kelly. I know A LOT of burp cloth designs are inspired by pioneers of modern minimalist painting, but I still couldn't resist. I thought it would be nice to have a set of colorful (though not in too dark colors) cloths to mix in with the otherwise utilitarian ones that will no doubt abound. They are for a set of triplets, so these will end up in a load of wash with likely 20 other cloths per day. I hope they bring a little sparkle to that chore.

As for me, I used to be an art dealer. While I was admittedly pretty small time, I did have my share of glamorous escapades and was involved a few rather high-minded projects over the years in sophisticated locations around the world. Now I sew rags for babies to puke on. A decidedly dramatic improvement in quality of life.

I'm Going To Get Stabbed With a Knitting Needle

2010-02-23T10:41:00.001-08:00

It Has Begun. I knew it would happen, I reported on this prediction a couple of months ago. Quilt. I want to straight up admit that I have some weirdly negative connotations with that word, which is a load of boggle, because my grandma used to make me quilts. And I have seen quilts (usually modern) that are beautiful.

They require a lot of skillz (which I do not have) and I respect quiltmakers- I do! I have just always associated quilting with a type of standard issue stay-at-home old school kind of craftsperson with usually a limited view of possibility beyond badly matched calico fat quarters. I know it's wrong okay, so back it up, Crazycrafter13@aol.com. I'm just trying to be honest. As penance, I will right at this moment go and find three quilts I admire, and post them here as evidence that I can be rehabilitated from my snobbish, artly ways. (I will then make a snobbishly artful quilt as my predictable relapse.)

See here the bounty of scraps that are wending their way from being sweatshirts, trimmed down into tunics, trimmed down into baby bibs, trimmed down into baby cravats, trimmed down into these most succulent leftovers.

I am sorry already for the terrible mess I plan to make over the next couple of months. Julie, you are a saint.

A Good Thing, Cashmere

2010-02-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

It's not me. I didn't make these. They are by Aqua, sold at New York Design Room.

I love them. It's nice to see things made of re-purposed cashmere that are well styled and don't smiggity smack of being re-purposed. What I want to know though, is where did they get such quantities of consistently colored and textured cashmere? I smell an overrun at the factory. Does that count as "upcycled"? With things like these and like the wares designed and produced by LooptWorks, I think maybe "Rescued" materials might be a more accurate term.

It doesn't matter, they're lovely. I found them at Haute Nature.

Baby Hobo is Born!

2010-02-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on in the House of Solar lately. A lot of work, very little product.

First, I am redesigning my baby cravats with a break-away velcro enclosure in the back.

Secondly, I have been working on a brand identity for all my wares, with the plan of marketing them for sale on a broader scale. Thus is born Baby Hobo (TM)! We have a logo. Thanks to the amazing designer Libby Vanderploeg of Libby Vanderploeg Design, New York for being a great friend and artist. I mean, lookatit!:

Problems in the development of a tiny little line of upcycled clothes and accessories for babies and children have included but are not limited to:

1. Anaseli the Nanny backing out one day before her scheduled start. That is two weeks of anticipating some uninterrupted sewing/ business time. Now I'm moving on to Yoli.

2. Marc from AllCity labels in New York is a hack and is trying to take more than 5 weeks to get my ordered twill labels to me. He failed to recognize that a.) I understand the printing process and know it should take very little time to send me a layout approval and b.) if your printing press (in Kowloon, Hong Kong) is going to take a vacation for a week and delay my order, you should know that and disclose it in advance, and c.) the Chinese NEVER take a weeks vacation- even for the New Year. So stuff it, All City Labels, you are CANCELLED. And when Baby Hobo (TM) makes it big, you will be sorry. Okay, maybe you won't be that sorry, but in my petty imagination, you'll be a little bit regretful that were so unprofessional, my friend.

3. I'm going to have some helpers. My dear friend Steve Hettrich is going to work with me on some creative ideas, and hopefully, his lovely wife Stephanie on some marketing ideas at some point. I couldn't ask for better people to be on board with Baby Hobo (TM)- (That is annoying, that little TM, but you know, you have to stake a claim (in print) to your Hobo in order to have it all your own.)

