Mondo Guerra from season 8 of Project Runway, who should have won, hosts viewing parties in Denver. Since he is currently on All Stars, he has been hosting viewing parties themed to the challenge that week. This week’s challenge was clothes off your back. They had to go around Central Park and ask people for their clothing to make into something new. And guess who’s outfit won, Mondo! Yay! So last week Mondo asked his viewing party fans to partake in a similar challenge. He supplied us with some of his t-shirt merchandise and we had a week to create a new garment. Of course I signed up!

I have to say that I hate T-shirts. I’m talking about the standard T-shirt. I just don’t think they are flattering on women unless they are fitted.  I also hate the shredded, ruffled, unfinished look of re-purposed T-shirts that are so popular. I knew right away that I wanted to do something clean and unexpected. I have enjoyed making outwear lately so I thought, why not a jacket! My instant thought was a racer jacket as I have a habit of telling people, “Project Runway is my sport,” when they start talking about football. And I needed something to sport “Team Mondo.”

Here are the shirts I started with. I loved the teal Day of the Dead shirt and wanted to do something that featured that print. I also knew I wanted to do some piecework to incorporate my quilting. As for the pattern for the jacket, I used the T-shirt shape as the basis and then fitted it to my dress form and myself to get the right fit. So it’s an original pattern!

The diamond pattern was created by fusing the T-shirt material to some Heat and Bond Lite. I then cut the shape to fuse to the back of my jacket. I stitched around each diamond with the same colored thread to add extra hold. Then I stitched with white thread to create an argyle pattern and finished the back by fusing and stitching the Day of the Dead Skull to the middle back.

The front of the jacket used the back of the teal shirt. I cut out Mondo’s signature to make a front emblem with the different colored T-shirts. Instead of doing a center zip I thought it would be way cooler to do a side zip and have the zipper exposed. I love how it came out! On the collar I fused and stitched the screen print of Mondo’s name to the back. The collar snapped on the front with glittery button details. The sleeves were pieced together and stay stitched on top. I also added the same glittery button detail to each cuff edge.

I’m a bit anal retentive about details and have to have things lined and stay stitched. I think it just makes everything look finished and professional. Inside, the jacket was fully lined with a black cotton stretch material. The same material used in T-shirts. I also used some of the T-shirt logos to add a bit of pizazz to the lining!

At the viewing party they had all the entrants get up on stage and the audience voted on their favorite. I made it past Round 1. Then the winner of Round 2 and I went up against each other. The other girl made a hoodie dress! Because Mondo has been in the position of being judged, he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and awarded both of us with the prize. We got tickets to next week’s Goodwill Fashion Show!

Afterward, I asked Mondo to sign my jacket. I was very flattered when he mentioned he had to own my jacket! I gave his assistant my card about it. I don’t know if I want to sell it because I LOVE it! Maybe he’ll let me create a second one just for him. We’ll see!

Cheers,

Kyle

The Ikea in Denver had just opened before we moved. That was pretty much a saving grace. I’m not saying Ikea is awesome, well it kind of is, but overall it’s good for what you pay. And when you are trying to start a business you have limited funds. I ended up putting Ikea units together that don’t go together, I hacked the Ikea system. I love how it came out.

On either end I used the Expedit bookcase. They are the 1 by 5 cubes high. I wanted to have a space for my cork, thread, and notions. So I decided to figure out a way to leave some wall space and have my desk snug in the middle. The desk is Ikea but it’s Richard’s old desk thus why it doesn’t match my birch effect. I wandered through Ikea with measurements and a ruler in hand deciding how I wanted to fill the space above the Expedit bookcases. Then I came across the Effektiv system.

You can mount the Effektive to the wall but I was worried about the weight of what I was cramming into each cabinet. The solution was to get boards from the hardware store to put across the top of the bookcases and mount the Effektive cabinets onto that. Richard mounted 3 brackets in the middle to stabilize the weight. I also bought the Grundtal lighting which Richard attached to the top of the cabinets so I would have better lighting. He’s a pretty awesome husband for helping me get set up. Oh, check out those shorts he’s wearing, he made those!

I liked that each Effektive cabinet was long. I was thinking in terms, “Can a bolt of fabric lay across it?” Which they do! I also liked you could add shelves, doors, or drawers. Since I knew I was going to be stuffing them full I opted just to get just the doors to hide the ugly. Problem was the door cost added up fast. To get the birch colored doors it was going to be double the cost of the white ones. Then I had a great thought, get the cheap doors and cover them in fabric! It probably ended up being almost the same cost as the birch doors, but they look way better!

