The Nine Lives top with Kangaroo Path

Do Kangaroos have nine lives? I don't know, but my new Nine Lives top [pattern by The Sewing Workshop] uses the lively yellow Kangaroo Path print from M&S Textiles Australia and I just love it! Paired with the smoky blue-grey Lillup Dreaming (ash colorway) print [M&S Textiles Australia] and my repurposed vintage buttons... it's perfect in every way.

My new Nine Lives top with fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia  and repurposed vintage buttons.

The Kangaroo Nine Lives top: details and modifications

I've made the Nine Lives top several times. With only a four basic pattern pieces, it offers plenty of potential for customization, modification and embellishment. My "kangaroo" version has these mods: 

• a front patch pocket,
• an appliqué accent at the shoulder,
• a side vent,
• high/low front and back hems,
• straight hem.

Design details: appliqué on right shoulder and a left breast patch pocket.

The blue ash color of the Lillup Dreaming fabric print is what initially inspired me to make this top. The golden yellow Kangaroo Path was a serendipitous accompaniment.

Back view of the Kangaroo Nine Lives top with ash colorway of Lillup Dreaming

I'm particularly fond of the contrast fabric on the breast pocket. It balances the appliqué on the right shoulder. The contrast fabric collar, pocket accent and appliqué bring the back fabric to the front of the garment.

Details: side vent and high/low hems.

The vintage buttons—a wonderful find at a resale shop—added another complementary detail to this top's color story.

Repurposing vintage buttons from a resale shop.

Close-up of the vintage buttons.

By hand and machine

Lately I've been enjoying a lot of hand stitching—big stitch quilting, kantha, and garment finishing techniques. The handwork on my Kangaroo Nine Lives includes:

• an appliqué embellishment,
• finishing the front and back hems.

The machine sewing includes:

• the garment construction, 
• patch pocket, 
• buttonholes and attaching the buttons,
• the seam allowances were finished with a serged edge.

Nine Lives top with the Valencia pants.

A me-made garment for August!

I am quite pleased to start off the month of August with a new me-made top! The summer weather is still upon us, so I foresee many opportunities to wear my kangaroo top. In the above photo, I'm wearing the Valencia Pants [The Sewing Workshop pattern] with my new Kangaroo top. In "kangaroo" style, both the pants and the top have had pockets added! (wink, wink.)

The Nine Lives Vest pattern [The Sewing Workshop]
and Kangaroo Path fabric from M&S Textiles Australia.

This is the fourth version of the Nine Lives pattern that I've made. My first Nine Lives top was made as the pattern instructed with an assymetrical hem. Alas, this version is not documented on my blog.

Version 2 was made with a pintuck fabric.

Version 3 was made with cotton embossed fabric.

Dare I make 5 more?

Vintage buttons from the Hospitality Shop

I couldn't help it. I found a gold mine of vintage buttons at a resale shop near the university campus in Sewanee, TN, called the Hospitality Shop. These came home with me.

Buttons from a resale shop.

A button bonanza

Sifting through a shallow box of assorted gems at the resale shop was delicious. Two-hole, 4-hole, shank, metal, and a few mother-of-pearl were mixed within this treasure box. 

Sorting by size and color.

The larger buttons could have come from overcoats. Many of the smaller ones were probably from men's shirts. The more decorative ones, from women's garments.

Large, decorative buttons.

I was primarily interested in collecting the smaller, shirt buttons—1/2" or smaller. Small buttons for shirts and tops are more difficult to find in fabric and quilt shops these days, unless you go to a store that caters specifically to garment sewing. One of the clerks asked if I was working on an art project with buttons. I guess one could call it that.

Cut from clothing, some of the buttons still had thread in the holes.

It was obvious the majority of the buttons came off pieces of clothing as several of them still had the thread attached.

Removing the thread remnants.

Finding a new purpose

I tried to pick out multiple buttons that were alike so I could use them on garments. These two-tone ones were a great match for a new top that I'm making. 

Repurposed buttons for a new top.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a few of these buttons had red, yellow or white paint on them. Their previous life was probably on a work shirt. Or a casual shirt turned work shirt? Maybe the work shirt of a carpenter or a painter? Or a craftsman? Or a handyman? From the shirt of someone who worked with his hands... to create beautiful things or repair and refresh something that stood the test of time... that's the story I'm imagining for these buttons.

Paint residue in the buttons.

I like to think these buttons have found a new home with me. They will be useful once again on one of my handmade items. 

I've joined the 100 Days 100 Blocks 2021 quilt-along with M&S Textiles Australia

It snuck up on me this year, but I decided to again participate in the “100 Days 100 Blocks” quilt-along. This is my 4th year. 