4. And the last of the problems is that The Bachelor Jake Pavelka has wittled down his final choices to a crazy virginal churchfreak that looks and acts like a mouse from An American Story, and a coked up hooker with a lazy eye. I've spent some time trying to understand what's going on there.

Amidst all this, I managed to finish this here baby girl's tunic. It is constructed from some old sweatshirts and t-shirts, of course. Sadly, my bebe is a little, umm, portly to have it fit properly and the neck opening hugs up on her and makes the shoulder flaps look like military epaulets. Oh well. Can't help it if my milk's so gooooooood. I'm working on a modified cut already.

Here's a pic though:

And the lining for the top half:

Picking a Winner...

2010-02-08T06:12:00.003-08:00

Oh, and I'll draw a winner for that custom hat later today! Stay tuned...

Except For That Egg Lump On Top...

2010-02-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think this is it. The Final Cagoule. Okay, I might need to smooth out that protrusion on the top there, but otherwise, I think I have a pattern to work with. But what if she want's to smuggle an egg into playgroup? Maybe I should leave it.

Old cashmere blend sweater + collar from old sweatshirt = the most thorough coverage of baby head and neck that $2.90 can buy:

Hi Ania, You Won a Hat!

2010-02-08T04:50:00.000-08:00

We drew a winner. Now I will make that winner a hat. And that winner will discover, wherever she may be, that I'm not that good of a seamstress. But her little person, or her, if she wants, will have a non-perfectly sewn hat unlike any other.

Make yourself known, dear Ania, and e-mail me. Congratulations.

Alchemical Jacket

2010-02-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

I made this freaky little Japanese inspired jacket out of an old kids sweatshirt from Old Navy with a giant number 33 on it. I considered leaving the '33' visible, but reminded myself not to fall into that common habit of having an object's former life be some kind of proud style element in the new garment. That's just not my way.

I say KILL the old thing. Kill it dead. I rather like to usher things through a more complete transformation. And I think turning a lame Old Navy sweatshirt into this little number is practically alchemical in that sense. Practically speaking, it's probably almost too "styled" (good or bad) for a baby to wear.

Here's a not detailed at all run-down of what I did:

Divested the sweatshirt of its cuffs and seams except the raglan arm attachments...

Opened that bugger up like a fish filet so I cut trim it into a big ol' single piece kimono pattern...

As seen here...

Then I added some extra fabric to the neck, since the shirt was originally too large. I added sopme twill tape to the edges and haphazardly finishes the sleeves and whatnot.

I will try it on the bebe and let you know how crazily it does not fit.

Win Yourself a Hat, Whynot?

2010-01-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to appreciate my Followers again. I wish I could do something really magnificent, like heal a wound by laying on hands, or turn some water into a Mojito, but all I got for you is a hat. A nice, chunky re-purposed hat, which will look very much- though not exactly- like this one I posted the other day:

You can even give me the measurements of the noggin in question so your prize hat fits. Now, lest ye find yourself hording chances, and not mentioning this drawing to a pal because your odds will go down, well, I have a solution. If you are or you become a Follower to Mama Uses Needles, and you want to tell a friend to as well, I will enter your name AGAIN for each friend you bring to the site. Thusly, improving, not diminishing your chances to win. So devious of me.

Why I am doing this? Because I suffer from a fragile ego syndrome and the more people who read this blog, the less I'll have to run up to people on the street and say, "Hey! Do you think I'm pretty?!" Because that embarrasses the kid.

No, My Daughter Is Not Going Scuba Diving...

2010-01-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

But she could. She's that advanced. Well, she's pretty advanced. I guess I probably wouldn't test her maturity under water.

This is another cagoule prototype. I said to my friend Steve today, "I made Phinny another cagoule today. She looka like an alien in it." " Great," he said, "the more alien, the better with babies, don't you think?" True true. It's impossible not to love something that draws attention to how weirdly and adorably tiny a baby face is, situated in such a disproportionately low spot on the HUGE head.

