Knitting and Sewing Gallery

I thought one new Gallery would do it, but I offer another selection of items that are also knit, sewn by machine and hand, embroidered, or combinations. Most are gifts for my parents, or items made as class or store samples. I end with an item NOT made by me, except for a little help.

For a Mother's Day gift, I made this red satin robe for my mom so she'd feel "queenly". I guess when you're the chief pots and pans cleaner, you don't get to don it often. She says it's too nice to wear.

This year I bought "Last Minute Gifts" book by Joelle Hoverson, who owns "Purl" in Soho, NYC and knows a lot about color. Coincidentally, Dad's Marilyn show was six blocks away, so Anna and I walked over and received assistance choosing yarns for Mom's very own Purl scarf and Anna's hot pink ballet leg warmers. Both items were featured in the book, so it was a dream come true for me to have a lesson in color from Joelle.

Mom wanted a table runner, so I dreamed up this one. There is an embroidered "W" on both ends. The trick to making the edges so smooth was to serge it first with wrong sides together to make a perfectly even seam allowance along the 92" edges.

This is our version of "blocking". Blocking is used to flatten the stitches and achieve the desired shape of a knitted piece. There are several methods of blocking, but essentially the knitted garment is dampened with water, pinned into the desired shape, and allowed to dry. The process is tedious because we place pins about an inch apart on the circumference. Here Anna was misting this scarf of Mom's with lavender water. We painstakingly added Francoise's black scarf below it, only to have a summer thunderstorm ruin our efforts. Everything was hustled inside where we started all over.

I've been making Dad's film bags since I can remember. Before he lead the way in digital photography, he stored his assortment of film types in color-coded felt bags. And black or red always meant the film had been exposed. This was a commemorative drawstring bag for his 70th birthday. I pulled out the silk lining so you could see how luxurious it is.

I've made a few fabric bowls, and this one was supposed to be mine. But an ever-growing Sara still squeezes into it when she wants to catch a sunbeam and help me sew.

This was my first sweater. The cropped design is from Sally Melville's "The Purl Stitch" book. Anna wore it for this picture and maybe another time or two. That's it. She really doesn't like to wear sweaters, even pink ones. Hmm, I also made her flannel pants, her ballet bag, and Sally.

These bags and hats were made for a sewing class for teenage girls.

This is a totally serged quilt. Even the black edge is a wide two-thread serged blanket stitch using a heavy wool thread. I made this quilt to prepare for an "Instant Gratification Quilt" course I taught for serger owners.

Denise and I hosted a "Polar Fleece Express" charity event, where sewists of all kinds brought their sewing machines, sergers, needles, threads, and fleece, and we whipped up a hundred hats and mittens for local charities. Here Denise and I are modeling a few.

More dolls. Meet Kiki Claire, being held by Allie.

Here are three stages of dolls. These are Waldorf-style dolls. They are constructed of natural materials - wool batting, cotton, and wool mohair - and have minimal facial features. The child is able to determine her doll's feelings and expressions based on her own. A sad child sees a compassionate companion; a happy child sees a smiling friend.

Pearl was born just before Anna's sixth birthday. She is about 10" tall, and is Sally's and Anna's littlest sister. Sally's wearing the second sweater I've knit.

I knit this little dress using yarn Anna chose. Francoise's doll's mohair and lurex dress with Swarovski crystals was a modified version of the same dress but with a COMPLETELY different look.

Obviously this little dress is for Anna. She wore it to her show in May 2005. You're seeing the back view with the tulle bow.

Sweet dreams! I made three ice cream nightgowns for three little girls and I learned that I couldn't ever sew in volume.

I made this silk charmeuse gown as a sample for Denise's store. The vibrant green looked shocking with the blue, so I selected it from my embroidery threads, paid for and downloaded an embroidered lace design off the web, stitched it out using water soluble stabilizer, and attached it to the neckline.

And finally, here's a quilt Anna made. Her second, actually. She chose her favorite pieces from my stash and cut and placed them on a piece of corduroy that had been sprayed with a temporary adhesive. We covered it with tulle and then I stitched all around to secure the pieces. There are secret messages to Anna using glow-in-the-dark thread. This quilt was displayed at her school last year.

Thanks for visiting another of my galleries!