Interview with Constance Kaiser

I spend a lot of time on flickr. I love looking at the stuff that other people make and their inspiration. One day I somehow came across these super cute robot dolls and superheroes. After some clicking, I discovered that the artist, Constance Kaiser, uses Spoonflower to print panels so that people can make their own. It's a wonderful project for people who are new to sewing or who want to make something quick; you don't even need a sewing machine. I was so taken by these little guys that I asked Connie, of Connie Lou Fabrics, if she would do an interview so we could learn more about her process. She has some really amazing items. I love the Little Red Riding Hood tote panel that has everything to make a little bag and all the characters from the story. She also has some holiday designs (like the Gingerbread Man below and a matching hand puppet panel) that can work throughout the year.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I’m a stay-at-home-grandmother, with a husband, two grown sons and an 8 year old grandson. Most of my work experience was in the public sector: Director of a Head Start program, Legislative Aide at the Virginia General Assembly, etc. I have no formal art training or graphic art experience. But I am one of those obsessive artists, who sees everything as a blank canvas needing some decoration.

My mother loved to sew and I was the artist, so we combined to become sort of a craft-conspiracy. She would sew darling dresses for my nieces, then I would hand paint or applique on them. Though I consider myself a non-sewer, I learned to love fabric from my mother. I also have a beautiful collection of antique quilts done by family members (one of which won a first prize at the Ohio State Fair in 1932).

I like that you offer a basic print to coordinate with your more whimsical images. That’s not something that I see a lot on Spoonflower. Why did you decide to do that?

So I had been doodling, painting and crafting for sometime when I tripped across Spoonflower last year. I thought the idea of short-run, original design fabrics would be an extraordinary tool for crafters and seamstresses. What fun it would be to make a clutch from an original design and line it with a coordinating print, make a unique fabric baby bib and back it with a matching plaid, or add coordinating original design fabrics to a quilt. The possibilities are endless! I rarely work on a print that in my imagination when I’m not designing the matching plaid or stripe or print.

Your doll panels are such a great idea. My mom made lots of dolls from these panels for me when I was a kid, even a tote bag that I still have. Is this a nod to vintage?

In my first shop on Etsy I made and sold original design dolls and puppets. So I began thinking that those would be perfect to print up on fabric and then sew. Better yet, I print them and sell the panels to people who sew to make up. I’ve really had fun with the concept of panels or kits. I think that the difference between “Look what I bought for the baby” and “Look what I MADE for the baby,” is incredible. I never thought of it being vintage, but in a way I guess it is. Like when my mother and I worked together. I’ll be the artist and you do the sewing and together we’ll make something unique and original.

I’ve never seen images printed on fleece before. What is that process like?

I believe that fleece is God’s gift to non-sewers. You don’t have to worry about hemming or finishing seams or fraying. And fleece can be cut into all kinds of shapes and patterns; plus fleece is sooo soft for baby and toddler toys. Though I work primarily through Spoonflower for my fabric printing, and I love the Spoonflower community and all the technical bells and whistles that Spoonflower has, I go to another site to have my fleece printed. Spoonflower made it clear early on that they would not be printing fleece; they would only print organic fabric. I go to Fabric on Demand to have my fleece printed and the process is very much the same. I’m amazed at how crisp and bright the colors are, though I do lose some of the fine detail (that’s just due to the fuzziness of fleece). I think that soon all my pocket dolls will be done in fleece. The smaller the object being sewn and turned, the less fabric you want wadded up inside the little nooks and crannies. And with fleece you can work with a much smaller seam allowance and not worry about fraying.

So, what's on the drawing board?

I just can’t stop thinking about all the wonderful possibilities of printing your own fabric. I’m already designing the Christmas presents for my family this year. I’m going to take some traditional family holiday recipes, write them out on recipe cards, then scan them and make a print out of them. I plan to print up the fabric and make tea towels or hot pads for all my brothers and sisters, cousins, and nieces and nephews. How adorable will that be…“Aunt Jean’s Pumpkin Pie” and “Aunt Dorothy’s Creamed Onions” and “Grandpa’s Christmas Fudge”! I’ll also be adding some baby shower gifts panels and children’s apron kits to my shop as soon as the printed fabric arrives.