This cagoule, made of, you guessed it, an old sweater and the trim from a t-shirt, does a fine job of emphasizing the freakball that is my lovely baby. I am going to make more. Even freakier. Tighter. Sexier. More aerodynamic.

Fat Hat

2010-01-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a hat I made from an Old Navy sweater. I got the sweater at the thrift store where I get all my materials and it was in perfect shape. It's pretty new and I actually wondered if I should feel guilty for gutting it to make it into something new. But then I reasoned that it would be several new things, rather than one (re)used thing.

So then I forgot about it because this hat is adorbs. Forgive my bad sewing in this one, it was a quicky and those huge, wobbly fibers where running scared from my overlock machine.

Brief Poladroid Addiction

2010-01-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, I will admit it. I went bonkers with this for like 20 minutes. (And then forgot about it.) It's a little application that turns your regular snapshots into Polaroid-style images. It's actually pretty accurate.

In approximately 5 minutes, 79% of people will have Poladroid images as their profile pictures in Facebook, so here's your chance to be an Early Adopter. Fun.

http://www.poladroid.net/

Cool Cagoule, Baby

2010-01-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

One might begin to think that I am institutionable with my obsession over a baby's cold neck. They would be right. Hence, I give you a lovely 2-minute cagoule:

This used to be a poncho hood (!) and a turtleneck-neck. You know there are more of these on the way.

I have to get busy with a new giant pile of sweaters though. I am willing to consider that it's a bit freaky that I am so relaxed by the act of using sharp scissors to divorce the arms of shirts from their bodies for hours on end.

We can talk about it if you want.

Ha! Amanda Gibson you have a cravat.

2010-01-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

How great. My friend Amanda Gibson, whose last status update on Facebook said, "Amanda Gibson is perhaps the luckiest person you know" couldn't be more apt.

The hilarious part is that there will likely not be a day in her life at home when either her gorgeous daughter Bine, or adorbs baby boy, Angus will ever need a baby scarf. Because they live in Utila, Honduras. They wear bathing suits to dinner. Hilarious.

But maybe she has a dear friend who has a baby with a cold neck. Either way I am happy she won.

Now she gets to pick from this very stripey batch of cravats:

Congratulations, tropical lady.

And the Winner is!...

2010-01-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

We're drawing a winner of a Baby Hobo cravat right this moment. There were a whopping 12 Followers to the blog (all of whom I appreciate), so you're chances are pretty good!

Will Trade Pug for Chambray

2010-01-15T05:12:00.000-08:00

Speaking of scarves, maybe I should get one of these for myself as inspiration to weave myself one. So simple, so gorgeous, from Hickoree's Hard Goods:

More Ways to Sit on My Arse!

2010-01-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

For many months now, I have been closing the door (literally) on my Structo Artcraft 4-harness loom. It sits in the closet, surviving thrice monthly attempts by my wife to get rid of it because I don't use it. But she is an honorary Japanese person with her incredibly efficient use of space.

But I resist! And I will warp that loom and I will make a scarf for myself. I saw a woven scarf of fat orange yarn and I intend to copy that idea. I have no excuse saying "I can't remember how to warp a loom, I don't have time, it hurts my back", blah, blarh.

I mean, check out this crazy chick and her backstrap loom. Shu, I can't even sit like that in yoga for like 5 minutes. And she's smiling. I should be able to make a damn scarf.

PS I know you were all on the edge of your seat waiting for a post about a loom. And now you have it.

Hmmm. Free stuff. Yes. I pick Yes.

2010-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

If you think I am above shamelessly bribing strangers to be my blogfriends, you are wrong:

If you become an official Follower of this blog I will put your name in a drawing to win free stuff. To begin with, I'm going to give away a baby cravat of course. You can even pick a small, medium or large. (Newborn to 6 mo., 6-12M of 12M+). Because that's the kind of ~~suck up~~ generous person I am.

The sooner you do it, the better your chances will be. I will pick someone next Sunday. Be that person.

