Stitchy Woman: Laura Amiss

Hello friends!  It's been such a very long time since I've shared an interview with a creative woman - but I was so inspired by the work of Laura Amiss, that I couldn't help but ask her to do a mini interview!  So please get comfy and join me as I get to know a little more about this wonderfully talented textile artist!

Laura, Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

LA: I am English but for nearly seven years I have been living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with my husband and slightly wild but lovely children.

I graduated in Textiles from Goldsmiths College at the University of London in 2003. After graduating I moved to Amsterdam and started working in the costume Atelier of the National Ballet and Opera house, which was both amazing and daunting (not speaking that much Dutch at the time).

Then life became pretty busy with babies and toddlers, although I have always made things, whether that be my wedding dress, paintings, gifts or clothes for my kids.

Here in Amsterdam I am surrounded by incredible fabric stores, which are a constant source of inspiration. I often draw inspiration from very ordinary things, I love simple lines and subtle color combinations. My two passions are textiles and illustration and I have endeavored to combine the two in my work.

So has working in this medium always been your passion?
LA: I have always enjoyed mixed media art work. It was whilst doing an Art and Design Foundation course that I really became hooked on textiles which then lead me on to my Degree. I love the physicality of working with textiles and have always been interested in it's language and history.

Wow, I see that you worked at the Costume Atelier at the National Ballet and Opera House!  What was that like? 
LA: It was pretty nerve racking! In London I used to work on the West End show MammaMia so I did have experience of working in Theatre wardrobe departments, but the Atelier at the Opera house really put my sewing skills to the test. I was working with amazing seamstresses in a very traditional environment, the amount of work and skill that went in to the costumes was incredible. I learned a lot while I was there, including a lot of useful Dutch words that make my Dutch sound more impressive than it actually is in my local haberdashery shop.

Let's talk a bit about your textile canvases.  I just love the color palettes you use in your work, and the imagery itself (I'm a huge fan of the umbrellas)!  Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
LA: I really enjoy putting colors together, often a piece can begin with color rather than an image. I love 1950s fashion illustrations and have recently been interested in exploring old proverbs and poetry and seeing how I can translate them visually. The titles of my pieces are important, I sometimes think I should stitch them on to the canvas. Drawing forms a crucial part of my work and inspiration, I have been trying to dedicate half an hour to sketching before I go to bed. Above all, for my most recent set of work I wanted to make people smile and be able to relate to the image easily.

I read that you layer fabric to create the muted colors we see in the finished pieces - do you want to talk at all about your process?
LA: My canvases are mostly made up of three layers, I cut shapes, layer other material in between and finally machine stitch the detail on top. The top layer is a cotton muslin which mutes the colors and pulls the image together. Often the cottons and laces that I use in the lower layers are very bright, the muslin gives them depth and texture.

Your textile canvases are so beautifully detailed - how much time do you spend on each piece?
LA: This can really vary, it also depends on how many cups of tea I decide to have! Plus I get distracted by trying out different colour combinations. The cutting and sewing on a smaller piece is usually a few hours work, I then mount them on wooden frames which I finish off with fabric on the back and add a hanger.

Being the mother of "slightly wild" children, when do you find time for your creative pursuits?
LA: Hmmm yes time is not bountiful when you have a 3 year old and another verging on 2. I work from my studio at home, I am lucky enough to have a little designated 'work' time and a very supportive husband. I like that my children are growing up in a creative house and they are used to my work being around. My daughter simply loves routing through my button collection and my son thinks I am Bob the Builder when I am making my frames.

Where can we see more of your work?
http://lauraamiss.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/photos/lauraamiss
www.lauraamiss.com

Thank you, Laura!

Re-introducing: Jessie

Stitched by sweetjessie

Jessie, or sweetjessie, as she is known on Flickr and her blog, is a truly sweet crafter with a beautiful sense of color and pattern, and a talented stitcher. Lucky for us, she continues to contribute to our blog and we can expect many great things to come! Thanks, Jessie!

A mini interview with Jessie:

Your favorite DMC floss color? 151

Your favorite embroidery project? I think my favorite project ever was embroidering a drawing my son made (above). I loved his choice of color, and how much care he obviously put into it. It was a joy to recreate in embroidery floss.

Your inspirations? I'm inspired by so many images from the 1940's through the 60's - vintage children's school books, coloring books, paper dolls, candy colors, and sweet things! Most often, it's the vintage embroidery patterns themselves that inspire me.

Your blog url? www.sweetjessie.com

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? pattern!
Messy or neat? neat.
Cute or edgy? Cute.