Since I had six square doors I decided to use a different fabric for each, almost like a quilt. Makes sense for someone like me, don’t you think? I used spray adhesive to glue the fabric to the door then I stapled it down on the back side. I contemplated weather or not to cover the back but really who’s going to see that side.

Ikea has a great selection of handles. I ended up getting the Tag handles. Again Richard was nice enough to help me attach them. I wanted to have them mounted lower to make it easier to open since they are so high up.

Here’s the thing with fabric, it doesn’t like the drill. Richard and I learned this when we recovered our dining chairs. The drill bit eats it up. I remembered that my handy Bernina Swiss Army Knife had an eyelet cutter. It was perfect. Figure out where you’re drilling and use the eyelet to cut a hole into the fabric then drill. Worked like a charm! A warning though, the laminate on the boards liked to come up a bit, so after drilling, take a rubber mallet to press he wood back down or you’ll have a circular hump where the handle goes.

We attached them to the cabinets and voila, pretty doors! I’m very happy with how it came out.

See how nice it holds bolts and hides the ugly! I managed to cram all three cabinets to the brim.

Now I know some of you, mainly my fabric loving friends, may want to know what textiles I used.

From Left to Right: Lock and Key in Khaki by Sandi Henderson of Michael Miller Fabrics, Ironwork in Granite by Joel Dewberry of Westminster Fabrics, Sparrows in Bark by Joel Dewberry of Westminster Fabrics, Damask in Saffron by Joel Dewberry of Westminster Fabrics, Optic Blossom in Linen by Amy Butler of Westminster Fabrics, and Lodge Lattice in Vintage Yellow by Joel Dewberry of Westminster Fabrics.

I bought all the fabrics online from Hawthorne Threads.

I’ll post more pictures of our apartment later but I hope you enjoyed seeing my office space.

Cheers,

Kyle

We got to Denver safe and sound but of course not without some bumps in route. But this isn’t about those, to read about the drama of trying to pack and head out check out my friend’s blog entry about it.

We loved our apartment up until we stuffed it with stuff. My husband and I love the idea of tiny living. So we crammed our 1200sq/ft Wichita apartment into our new 888sq/ft Denver apartment. It was certainly tight for a few days but we made it all fit! We unpacked in a week because we are awesome like that. Well, mostly because we both have home offices we had to set up fast. Though, we did have to get a storage unit for some of the furniture we were not able to sell before moving. We are still finding places for some of the bits and bobs laying around and need to finish getting artwork up on the walls. Oh, how I have so much artwork!

Slowly my office is coming together. I need to get more shelves and organization but it’s coming. At least I got my thread organized. Color ordering hundreds of spools takes time, but they look so pretty when done! The Beast and my sewing machines are set up but the desks are so cluttered I don’t have room to sew. I’m hoping to get back to crafting this week.

We did go to a local vineyard this past weekend. It was beautiful day for a wine tasting! Other than that we haven’t been around the area much yet.

Cheers,

Kyle

Everything is in the Clothing and Textiles Department. You can find them in the Domestic Arts building.

First up is my Harry Potter costume. I made the robe, cardigan, skirt and there is also a hand knit scarf and hat with it that is not pictured.

Section: Wearing Apparel

Class: Costume

Update: Won 2nd place!

Here is Christine (left) and I (right) all dressed up for her reception. I made my dress for our Florida trip. To see more images of it check out the blog entry regarding it.

Section: Wearing Apparel

Class: Ladies Casual Dress

Update: Won 3rd place!

The toasty warm coat I made this past winter will be making an appearance too. To see more on it check out it’s blog entry.

Section: Wearing Apparel

Class: Ladies Coat

Update: Won 1st place!

When I made my coat I decided to knit a pair of gloves to go with it. They are made of warm baby alpaca. Here is the best picture of me wearing them. As you can see they match my coat pretty darn well. I also made the hat but that is not in the fair.

Section: Hand Knitting

Class: Gloves and Mittens

Update: Won 2nd place!

After almost a year I finally finished knitting my qiviut scarf! It’s so airy and beautiful. I can’t wait to wear it when it’s cooler out.

Section: Hand Knitting

Class: Hat or Scarf

Update: Won 1st place!

Now to Richard’s entries! He just learned to knit a few months ago so he decided to enter the two items he’s made so far.

For his first project he knitted a hat to go with his Harry Potter scarf I made him from the Part 1 party. He finished it not that long ago so we don’t have a photo of him in it. We quickly took pictures before dropping them off at the fair.

Section: Hand Knitting

Class: Beginning Knitting

Since he’s an avid bike rider, Richard made an ear warmer he could wear under his helmet. It’s made of baby alpaca.