We're in Business

2010-01-09T06:05:00.001-08:00

Am I going from Art Dealer to Baby Cravat Dealer? We've had our first sales of the Baby Hobo cravats from the awesome Green Genes store.

Perhaps it was the spokesmodel that is responsible:

Luca Bruni, You Have Cravat

2010-01-07T11:29:00.001-08:00

Little Luca Bruni, this cravat is for you, from your Aunt Carla. She wants your neck to stay warm. Because you're cute. I know, because I saw a picture of you dressed up as a banana.

She will get this to you very soon.

Of the Category: People Who Get Amazing Opportunities

2010-01-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

Artist Robert Fontenot, based in Los Angeles, has found himself one remarkable privilege, I must say. He has gained ownership over a significant trove of de-accessioned textiles from the Los Angeles Museum of Art and is allowed to do whatever he wants with them.

He has undertaken the huge and admirable project of re-purposing them one by one into an assortment of sometimes fantastic, sometimes weirdly artful and occasionally, I'll say it, not-so-inventive objects. He documents the process on his blog, http://recyclelacma.blogspot.com/

Overall, a beautiful project of which I am very envious! Someone give me some de-accessioned schtuff from a museum textile department!

Here are a couple highlights from Fontenot's expansive project:

A pair of knickers made into a beautiful pair of boxing gloves...

And also this, a Turkish embroidered textile, turned wastebasket (cover):

I like it, Robert Fontenot.

Carcass Processing; A Study in Upcycling Economics

2010-01-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've decided to trace the life cycle of some of my upcycling materials. I'm experimenting with the goal of using absolutely every single part of the secondhand clothes. Maybe it's OCD, maybe I care deeply about the earth, maybe I'm askeert my child will be wading ass-deep through garbage all over the world because we insist on plowing through so much *NEW* stuff.

I'm guilty of a good amount of this plowing through new stuff, but I'm trying more and more to either take rests from it, and even go backward, as with re-using old forsaken things to create newly loved things. I am also very interested in the economics of all of this.

Now, stay with me, for here is a brief narrative about what happened to but one of the sweatshirts that are to be featured in my experiment:

Once upon a time, a girl named Michelle strode into the local Land's End. In this retail outlet, she selected a $38.00 shirt for her dad, Carl. This shirt, a gray and green striped rugby shirt, led a life of celebrity and exposure during it's time with Carl. He wore it often and never stained it. (Thank you, Carl. You are a fastidious man.)

Eventually though, Carl got new shirts (bad Carl!) and this fine garment found itself with increasing frequency at the bottom of the bottom drawer. Until Carl's wife, Janice, took it to goodwill in a thinly-veiled act of ecological repentance for all the terrible spending she had done to punish Carl for his affair with Wanda. (We'll get to that whore Wanda another time.)

It was at this SAME GOODWILL that I, Lisa Solar, harvested the shirt and dropped it into a basket with fourteen other abandoned shirts. It's value had dropped, apparently, to 90 cents.

Now, here it is. The great news is that it is about a yard and a half of soft, perfectly worn, high quality fabric without any blemishes or pills. Bad news is that I'ma 'bout to go upstairs to the loft and gut that bugger like a giant fish and violently separate it from it's collar and side seams. I will use every scrap except the collar and create from the pieces no less than 8 baby cravats, 2 hats and add a few pieces to my Future Quilt bin. So, if I were to theoretically sell these items, the value of Fat, Cheating Carl's shirt has gone up to $184.00! And it has kept at least 7 babies warm (this number allowing for one double-headed baby).

Ultimately, this rugby shirt has experienced much more than a physical transformation. Yes! It has symbolically risen from the sinful ashes of Carl's affair with Wanda and has been reincarnated as any number of cozy, loving little baby things, that both literally and symbolically bring warmth to the world.

Thank You, Michelle, and I'm sorry for saying that about your new Stepmom Wanda.

And so, let's look at this visually. Here's the beginning of my effort to document the life-cycle of 15 sweatshirts. Note: this will be most interesting if you can rap the captions.