Thanks so much to Connie for the interview! Come back tomorrow because Connie has offered to give away one of her panels to a reader. Make sure you check out her other shop, Mini Monster, where she sells her finished creations like hand puppets and cool little monsters.

The PROJECT:project flickr group

I started a little group over on flickr for you. It's for all the projects that you've done that have been inspired by (or guilted into) from PROJECT:project. It's called PROJECT:project's Projects. Isn't that funny?

Hop on over and join. I just finished setting it up.

Confession

I am not going to sew a fancy pants Halloween costume for my kid.

I bought this Scooby Doo costume at a yard sale for 2 bucks. I ripped off the face and threw it into the back of my husband's Honda Odyssey because it creeped me out. I will cut out an oval from felt to make a mouth, hot glue on some eyes and some ears and be done with it. A monkey of sorts.

Doesn't this incredibly blurry photo make my bathroom look really clean and bright?

Is that safe?

So today I drove to a different state (not a big deal in WV as we're surrounded by like five other states) to meet an "online friend" in a dark parking garage in the middle of nowhere. As I was pulling into the very dark parking garage, seriously in the middle of nowhere, I had a moment of trepidation until I saw my friend with her baby strapped onto her standing next to her stationwagon with my new prized possession inside. Is this crazy? Of course it's crazy.

Sometimes I feel like no one in my "real" life gets me. I was just talking (actually emailing) with someone about this today. I feel super lucky to have friends in real life but also super lucky to be a part of this online community where people think it's rad to cut up some dead guy's jacket and turn it into a cape and to cut up dead furniture to make something amazing.

It was nice meeting you today, you know who you are. And it will be nice meeting the rest of you one day.

Upcycled Capelet Tutorial . Part II

First of all, thanks so much for all the positive feedback on this capelet. And thanks again to Kathleen of Grosgrain for designing the original pattern. It is such a great fit.

For Part I of the tutorial, click here.

We will begin with the lining.

Hem the straight edge of the FRONT lining pieces (shown above but covered with the next step). To figure out how much to turn in, place these pieces on the jacket fabric and measure. I turned the button edge in 3/8” as that is the seam allowance. But for the buttonhole side, you will need to leave room for the buttonholes and turn in more (see arrows). This measurement will depend on your jacket’s original buttonholes.

Take your warm fleece fabric for the muff/pouch and turn all four edges under ½” and stitch. If your fabric won't fray much, you could probably avoid this step. Or if you have a serger, that would be even better.

Place the fabric panels on the wrong side of the lining as shown. They should butt up against the edge. Topstitch them on taking care not to get the lining all bunched up.

Stitch the FRONT and BACK cape pieces RST at the long curved seam. Don't forget to leave the armhole open. Backstitch for extra strength at those points. On the original pattern there are marks and notes, "sew to here." I will make a note to myself by putting a pin in the other direction where I need to stop.

Stitch the FRONT and BACK lining pieces RST at the long curved seam. Leave the armhole open as before.

Remove the buttons and mark their placement. You will sew them back on later.

Next the place the lining inside the cape RST.

Prepare the hem. You will need to turn the existing flap of the jacket to the outside to ensure a clean edge. Then pin the entire hem and stitch carefully.

Stitch the collar to the lining RST, making sure to leave the neck edge open.

Clip both points off as shown. Turn inside-out and press.

Set the collar inside the cape RST as shown. The inside of the cape (the wrong side) will be facing outward and the collar will be nestled inside. Make sure that you attach the collar lining to the jacket fabric. Likewise, the cape lining will be attached to the jacket fabric. Then pin like you’ve never pinned before, starting with your center folds. Stitch carefully. If you get a pucker, just pick out the stitches around it and sew that area again.

Now the fun part. Pull the whole thing inside-out through one of the front openings.

Topstitch your neck seam so that it will lie flat.

Now finish up the construction by topstitching the lining to the cape. Leave an opening as shown so that the chubby little fingers can clasp on crisp Fall days.

Your buttonhole side should have the lining stitched just outside the edge of the original buttonholes. If you have a weighty tweed like the one pictured, your stitching will not show very much on the front of the capelet.

Finger press your bottom hem, pin and topstitch about ¼” from the edge.

Sew the buttons back on. Attach the hook and eye closure.

And it’s done! Please let me know if you have any questions. I know that a few of the photos are less than stellar. I am happy to try to fix any problems in the post.

