French Knot/Stacked Coin Pillow - First Etsy Post!

After many months of putting it off, I've finally opened my Etsy store!! You can check it out here:

http://swallowdesigns.etsy.com

... and this project is the first item I've posted there!

This is a fairly unique project for me, because I did it pretty much on the fly - I didn't sketch it out on graph paper beforehand. In fact, what I really wanted to do was something more liked a traditional "stacked coin" design. I'm having trouble finding a definition of what this means, but as far as I can tell it's essentially a design that incorporates strips of stacked patches, framed in neutral sashing.

I wanted to show you some examples on Flickr but got these results instead.

This quilt from Miss MeShell was really the inspiration - I love how she combined a deliciously simple linen with citrusy fabrics. She blogged it here and it's well worth checking it out!

My project veered off this plan, as you'll see soon...



I started with a pile of strips from my scrap box. I sorted them out for the blues, oranges, tans, and browns - which wasn't really hard because most of my projects lately have been in those spectrums. It was more a matter of weeding out the odd green scrap.



This part of the process went super-quick - I actually placed the sewing machine on my ironing board and did the whole thing standing up. This saved a lot of time. Plus it made it easier to watch TV. Can you tell I like to multitask?



I ironed each strip just before sewing it to the previous one, but I didn't iron the whole patched piece until I was done. Enjoyably spontanous compared with some of my more laborious projects, and certainly efficient.

When I finished preparing the large strip patch, I cut it into 4 pieces. However, after some thought, I ditched the traditional vertical parallel lines of stacked coins. I didn't have any linen, and it just didn't look as cool on the dark brown background.



So, I decided to use them as a frame for one of my French knots projects. I made this particular one a while ago, and they were inspired by the Connect the Dots tutorial from the purl bee, one of my favorite blogs from my good friends at purl soho. And by good friends I mean advisors/teachers/dealers of irresistable fabrics!



The back is an envelope flap, using the remaining "stack coined" (if I can call them that) strips:



Remember folks, this item is actually live and on sale on my store on Etsy! Why now? How did I finally set it up? Well, I ran out of room for my pillows. I'd love to keep them all, but there's only so much room I have on my bed and couch. The good thing is, it frees me up to use different colors - ones that don't match my lamp, sheets, and other accessories. I'm looking forward to seeing how that frees up my creative process.

Joel Dewberry Pillow Set

I was very excited by how my bunny pillow worked out. I was eager to reuse this particular interlocking grid pattern from my Japanese Quilt Blocks book. Compared to the other patterns I'd tried from the book, this was probably the easiest/least time consuming, and I like it because it conveys the same complexity as the others visually, but with less effort. That is, I think only a quilter would realize this is a less complex pillow to complete than the others.

I decided to go back to this fabric that I already had in my stash, to make a companion pillow for the lumbar pillow and coasters I had made a couple of months ago.



Unlike the bunny fabric, however, the Sparrows (in Almond) fabric from the Joel Dewberry Aviary line is what's considered a "fussy" fabric - which in this context means a fabric that you have to cut and sew carefully to make select parts of the pattern appear where you want to them to. I have only used a fussy fabric once before, which was a large print Heather Bailey fabric for my "Spring Pillow for Fall," and in both of these cases, it definitely added planning and cutting time to the project.



I laid out the project in advance - I did want that middle bird to be off center, but for some reason didn't realize that it would be cut off because of seam allowance. Ah well, grist for the mill - I learn something new on every project.



I finished off the pillow using another faux bois fabric from Joel Dewberry - Woodgrain in Orange. I really like how cartoony the Chocolate version of the wood grain looks applied in this particular quilt block. I like the orange version too, but the high contrast in the chocolate makes the woodgrain easier to "read" - even across the room.



Here's one last shot for the hell of it!

This is Breakfast Boy

Pillow: Breakfast Boy
Model: Tar

This is Breakfast Boy. Breakfast Boy is one of my favorite pillows.



He is smiley and friendly and eager to please.

