One of my favorite creativity blogs is the wonderful Dabbled blog. So I was thrilled when I was asked to write a guest post about letterpress while Nancy’s on vacation in Europe. Hopefully, this post will be helpful to those of you who are contemplating learning letterpress. It’s a lot of work–but the rewards are fabulous. Check it the post right here.

Also, I’m thinking I should get some special props for working multiple Trail Blazers references into a post about letterpress on an art blog. Just sayin’…

~Sarah

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Have you seen Interweave‘s awesome special magazine, Stitch? We loved it when the first issue was released–it’s defintiely a magazine for folks who love to sew and create. Well, the second issue of Stitch features a lovely article by the marvelous Susan Beal, and she interviewed Sarah for her article “Print Me,” which is about how to customize your sewing with DIY screen-printed fabrics. And, also flattering, little ol’ Sewer-Sewist was listed as resource for those aspiring to screen print at home.

Stitch is on newsstands now–it’s a great magazine and Susan’s article is wonderful, featuring loads of interesting and inspiring folks who are screen printing at home.

~Josh & Sarah

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Well, not really. But I know you want to join the Blazers Craft Posse anyway…

~Sarah

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Our plants are really not prepared for this type of thing.

Portland’s was under siege–by snow–for the better part of two weeks. We, like everyone else in Stumptown, didn’t adapt too well to our forced solitary confinement. But, it did give us a chance to take a few fun snow pictures–including those of the projects we (read: Sarah) made for people for Christmas. While we showed y’all these in our first Video Threads episode, we thought you’d want to see a few pictures–plus, you just gotta check out all the snow.

First up in our snow fashion shoot, the Amy Butler Downtown Purse. Ah, yes… Getting a little tired of making this one, but it’s always so well-received and doesn’t take a lot of effort… This is in one of the newish Denyse Schmidt cotton canvas fabric from FreeSpirit.

This will be the last one of these bags for awhile. As cute as it is, there are only so many one person can make...

The button on this was leftover from the last knitting project Sarah did before tendinitis ended her knitting for once and for all.

Next, the “I’ll have one of everything…” bag from Anna Maria Horner’s new book, “Seams to Me.” This is made in various quilting weight cottons in peach, green and pink tones.

It's kind of a pain in the butt to find that many fabrics that coordinate. How on Earth do quilters do it?

The handles are braided using 12 strips of different town fabrics, which creates a really fun and funky sort of look. It really keeps this back from looking too “quilty.” If that makes sense. (Probably not, huh?)

These rag rug looking braided handles are so awesome! They really make the bag look unique.

And another one from Anna Maria’s book, this one the “Cup Half Full” apron. This is pretty darn cute in two fabrics from Heather Bailey, and an orange checked print for the bias border.

Everyone needs a fancy hostess apron to wear in a snowstorm, right?

This color combo is really bright and fun--almost Christmas-y, but not quite.

Sarah’s mom, who usually scores in the homemade gift department was the lucky recipient of a violet iPod Nano, and most everyone else got silly gifts/books… Despite the snowfall, this Christmas was far less stressful than last because we weren’t under the gun to get things made. Production sewing can be nerve-racking.

Our view for days and days and days...

Our poor house started to look like it was going to get buried under all the white stuff.

Thankfully, the Snowpocalypse is over and we were able to successfully leave our house in our own vehicle for the first time in a VERY long time yesterday. (We had to borrow Sarah’s mom’s SUV to go to the Christmas Day Blazers game–which was, uh, “rad.”)

In completely unrelated news, we’ve added a Facebook/Blog Networks widget to our sidebar. If you’re on Facebook, you can join our network by following the sidebar link and see who else is reading Sewer-Sewist. It’s kind of cool, actually.

Happy holidays, everyone!

~Josh & Sarah

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Anyway, this post is about a T-shirt I screen printed and embroidered, but you’re going to have to humor me a bit while I digress…

I'm not a crazed fan! Really. I'm not. I swear.

It’s been well established that I’m a crazy fan of Portland Trail Blazers basketball. And keep in mind, Trail Blazers fans are a special breed of crazy in general, so that’s saying something. This season, we are actually season ticket holders. We have seats waaaaaay up in section 322 to each and every game this year. This is going to sound cheesy, but this is actually a life-long dream of mine. When I was a kid it was nearly impossible to get tickets. When Josh and I moved back to Portland, no one was going to the games, because of the whole Jail Blazers thing, and we were able to score all kinds of free or deeply discounted tickets (great seats, too). So we went a lot. (An aside: for the longest time, I thought that if I was at the game, the Trail Blazers couldn’t lose–it wasn’t until Portland played the stupid Clippers that season that I attended a Blazers’ loss.) That year, 2006-07, was Brandon Roy‘s Rookie season–he eventually become Rookie of the Year, Ime Udoka made the team (he’s a Portlander) and Nate McMillan was coaching. The vibe was changing, and fans kind of knew that it was Zach Randolph‘s last season before he was traded. Portlanders knew the team was changing–and something good was going to happen. Then Portland won the #1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

It was amazing.

