What do you think, abuelita?
As many of you may have noticed, production of playground entries on this site has slowed down considerably since Joaquin was born. While for several months the presence of a newborn was definitely a reason not to create artwork, I can’t blame it all on the poor bollito. Truth is, Joaquin’s birth brought my old passion for sewing back to life, and that is really where most of my creativity has been pouring over the last several months. It’s too bad that abuelita Luz isn’t here to see everything I’ve made. I know she would’ve loved it, and I would’ve loved to see her pride and joy inspecting every single detail on every item.
So as an homage to my teacher and grandmother, I’d like to share with you a few recent things I’ve made that I would have loved to show her.
Nacho and Pepe
This shirt is 100% handmade (by me), but the artwork is based on illustrations included on the free font “Win Pets”, created by Samuel Marcius, © 1998. Because Joaquin already has enough shirts to take him through the rest of this winter and spring, I contacted Mr. Marcius to request permission to sell the shirt. He graciously granted it.
Biggest fish in the pond
The title of this piece is based on Joaquin’s attitude while modeling this shirt for the photo shoot. This one is also completely handmade, and the artwork is based on illustrations included on the free font “Fun Fish”, created by Denise Clendenin, © 1999. Ms. Clendenin was also super nice granting me permission to sell this shirt on my Etsy shop.
Lía
Lía is 100% my creation. My sister in law, Petie, challenged me to make something cute as a baby shower present for one her friends who’s expecting a little girl. Forgetting that February only has 28 days, I actually had to pull some late nights to finish this one on time. For starters I didn’t have a single piece of baby girl clothing from which to draft a pattern; I had to make my own. I didn’t have any fabric in girlie colors either; had to go out shopping. And then, I couldn’t resist hand printing the yellow jersey fabric to give Petie a floral pattern inside the bird.
Don’t worry, Petie!… I LOVED making it.
What’s next?
After finishing these three, plus other few different pieces that use the reverse appliqué technique I like so much, I’m really itching to do some hand printing again. Last Sunday was my big chance since Joey was taking care of Joaquin and I had planned everything to start working early in the morning, free to do as much mess as I wanted. But oh, sad day, I didn’t have an illustration ready, and after the minor stress from delivering the previous project, my creative muse was not in a very giving mood. I couldn’t come up with anything, and the full day went to waste!
Later in bed, after uploading an overdue batch of photos for Joaquin’s fans, I managed to produce several sketches that gave me some direction for next weekend. I’m thinking of making cloth napkins (thanks Petie!) or coasters, though I prefer napkins (more printing, less sewing), with different designs along the lines of (not necessarily this, or with these colors)…
I don’t think abuelita Luz would be very into this one. He! he!
at Barnes & Noble. It’s a beautiful book and I was tempted to buy it, but in the end decided it was enough with having learned the idea. In the book she sews the appliqués with hand stitches, which is what I did in my first projects. But hand stitching takes forever, and then doesn’t feel to me as sturdy as machine stitches for washability and the abuse that clothing will take from our very active boys. So I moved these kinds of projects to the machine. Can’t imagine having stitched the whole fish design by hand.