Makers in Business

Oh my!  My television debut is coming!  I can't quite believe it, but the show taped last night and it went great.  Here's the scoop...

My friend Liz Smith, of Made in Lowell, is putting together a new television show for Lowell Telecommunications Corporation.  The show, called Makers in Business, is designed to showcase local artists and help viewers understand just what it takes to succeed as an arts business.  And, (drum roll please!) I am her first featured guest.  How exciting is that.  She asked me to be her first guest because I'm so "cool, calm and collected" (who cares that the calm comes from age, I was still thrilled).

You can read all about how this show came to be in Liz's great Mill Girl blog. It's a great story and certainly shows how you never know where each little adventure will lead.

So we met up in the LTC recording studio last night about 6:30.  It was my first time in a television studio.  I had no idea what to expect, but it was all much easier than I ever imagined.  Liz had set up a little round table with two comfy chairs and mugs of water for us.  (Absolutely gorgeous handmade mugs, by the way - and which beautifully picked up the colors in the jacket I was wearing - and yes, Liz did plan that)  There were bright lights shining on us and three cameras behind the lights.  They also turned on a monitor so we could see what was being filmed.

During the set-up the crew made us feel so comfortable.  Once we were miked, we each had to count to 20 so they could adjust the sound.  Once they did that, they assured us that we didn't have to worry about whether we started to talk louder or softer, they could adjust either way.  Then they showed us what the picture was from each of the cameras so Liz could tell them whether to zoom in or out--so we'd know whether to worry about the position of our feet and knees, for example.

Once all that basic set-up was done, they gave us a count-down, Liz did a little introduction to the show and we started to chat.  It was so easy.  You couldn't really see past the bright lights so it was easy to ignore the cameras.  It really was pretty easy to pretend we were just having a conversation in a cafe and we each learned a little more about each other and our businesses.  

I got to impart a few words of business "wisdom" and to toot my horn about getting into the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.  When the show is edited, a few of the great pictures that Adrien Bisson took of my friends modeling my jackets will be worked into it.

So we taped two 12-minute segments of the two of us talking, plus short closing and transition segments from Liz.  We were all done less than an hour after I arrived.  No redoing, no fussing around.  An awesome job by Liz and the whole crew.  Liz might have been nervous on the inside, but she was cool as a cucumber on the outside.  I know many of my friends will be doing this with Liz and they should have no worries.  It's fun...and did I say EASY.

But now that that's over, I need to get back to making jackets.  Here's just a teaser of the next one.  I'm putting together larger pieces of fabric this time and working with more dramatic diagonal lines.  I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do for surface design to tie this all together.  That'll come when the basics have had a chance to stew in my brain for a bit longer.

Newest Art-To-Wear Jacket

Finished another jacket this morning.  I'm getting close to ready for my next product review for the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.  I need to complete three more reviews before I'm a full-fledged juried member so I'm working my little heart out.

I'm trying to get better about documenting my work as I go, so I photographed it as soon as I finished it this morning.  Here's the completed version of the green silk jacket I'd started in my previous post.

Threaded Circuits - Size XXL

I called this one Threaded Circuits.  I had fun couching all those rectangles, but it sure was tricky.  I drew out each line with a disappearing ink pen, but sometimes the lines faded just a little too fast.  I'd get part way along a line and have trouble figuring out where I was to go next.  Luckily I managed to thing out okay each time.  I've been underlining each of the sections with silk organza.  That really helps to make sure that the couching lies flat.  It also makes the jacket more durable and less wrinkly...definitely worth the effort.

Threaded Circuits - Back View

I've set aside another selection of green fabrics for the next one, but first I need to take a break for some fix-up work.  I need to redo a couple of hems to get those jackets ready for the League review.  The hems are nice right now, but for the League they need to be spectacular.  So I'll fix them...

Finished with Circular Thinking

I'm writing from the Loading Dock Gallery here at Western Avenue Studios.  I spent a good deal of my morning hour here with a fellow member and friend, Glenn Szegedy, rethinking how my jackets are displayed here.  It was a very productive time and he left me with a long list of tasks to be completed before this coming Saturday's open studios.  I hope I can manage it all.  I know the effort will be worth it.


Over the last week I have finished one jacket and started another.  Here is how the jacket I called Circular Thinking came together.  Following the circular theme of the fabrics, I added inset circles of the same fabric as the lining, couched circles in a similar color to some of the embroidery in the fabric, and a great ceramic button with more circles imprinted in it.  It was so much fun.  I had a little trouble deciding when to stop adding more circles.