Section: For Men Only

Class: Crocheting, Knitting and Tatting

Let us know if we receive any ribbons!

Cheers,

Kyle

While she may have left, she did leave me with something to remember her by. She is an amazing artist with clay. She hand threw this vase and glazed it as a trade with me.

What did she get in return? This zippered tote bag. She needed a bag to carry on her essentials while traveling. Since she couldn’t find one she liked I made her this.

Now we have something to remember each other by. While I’ll miss her I am happy for her.

Cheers,

Kyle

So for our trip I decided to make some fun dresses that will be comfortable to hang by the lake in. I made two convertible dresses, one long and one short, out of some beautiful stretch rayon and a cotton maxi dress. Here are pictures of the front and back of the maxi dress. The print is an Alexander Henry fabric I found at JoAnns. I really love his prints.

While in Florida my friend Christine and I are going to drive up to Orlando to check out Harry Potter World. Yes I’m taking my robe. I cut back from taking my whole costume. Speaking of Harry Potter, check out the photos of my Part 2 Harry Potter Party from July 15 taken by Doug Yoho. They are awesome!

See ya’ll next week!

Cheers,

Kyle

Meet Jackson and Étienne my 3 and 5 year old friends. I consider some small children my friends because I like them that much :)

This past weekend we had a small BBQ with some friends for the Fourth of July. Our friends the Redpath’s brought Étienne. Their two oldest are at away camp right now. The Herbert’s brought Jackson. Everyone wanted to play on “The Beast” so I set up another practice quilt as I finished my other one the night before.

I figured Éti would want to play so I set him up on the machine. He really enjoyed moving it around. He drew some random squiggles and a house with a chimney [on the left]. I like it has smoke coming off the top of the chimney. Here’s a video of Éti sewing his house!

Jackson was so enthralled with watching that he got on the seat after Étienne left and insisted on sewing too. He got the hang of moving the machine around and had absolute focus. We’ll work on his speed later. His squiggles are pretty great [on the left]. Here’s Jackson sewing away!

You have to admit, I know some pretty cool kids.

Cheers,

Kyle

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!

While “The Beast” may be Swedish it’s happy to be in the USA.

This is Leela, captain of the Planet Express Ship. She’s a sassy Cyclops mutant tough female lead that kicks butt. How could I not love her. I’ll forgive her for sleeping with Zap.

This is Bender, “you know the loveable rascal.” Bender is a beer drinking, cigar smoking, thieving robot. In the episode “The Route of All Evil,” Bender homebrews in his tummy and gives birth to an Ale. Richard has a special love for Bender since he homebrews.

Cheers,

Kyle

Really who doesn’t love Star Wars?! The fact I also know how to make an origami X-Wing from memory adds to how nerdy I am.

My kitties were lounging around my studio so I became inspired by them. I’m still doodling away. I’ll keep you posted on the other strange things I feel like quilting.

Cheers,

Kyle

I would like to introduce you to "The Beast," a Bernina 820 8 series. This past Saturday I went to my local Bernina dealer, Midwest Sewing Center, may I add who is awesome, and bought my dream sewing machine. This baby pretty much works itself and sews beautifully. By that afternoon the only thing I knew how to do was power the machine up and program it to say "Feed me fabric om nom nom nom." It's certainly a Beast of a machine thus giving it the name.

Bernina was offering an amazing deal with the 8 series, you could get the Quilt Frame or the Quilt Motion software for free with the purchase of one of these machines. I opted to get the software free and buy the frame since it cost more than twice the frame.

It's a great set up because the machine can be used as a regular sewing machine or placed on the quilt frame to act as a long arm. Kyle from Midwest came to my apartment yesterday and set up the frame so I could get to sewing. I had him only set it up at 5 feet. I can expand it later to it's full length of 10 feet but I didn't need to quilt anything that large yet. Last night I figured out how to attach all three layers of a practice quilt and doodled over 20 inches of free motion quilting.

I pretty much doodle sewed anything that came to mind. I also seemed to stitch pictures that are on my design wall like the ugly Eiffel Tower below. These are by no means amazing. I'm learning to quilt and free motion a completely new way. The 820 came with the Bernina Stitch Regulator foot which senses how fast you're moving across the fabric and adjusts the stitch length accordingly. I'm still getting used to how fast I can move, my machine beeps at me when I'm too fast but I can already tell how nice everything looks with the BSR.