Stepz One: Put your sweaters in the cart... Stepz 2: You gotta pay fo' yo' cart... Stepz 3: You gotta wash the thrift stank out yo' thrifts.

Break it down, break it down one tiiiiyme...(cut off the trims)

"Abercrombie and Fitch" logoz a bitch, cut it up two tiiiiiiymes (remove and collects seams, etc.)

Admire your lovely new stack of fabric and if you are so moved, pat it with satisfaction in an almost perverse style.

There you have Phase One.

Becoming Wealthy Through the Sale of Miniature Scarves; A Guide

2009-12-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, I probably won't ever become wealthy, but some peoples love the baby cravats, (an example of here):

and now they've gone commercial. They are for sale in several varieties at the amazing store in Chicago, Green Genes, which is a eco-friendly boutique for childrens and bebbes. They have so many awesome things and I am quite proud to have my wares theres. It is on Clark Street in Chicago.

GO.

Damn You, Sma Grodorna!

2009-12-30T07:26:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Josephine's first Christmas with family in Oakland, CA. The weather was great, the kids were great, fun was had. My brother-out-law is Anders, and he is from Sweden. And from Sweden, he brought us a traditional children's Christmas song about a frog with no tail and no ears. We sang the song, as is the custom, while dancing around a Christmas tree holding hands and a paper with a translation designed to soften our sharp English interpretation of the Swedish words.

Well, that business wasn't so pretty. An English speaking person can slaughter some Swedish words right thoroughly I tell you, especially while they're trying to hold a paper and dance in a circle. I will admit that while I felt pretty foolish, it was so fun to watch the kids enjoy themselves and to laugh at ourselves mangling the lyrics. Now I cannot- I CANNOT- get 'Sma Grodorna' out of my head. Koo Ack Ack, Koo Ack Ack!

One of the highlights was time I spent with Julie's niece ('our' niece? yes, 'our' niece, I declare), Caroline. She is seven and was quite attached to me for the four days we were there. Okay, maybe more the baby, but the baby was attached to me so I reaped the benefit of Caroline's company. She is truly remarkable. Here we are on a hike, discussing many important things:

Now we're back to Chicagio and I hit the sewing machine to make some homemade gift wrap from scraps for a special little present. I might have to do this from now on:

Now I have to decide on a New Year's Resolution. I make them. I keep them. It's true.

First Gingerbread House

2009-12-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here it is. The Solar Family gingerbread house. After almost two weeks of plotting and planning, and five rounds of trying to make sugar glass, we finally finished. The Solar Chalet, as it is properly called, is a residential home for small gingerpeople crafted in a bastardized 80's/ 90's contemporary style.

Some important features are of course the solar panels, recycling bags (those ARE candy, people), and a mailbox feturing edible paper and ink.

The glass wall separating the indoors from outside is milky, yes. But I know why now! I learned in my five batches that you need to bring many small miracles into alignment to make clear candy glass. Next year, look out! It's going to be a Phillip Johnson Glass House just to show off.

For now, we will settle for our humble family chalet complete with gum-bricked chimney and cotton candy smoke.

Groovy Sweater One-Piece

2009-12-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Remember this ladies sweater? The one left at Village Discount Outlet by...let's call her Becca.

It has found new life, and here's how:

1. Cut off bottom half of sweater arms.
2. Trim off material from what remains of your arms, and continue trimming down the side of sweater (the shape that looks like a '7' in the picture above).
3. Cut out shape between legs. Line that edge with twill tape on alternate sides and attach snaps.
4. Sew outside edge- along bottom of arm and down the side of the suit.
5. Hem sleeve cuffs.
6. Admire how willing your child is to wear such a ridiculous, but adorbs outfit.

All Is Not Coming Up Roses, Ya Know.

2009-12-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

I finished sewing something tonight that is so rad, I almost ran downstairs to Bloom Yoga and took an advanced class so I could quickly learn to bend over far enough to kiss my own arse.