It’s gonna be a riot of color and pattern... 
     'cause for 2021, I’m using Australian aboriginal fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia. 

Blocks from the 100 Days 100 Blocks Quilt-along 2021.

My Fabric Pull

Classified as a “Go bold or go home!” color story, these are several of my fabric picks.

Fabric Pull for 100 Days 100 Blocks 2021. Fabrics from M&S Textiles Australia.

The Kinship Fusion Sampler

This year, the quilt-along coordinator, Angie at @gnomeangel, has offered a few layouts that use subsets of the 100 blocks to make smaller quilts... or possibly multiple quilts. I have a *tentative* goal to make a quilt top with a subset of my 100—even before I've finished piecing all 100 blocks. (Let's see if this works out...). I saw one layout that uses about 20 blocks that I'm considering. 

I'm having fun doing selective cuts [fussy cuts] from the Aborigianl fabric designs this year. I'm also learning a lot by auditioning my fabric pull... considering which fabric will be a background and which will be the focus. Below is a selection of blocks from the first 25.

Block 1 with a focus cut in the center.

Block 15 with a focus cut center.

Block 17 with focus cut wheels in the center 4-patch.

The blocks in this sampler quilt are alternately 8.5" x 8.5" and 8.5" x 4.5" (unfinished sizes).

Block 24 is 4.5" x 8.5" (unfinished).

With this quilt-along, quilters gain proficiency with sewing a 1/4" seam and learn the value of "spinning the seams" to minimize bulk at intersections. My stitch length is set at 2.2.

Spinning the seams in Block 7 (back view).

100 Blocks Quilt-along time table

The 100 Blocks 100 Days quilt-along goes from July 1 through October 8, 2021. Gnome Angel provides a downloadable Event Tracker to keep participants organized. With 25% completion (today, July 25), it's going by fast and looking' good so far. Perhaps with this being my 4th year, I know what to expect and how to manage the process.

If you haven't tried an online quilt-along, consider this one. You can join in any time.

Boro-inspired drawstring bag: reliquary or rag?

One of the projects we worked on in Doug Baulos's book arts workshop, Retracing Nature: Folio, Book, Installation, revolved around the concepts of "reliquary" vs "rag." Either can evoke a sense of reverence, preciousness, history, culture, a passage of time... and other emotions.

Scraps of fabrics, patched and stitched to a base cloth and indigo dyed.

Project: Rag

This is the beginning of my "rag" project. Inspired by boro, patching, the act of using precious small pieces of fabric, mending, preserving and renewing, I began to create my piece. Scraps and trimmings from other projects were patched (machine appliquéd) onto a base fabric. 

Elevating the Rag

The patchwork "rag" was then dyed in an indigo vat. Different fabrics took the indigo dye in varying degrees of color and value. Once the overdyed patchwork was dry, I began to hand stitch with cotton sashiko threads. 

Fabric patches overdyed in indigo.

There was no predetermined plan or design for the stitching or color placement—just the mindfulness of running the needle and thread through the fabric layers. Adding to the texture, the knots were left on the "right side"—the "raggy" side. A new thread was started wherever the previous length ran out. 

Running stitches with cotton sashiko threads.

The running stitches both strengthened the patches and added color to the piece. Cross stitches were added to hold down the random, loose or unruly bits.

Cross stitches hold down unruly and frayed edges.

The metamorphosis to a functional object

My hand stitched rag needed to become something functional... something useful... so it would be frequently touched, held and admired. The flat rag metamorphosed into a three-dimensional small bag (approximately 9.5" x 8" x 2"). The boxed bottom was hand stitched and the tabs were left on the outside.

Boro-inspired drawstring bag.

The bag's inside is smooth and beautiful... with colored rows of stitching on a background of sky blue indigo.

The bag's inside with rows of colorful stitching.

Keeping with the suppleness of the hand-stitched piece, I did not use a zipper or other mechanical or machine-made closure. I think the simple drawstring closure is appropriate.

Boro-inspired drawstring bag.

Reliquary or Rag?

I have not yet decided what to keep in this bag: small balls of yarn, a travel project, handwork? For now, it is holding the memory of an enriching workshop experience with Doug Baulos, memories of new friends with whom I shared that experience, thoughts of the previous projects from which the patches came, and the relaxation and mindfulness that came with the creation and stitching processes. 

That is enough. It is full.

Is it reliquary or rag? 

The answer lies in the eyes and heart of the beholder.

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After writing this blog post about the story of this piece, I realized that it certainly identifies with my Make Nine 2021 "Mindfulness" prompt. I'm counting it as my 7th Make Nine finish.