Circular Thinking Front

Circular Thinking Back

The next one I've started uses a variety of green silks I found in my stash.  Here again the patterning in one of the fabrics inspired the couching I've added. 

This will be the front

This will be the back.  I'll be adding another line of  couching  on the right.

I have a nice blue with a subtle stripe that I'm planning to use for the collar and lining and some great handmade glass buttons to give it pizazz.

Catching Up

I've not posted in longer than I realized.  I've had a really nasty respiratory virus that just wouldn't let go.  Thankfully I'm back in the studio again, trying to catch up on everything.

Since my last posting I've finished a jacket and started another.  This lovely lavender-gray silk has pieced insets and couching.  (That wonderful Stef Francis 5400 rayon thread again.)  I called it Aurora because the waves of color reminded me of the aurora borealis.

 Here is the beginning of my next one which I'm going to call Circular Thinking.  I've had had these fabrics with various circle patterns for some time, waiting for just the right opportunity to present itself.  Since I took this picture, I've added more circles--insets of a coordinating color and couched rayon threads (again).  I've also changed the fabric for the sleeve on the left.  (My fabric fairy godmother visited again and brought me another piece of the fabric I'm using for the other sleeve in another color that works perfectly.  So pleased.)

I'm having so much fun with it, I can't wait to get back to it.

My First "Formal" Photo Shoot

This past Monday morning Sonja and I gathered with four of our Western Avenue Studio friends in Adrien Bisson's photography studio.  I needed good photos of the jackets I'd gotten accepted by the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and they'd agreed to model.  It was my first time doing this, so I felt pretty clueless, but everyone made it very easy.

Adrien told everyone just where and how to stand--where to look and place your hands, how to position your feet and adjust your weight on your feet, and so on.  Of course we all got silly which helped me to relax.  Adrien got so many good pictures I had a hard time to narrow down to just a few per jacket.

Now I have a wonderful selection of formal and relaxed pictures that I can use for exhibit entries, postcards and other promotions.  I posted several of the "just for fun" pictures on Facebook.  Here are some of the more formal pictures.

Dance Rhythms - African Hand-dyed Cotton Damask with pieced insets

Sheer Magic (left) - Layers of embroidered silks; Obsession (right) - Silks and linens with hand couching

Obsession (left); Jellyroll Rag (right) - Embroidered silk with insets and couching

My goal for this session was to convey that I make jackets for real women that are easy to wear and make you feel beautiful.  I think that comes through--do you?

Now that I have these, my next step is to submit my application for the Craftwear exhibit and shop at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's show in Sunapee, NH next summer.

Using up Scraps

Here's the beginning of my next jacket.  I had a length of this lovely lavender-gray silk that needed some jazzing up and lots of bits of colorful silk too beautiful to throw away so I'm bringing them together.

I started randomly piecing together the silk bits into long, narrow lengths.

Then I laid out my length of silk and used my rotary cutter to cut the curves.  Once the edges have been pressed under, I laid them over a pieced strip and top-stitched the edges.  This length will be the body of the jacket.  The front is at the top.  The lower half is the back.

Next step planned is couching some of the Stef Francis 5400 rayon threads to add even more curves and color.  That's my fun for this afternoon.

Achieved a New Milestone this Week

This has been a nerve-wracking and an exhilarating week.

First, I finished the sleeves on Kim's jacket and got them set in.  In every project I work on, I always go back and forth on how much or even whether I like the results.  For this one, it wasn't until I got the first sleeve in that I was totally sure that I was pleased with the piecing design.  Of course I was still nervous about it until Kim saw it and confirmed that she liked it too.

Here's the front

And the back

She came in to try it on Thursday.  I'll have to tweak the fit a bit before I put in the lining and bind the edges, but we're coming to the home stretch.

My next big hurdle for the week came on Wednesday when I traveled to Concord, New Hampshire for a jury session with the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.  To say that I was nervous, is truly an understatement, but I am pleased to report that I was accepted.  It has been a struggle for me to keep working on passing this bar but I'm glad I kept working on it.  If it hadn't been for several of my friends here who are members supporting and prodding me, I'm sure I would have given up.  Of course, the real work is just beginning--I'm playing with the big kids now so I'll have to raise my standards all around.  

First thing I did was to set up my profile on the League site.  I'm really there under fiber artists.  Check it out.  The next thing I did was to meet with a photographer here, Adrien Bisson, to talk about getting some "real" photographs of women wearing my jackets.  Now I just have to see if I can line up some of my friends to model.  It's all very exciting and certainly fun.  I'll keep you posted.