Housewife for Monticello

I am happy to report that the sewing kits (housewives) I designed & made for Monticello are now available online: http://www.monticellocatalog.org/205433.html for the adult version with fine scissors (below)

http://www.monticellocatalog.org/205432.html for the young adult version, with folding scissors.

travel pincushion

I have been fascinated recently with the idea of sewing kits.  I am more & more convinced that everyone should know how to sew, and  that everyone should certainly begin to re-value possessions enough to consider mending them.  I have made other needle books and sewing kits before. 

I just filled an order for 125 "housewife" sewing kits for the Monticello gift shop (yes, that Monticello) based on Martha Jefferson's daughter's pocket sewing kit.  The idea of a housewife was to carry your sewing kit with you on travels (I expect it got the name from soldiers carrying them into the battlefields, to take the place of their loving wives in mending their socks).  It is ingenious, a length of fabric with pockets into which fit your little necessities.  I put tiny embroidery scissors, buttons, small spools of thread, needle threader, and needles & pins in the ones I made. I was quite a production line with many steps, and I was proud in a Henry Ford kind of way to do hand crafted items on that level of production (and make any money at all!)  I made two versions, one in sober blue & white like the original, and one in kid-friendly colors.  All fabrics were reproductions from the same era as the original.  This project was so much fun!

the original Housewife, from Monticello's collections

my version of a housewife in child-friendly colors, all reproduction fabrics from the era.

Yesterday I was playing with some of those lovely little tins -- I had bought them to put beeswax-based salves in, another kind of hobby obsession I have, to make things that smell good -- and it occurred to me that they would be great for little pincushions with lids to carry around.  So here they are.  They are trimmed with my Quilting ribbon and the fabric inside is an early 19th century reproduction fabric, left over from making the housewives (thrift, of course, is a value too!).

three travel pincusions in 2" tins.

House Beautiful

I want to share the latest press with you from this month's House Beautiful magazine -- featuring my Vegetables ribbon as sold at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, one of our best customers.  (Sadly, not available through their online shop, though you can find it at www.lfntextiles.com) It is an honor to have my ribbons in their shop, known for cutting edge modern design icons --items must have a strong link to their collections or an exhibition to be sold there.  Fortunately for me I am well-represented in the collection of Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum of the Smithsonian Institution (whew!), as I have a jacquard weaving as well as the entire line of LFN Textiles ribbons as of 2005 in the permanent textile collection.  So I will wear this nice badge of "The Best" with honor & pride!

Textile Society of America

Last week, I took my ribbons out to Lincoln, Nebraska to offer them for sale in the Marketplace at the Textile Society of America symposium.  Although, because I sat in the market, I was not able to attend the many fascinating seminars, many friends & colleagues were in attendance and I was able to socialize and network at night and when people visited my booth.  The other vendors had fascinating goods: beyond the usual expected shibori and hand woven scarves, there were dealers of South Asian quilts, (Thomas Mond of Maine) and moroccan and central Asian textiles (Ethnofacts from Lawrence, KS); high end handmade clothing dealers such as Santa Fe Weaving Gallery and Carol Lee Shanks; artist cooperatives representatives such as Creative Bee from India and Quilts for Kids, Nepal.   Natural dyeing was a major theme of the symposium and Carol Leigh's Hillcreek Studio brought masses of natural dye substances and mordants.  ( I was able to resist most of the textiles, but indulged my curiosity about natural dying by purchasing madder root, logwood and mordants -- watch my art blog for what happens with that!).

Ethnofacts

Carol Leigh's Hillcreek Fiber Studio

Quilts for Kids, Nepal

Carol Lee Shanks clothing

I got to the International Quilt Study Museum to see a fantastic exhibition of quilts from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh, and made connections with their museum store and several others for selling LFN Ribbons. 

At my booth I was delighted to have conversations with dozens of fascinating conferees about all sorts of textile subjects, and was gratified to hear from many of them that they had previously purchased LFN Ribbons at diverse stores all across the country.

John Marshall Japanese Textiles

Thomas Mond Quilts

LFN Display

LFN ribbon belts

The drive home yesterday in the October sunshine was sparkling and sunny, and today I am soooooooo happy to return to my studio.

I wish I could make these things

I was just scrolling through my files of "things to make with ribbon" and I found these images which have always inspired me. These are some of the best things I could ever dream of making -- but as you can see, somewhat time intensive. All of these images are courtesy of the Victoria & Albert's amazing website.

spring sewing

I had to make up a number of sachets for the Reading Public Museum's shop today -- they are hosting the Cranbrook Hothouse exhibition, which includes one of my tapestries, and wanted some LFN items for the shop. They got little zip bags, sachets, eye sachets, and larger zip bags, all trimmed with ribbon.
Here are a few of the things I made.

big cute

I sell a number of the things I make at the Racine Art Museum Store, and as they are having a shoe exhibition right now I thought it would be fun to make some ribbonny shoes for them. Big shoes are sort of a fuss to make, so I decided to make baby slippers instead.
The ribbons are from a collection I did for Renaissance Ribbons last winter called the Little Darlings collection, all 2-sided damasks and childlike and fresh.

The charming bootie pattern came from an esty vendor, melimade.