Twist preview

Twist VI is coming at the end of this week!


Come see me and lots of other unique and lovely handmade items at the Northampton Center for the Arts on Friday night and Saturday. I'll be in the West Gallery this time. Make your way through the party in the disco ball-adorned middle room, then take a breather and enjoy some elbow room in the relative cool and quite of the windowed West Gallery. There will be plenty to room for trying on skirts.


At Twist V last November there was a "Vermont Block." I don't know exactly where my home-state peeps will be set up, but I'm super excited to be there with them. Be sure to check out the Vermont talent: COOB Originals, Recycle Moe, and Nicole's Threads.


I have been blessed by all of the time I've gotten to spend in the studio lately. I'm bringing many new prints to my Twist customers, and have been enjoying pairing them with vintage fabric finds and cast off clothing in need of repurposing. These photos are a little sneak peek.


Whoops - Windy! I had the barn door slid wide open to let in all the good spring daylight for this photo shoot. All the other pictures were taken between gusts. See you in Noho.

Earth Day Upcycle Fashion Show at Alchemy Initiative

My assignment from Alchemy Initiative: "Create upcycled garments using only locally sourced repurposed materials." So I made these three aprons from button down shirts I bought at the Listen Thrift Stores of White River Junction, VT and Lebanon, NH. I trimmed them with the piecey remains and collars from other button-down shirts plus bits cut from vintage curtains and dressed. Materials used for interfacing and linings used to be household linens.

I had to go out and buy shirts, even though I have piles of previously scored ones in my workshop because..."Provide high-resolution photos of the original materials before deconstructing them, to be part of the backdrop slide show playing during the fashion show." All my piles of thirfted shirts already have the collars and cuffs carefully removed and serged for trimming skirts. Those piles are dwindling fast as I convert the shirts into sashes for skirts.

These aprons plus many more wonderful inventive upcycled creations by a whole bunch of designers will be featured in Alchemy Initiative's Earth Day Upcycle Fashion Show this Friday.

Come bid on them as part of their Silent Auction fundraiser directly after the show, then boogie down with me and all the other folks at the Dance Party to follow. Come back the next day for a Clothes Swap extravaganza!

Having a Grandma Moment

I have started weaving a rag rug. A really, really long one. In my grandmother's house in Maine there was a rag rug stair runner going from the kitchen up to the long chamber. This was the indoor realm of young grandchildren during summer visits before we graduated to the barn bedrooms as teenagers. I always loved that stair runner. I don't remember there being any other woven rag rugs in the house, but there were many beautiful hooked rugs and a few braided rugs, all of which she made, of course, from repurposed materials. As I have said to anyone who wants to talk to me about my creative inspiration, my maternal grandmother, Marion Brown Curtis, Is It. She was a necessary DIYer of a different generation and she had a great aesthetic. When I was very young she still had two floor looms set up in the long chamber, one quite large. She wove that stair runner on one. She also wove fine wool yarn into subtly patterned cloth which she then made into smart suits that she wore to town and church.


The prominent staircase in my home is in great need of an upgrade in covering. I have a lot of clothing and other cast off textiles I have accumulated over the years that I know I will not use for sewing projects. So I recently started taking a weaving class at Altus in Chelsea, VT. I've never woven on a floor loom before. After the warp was on and I had a few hours of weaving under my belt (and as much time prepping my materials - I hadn't thought about how long this aspect of the project would take) I realized it is going to take me a long time to finish this project. And that's okay. I imagine it probably took Grandma many weeks, if not months, maybe even a year, to finish her rug. She had a lot of other things going on in her life, too. I expect it to take me much of a year to finish my rug, if not longer. I like that I'm going to have a similar experience I imagine Grandma did. When I can I will make the time to prepare my materials: further deconstructing shirts I've taken the collars and cuffs of off, stripping old skirts and curtains, sewing these together into long lengths when I know I'll soon have time to weave. I'm feeling very happy and fortunate on many levels to have this going on in my life.

blooogerrrrzz

I want to extend a sincere appreciation to Jen and Jean at Gingham Style. I met them at the Cabin Fever show and we instantly bonded over our shared love of gingham. I thank them very much for the charming write-up they gave me on their blog. For the best guidance and the most fun antiquing in Brimfield, MA I would sign up for their bus tour!

Also, Lauren at You Had Me At Handmade put me in her recent "weekly obsession" collection of skirts. Take a peak - my grey kiku is in good company.

Blog on, you all.

