Creative Hobbies + New DIY Projects

March 11, 2016

It’s been a creative whirlwind in the studio lately! After four years of designing and producing textiles for Cotton & Flax, I’ve been branching out in 2016 by taking on projects that are stretching my creative muscles. While I’m still creating lots of new work for Cotton & Flax, this year I wanted to spend time learning some new skills. I love taking up a new creative hobby — it brings fresh ideas to all my creative work!

One way I’ve been trying out new techniques is through a new creative subscription box called The Crafter’s Box. I was introduced to this company last year, and I’ve tried three of their craft projects: Rya Weaving with Maryanne Moodie, marbled clay pots taught by Emily Reinhardt, and this giant arm knitted blanket taught by Elise Blaha.

The quality of the materials in every Crafter’s Box has been amazing. Supplies and materials are sent along with instructions for each project, and they source materials from some of the best manufacturers around. The wool roving and yarn was particularly gorgeous, and I’ve been saving up the leftovers from my projects to use for something special.

I’m excited to share that I am partnering with The Crafter’s Box this month to teach block printing! When you sign up for a subscription to The Crafter’s Box, you’ll receive all the materials and supplies you’ll need to create a gorgeous block-printed linen table runner. You’ll gain access to an exclusive video tutorial showing you how to carve a linoleum block, and print a repeat pattern of your own design.

Sign up to receive this block printing kit today, it will only be available to purchase for a week or so! This box is an incredible value, so if you’ve been dying to take one of my classes in LA, now’s your chance to have me beamed into your home studio.

Favorite Purl Bee DIY projects – Holiday Edition!

December 4, 2013

Are you making any of your holiday gifts by hand? I tend to make at least a few gifts each year, although I never seem to have enough time, and end up buying the rest of my gifts on Etsy or at local craft fairs and holiday markets (like Renegade!) When I do have some free time to work on DIY projects, I love to turn to The Purl Bee, one of my favorite DIY project resources, for inspiration.

If you’re like me, and are starting the holiday season with the best intentions to make your gifts by hand, maybe these DIY projects from The Purl Bee will get you started!

…

Taking a break with a summer cocktail

July 16, 2013

I’ve been hard at work preparing for Renegade Craft Fair the last few weeks, which means long hours cutting fabric, silkscreen printing, sewing, and ironing. Don’t get me wrong – I love my work, and the feeling of flow I get while I’m working is incredibly fulfilling – but it’s also pretty exhausting when I am preparing for a big show.

One of the hardest things about that grueling schedule is that LA has been pretty darn hot lately, getting into the mid 90’s most days. I drink lots of ice water during the day to stay cool (the AC unit in the studio is unreliable, to put it nicely), but in the evenings, I’ve been cooling off with my favorite cocktail, a Moscow Mule. While I don’t drink it in a copper cup, which is apparently the traditional presentation, it’s just as cool and refreshing in a regular glass.

The recipe is simple: 1/2 ounce lime juice, a few ice cubes, 2 oz. vodka, and 4-6 oz. ginger beer (not ginger ale)

I may even make a non-alcoholic version to enjoy during the day! A little sparkling ginger lemonade sounds pretty good as well. If you have a drink to recommend to help me stay cool, let me know in the comments!

More favorites from the Purl Bee

May 30, 2013

I’m hoping to tackle lots of DIY projects this summer, and I’ve been accumulating tons of inspiration from the Purl Bee.

…

4 Great Sewing Books for Beginners (and non-beginners, too)

April 30, 2013

Best Sewing Books - Favorite resources for learning to sew I mentioned in a previous post how lucky I am that my mom taught me how to sew, and in my cranky teenage years, no less! She taught me the basics on a machine that is quite similar to the one I use as my primary sewing machine now. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time poring over sewing books in bookshops and libraries, and investing in the ones I found most helpful. Today I’d like to share some of my favorite sewing books for beginners, although I think many of these are great resources even for more experienced sewers.

Update 2/14/17: This continues to be one of my most popular posts, even four years later! I’ve added a few more of my favorite beginners’ sewing books, to help you learn to sew with the best of ’em!

School of Sewing - Learn to Sew School of Sewing is a beautiful sewing manual that goes through everything you might want to know as a beginner. It’s written by Shea Henderson, founder of the Modern Quilt Guild in Kansas City, and that background comes through in her approach to teaching. With each project, you hone your skills as a sewer, and foster a sense of confidence. I loved the photo diagrams in this book; it’s always helpful to have a visual guide when you’re feeling unsure about what you seams should look like.

How to speak fluent sewing - Best Sewing Books My friend Christine Haynes is a talented seamstress, and teaches sewing classes online, as well as at craft conferences and creative workshops all over the United States. She’s published many wonderful sewing books, but one of my favorites is her reference book How to Speak Fluent Sewing. She defines hundreds of sewing terms, and completely demystifies the process of reading sewing patterns. A great resource for people who want to get into sewing their own garments!

School of Sewing - Best Sewing Books for Beginners I loved reading Amy Karol’s blog Angry Chicken, and her sewing book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing, is similarly approachable and fun.

