Sewing Archives - Hundred Percent Cotton

Creating a Quilt is a Journey, not a Destination — Creator Spotlight

Janice aka JPlovesCOTTON — Wed, 15 May 2019 00:01:53 +0000

A good friend from work recently shared a photo of her holding a quilt saying it was her first one. The pride of workmanship was infectious. I immediately asked her to tell me more, ultimately, I knew her story needed to be featured as a creator spotlight on the blog! Thanks to Ginger Price (check out pricegingerm on Instagram) for sharing her story with Hundred Percent Cotton! This post was written by Ginger.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

It never occurred to me that finishing my first quilt would remind me of a favorite quote from Harley Davidson — “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” The process of tackling a quilt started well before choosing the fabric, the pattern or in my case not choosing the pattern, cutting, sewing… all building to that final moment when ‘ta-dah’ the quilt top was complete.

Nor did it occur to me that once that final moment would arrive how reflecting on the process would be a deeper process of what making the quilt taught me about myself, my heritage and some future desires of things to accomplish creatively. Most of these things had nothing to do with the technicalities of making a quilt.

Creativity has always been a part of me. It’s a gift, some days a curse, but mostly a gift.

I’m the fourth generation creative female on my mom’s side of the family. The curse comes from the frustration of trying to find my ‘thing’. There’s been something in me that has been struggling to find a way to produce some sort of art.

Growing up our house was filled with art produced from each generation—except me—unless you count refrigerator art from grade school. Expressing myself artistically has been a challenge. In part, perfectionism crippled me, intimidation crippled me and being a stubborn goat of a child my unwillingness to sit and learn from my mom also crippled me.

My quilting journey started when my mom made her first quilt. Literally she woke up one day and had the idea to make a quilt top and embroider over it and that it was going to be a gift to me. These early morning ideas are the best—I get them too. She hadn’t made a real quilt before, but she’s good on a sewing machine and an amazing embroiderer.

At the time she wasn’t feeling well and asked me to go pick out fabric for her—cringing on the inside and shaking in my Chucks—I set off to the local quilting fabric store—only to cheer my mom up—telling my mom no isn’t an option. My version of sewing is ‘fake’, in my life maybe five things have been attempted—none really great. So picking out quilting fabric was an overwhelming ask.

Being on a Journey Together

This first step taught me, we are on the journey together. Selecting the fabric in the end was fun, the owner of the store showed me a couple of options to get started and in no time fifty bolts were spread out in the back of the store. You never know how things in life will spark another step—being forced to go by myself for my mother made me realize how much fun selecting fabric can be—surprisingly she loved every piece selected, which made me feel confident.

My parents live in Oregon, for now Missouri is where I reside. My mother continued to quilt and when I’d go home, we would shop for fabric together for her projects. She would buy fabric and make something, my role was to find a few pieces that were attractive and add to my collection. My mother started to make a lot of quilts, she can finish a top or two in a month, in the last five years she has easily made more than 40 quilts and countless smaller quilted things.

One day while shopping she said, “Are you just going to collect fabric…or are you eventually going to make something?” Challenge accepted mom. That day we made an apron together and started the process of making my first quilt.

Planning?

It would be easier to tell you the better way to do things now that we’ve made a couple of quilts together. Mind you my mom is much better. Both projects that started did not have a real plan. Next time there will be a better plan, this lack of planning slowed me down. Decide what size quilt you want to make, decide what pattern you want to use.

Not having a plan made things more difficult—funny how that translates to life in general. We literally copied a pattern from etsy just by looking at a photograph. The journey taught me to slow down and listen, even though it’s painful for my personality—listening and planning make things easier. Mom kept nudging me on committing to a quilt size, and this girl wouldn’t budge.

A challenge faced in finishing the quilt was that my lack of sewing mojo made me want to work on the projects with my mother. Since we don’t live close this required working on it in during my trips home to visit my family. Lugging my quilt across the country four or more times was difficult.

My mom has an amazing community of friends who meet up to quilt. A few trips home it worked to be able to join them. It was so fun to engage in the ‘sisterhood’. They help each other, collaborate on ideas together and best of all just enjoy each other—all three text and encourage each other in quilting, art and life outside of their sew dates. They reminded me the journey, any journey is enriched by community. My suggestion is find a quilting group and join them locally. It was really hard to set out all my stuff and pack it up, then many months later set it all out again.

A Long Journey, Planning to Finish

Four years, multiple trips home this last year my goal was to finish my first quilt before the end of 2018. Christmas break was my deadline, my last shot before the year closed.

My original plan was for me and mom could hop on two machines and tear it up. My plan wasn’t her plan. Deep down she knew it was my mountain to climb. While piecing the quilt together it became VERY apparent that some pieces were not sewn or cut uniformly for size. This caused some heartburn. Making a hexi quilt, the hexis have to line up or it doesn’t work.

