Congratulations, America!
Congratulations, America!
Posted on 02/14/2009 in In Progress | Permalink
See this?
It's the Ghana purple,*** completed. And that little bit on the bottom where it's not attached? That happened a few days after I completed it and then, after wrestling with ever so much GUILT, started disassembling it.
This was going to be a purse offering, just a bigger purse than normal, mainly because I wanted to see how the block for the skirt would look if in two colors instead of three. A standard purse block is the logo +18 hexes in one color. The skirt block is the logo +38 hexes in two different colors. The three color version looks pretty cool, but it's designed to be skirt panel or blanket large. So I made the Ghana purple purse to get a sense of what it would look like smaller, with one color removed.
And I really, really, really liked it.
A lot.
Because there are limited amounts of this particular cloth I never made a block of it for the skirt. What with the whole point of this project being a Not For Myself Alone type of thing, the thought never hit to do so.
You know, until I made this one. And liked it. Ever so much.
Which is why I'm keeping it for myself, to put it into the skirt. Thus the whole taking it back apart again, because I need only the logo and the inner ring for the skirt.
But! To deal with the GUILT and all, disassembling it means I'll have more solid linen available for a regular purse, just enough for one more! That will be offered in the third set. This purple linen is so very pretty. I love the way it feels and looks.
The second purse set goes up tomorrow starting at 6 a.m. They will all be up by 6:15, if the auto-post thing works.
Update! Okay, here's my attempt at clarity, without photoshopping the photo with a layer of numbers and arrows because I don't have time for that. The prime version of this block is three colors. The first two colors are the inner ring around the logo. In the photo, that's the circle of hexes in purple solid and Ghana purple of white w/purple splotches: color 1 is the solid purple, color 2 is the Ghana purple. The third color is the base color. In this example, all of the solid purple that's not part of the inner ring? That would be the third color. When it's in three colors, that inner ring makes a skewed diamond pattern that looks nifty and really pops when you lay the entire piece it out right.
blah blah blah. How about a picture? This is the inner ring, the only part I need for the skirt.
In the skirt I'm making (for myself because I am a terrible, selfish person), color 1 is pulled from old suits, shirts (including pieces of what remains of a Hawaiian shirt an uncle gave me off his back 12 years ago when I complimented it), Vintage Mom Cloth and the like. Color 2 is pulled from scraps of all sorts of things dating back many, many years, a lot of it experiments in dying or leftovers from projects. Color 3 is blue denim. So far I've gone through two pair of jeans and a denim skirt I no longer wear, one pair of jeans from an Ex and a denim jacket from another Ex. Yet I can tell I still need more! I"m not sure what to do once I hit the I Definitely Need More stage. I have a denim dress I've not touched because I still wear it. It may need to be sacrificed.
So the entire skirt piece (the one I'm selfishly making for myself) is comprised of recycled cloth from the house. Nothing new is consumed in its creation.
Making this thing is an enormous amount of work & materials, even more than the Irish Double Chain block in mudcloth & cord. But once it's done it will be totally worth it! I am hoping to have that done by Nov. 4 2008, so I can wear it that day in either Triumph or Despair. I can't tell which because the polls are all over the place.
I'll post pictures once it's done.
*** So named because the purple/white cloth is from Ghana, leftovers from a project I did a year or so ago.
Posted on 09/22/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
Given the alarming news that this blog's provider is planning on taking sites down for maintenance on Friday, I'm going to delay posting the new items until after that's all over, in case the maintenance goes about as well as the alleged "upgrades" have. Which is fine because I still have three more straps to make.
Posted on 09/18/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
Posted on 09/17/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
There are more on the table out of the shot, one of them a shiny heavyweight gothy black satin! (Update: Someone who has seen that cloth would like the point made that it can also be classified as 'elegant', which he feels is a more appealing descriptor than 'goth'.)
The Mickey Mouse one on the far right has already been claimed.
Posted on 09/10/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
Posted on 09/10/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
Posted on 09/06/2008 in In Progress | Permalink
Straps were an issue from the beginning, all throughout the prototype stage. (For those keeping count, there were five prototypes before I got to the Beta, three of those block-only prototypes. Beta = the near final version where only minor fixes need to be made for the next step.) I wanted flexibility for the end-user. In case for some reason that person hated the straps I chose, I wanted it to be easy to replace the straps. Then there's the issue of sizing. Some people like short purse straps, some like long. I lean toward long.
Posted on 07/05/2008 in In Progress | Permalink