Blazermania was back.

But, Greg Oden–our #1 pick–got injured out was out all last season. Free and discounted tickets were still fairly easy to come by. This season, with Greg back, Brandon Roy having made the All-Star team in 2007-08 and Rudy Fernandez coming over from Spain, we knew it would be tough to get tickets, let alone keep riding the Free Ticket Express. So, we sucked it up and bought season tickets. (Actually, George Bush bought us season tickets–that’s how we spent our “Economic Stimulus” check.)

Which means that, for 42 games of basketball, I need more T-shirts.

We sneaked down to the parking garage at the Rose Garden to take this picture. I like the giant Brandon Roy feet in the background.

Using one of the cheapo pajama top long-sleeved T-shirts from Target, I created my opening game look. First, I cut off the arms to three-quarter length. Then I embroidered, using the alphabet from Jenny Hart‘s Sublime Stitching, “Rip City!” onto the back.

The embroidery's not what I'd call "centered" or "straight" per se, but it'll do...

Then, using InDesign, I made a star stencil with a 7 in it (the 7 for Brandon Roy’s jersey number and the star because he was an All-Star last season). I cut out the stencil using freezer paper, and stuck it on one of our old, crappy silk screens. Then I spray glued the 7 and stuck it in the middle–basically creating a reverse stencil within a regular stencil, if that makes sense. I inked it up, and it resulted in this snazzy–and quick–screen printed shirt.

This was a super quick process to make a screen print. I did it the afternoon of the game, and even had time to wash the shirt before I wore it.

A very happy Trail Blazers fan.

I’m actually planning a few more shirts to wear throughout the season. The next one is going to be a Channing Frye shirt. Channing is definitely the weirdest member of the Blazers team and has totally embraced being a Portlander. He has an awesomely bizarre blog as well, that’s totally worth checking out–even if you don’t know a jump shot from a lay up.

In related news, through running the Obama Craft Project site during the general election (it’s still going strong, too, I’m just not posting projects everyday anymore), I got to know Susan Beal–Portlander, crafty gal, Bead Simple author and BLAZERS FAN! She and her hubby have had us over to watch a couple of away games (Casa de Sewer-Sewist is without cable television), and Susan and I went to the Blazers vs. Kings game on Monday night. Anyway, if you noticed the lovely vintage-looking earrings I’m wearing in the first photo of this post, they are some that Susan made.

The deep scarlet color of these beads is one of my very favorite colors. Remind me to wear jewelry more often.

Anyway, as a public service announcement, I wanted to let y’all know that Susan has super cool kits up in her Etsy shop so you can make your very own. There’s more information over on her blog. Personally, I think that they would make great gifts for someone who’s interested in learning how to make jewelry, but don’t know where to begin, or maybe a creative teenager who’s into DIY. (Which reminds me, I used to love to make jewelry when I was a teenager and then quit when I went to college. I should dig my jewelry-making tools out of cold storage and give it a whirl again sometime.)

~Sarah

P.S. Rip City!!!!!!!!!!!!

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So that makes thirteen, right? Here goes–I’ll try not to replicate those that are on my about page:

1. I love magazines, but I almost exclusively read them while soaking the the bathtub. My favorites for bathtub reading: The Atlantic, ReadyMade, Vanity Fair and GQ (yes, I realize it’s for men, but, whatever, they have really interesting profiles of people).
2. I also love to read catalogs in the bathtub. Faves: Sundance Catalog (one of the few I actually ever buy anything out of), J.Jill and Title 9.
3. I am definitely more of a night person than morning person. My ideal hours are: bed at 1:00 a.m., up at 9:00 a.m.
4. My favorite Portland Trail Blazer who’s not named Brandon Roy is Channing Frye. (Seriously, no one in the history of Portland has ever embraced being a Portlander as much as Channing Frye. You’ve got to check out his blog and all the craziness. He’s weird and awesome in a totally Portland way!)
5. I adore brussel sprouts. Love, love, love them.
6. I hate cleaning–in Santa Fe we had a housekeeper who came and cleaned every other week and it was the best thing ever. The clean house and green chile sauce are the only things I miss about living in New Mexico.
7. All of my socks have holes in them because 1) I don’t really throw them away until they’ve disintegrated and 2) the dog steals my socks and runs around the house with them and her teeth puncture holes in them. She doesn’t do this to Josh.
8. To me, one of the primary objectives of going on vacation is eating out. That’s one of the reasons I love Spain so much. Manchego… Yum!!!
9. I’m a sort of vegetarian. I only eat certain sustainable seafood, no other meat, and the rest is your typical vegetarian diet (veggies, beans, soy, dairy, eggs, yadayada).
10. We had two pet guinea pigs for years; their names were Seamus and Izzy. Seamus had chronic dental problems and Izzy was blind. They were quite a pair. I still miss them even though it’s been several years since they each passed away. (Seamus was once “Pet of the Day” in the early days of that type of thing on the internet.)
11. When I started college, I thought that afterward I’d go to law school and become a crusading attorney of some sort–then I worked at a law school and the law professors treated me so terribly that I knew I could never spend three years dealing with professors like that.
12. I am extraordinarily picky about lipstick (gotta be red, gotta be the right consistency, gotta have the right ingredients), and it’s the one cosmetic I don’t leave the house without.
13. I think this is the funniest YouTube video ever.
    