In addition to my new sewing machine I got a Baby Lock Imagine Serger. The tiny serger I have was nice but threading it was such a pain and it didn't cut. The Imagine self threads itself with a shot of air! It cuts and sews super fast. So far the only thing I've made on it is a beer brewer's bag for Richard. I also received a free baby sewing machine because it was my first purchase on my Bernina card. This cute Burnette 46 will be great for taking to classes and teaching friends how to sew.

I'm pretty much in sewing machine heaven right now with all my new toys. My brother told me it's like I have a mini sweatshop in a sewing machine museum.

But while I'm in heaven I have to give a few words to my very first sewing machine, the machine I learned to sew on when I was 10 years old, my Kenmore Industrial. He had been sitting collecting dust for years after I received my Bernina Activa 240 in college. I knew I would almost never use it with my new toys so I sold it. Luckily it went to a great home that will put it to work creating all kinds of cool things. If you want to see what my friend Collin will be creating with it check out his fan page. I'm happy it's now with Collin but I can't deny I'm a bit sad to see it go.

You were my first love, you will always have a special place in my heart. I love you, Kenmore!

Cheers,
Kyle

I just finished up this beautiful computer bag as a custom job for a friend, Carreen. She received a large laptop from work and had trouble finding a bag that did what she needed. She had seen my bicycle bags and wanted her bag to have a similar look.

The “Put a bird on it” design with wonky piece work and free motion embroidery has been a signature of mine lately. This front panel is made up of silk, linen, and cotton fabric scraps. It has a front zip pocket to store items that need to be easily obtained. Carreen’s favorite color is red so I made the bag in ruby red canvas and trimmed it in black. The trimming was a pain to put on once all the foam was in. It was difficult to feed it in my sewing machine. When I rolled the binding edge over to sew on my machine it looked like a mess so I hand whip stitched it down. I liked the sleek woven look of seatbelt webbing over normal webbing so opted to use that. The lining is a cute black check red flower print. The first inside zip pocket has a 1 inch gusset to fit folders, books, and such for traveling. There are two gathered pockets for cording and elastic loops for holding pens. The back inside zip pocket is for holding the laptop. The bag has a core of half inch high density foam, cotton batting, and peltex to make it sturdy and laptop safe.

While I really love this bag and highly debated letting Carreen have it, I will never do a computer bag again. I just had a hell of a time trying to get all that fabric, foam, and interfacing in the machine. I hope you like it as much as Carreen and I do.

Cheers,

Kyle

How to get one…

I will be participating in Food for Thought’s Summer Fling this Saturday, June 11th from 9am-1pm. Anyone that purchases $30 or more at my booth can take home one of my reusable T-shirt Bags!

I hope to see you there.

Cheers,

Kyle

I found the pattern online from a blog. It was an easy pattern to work off of. The plaid is a cotton homespun fabric. The bag is completely lined inside with the same material. The star fabric is a cotton patriotic print I’ve had for years. While I did pipe the bag I did a flat piping instead of adding cord inside. Piping is a lot of work and a 5 year old won’t know the difference. For the straps, I decided not to make them adjustable like in the pattern. They do have a cotton batting core to make them more comfortable on the shoulders. I think it came out really cute. I hope he uses it well.

To see pictures of the tie dyeing please check out my fan page. And to see more about Étienne's birthday check out his parent’s blog.

Cheers,

Kyle

This past weekend I was a vendor for Food For Thought’s, a local natural food grocery store, Spring Fling Outdoor Market. Here is a picture of my booth with my helpers Christine and Ronnie in the back. I worked on stuff for weeks and really happy with the outcome and how well I did. It was also great to meet many of the vendors who I have been following on facebook for awhile.

I had surgery over a month ago for a breast reduction. I’m healing wonderfully and was able to get back to sewing a week after. I could instantly tell the difference on my back from before. Not having neck, shoulder, and back pain anymore let me sew like a maniac. Before I would be extremely sore after sewing a few hours. I worked on making all kinds of product even new items like aprons, tote bags, and eye masks. All the hard work paid off.

Because I was unsure how soon I would heal I asked my friend, Maegan of World Shaking Designs, to come help and sell her handmade goods along with mine. She is a super talented 15 year old.  Maegan also did well selling her stuff too!  Here is a picture of Maegan, Ronnie and I that Food for Thought took of us.

I really like how my booth came out. I actually popped the tent up in our living room and did a dry run set up the week before. I wanted to make sure everything fit and that I had what I needed.

Special thanks to my friend Cynthia for loaning me the two small tables on the left of my booth, Ronnie’s dad, Steve, for loaning me his Mercedes Wagon since our car wouldn’t fit all my stuff, and Christine, Ronnie, and Maegan for coming to help out on Saturday. I have awesome friends and that is what really made this whole thing great!

Cheers,

Kyle