Craft Fair Couture: Cabin Fever at the Catherdral High School Gym

Love was in the air at SoWa's Cabin Fever Indie Craft Fair in Boston last week. And it took place in the Cathedral High School gym. Kind of weird for me since I attended a Cathedral High School (in Duluth, Minnesota). There were all the banners on the walls chronicling their victories in the Catholic Urban and Suburban Leagues.

Since this is part of my Craft Fair Couture series I'm going to write about what people were wearing. Here are Sara and Phil of Rocks and Salt; Matt rocking his purple sweater and plaid scarf, Sara forever cutting an elegant tomboy figure. I seem to have been following them around to shows this past year: Twist, BUST, now here we were neighbors at my first show in Boston since Bizarre Bazaar in 2005. I had hat shopping frustrations during BUST where I couldn't get away from my table long enough to pick one, so I made a decision right away here.

I am so happy about my new hat! And my new collapsable, rolling, tough-as-nails garment racks.

Jen of Zooguu in her Mountain Ash Design skirt that she got at the Queen City Craft Bazaar last November in Burlington.

My little Zooguu elephant. Wearing his perfect birthday suit and fancy ears.

Here is AnYa BredBeck of RequiemFineArt pulling off all her statement pieces. It's a statement outfit really. Her ethereal spoon pendants with bits of long lost and forbidden love letters are complete treasures. It's a very compelling story and creative project.

Preparations are in the final stages for a weekend of vending events for Mountain Ash Design. Get your apron-inspired wrap skirts in Norwich and Boston. Don't forget: Sashes are made from vintage and recycled fabrics, mostly button-down shirts I source from local thrift stores. Trimming below the sash are shirt collars and cuffs. Skirts are made from new designer fabrics. All skirts are one of a kind, just like you.

I've really been enjoying my recent time in the studio and have many new one of a kind skirts to offer this weekend. Locals can find me at the Norwich Farmer Market tomorrow from 10-1 in Tracy Hall.

Bostonians can find me at the Cabin Fever Indie Craft Fair on Sunday.
I'm excited to try out my new super sturdy collapsible racks. Figuring out how to fit it all into my 7' x 7' allocated space at Cabin Fever.


Not sure where my awesome new mirror will fit in. Richard built me a handy easel to hold it at just the right angle and height.

The MAD stall at these shows will include a traveling winter clearance department! Featuring winter weight skirts in three lengths, plus super summery lovelies for your upcoming warm climate vacation. Like the Waldorf-inspired rounded corners on my signs?

Can't make it to Norwich or Boston? Visit my online shop any time of the day or night (find a coupon code on the front page of this here blog). I'm listing new items regularly so check back often.

Shake off those mid-winter blues with a trip to the Cabin Fever Show in Boston on February 13th. I'm planning my sale rack for the show as I write this. You can get a jump on that by visiting the Clearance section of my Etsy shop right now. Get an additional 9% off any item by using the coupon code BLOG09 at check out. Just a little something to say, "Thanks for checking in," to my blog readers. Happy Winter!

sweater chop shop

Greeting from snowy Vermont!

I am here to report on the build-your-own-sweater workshop I took at Crispina's with my friend, Noelle Horsfield, this past Saturday.

At this time of year when production demands have loosened up a bit and skirt and apron making are not keeping me creatively satisfied, I get to explore other mediums during my R&R time. I still seem to be drawn to textiles projects, but I am branching out.

Crispina ffrench walked us through the process of deconstructing several felted wool sweaters and constructing the pieces into a brand new one-of-a-kind unique one. Here's mine, made from parts of five sweaters that were no longer terribly stylish or useful:

I didn't actually finish it until Monday morning. The person in our day-long class of 10 who finished hers first, and before class time was over at that, had never sewn a stitch before in her life. Here she is wearing her finished warm cozy with Crispina in one of hers.

Other than the recycling element which I really dig, one of the aspects of this project that I enjoyed was hand-sewing the entire thing. I love to use line as a design element and I had fun choosing a yarn color that really popped against the subdued wool fabric of the sweater.

During much of the time I was stitching, especially when I was back home, I kept thinking about Wylie Sofia Garcia's work. She's a couture installation and performance artist in Burlington. I love her work and the hand stitching is a big part of what I love about it. She has the most amazing project going on right now involving dresses that evolve daily. Check it out here.

Some other in-progress creations by workshop participants:

This blue one is Noelle's. Visit her website for some wonderful visual treats. She's a cut paper artist with a wonderful way with color and inspiring subject matter.

Next up: Weaving class. I'm going to attempt to make a rag rug stair runner like the one that my grandmother made that ran up the stairs from her kitchen to "the long chamber" upstairs.