I know. So I decided I should do something more humbling and act like a sane, balanced person. For the benefit of my child. I'm going to show you my last four failed hats, their titles, and tell you why they didn't work out. Thank you to patient Josephine Anaheed for the use of her head:

The "But It's Only a Flesh Wound!": The ONLY thing I had to do to make this hat right was line up the damn stripes. Did I line up the stripes? No. I was too busy thinking about how awesome this striped hat was going to be.

The "Vikings Fan": As is the case with many hats, this one ran too short and the poor girl's ears pop out after ten seconds. It is otherwise fine despite the fact that it is accidentally the Minnesota Vikings colors.

The "Ambiguously Religious Ceremonial Hat": This material, a well worn sweatshirt, was far too stiff for this cut of hat, and so it just sticks up like a Pope's hat. Which is fine because old ladies treat red-headed babies like they are the Pope.

The "Oh Sh*t! Did I just Accidentally Cut This Hat Right After I Made It, Because My Sewing Table Is A Mess? Hat": Everything about this hat was fine, then I cut a triangle out of the folded brim whilst cutting something that was laying on top of this hat. I am idiots.

Update on Trapdoor Butt Christmas Pants

2009-12-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

Couldn't get a good picture of the baby in these pants because she is too enamored with the rolling over process to sit still long enough.

Isabelle from Dos Family

2009-12-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

This lady Isabelle, she is amazing. The Dos Family blog is amazing, and look at this down baby snuggler she made from an old coat! Are you kidding me, Isabelle from Dos Family? I am so into you and your stylings!

Josephine's First Christmas, aka "Bad Jew"

2009-12-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

We really should have a Christmas tree AND a menorah, so as to give a nod to my wife Julie's heritage, but I guess that side of her went to Matzo Ball heaven when her eccentric and from I hear, awesome, grandma Solar passed away. But it was a huge rally for us to get this Christmas going as well as we have, so I shant berate our efforts.

To wit, we have a fully decorated Christmas tree. (See Exhibit A). We have purchased Christmas presents (Exhibit B), which, in the purchasing of, I would like the record to show, I actually respected the limit Julie and I set. She did not, and promptly explained to our daughter that she went way over the limit on Phinny's gifts because she loves her more. We have designed, if not actually constructed, a gingerbread house. Photographs forthcoming as Exhibit C, and finally, I made Josephine some Christmas pants (Exhibit D).

They are inspired by authentic union suits, and by Chinese baby pants. They feature a trap door in the seat, for the easy access to butt cheeks without exposing your baby's rear to the elements when they ummm, need to....uh...yes, you know.

These pants were a perfectly respectable cableknit sweater before and would be embarrassed to know that they have been re-incarnated into a pair of baby trousers with a easy-access trap door to the booty (which is in this case actually non-operational). I will later post pictures of them on the child. For now:

Okay, so she got ONE present early! It's a ride-on plush snail named Stanley. You expected me to wait? Be realistic.

Perfection

2009-12-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

I am afraid of an obsession that threatens to overtake me. It looms heavy, ever encroaching, begging me to add its pursuit to my already overburdened parcels of creative time. It will happen. I know it will. I can't stop it. I just aim to hold it off for just a little while longer. Until we get a bigger house maybe?

It is quilting. I am shocked to see that come out in letters. I might quilt. Certain beautiful things hover around me and force me to think of quilts I want to make. And these things won't go away. Just what I need, one more thing that makes me sit on my ass all day. Soon I can forget about ever having that spinal fusion surgery I'll need in the future because my vertebrae will be soldered together from shear sedentary disuse. But I bet I could make a crazy good quilt.

Currently I am desperately in love with the woven work of Anni Albers. I have long been in love with her husband's work, which I regard as perhaps the most perfect of painting. And they both make me drool to quilt. Kind of random, I know.

Anyway, I would give nearly all my worldly possessions for one of these Homage to the Square paintings. (Homage! Shu. I would hold them squares down and make out with them they're so hot):

Or one of these:

Pregnancy Pants; Murdered.

2009-11-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

These old capri sweatpants were baggy. Ugly. Brown! From the Gap, and any number of other unseemly things. I must say I loved them when I was pregnant because they were soft and stretchy and just a tiny bit more snug. But I am re-entering humanity now and need to start dressing for the occasion. No, I promise. I will. Very soon. Starting now. In fact I have tight-fitting jeans on as we speak, over the top of which my newly found muffin top is secretly spilling.