Breakfast Boy is based on a photo from a 1964 Physique Pictorial that I picked up in Provincetown. The history of physique magazines is interesting - from the excellent Planet Out article by David Bianco (who has a pretty interesting background himself):

'Bob Mizer was only 23 when he started AMG [publisher of Physique Pictorial] and its catalog in 1945. He originally operated out of a spare room in his mother's house. She wasn't particularly happy that he was gay, but she cooperated because she liked the extra income he shared with her. When Mizer's business boomed, he built a separate studio next door to Mom. He recruited models at gyms and along Venice Beach, searching for a particular type: chiseled, muscular, white. Many of the models he hired were heterosexual.

Popular demand for these homoerotic images grew, and Mizer looked for another way to distribute them. In 1951, he began publishing Physique Pictorial, a pocket-sized magazine created especially for a gay audience..."



Here's the cover of the issue Breakfast Boy's photo appeared in. Don't you just love the font? Yes, that woodgrain fabric is from Joel Dewberry's Aviary line. I just love to pair partial nudity with woodgrain.



The model's name is Gerald (Gerald?!) and is described here in great detail for his stats (including ankle, not pictured). He apparently "works as a salesman but wants to be an actor, or anything else that brings him lots of money." Hmmm.

More from the David Bianco's article:

'Because of the oppressive atmosphere of the 1950s, physique magazines were careful to disguise their homoerotic intent. Postal inspectors and FBI agents were on the lookout for pornographic content, such as "excessive genital delineation." They particularly targeted gay publications, trying to indict them for violation of the 1873 Comstock Act, which prohibited sending obscene material through the mail. To avoid harassment, Physique Pictorial adopted a lofty mission statement: "A fine healthy physique," it claimed, was "a great compliment to our creator who planned for the utmost perfection in all of his universe." A beautiful body, according to Mizer's publication, "makes the soul sing."'



Sigh. You may notice that the photographed model carefully avoids said "excessive genital delineation." He also apparently isn't cooking anything. I took a little creative license here - added back in the genital delineation, and gave him some fried eggs!



The yolks of the sunny side up eggs represent the first instance that I did a solid fill in embroidery.

Isn't he a charmer?

I (heart) Joel Dewberry Fabric

I love this line of Aviary fabrics from Joel Dewberry. Faux bois woodgrain and bird motifs all in the same collection, and in orange and brown, one of my favorite color combinations? I can't think of any single collection that reflects my current aesthetic so perfectly. (BTW, if you like the woodgrain aesthetic as much as I do, check out one of my favorite blogs, It's (K)not Wood, which is entirely devoted to covering the topic of fake wood! They have also made note of this fabric.)

I first saw these fabrics on the shelves of purl soho, and I immediately snapped them up. These are all from the Bark palette - Sparrows in almond, and Woodgrain in both Orange and Chocolate. I did go back to buy a few different varieties of the Woodgrain. I have no immediate plans for them, but it seemed like a good idea to have them in my stash for future patchwork projects.



The first thing I did was create this pillow cover for the chicken. He also loves orange, brown, birds, and woodgrain, so it went really well with his existing pillows.



Also pictured here is a pillow by west elm in the back. I have to admit I am a bit of a fan of west elm. I go to their store, website, and catalog for inspiration (as well as actual shopping), and right now I use their pillow inserts for all of my pillow projects. While adopting their aesthetic as a whole could be a little dull, I have found that a lot of their items provide good backdrops for my handmade and more personalized projects, such as these.



The pillow in the middle is made from a barkcloth fabric from reprodepot and stuffed with fiber fill. The chicken's mom made this for him; this was before I was a crafter myself. She sewed it and we filled it; I remember how intimidated I was initially, and how satisfying it was to complete these. I think it was one of those aha moments where I realized I could do something that I thought I had no talent in.



I just made these coasters last night. There is a layer of cotton batting in between two layers of fabric. The tricky thing about working with the Sparrow fabric is cutting and sewing the birds so they appear in exactly the right place!



Now I'm enjoying a cool glass of water on the new coasters...