Upcycled Capelet Tutorial . Part I

Welcome to Part I of the Upcycled Capelet Tutorial. I had this idea a long time ago, found the perfect jacket this Summer, and used Kids Clothes Week over at Elsie Marley to make it happen. It may seem daunting but I am breaking it down into simple steps. Also, you do not have to make the hidden pouch with the lining. You can just skip those parts.

I really love how how this turned out. I found large hook and eye closures so that it could hang open or we can button it up using the jacket's original buttons and buttonholes. I used the Storybook Cape pattern from Grosgrain because it's a perfect fit and uses less fabric than a traditional circle cape. This makes a size 2 - 3 but can be easily enlarged by adding width to the fold line on the pattern back piece and the straight line of the pattern front piece. And, of course, length as needed.

Print out the pattern pieces from this link. You won’t need to print out the hood.

Print this collar pattern. I drafted this from the original pattern's hood so it is a perfect fit.

Trim two inches of the pattern from the bottom edge of both cape pieces.

Carefully remove the sleeves from the jacket.

Place the pattern on the jacket as shown if you want to use the buttonholes. As you can see, the pattern is hanging over the edge of the jacket at the opening because it has the seam allowance built in. Because I'm using the existing jacket edge, I don't need a seam allowance.

Cut 1 of the BACK on the fold from both the lining fabric and the jacket.

Cut 2 of the FRONT pieces from both the lining fabric and the jacket.

Cut the collar from what is left over. If you don’t have enough using a fold, add a seam allowance to the pattern at the fold line and cut from two different areas (like the sleeves).

A 3/8” seam allowance is incorporated into all the pattern pieces.

If you’d like a cleaner look to your arm openings, add a flap as shown.

Cut out and label all your pieces.

You will also need two 3.5” X 7.5” pieces of the lining fabric for the bound opening and two 5” X 7” pieces of something soft and warm like fleece for the hidden muff/pouch.

Trim the original inside seams from the jacket as shown (if they’re messy).

Fold in the “flaps” for the sleeve openings on all 8 pieces and stitch them down.

Mark placement for the bound openings as shown. The marks should be 3” from the bottom, 3” from the inside seam, and 4.5” long. One way to do this is to draw a line on your pattern, fold the paper over, then use the straight edge of the pattern as a guide.

Carefully cut the fabric on the line to make the opening.

Mark the lining fabric for the bound opening.
a. Draw a 4.5” vertical center line on the fabric.
b. Draw a line 1/2” on each side of the center line.
c. Draw short horizontal lines at the top and bottom to connect all three.

Place the lining fabric on the jacket front with right sides together (RST). You can see in the photo the edge of the original pocket. The center line of the lining should match up with the opening slit you just cut.

Stitch the rectangle as shown.

Cut the center line of the lining and cut a triangle from the center line to each outer line as shown.

Pull the lining to the inside of the jacket and handstitch it in place. Getting it to look just right takes a bit of fussing.

If your lining fabric is very slippery, you may want to adhere it to the jacket fabric. I used fusible interfacing (Wonder Under) and some scrap cotton fabric to make the patch. This is not necessary but it was getting on my nerves.

The hardest part is done! As you can see, I didn't do such a great job of lining up my fabrics so one side is wider than the other. Luckily, my 2-year old didn't notice.

We’ll do the lining and collar tomorrow. Special thanks to Kathleen at Grosgrain for the amazing original pattern.

Apologies for the terrible quality of some of the photos. I did most of this sewing after dark while the kid was asleep. Please, please, please let me know if you have any questions. I will answer them in the comments.

For Part II, click here.

Hair and a Kids Clothing Week wrap up

So would it be weird for me to bring this vintage pattern into a hairstylist and say, "This is what I want"? Is that taking it too far? Yes, please make me look like a 6-year old from 1978. Thanks.

And check this out. Elsie Marley made up a couple of photo collages of her favorites from Kids Clothes Week and she liked my little capelet. That really made my day. I definitely did the whole week. Even though I caught a nasty cold, I spent at least an hour each night working on my cross-stitch. I sew a lot but not every night. This was a good way to buckle down and focus.

I'll have Part I of the upcycled capelet tutorial up tomorrow. It is so much cuter on the kid than the hanger.