I think that probably most people have gotten one or both of these, so I’m just going to give a shout out to some of the folks that you should read if you don’t already.

• Rosanne: She’s such an extraordinarily nice person and loves BWOF too!
• Rachel: We share a birthday and she’s been to Space Camp!
• Penny: You must check out her Halloween costume.
• Patrick: A talented weaver, knitter and sewer.
• Susan: Josh and I are so glad we met her–and she’s a Blazers fan!
• Diane: She’s crafty, she’s cool, and she’s obsessed with plastic canvass. I love her weekly PDX Profiles on DIY Alert.
• Stacy: Everyone reads Stacy’s blog, right? She’s has one of the friendliest voices in the sewing blogging world.
• Kim: When she started True Up, Kim really filled a gap in the craft blogging world.

There are many others, but check those folks out–they’re all fantastic for completely different ways!

~Sarah

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If you’re not familiar with Diane’s fantastic podcast and blog, CraftyPod, you should be. And what better time than right now to check it out? Josh is one of four crafty guys that are featured in CraftyPod #73: Men Who Craft.

You may not know this about Josh from reading this web site, but Josh is actually pretty shy, so I’m very proud of him for being interviewed for CraftyPod. When I told him I was going to post the link to the podcast, he said,

Just make fun of me or something.

Well, I’m not gonna. It’s a very interesting and thoughtful podcast episode, and I hope you all will check it out.

Good job, sweetie!

~Sarah

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We knew it! Sewing is an essential survival skill. EarthSky blog is reporting that it turns out that Australian researchers have discovered that Neanderthals would probably not died out if they’d picked up a thread and needle and stitched themselves some warmer clothes.

…when the last ice age hit, modern humans were well-equipped to produce clothes warm enough to fend off the cold. Because Neanderthals… [had not developed] advanced sewing technology. When the temperature dropped, they were stuck with clothes that didn’t keep them warm enough and didn’t know how to improve on the clothes they already wore.

In the spirit of today’s game in which the Green Bay Packers take on the Seattle Seahawks, UniWatch Blog has a great interview with Marge Switzer, the Packers’ team seamstress. There’s some real gems in this interview, and Marge has a pretty tough job. Who knew that the players wear the same jersey all season, and Marge just keeps stitching them up? The rips and tears and battle scars of sorts. Turns out, she’s just as neurotic as the rest of us stitchers:

…there have been times when I’m watching the game and I’ll go, “Uhhhhh [deep gasp of shock], we missed a thread there!” So I do see that sometimes, and the average person, I’m sure, wouldn’t have a clue.

We’re so happy that our missed threads don’t face the scrutiny of tens of thousands of cheese-hat wearing Packers fans!

And finally, CNET is reporting that we sewers and sewists have finally hit the big time at the Consumer Electronics Show. (Note: Sewing machine reference and photo are at the very end of the post on CNET.) Turns out, Brother is showing their fancy new ultra computerized sewing machines for the first time at the annual geek fest of gadgets in Las Vegas this week. Gotta love how CNET (which is a great and very useful site, so no offense here) marvels at this fact.

And just in case you missed it, yes, they have sewing machines at CES. From Brother.

The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail is also amazed at this display at the CES.

Are we the only folks out there who are utterly baffled by these writers’ wonderment over the fact that sewing has evolved technology-wise right along with everything else in our lives?

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I’ve been meaning to post some links for awhile, basically random sewing-related items that I’ve bookmarked and found interesting for whatever reason. I hope you do to.

Pantone’s recent color report. The definitive analysis of color for fashion fashion. I sure like the Chili Pepper Red and the the beautiful, elegant Dusk. The Lemon Curry should be illegal. Warning: You’ll need to view it in Preview or Acrobat.

The difference between High Fashion and ready to wear from a recent Wall Street Journal “Style” report.

Wardrobe planning—not that I actually practice this, but I do like to think about it.

Color trends through 2009. This has been really helpful for me in thinking about choosing colors that will be current for awhile.

Fashion trends (Including menswear!) for the next couple of seasons. Three trends really interest me: Rockabilly for men (this probably is due to my love of the Bakersfield Sound and the like), British textures (gotta love tweeds!) and women’s sporty chic becoming even more popular, with significant influences from the world of surfing/skateboarding (so you can embrace your inner poser—I sure do).

For that matter, check out theentire Fashion Trendsetter site, I keep going back to it, absolutely engrossed.

I’d never heard of this technique for creating gathers, but it’s sheer genius.

Sew,Mama,Sew! Handmade Holidays: 30 Days of Gifts to Sew. If you’re more ambitious than I, you can make a holiday gift each day of November.

In that same vain, the Handmade Holiday Pledge.

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