Embellished Cigar Boxes

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Anne we have been waiting to receive your address, so we can ship that gorgeous

 2011 ArtBra Calendar to you!

Featured below is a collection of cigar boxes I designed using  our Fusible Vintage Images, silk ribbon, beads and polymer cabs that I make here at the studio. I lightly pad the lid with batting and then place the finished design, which is created on silk doupioni on top of the batting. I use a matching trim around the lid of the box.

I glue Vellux inside the lid. This allows for beading with the lid open and the beads will stay in place. The cigar boxes are deep enough to hold beads, stitching supplies, etc.,  but mostly they are used as display pieces in my friends studios.

Free Freight at RibbonSmyth this week!

Any order of $25 or more ships this week with Free Freight for all US and International shipments at www.ribbonsmyth.com. Pictured is the Victorian Rose Gold Ribbon Sampler. These fibers just came in from the dye house and I love the richness of the colors.

FiberFusion Embellished Collage Film Canister

Another collection here at the studio, are vintage Hollywood film canisters. They are the perfect container to fill with fabric/paper/emphemera/ribbon gifts and I use them to display ribbons and trims at trade shows. I also use them as sewing cases. I have a magnet sheet on the inside of the lid to hold small scissors and needles. The canisters are deep enough to hold fabrics and embellishments.

This film canister is embellished with FiberFusion.
What an easy method for making wet-felted fabric. Making FiberFusion is a workshop that I  teach and everyone loves the fabrics they make in class.

 A complete kit is  $12.95. All the fibers are hand-dyed here at the studio. For this piece I used shades of rust, moss green, and mustard yellow. Spread the fibers onto freezer paper, glossy side up. Drizzle water and textile medium onto the fibers. Sprinkle in gold leaf, small pieces of fabrics, lace, paper bits. Place the freezer paper sheet in the sun and let dry. In 30 minutes peel off the fabric from the freezer paper. This fabric also has gold metallic paint spritzed onto the fabric surface. Use the ragged edges of the FiberFusion as a design element. A needle glides through the fabric; so I took a few tucks with a needle to add dimension; added in a gathered 2" strip of velvet from our Velvet Assortment Pack, tacked that into place and then using our hand-dyed rayon tape, made a small gathered ribbon spray and tacked that to the FiberFusion. In one corner, I added a small gathered piece of metallic lace from one of our fabric packs. Glue the embellished piece of FiberFusion to the canister. Using E6000, I glued in old bits of jewelry and a brass finding. 30 minutes to create an attractive collage!

English Cottage Crazy Quilt Block - Beginner Basics

This is a Beginner Basics Crazy Quilt Block that I offer as a workshop and will be teaching next week. Making 35 kits took longer than creating the block! 

It's a perfect little project  for beginner silk ribbon enthusiasts. And this block is a breeze to piece. I use silk doupioni from the RibbonSmyth doupioni assortment packs. Give a seasonal block a bit of contrast by using apricot and plum fabrics together. Always a great combination and I don't often see the colors used together.

 Once the block is pieced, fuse the vintage cottage image into place. That's what I love about the RibbonSmyth fusible vintage images. Never a pucker and no time wasted stitching the image to the fabric.

A great way to use up that floss in your stash, make a tree! I've been teaching the "tree" technique for years and it's an enhancement to the cottage image by continuing the landscape. Add silk ribbon French knots to the foreground for dimension.

 Add a bit of RibbonSmyth leaf garland and sprinkle Silk French knots and gold beads among the garland. Did you know in New York the garland sells for $7.50 at  a popular trim store? We sell it for $1.75 a yard. You can embellish quite a few pieces with a yard of leaf garland.

Add a few more simple silk ribbon blooms and a glass butterfly for added dimension. The Czech luster glass butterflys are 6 pieces for 99 cents.

Turn this piece into a block for a wall-hanging and use a different cottage image for each block. The 9"x9" block will be a small cushion complete with fringe. A great shabby chic statement for a guest bed or a small love seat. I will add the finished cushion once I can make up my mind on which fringe to use!

Celebrate Your Muchness Finished ArtBra

"Celebrate Your Muchness" Completed

I believe this little project is finished. I painted spools with gold metallic paint and then wrapped each spool with metallic threads. If you check out Johnny Depp's costume, he had a row of spools going across the front of his vest. I could not find the vintage hat pins, I had in mind, so made hat pins using polymer clay and then painted the clay with gold metallic paint. I am a huge fan of  Pebeo Gold Metallic paint. Thanks to all of you for checking out the pics!

Celebrate Your Muchness~ Cheshire Cat ~ We are all Mad Here!

Another Progress Shot of my Alice In Wonderland ArtBra. I've added the Cheshire Cat and tacked on a silk charmeuse ribbon hatband. The silk strips were taken from a white blouse I found at a thrift store. I dyed the strips using RibbonSmyth Rainbow Dyes. Poured dye into a small bowl and then wet the silk strips. Removed the water, so the silk was damp, and then submerged the strips into the bowl. Quickly removed the silk as I knew the tint I desired should match the gold leather crown, and silk instantly "grabs" dye. Placed the strips onto a piece of wax paper to air-dry. The Rainbow dyes are super for dyeing silk in vintage color-ways.

Now the search for a copy-right free Cheshire cat image.  I printed different sizes until I had the right size that the bra would support.  I printed the cat image onto cotton poplin. Made a cat pattern out of black velvet and stitched the two pieces together. Then I filled the cat with poly-fil. Using a spool of Kreinik metallic black and brown braid, I added a blanket stitch around the cat body. Then I tacked the cat to the bra using black Nymo thread. Once I get the tulle netting stitched to the bra strap, additional stitches will be taken into the strap to support the cat. I'm mindful of the treatment the bras receive while they travel.

I had made the cat one night and left him sitting on a table by the couch. The next day we found the cat a few rooms away, on the floor in the sun room. Our guess is that Pearl, our little Maine Coon, felt the cat was a toy for her and had carried it into another room.

Celebrate Your Muchness Progress

Another Progress shot of an ArtBra that is taking too long to assemble! I do all of my design work late at night. This is an Alice in Wonderland ArtBra that will be unveiled at the Houston Quilt Show in November.
As I add additional steps to the progress on this little jewel; this shot features toadstools. The toadstool caps are made with lime green scraps harvested from a dress purchased at a thrift store. The cap stems are foam gathered from foam shoulder pads and covered in the same French ribbon I'm using for the fiddlehead ferns.  Will dye silk charmeuse for the Mad Hatter's Hat and the silk will go around the hat band. The ribbon ties will flow to the side of the bra. The Cheshire Cat will sit above the gold crown, on the "shoulder" of the ArtBra. Now to find an image a cat that I like. Tim Burton's Cheshire Cat is a bit too "toothy" for this bra.

"My Father's Ties" Finished ArtBra

This is the finished ArtBra. A fun piece to create using four men's ties and a spool of Nymo!

My Father's Ties Button Collage and Silk Leaves

1. This is a button collage with silk leaves. Fold the 2"x4" silk strip to form the leaf and tie off the bottom at the base of the leaf and trim.
2. Burn the silk edges and then stitch the leaves beneath the Tie Rosettes.
3. Another button collage shown beneath the silk leaves.

My Father's Ties Button Collage

Button Collage on the Left Cup of the bra.