After piecing together three strips the thought crossed my mind to trash it. Literally in a rage my vision was walking to the dumpster and heaving it in. Having to take pieces apart, recut, resew and reposition was daunting. Next time attention to precision will be utilized when cutting pieces.

Thinking back to all the trips the quilt was drug home to Oregon, the countless time spent cutting and putting patterns together—tossing it in the garbage couldn’t be the solution. The journey reminded me that even if things don’t come together perfectly, it doesn’t mean the finished product won’t be beautiful.

Imperfect? Maybe. Still Beautiful.

As the final stitches were being made my heart welled up with so much pride and joy. It isn’t perfect, but was finished and just days before 2018 wrapped up.

There were many that helped me along the way, but doing the final piecing of the top gave me so much confidence that a future project solo is possible—don’t get me wrong, sewing with my mom will still happen and maybe buying fabric will too.

Working on the project locally will be very relaxing—cutting, looking at pieces, picking the fabrics, thinking through how to put it together are all therapy for me. Finishing was a landmark achievement—putting it together solo is the sweetest part for me. She was in the background if help was needed, but making me do it on my own was the best victory.

Next step is to finish the back and send it off to our longarmer Teresa Silva who is part of my mom’s sewing group. She is very talented and does all of our longarm work. You can see her on Instagram @quiltingismybliss along with my mom @cmpricefamily.

Plans for another quilt are being made…actually a couple of projects are in the works. My next goal is to not be a one hit wonder—there may be some other arty ideas in the mix, but right now my focus is on creating some beautiful pieces for my loved ones. Back to the Harley quote…the journey continues.

Know a Creator? A Farmer?

Know someone who creates with cotton or even someone who grows cotton and who’s story should be shared here? Please let me know by commenting here or sending a private mesage via the contact form.

The post Creating a Quilt is a Journey, not a Destination — Creator Spotlight appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Ric Dragon’s Handmade Cotton Shirt is also a Talisman

Janice aka JPlovesCOTTON — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:45:42 +0000

The other day on Twitter, I saw a friend I met through #BlogChat — Ric Dragon (@RicDragon on Twitter) say he was worried about not meeting a 2013 goal he had set for himself. It was a goal around writing a certain number of blog posts and guest posts. All I could think was it has been far too long since I had a guest perspective in my series of cotton posts! Love that he writes a post about a handmade cotton shirt and the power it brings.

I got to know Ric through #BlogChat and Twitter and finally met him when I went to the 140 conference in New York in 2012. I hope you enjoy this story on Ric’s favorite cotton shirt.

Threads

I’m not sure if she was insane, or simply eccentric. My friends who own the antique store didn’t seem alarmed at the lady holding up the camisole for inspection. Her accent was heavy – perhaps eastern European. And maybe the item of clothing was not strictly a camisole , but a light cotton shirt.

I could see from five feet away that the garment was ornately embroidered – and that it was all handwork. The lady said, “My mother made it for me forty years ago, but my own daughter is too large to wear it.” The antique dealer’s wife, the one that ran the bakery and coffee shop out of the back of the store looked interested.

The antique dealer shook his head. He offered thirty dollars. Without skipping a beat, the woman said, “fifty.” At this point, I’m thinking to myself that even at thirty, it was a bit of money for an old shirt. But then, all of that hand work.

They finally settled on forty dollars and a breakfast. I’ve had many a biscuit made in this shop, and I can tell you, the meal was worth it: also; all made by hand.

I can appreciate fine shirts as well as fine baked goods. At least the former can help me appear a bit thinner.

I own one bespoke shirt – a light blue cotton piece. I bought the right to the shirt at a charity auction for a hundred bucks, and then was told that I had “scored,” that the shirt was a bargain at five hundred dollars. After making an appointment, I had to travel to a brownstone building in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. I rang the bell, and was shown into a waiting area in a marble foyer, and then finally, to the penthouse fitting room.

I chose the fabric, the cut, the collar style, and even the cuff style. Later, after receiving the actual shirt, I showed it to a custom shirt maker down the street. “Absurd,” he declared. “That much hand work is just absurd. It could all be done with a machine much more quickly – much less expensively.”

When I have a special meeting, I wear the shirt as a sort of talisman meant to bring me all of the good luck of the universe. The good mojo of the universe is all drawn to the hand stitching; the gods and muses all must realize that such a shirt deserves their good favors.

How we’ve lost touch with our clothes. Even while ironing a shirt, my mind plays over the various parts, but most particularly on the shirt yoke – that bridge of cloth over the back shoulders of the shirt. I met a girl when I was a teenager who wouldn’t have anything to do with me. She was a good church-going girl, and she recited the line from Corinthians, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Ironing the yoke of my shirt reminds me of that rejection each and every time.