Colette Sewing Handbook - Learn to Sew Clothing The Colette Sewing Handbook by Sarai Mitnick is new to me, but it’s an incredibly popular resource for sewing your own wardrobe. This book comes with five original patterns from their super-cute, modern pattern collection, and all the tips and tricks you’ll need to get started sewing your own clothing.

Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts is a great resource. I don’t even really need to say that, do I? It’s Martha, of course she’s the go to resource for anything crafty. In case you need convincing: the book goes over the basics of identifying fabric and thread, walks you through the most essential hand stitching techniques, and then introduces you to all the parts of your sewing machine and how to use it without accidentally sewing through a finger. Between the straightforward tutorials and the 150 projects to try, I’d say this book is a useful one to keep around.

Wendy Mullin’s Sew U was actually the first sewing book I ever bought, back in 2006 when I had the urge to start sewing all my own clothes. Since then, she’s published a range of other books about sewing clothing, but I find this first one to be most helpful for a beginner. Similar to Martha’s giant handbook, Sew U really does a great job teaching you the foundations of sewing clothing – how to choose fabric for a project, what tools you’ll need, how to shape a pattern for your individual body type, and so on.

I greatly admire Lotta Jansdotter, and her book, Simple Sewing, is perfect for beginners. The sewing projects that she outlines in her book are anything but boring. Lotta has a way of highlighting simple projects that let the fabric and pattern shine.

Zakka Style is the only niche sewing book I’ll include on this list, simply because it’s one of my favorites. The projects are simple enough for beginners to tackle, and beautiful enough to be worth holding onto. The problem with many beginners’ sewing books is that the projects are so simple, they are almost like throwaway projects. Zakka Style has a way of transforming simple projects into lovely keepsakes with simple style. My favorite simple project from this book is the sewing kit, such a great way to get started!

Looking for more sewing inspiration? Check out my post on my favorite sewing projects from Purl Bee.

*Please note: I may receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post. I only share resources that I find very helpful, and this helps to keep the blog going!

Top Five Interior Design Books for Happy Modern Homes

April 11, 2013

I’ve been taking advantage of the public library lately, checking out some relatively new books from famous designers, and revisiting some of my favorite interior design books. I wanted to share a roundup of my top five favorite interior design books, the ones that I’ve been mining for inspiration for my own home.

Domino: The Book of Decorating – this book was something of a game-changer for interior design books. So many of the interior design books I encountered before Domino were way too specific for my tastes (for example, how to decorate your home in beachy cottage style, or traditional Chinese decor, etc.) Domino has a way of mixing and matching styles that really appeals to me (and many others, it seems!), because you don’t have to get bogged down in tradition or living up to some set of rules.

Domino has chapters dedicated to each room of your home, and is filled with varied examples of how to approach design in those spaces. While the magazine is no more, I’d say Domino is well-remembered for helping thousands of readers create happy modern homes.

The Things That Matter by Nate Berkus – I’ll admit, I’m a fan of Nate Berkus. I think a lot of people I know are a bit burnt out on hearing about him, perhaps he suffers from a bit of overexposure on TV (but really, who could say no to Oprah when she comes calling?!) I don’t watch much TV, so perhaps that explains why I am still fascinated by his new book. In it, Berkus makes a pretty compelling claim against the trend of minimalism, arguing that our “stuff” is what helps to define our lives, and brings meaning into our homes.

Many of the interiors featured are stunning, but it’s the strange details that I find most interesting (for example, the bizarre homemade sculptures found in the home of Barbara Hill shown in that second photo.) Berkus reminds us that the unique things that we accumulate, “give our everyday lives shape, texture, and a sense of who we are, who we’ve been, and where we may be heading.”

Design*Sponge at Home – I was so excited to check this book out when it first debuted; my first weekend browsing it’s pages put a huge dent in my post it notes supply, I had marked almost every page! There’s so much inspiration in these pages, and I love that Grace Bonney made a serious effort to feature homes of a wide range of people – not just professional designers. The last half of the book features a ton of great DIY projects, and if you’ve spent any time on the Design*Sponge blog, you know that they do a great job featuring high quality projects that you actually want to keep in your home.

The Selby Is In Your Place – The Selby is another wonderful blog featuring the homes of people who take a DIY approach to decorating their homes. He features so many wonderful creative spaces, and has an eye for capturing the unglamorous but important details of a home. I love that the homes range from over-the-top super collectors, with shelves of books that reach the ceiling, to artists working in their homes, surrounded by their creative messes. This book feels real to me: mostly unpolished, and certainly focuses on the things that make a home unique.

A perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life by Mary Randolph Carter – I stumbled on this book quite by accident, but was delighted by what I found inside. If the title isn’t quite clear enough – this books features decidedly messy spaces. It talks about why our homes are often disorganized (kids, hobbies, collections, busy lives), and why it’s OK to embrace a little mayhem in your home.

I love that Carter focuses on what I think is most important: getting enjoyment out of your home. If you can’t relax and be yourself in your own home, what’s the point?!

Did I choose one of your favorite interior design books? Any others you’d like to recommend? Let me know in the comments!

Blog - Cotton & Flax

Behind the scenes at Cotton & Flax