Nautilus soft sculpture

I'm pretty excited to present my latest design, a 3-dimensional nautilus!  This guy was pretty challenging, since I had to figure out a means to pattern it and sew it so it would retain its interesting shape. For the patttern,  I delved into the world of Blender--a free software that is used for 3d graphics. Sea shells can be described ...

Meet Henry

This is exciting! I made my first downloadable pattern for yet another octopus. Can you really have too many?  Nellie's pattern was sadly lost when my computer crashed, so I made an entirely new one from scratch.  We call him Henry.   His head is a bit rounder (and he may look a bit more octopus-like in shape than Nellie.)  They ...

How to ice dye

Ice dyeing is one of those crafts that is easy, colorful, and creates an impressive and interesting effect. Here's what you need to DIY: A bag of ice White fabric--jersey or loose woven cotten, linen, or hemp work well A window screen or sieve Procion Mx Dye in preferred colors Soda ash Dawn dishwashing soap A few buckets, one to mix ...

Dishtowel

I've had some gorgeous (and expensive) woven ikat fabric in my stash for several months.  The pattern is woven in, so that it's the same on both sides.    My original plan was to use it as trim and sleeves on a denim dress, but I realized that there wasn't enough material.   However, the material is soft and absorbent, ...

Featured Artist: Swanky Egg

When I was building the goattoman, I became pretty much obsessed with how to craft animal shapes.  Not being much of a sculptor myself, I achieved something goat-like by a ton of trial and error. In my research, I gained a lot of respect for the fabric artists out there who make imaginative critters.   Recently I came across the whimsical ...