So, I murdered these grim reminders of a time free of one single ounce of style tiny, and they are going to the baby.

Really, all I did was crop the waistband off, crop the outside edges of the legs, and reattach the waistband smaller and closer to the crotch. I just literally kept the crotch seam and brought everything in toward it.

From this:

To this:

(Sorry for the baby in that picture. Totally distracting.)

Tall Pants by Ralph Lauren

2009-11-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

About these orange ribbed pants, several things are accidental. Several things about this whole picture are accidental, then some are on purpose.

Here is a list under each category:

ACCIDENTAL:

These pants are as bright orange as my baby's hair.
These pants have an embroidered Ralph Lauren logo right up front on the tallpart fold.
My baby is smiling as she models these pants.
Her head looks huge due to foreshortening in this picture, whereas in real life it is average in proportion with her huge body.

ON PURPOSE:

These pants are made from an old sweater.
These pants are baggy and comfy.
These pants are being modeled by Josephine Anaheed because she is the chubby and hilarious.
The ribbing on the pants is vertical, lending them a slimming aspect.
My baby is smiling as she models these pants.

Leila Nur, Your Pants Are Ready...

2009-11-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

These pants are waiting for Leila Nur, 2 years old, and as soon as her little impish self claims them they will be sent by mail to her.

They used to be a sweater that saw the world from the back of a lady in Chicago, and now they will see the world through the legs of a beautiful little sprite in Cambridge!

A Snuggly Cravat...

2009-11-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

"Itchy Velcro on my face, button marks, zipper scratches? Bitch, who needs it?!"

As you can imagine, I was taken aback when I overheard my seven month old daughter Josephine say this to her playdate the other day...and then when she said:

"Shu, one more raked up chin situation and I'm 'bout to jump this buggy and move on to a mother who cares about me! You feel me, puppy?"

WHOA. So I made her this merino wool and fine knit jersey cravat to protect her delicate (and let's say "abundant") chin from the abuse of her coat collars and their attendant face-raking hardware. Former lives were a sweater and a pillowcase, respectively. One end goes through a large buttonhole in the other end and it stays snug and attractive just like that.

There will be more of these. Oh yes there will. A cravat for every child, and a child for every cravat. Dig it.

Skinny waist, fat booty

2009-11-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

So, here's a little show and tell about my lack of sewing knowledge. Say I have a sweatshirt that I have forced into the shape of a pair of pants. And then say I have used the collar trim as an elastic waist band. And then say I have to sew the two misfits together into a harmoniously gathered little waist.

How do I do that?

I buy a leprechaun and pay him sweatshop wage to figure it out. The End.

No, really what I do to force the two different circumferences into alignment is wrap them both around a book, pin them, remove the book and then baste that business.

Where's the 'After' picture, you ask? I would post it but I ran into a crazy secret knotty seam somewhere in there and my serger made *sproing* and pieces flew everywhere. I made the leprechaun recover all of them and we are in the process of re-attachment at the time of this post.

This is not the last you will see of these pants.

Perfect Fall hat...

2009-11-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

This hat is reincarnated from a fine gauge striped sweater. That subtle decorative seam on the front is original to the sweater, and the bottom edge , of course, was the bottom of the sweater. Added some twill tape loops on the top and called it my own.

The gorgeous sweater was knitted for us by our dear friend Chrissy Cornell. I admire all of you who can knit. I lack the required patience, and surely any creation I did have the dedication to finish would look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. So I leave it to the others, and in the meantime, I will just continue to be a vulture to the knits already out there.

Khadi textiles

2009-10-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Latest love: Khadi textiles, which originate in India. Like this one that I found on Fibercopia, who lifted it from a World of Interiors article.

