Photo Shoot

Today my daughter Sara came over with her trusty camera to take a few shots of my new purses and scarves for my Etsy shop which I will be re-opening soon. I hadn't realized that it has been almost 5 years since I last posted new product on my Etsy shop site, YIKES! I could give all the reasons and excuses, but let me just say, I am so glad the last 5 years are done and I am able to move forward with so many new and exciting projects!

Painted Scarf

It has been way too long since I last posted here so thought I would share my latest project...TA DA! Hand painted scarves. I am teaching a class in a few weeks and wanted to create a design using simple, basic shapes. This design is called, Floral Dance. The Scarf is a bamboo/rayon blend and measures 60"x11". The hand of the fabric is very soft and rich. I used both Jacquard and Set A Color fabric paints. Lately I have been using  Sumi  brushes to paint with and really like how they allow the paint to flow.

Bleach Discharge Linen

I have been exploring working with bleach discharge on linen. The first piece I tried was on suiting weight natural linen as pictures in the samples above. The first photo is of the linen after the bleach discharge. The second is of a square of the same fabic after I painted color into the bleached shapes. I really love this technique and started working on a 36"x36" piece of sheer black linen. I bleached out a large paisley pattern and painted in the details of the paisley design. The final step was to set the dye and wash out the resist...OMG! The fabric began to disintegrate in the cold water and I was left with beautifully shredded piece of fabric! Lesson learned...use heavier weight fabic! I have now begun to recreate the paisley design on black suiting weight linen and will post the results!

New Purses, Clutches, etc....

Here are a few of my new designs. As you can see from my last post, Retro Linen is now a beautiful finished clutch.

Retro Linen

Just dried & waiting for hand embellishment this is my latest hand painted tea stained linen with a retro vibe.

Sadie, Emma & Avery...

Three sweet little purses for three sweet little girls!

Handmade Handbags

All my bags begin with either fabric I have painted (linen or canvas) or wool I have knitted then felted. Some of the fabric designs are plotted out and then painted, others are painted freehand and loose. After the paint has dried a shape is cut out, backed and then embellished with hand stitching. Finished and lined with asian brocade, each bag is a unique and wonderful piece of art you can carry with you. Prices range from $45-95 ea.