The creation of clothes must have been an incredible task in the days before the industrial revolution. Combing cotton, the creation of thread and cloth, the tailoring of a shirt – how many hours went into any given piece of clothing? Handwork was unremarkable in a time when everything was done by hand. But how very valuable each and every piece of clothing must have been.

We live in a time where we are still privy to these little reminders – these bits of handmade clothing. We might hear a refrain from Summer Time – “the catfish are jumping, and the cotton is high,” and remember that cotton itself played a role in the American Civil War – that it was a key commodity in the world, and required great amounts of labor.

Today, when I went to the coffee shop, I noticed that the baker was wearing the shirt. This relic of a faraway trousseau was not only being worn, but appreciated – pointed out, felt between curious fingers. These cotton threads – not only between bits of cloth, but from another time and place.

If you have a personal story about cotton to share, you are welcome to write a guest perspective in my series of cotton posts too!

The post Ric Dragon’s Handmade Cotton Shirt is also a Talisman appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Cotton & Sewing are a Family Tradition for @StacyHadrick

Janice aka JPlovesCOTTON — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:20:49 +0000

I love that my friend Stacy Hadrick (@StacyHadrick on Twitter, she blogs at Our Little Place on the Prairie) was willing to join the “Fabric of Our Lives” series of guest posts! Stacy is a fifth generation American farmer, mom of 3 amazing kids, and a woman who is happiest when her plate is full. She’s relatively new to blogging where she’s sharing her life on the prairie in rural South Dakota with family and friends. She points out that “When you live an hour from a Wal-Mart it takes a lot of creativity and planning to keep ahead of my group.” LOL! I can only imagine how much time & effort it takes to stay ahead of a household that includes Troy and three kids!

When I have small moments of time to myself (which is so rare!), one of my favorite things to do is to spend time in a fabric store, touching and looking at all the beautiful colors, bolt after bolt of cotton fabric. It’s in my blood, since I was a little girl I have logged many an hour in fabric stores with my mom, grandma and Aunt Penny. I love looking at pattern books, picking out fabric and feeling the excitement of getting home to start my project. I remember vividly my mom talking to me about cotton fabric she said: ‘although it wrinkles easy, it’s also easy to sew with, easy to care for and breathes really well’. My first 4-H sewing project was a pair of cotton shorts. Funny, I can remember the shorts but have no idea what ribbon I received.

I’m proud to say that my kids are continuing my love for sewing and cotton fabric. What is even better in our small community we have an amazing quilt shop. My youngest daughter, Miss R begs me once a week to take her there. In fact about 6 months ago she got an idea that every morning I could take her to the quilt shop. She planned on hanging out in the morning before preschool and have Lori (the store owner) then take her to school for her afternoon session. Miss R was sure I wouldn’t say no. It made me laugh, she likes being at the fabric store so much she came up with this incredible idea. Her plan didn’t work out, but we continue to make regular stops and get our fabric fix.

Miss R and the pillowcase she made

Each of my children have sewed their first cotton item. My oldest son, T has made many pairs of shorts- camouflage is his favorite color. Miss O has sewed a blanket for her baby cousin. Miss R has made 3 pillow cases now, for her young age of 4 she loves to sew and is very capable of controlling the sewing machine. With all of my children I have shared the wisdom of my mom about sewing with cotton.

Teigen and the cotton shorts he made for this year's 4-H project

I can’t wait to see all the things we will create through our future sewing projects. I’m sure we will make amazing memories with yards and yards of colorful cotton fabric.

My chairs that I recovered in different cotton fabrics since I couldn't pick just one. 6 chairs all different fabric.

This post grabs me…. one because my mom and grandmom have always been able to make anything. Really. And somehow me and fabrics connected early but the ability to use a sewing machine without breaking a needle eluded me. My thriving at the coloring outside the lines didn’t mesh too well with working from precise patterns either so I’ve had to freelance some of the things I do and convince someone else to help. Now I’m thinking my indecision over fabric to cover my dining room chairs has an answer – not just one!

I’d love to have more people tell about some of their connections to cotton. If you are interested, here’s how you can guest post here. And don’t forget to check out Stacy’s blog Our Little Place on the Prairie by starting out with her recipe for blogging. Finally, if you want to know about cotton beyond the fabric used in sewing, check out my Cotton 101 series of posts and you’ll get to see what it looks like on the farm and more!

How to Make Modern Pillowcase Dresses (farmerbloggers.com)
Refashion: Using your scraps to make a chic top (refashionmama.wordpress.com)
Summer tops (idealhousewife.wordpress.com)
Missing for three weeks! (sewconvert.wordpress.com)

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