My "in process" posts fell by the wayside. Too much life happening.
I was more diligent on Instagram, you can click here to see just those posts (probably not in chronological order because IG has ruined hashtags).
Anyhow, I will eventually get to them, and will back date the posts to the proper days (just as I am with this post - haha).
Here are quilt iterations from years past:
2020
2012
Another plan I have is to create a proper index of all the quilt posts. I'll save that for a day when I want to procrastinate on something. I find writing blog posts is a great procrastination technique!
To cover the navy rayon bamboo print patch, I wanted something with red...
Rummaging through my "Red" scraps bag, I found a favorite Fiorucci shirt that I bought in the 80s. It is super faded, but then I looked at the inside...
Nice and bright!
On the right side, I used a kid's conversational print patch. This came from a weird tiny garment bag that Larry let me have.
Done!
I also added some needle weaving, here's a closeup:
Before we get to the patch work, let's pause for a cuppa
The colors of the Russel Wright china matches the star graphics perfectly!
I was sad to see those holes in the top star (thanks/no thanks to Lou the cat). This patch came from a tee that I purchased at Canal Jeans (NYC, RIP) in 1996 and wore when I went on safari in Tanzania that fall.Decisions... Visible mend or patch?
Patch!
This came from a Marni dress that I got from Mel in a clothing swap at a blogger meetup in Vancouver BC in 2015.
Laurey created this patch for the Mend and Make Friends 2023 patch exchange. We were patch pairs. I decided to add it to the quilt, and I don't remember what I covered up.
This is the patch in March 2023 before it went on the quilt
Installed
Fast forward 15 months, it now looks like this
worse for wear, as they say
First I worked on the sad orange circle, lower right
French Knots! Blanket Stitching!
Then I decided to do preventative mending on all the other raw edges
I covered up the Harris Tweed (next to the Old Faithful patch).
It was a scrap from a sport coat that I made for the wasbund senior year at Otis. Lisa twinned with me, for her husband Tim. (I wonder if he still has his?) During the project, we learned hand tailoring techniques. That jacket was like armor! Not really suitable for the SoCal climate.
That stain was driving me nuts. It was at the top edge of the quilt and I saw every time I was in bed.
A nice little visible mend.
Details: I want to mention the "flag" bark cloth print above the mend. This came from a vintage skirt that I purchased in Providence circa 1979-81. The patch came from excess when I shorted the hem. Though it no longer fits, I still have the skirt, somewhere in the giant mending bag. I like the print too much to release it.
It's quilt mending season, when it's too hot to have the quilt on the bed. Last summer, it spent the entire summer draped on the living room coffee table, and I don't think I did a lick of stitching.
I will do better this year!
On the table, ready to mend
Random restitching patch joins are not worth documenting, but when it gets to new patches and/or visible mending (embroidery), I'm going to go into before/afters and my textile memories.
Older posts about the quilt can be found via this link
I'll be investigating individual patches on the Crazy Quilt and telling their stories, both on IG (short form verbiage) and here, longer posts with links.
Here's my intro video that I posted incorrectly on IG:
For Day 2 (which I combined with Day 1 on the IG post) I actually donned an entire vintage outfit! See it, next post.
Here is one of the pages I was waving around in the video from my Otis Fashion Textile Class Binder:
I'm going over some of the original pencil in ink, as my instructor suggested in 1985.
Stories
1) The African knockoff print I still have the top I made out of this! It was hanging behind me in the above video. Lou decided it was a lovely cat napping station after I left it on the bed. (Sorry, no documentation).
I think I bought this yardage at my favorite fabric shop in Poughkeepsie, NY in the '70s. The top was sewn in 1973. Here is a post that goes into details.
2) The Vintage Floral This one I bought at Pilgrim Mills in Providence, RI. There used to be a lot of fabric mills in the Providence area and Pilgrim was an outlet for mill ends. Sewn in 1981, it started as a retro boatneck fit-and-flair dress. I recently found an old slide with me wearing the dress, but since I'm already so late in posting this, I'll come back and add it later!
Other notes: Did a full rendering of this print in gouache, plus a colorway for an Otis class. Another thing to hunt for. I refurbished this into a skirt (currently lives on Mending Mountain).
On the quilt, not sure if any patches have lasted. This one, in the upper left corner, I covered - look how faded it got!
3) The Couch Fabric This covered a love seat that my parents gave me when I moved to Manhattan in 1977. It was my paternal grandmother's, I still have it (in storage in the garage). Again, a photo search for another day!
I'm going to start with my number one textile treasure: The Crazy Quilt!
photo from 2013 click to embiggen
This is my major mending WIP and I'm featuring it in the daily prompts for #MendMarch2020 (see last week's post. The IG hashtag is #crazyquilt_amb). This was "on hiatus" in storage for a few years, I brought it back into use last year, inspired by the mending workshop I took with Ruth Katzenstein Souza. It is both "in progress" and on my bed, so the shredded, holey parts are getting progressively worse.
Moth holes, shredded parts revealing the base sleeping bag, these patches dating from 1973-1987
It's not easy to work on while in active use (potential stabbing from forgotten pins or lost needles) and last summer I got lazy when it was off the bed and more workable and I did no mending.
It's full of nostalgic scraps -- I started it my Junior or Senior year of high school in 1973-74.
I've also made half of it twice! [Here's THAT story]
I think the oldest scrap is from the fabric that covered the couch in our living room and I'm thinking the couch was reupholstered with it when we moved to Millbrook, NY in 1968.
The newest addition has been cut but not yet sewn.
I think I'll use some visible mending, the former sock is super bulky.
I've started a Crazy Quilt Dossier in Noteshelf (visual organizing app).
I'm dividing the quilt into sections and will reminisce about each patch.
We'll see how far I get!
Here is page 1:
Below is the mending. I have no special memories for this dot fabric.
It's a random strikeoff from work, I didn't "design" this dot.