Time Out New York

I am starting to catch up on a few things after a busy end of 2011 and a little break thereafter and have some things to report. My trip to New York with Kelly McMahon of May Day Studio for the BUST Craftacular last month garnered some online press (oxymoron?). Time Out New York's online fashion + style correspondents conducted a little interview with me and snapped some pictures. My skirts (okay, and me, my outfit, my no-regrets tattoo, my super cool wrist cuff made from an Iowa license plate by Aaron Stein of Revival Studio, etc.) comprise the last three photos of their rather brief "Street Fashions" slide show. Check it out by clicking here.

Handmade Holiday Festival Part 3: Fiber Arts Junky

Happy New Year to all! I've been saving this post for the eve of my return to Alchemy Initiative, this time for a Crispina ffrench workshop this Saturday. Here's Crispina at the Handmade Holiday Festival, wearing one of her signature sweaters and the MAD skirt she acquired at Twist in November.

At her stall full of sweaters, xmas stockings, potholder rugs and wool scrap wreaths, Crispina's sister, Sofie, inspects the skirt. I had to buy one of those wreaths. Every year I am always late getting an evergreen wreath on my door. Problem solved. And the trees whose branches I'm not going to be cutting off in future - well, I think I solved their problem, too.

Let's get a better look at what Sophie is wearing. It is a Crispina sweater - a hand sewn composite of parts of various felted wool sweaters that were no longer very useful or appealing on their own. I don't know if Crispina made it for her or if Sophie made it herself under Crispina's instruction. Either way, it's cool! And suits her so well. It is just such a sweater-making instructional event I am attending on Saturday. I'm very excited.

More handmade attire. The folks at Alchemy Initiative came up with a brilliant way to repurpose t-shirts into useful aprons. Just right for those people who want something soft and fun, but not too "pretty" to freely wipe their hands on. I watched the truffle-maker whose stall was next to mine buy this Elmo apron right off of this volunteer.

Another Alchemy Initiative t-shirt apron worn by co-founder and painter Diane Firtell, who created the trademark image of the bell tower for AI. Her studio is in the church basement and I hope to see her again when I'm there for the workshop.

I am such a fiber arts junky. At the HHF I kept going to visit Christine Fromm's booth three down from mine (pictured here wearing her own creation), which was also full of repurposed sweaters. She makes the most beautifully finished skirts, dresses, hats, capes and more. They are stunning. This photo does not do justice to her work.

Hey, speaking of what people are wearing, here's Suzi Banks Baum of Fe-Mail wearing her MAD skirt. I loaned her my grandmother's red petticoat for the day to keep the skirt from sticking to her black jeans. I have found it's good to have such things on hand at a show.


No group of posts about the HHF would be complete without my home-state pals Moe and Matt of Recycle Moe. We spent a lot of off hours together when in Pittsfield for this show, enjoying food together, comparing consumer xmas philosophies and sharing stories of thrift store scores. In keeping with the fiber arts theme of this post, I would like to tell you that Moe makes those cute birds from recycled sweaters (there are plenty to go around, folks) and Matt crocheted his hat. In fact, I can't think of when I have ever seen the top of his head. Stay warm, everyone!

Handmade Holiday Festival, Part 2: The Wares

Here are some up-close photos of some of the wonderful and unique products that were for offer at last weekend's Handmade Holiday Festival at Alchemy Initiative in Pittsfield. Above, hand stitched dolls by Claire Fox.


Imagine my happy surprise when I found my own Richard's paper in the work of my new pal, Suzi Banks Baum and her creative partner, Karen Arp-Sandel of Fe-Mail.

Knives are not usually my thing but these were right across from my stall. Amazing materials and craftsmanship.

These great little paper collages are so much like quilts and so much like fish scales. They were made by Ellie Kreischer, (below, on the right) of Winged Rabbit Designs.

Ellie was one of my close neighbors at the show and I bought good from her right away (shhh - stocking stuffers). She and her friends Alison and Emily were such great company, during the show and after hours at the Red Lion Inn ("the Den"?).

Birch bark and twisted, burly wood lamps by Warren at Roots and Rust.


These hand dyes, spun, & knit hats by Linda Clayton of Lulu Knits were even more amazing live and in 3D.

Doria Polinger of BiscuitsBones had these cute rag dolls and and animals at her stall and also a variety of truffles that satisfied by chocolate needs on Saturday afternoon.

Text is necessarily rather brief on this post. I'm taking a short break from finishing up skirts for Thursday's Upcycled Fashion Show at ECHO in Burlington. I'll try to come back later and add the links.