"Hi. I'm Sue. I am a tool addict."

Dry Mount Press

I come from a family of engineers, teachers and architects. People who know me well know that the engineering genes, though poorly expressed, come through when I am in contact with a tool.

"Hi.  I'm Sue.  I am a tool addict."  It is true.


This Habitat project allows me to use so many different threads, scissors, dyes and tools!

I use the dry mount press, that I have had for over 30 years, to mount the assembled squares on the Pelltex fusible "board."

I use the computer assisted embroidery machine to decoratively assemble the fabric "blocks"  using the satin stitch and some of the lovely embroidery stitches that come with the machine.  Each module has at least one line of silver embroidery.   I am also experimenting with various ways to embroider text.

Computer assisted embroidery machine

The hardy Janome will put up with almost anything!  It has sewn through many odd things over the years it has been in my studio.  In this project it finishes the edges that the serger cannot manage.

Janome

The serger is the newest sewing machine in the studio.  It came to live with me last year, just before I fell an wrecked my shoulder.  I got it at the Annual Textile Center Garage sale!  I had it cleaned up and tuned just in time for this project.

Serger

You might notice all kinds of pieces of tape and stickers on the machines.  These are my "post-it notes."  telling me what settings I am using for the Habitat Project.  Afterall, these are multi-purpose machines and sometimes a girl just has to shorten a pair of jeans!

The best iron I have ever owned!

Every textile studio needs a good iron.  Everything, EVERYTHING, needs to be ironed.  I cannot tell you how many strips of Wonder Under, featherweight interfacing, HeatBond and just plain wrinkled cotton have passed under this iron.  Note the teflon sheet...lots of stuff melts in this process, so lots of non-stick is needed.

This radiator is my newest addition.  The dye studio is unheated!  Yes, you read right.  Un Heated.  I have relied on the movement of heat from the main studio through the archway to the dye kitchen.  I did replace the windows and doors to the studio this winter.  But, even so!  It was time to put one of these in.

My newest tool!

A few details on the Habitat front

I have been surface treating yards of fabric, cutting, reassembling, embroidering, embellishing and serging.  Three different sewing machines are in use.












AT the end of a long week, I had nearly 20 modules completed.  I taped them up on a wall to begin to see what needed to happen.

I learned that I need to do a lot of calmer modules to rest the eye.  Not a problem!  They will probably be a soft blue/grey.

 I also decided ( a soft, non-binding decision at this point) that there will be a dark, brown road/ vine that will meander through the design, leading the eye and assisting with the actual structure.

Baby steps for Habitat

In the breezy studio, it's pretty darn cold and the color references are equally cool.  Not frigid, mind you, but cool, calm and collected.

While I still need to purchase more cloth, more interfacing and probably other un-imagined things, there is enough thinking done to START.  In January there will be 2 workshops with Habitat clients that may shift things. Meanwhile, with holidays and more renovation work on the studio, I will try to be productive.  My contractor will soon slay the breezes that come through ALL the doors in this old building!

Before Thanksgiving, my assistant Dale and I  donned attractive hard hats and visited the new Habitat for Humanity offices.The office accent colors are already a cool, calm, blue-grey with feature walls of natural wood.  

 The hanging I will fabricate will hang across somewhere around the column in this photo, forming a permeable wall between the cubicles and a gathering area.

Surfaced design: procion dye, Dynaflow paint, paint sticks, Lumiere fabric paint, stencils and rubbling

Earlier this week, I got the serger back from the Bobbin Doctor and began the experiments with that.  I determined that the heavy Peltex will got through and will cut!  Hooray!  Determining the tension was not too hard.  From there I went on to do more work on the embroidery machine, learning a couple of small software packages that may allow me to input text with the computer keyboard.  In the next few days I will be working with Airstash to transmit designs to the machine from either  the computer or the iPad or iPhone.  Believe it or not, one of  the text packages is optimized for the iPhone rather than the computer.

So, although only 5 measly "squares" have been fabricated, a lot has been happening around here.

The BIG PROJECT

Since I last wrote here, I was awarded a grant to create 1 large pieces of textile art from 2 panels of 8' x 10'  for the new Habitat for Humanity office in St. Paul.  Habitat is such a great organization!  My family has been supporters and workers for years.

The work that I will make will act as permeable walls for a meeting area, viewable from the cubicles and the gathering space.  Parts of the piece will be fabricated in workshops with Habitat clientele.  They are encouraged to bring their own ethnic textiles which I will scan or photograph so that they can be inserted in the design.

There is so much I could do!  So much I might do.  Follow along here to see the process unfold.

At this juncture, I am planning for 4 different House-shaped modules, suspended among branches/roads/diagonals/grids, connected with chain/threads/cords/zip ties, surface designed with  paint stick/foil/dyes/stencils/relief printing/beads/bangles/photo grams/photos, with connecting text throughout!  Whew!

The modules might look something like these paper cut outs, but visually more complex than a single piece of scrapbook paper.

The new office is decorated in warmish blues and beiges.

It occurred to me that I should have a basic palette in mind.  So, I went out today and filled in my color wheel.  The basic uniting colorway could be in browns and beiges.  The top fabric is actually large sepia toned panels of a portrait by Norman Rockwell.  Cutting it to 12" squares will abstract  the images while portions of the face will still be seen.  There is some chiffon in there that will be considered for overlays, openings and printing.









Greens and blues that tend toward the warm tones with, of course, red and yellow available for pops of color.


But then, there are the unknown client textiles that will begin to arrive in December.  What if none of this works with those unknowns?

DYE!  Dye will probably be a key normalizing factor.


What next?  PLAY!  Time to seriously play with the materials toward planning the workshops and the final product!  Fun in the studio looms large;-)