Or these lovely scarves (very "Where's Waldo"), from Khadi and Co. via Selvedge Drygoods:

Gnome or Baby? Every Parent's Quandry

2009-10-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

In my effort to harvest each and every possible garment from the ones that came before, I started to look for another way to get a hat out of a sweater. My daughter was very cooperative while I affixed various portions of a leftover sweater piece to her head in different configurations.

Using the sleeve was the most promising. Also, the most ridiculously adorbs, as seen here:

From The Laboratory of Dr. Bad Sweater...

2009-10-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

As they say, "One man's ugly sweater from Express is another man's...

... crazy Brady Bunch one-piece turtleneck-intact sweater suit for a baby. "

This is just the cut pieces. When it's done, it will be slimmer, if not slimming. Of course I will have to add some snaps to the legs and the back. You know, in case the baby needs to peel down the top and let some air in after a wild and sweaty round of disco dancing.

Instant Twee, Just Add Hat

2009-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here we have a fine pair of light green/ dark green sweater pants for a young person. I am occasionally inspired to think about a thick red jersey knit union suit I had when I was a kid, and the way it was constructed. It kind of wrapped around the leg and fit the umm, crotch, in a sort of specific way. I suppose the historical origin was in the concept of comfortably wearing the suit under a pair of pants.

So I tried to do that with these pants in a way that will accommodate a diaper nicely. The fashion concerns of the Under Two set do not fall on deaf ears with me.

Fiber by Fiber

2009-10-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

I recently had a conversation about how re-purposed/ recycled materials were becoming more sophisticated looking- less used. This is a very good thing. For something that is wholly re-purposed to read first as beautiful, then as eco-friendly is an acheivement well worth the undertaking.

These gorgeous rugs by Golran, called Carpet Reloaded are a stunning example. They are well-worn rugs whose color has been stripped (both by actual wear, and then by process of the designers) and then re-dyed in some cases. Others are simply patchworked.

Behold:

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Comment on My New Sweater Set:

2009-10-17T16:50:00.001-07:00

Another sweater (this time, 100% cashmere, baby) has been sacrificed for the making of some baby pants. These weren't a turtleneck sweater, so no tallpants, but hey, look at the nice hat. And they're a fine cable-knit too, which lends a rather preppy feel. I have opinions about this simple, classic pairing, but I thought it would be nice if some Real Housewives critiqued my latest creation. So here are Dina and Caroline Manzo, along with Teresa Giudice, who were kind enough to lend their thoughts...

Okay, so you want me to talk about these pants? I'll talk about these pants. To be honest? To be really honest? I'm not crazy about these pants.

Caroline! Well I like these pants. Lexie had cashmere pants when she was baby. Okay, so she had 38 pairs! Sue me. Whaaat? Don't tell Tommy. (laughs)

We got cashmere toilet paper. Why are you looking at me like that? It's soft! If you can afford it, why not?!

No seriously, these pants, they're like a little, how can I put this delicate? (looks at Dina...) "Gay". I don't mean that in a bad way, they're just sort of fancy for bein' boy's pants, right?

Oh my god.

Are them Gucci? But they need more stuff on em' is what I think.

I don't think that's the look she's going for. I mean, they're cashmere, right? So what's the big deal.

Would I buy these pants? Proooobably not. If my baby was freezing his balls off and I had to put him in something long enough to get to Bloomingdales would I?
Absolutely.

Do NOT Think I Won't Make a Crazy Gingerbread House Soon, Because You Will Be Wrong

2009-10-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

This year is going to mark the first year in a family tradition. The tradition will officially be named: Oh Hell, Mom is Going Crazy Again With The Gingerbread BS.

I hope to uphold this one singular tradition, which hurts no one, in place of the more psychotic, commercially driven Christmas madness often played out by the mothers of small children. And then my daughter will get bigger and want to change all of that and I will cave and we will be found lying comatose under a Christmas tree surrounded by popcorn balls, our faces plasticized by candy cane residue. The sound of Dora's Christmas Special will be eerily floating through house courtesy of six different televisions.

While I still maintain my fantasy, I think this year we''ll start with a simple modern piece, such as this one on inhabitat.com:

I have to start practicing. It's harder than it looks.