Stitchy Valentines

Hi Friends!  Today I wanted to share some amazing stitchy valentines I found from Crafty Minx!
She has created patterns from vintage valentines, and then stitched them up... aren't they fantastic?

The free patterns are available to download right from the Crafty Minx blog (she even offers them in reverse if you're transferring them)!  I think the matches are my favorite.  If you decide to stitch these up for Valentine's Day, won't you please share them in our Flickr Embroidery Group?   Happy stitching!

Finalist #2: Kirsty Neale

... a mini interview with Kirsty Neale, aka PlanetCoco


Kirsty, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I live in London with my boyfriend and work full-time as a freelance writer and designer. It can be tough (skin-tight deadlines, eighteen-hour days), but I wouldn’t change what I do for anything. I mostly write children’s books (fiction and non-fiction) and I design all sorts of creative projects for magazines.

Have you always been crafty?
Yes. I remember learning to sew when I was five. The first thing I made was a simple orange A-line dress for my Sindy doll (sort of a British version of Barbie). It had a very unsophisticated neck-hole cut at the top and the stitches were bigger than her head, but it was all my own work and design!
I also loved drawing, and at around the same age, I had a picture featured on a children’s TV show called Take Hart. It was of a snail, and was made from plasticine and lentils. I won a book, and I haven’t really stopped making stuff since.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
I love working with fabric – embroidery and appliqué especially – and have recently been enjoying drawing and creating little pieces of mixed-media art. I spent a big chunk of last year making cards, scrapbook pages and mini-books for a papercraft project and I contributed to a couple of books which were based on eco-crafts and recycling. I also do quite a bit of crafting for children, which is great fun. My partner often comes home to find the weirdest things drying around the house, from disembodied fake limbs to a dead rat made out of old socks (yes, really!).

Where do you find inspiration?
This is such an obvious answer, but really – everywhere. Books of all kinds, films, going to the theatre, walking in the park (I live opposite a beautiful Victorian park which has a maze, sphinxes and giant vintage dinosaurs) and, of course, the internet – Etsy, Flickr and more blogs than I probably have time for.

Please tell us about your banner design submission...
I love how clean and uncluttered the Feeling Stitchy blog looks, and the variety of different types of embroidery it features, so that was really my starting point. I wanted to do something quite contemporary and a bit different, but very stitchy (obviously) in fresh, clean colours.
I started off with the words, and didn’t actually get much further than that! I love typography and really enjoy playing with letter styles and fonts in paper and paint projects, but had never tried doing the same with fabric. I doodled the words onto plain paper, then realised that if I used different types of stitches and techniques to apply them, the stitchiness and detail would be built right into the title.
To put it all together, I traced the blocked letters on to Bondaweb, ironed to fabric scraps, then cut them out with embroidery scissors. I used white linen for the backing fabric, and traced the whole design through before stitching. The border gives it a more ‘finished’ look, and the buttons were added for a little bit of extra dimension.


Kirsty, thanks so much for sharing a bit about yourself with us. Good luck with the banner contest!

Finalist #1: Flossbox - Outer Space banner

... a mini interview with Emily, aka "Flossbox"



Emily, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’ve lived in Sweden going on 8 years. In my former life, I was an organic chemist and lived in Boston, DC, Chicago, and Orlando, but I am still just a Midwestern girl at heart! I also have a degree in clinical lab science. Despite all the lab training, I decided to move towards web programming and database design with a side business of making patterns.

You blog under the name "flossbox" - could you tell us how you came up with that name?
I needed a name for my blog when I moved over to my own domain, and “The Floss Box” sounded good. I use it for all my user names now on crafty sites.

Have you always been crafty?
Yep. My mom did a lot of different things with us, mostly using textiles. I got my first cross-stitch sampler at age 9, a project abandoned by my sister. My mom attempted to teach me to sew, but I resisted till I was in college when I got my own machine and took off making clothes and stuffed bunnies. Stitching-wise, I did counted cross stitch exclusively (for 10+ yrs) until last fall when I decided I needed to branch out a bit. I do a lot of surface embroidery, and I am madly trying to learn raised embroidery techniques, so I can make interesting figures.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
During my college and post-college years, I branched out into polymer clay, jewelry-making, acrylic painting on wood, quilting and some other things. However, there isn’t time or space to do all the things I’d like to do, so I decided to focus my energies on stitching, but I still love to mix in a bit of sewing and other things here and there.

Where do you find inspiration?
I read on someone’s blog (I don’t remember where ☹ ) recently that if something is a good memory, then stitch it! I thought that was great advice. I also look for things that have made a strong impression on me that might make an interesting project. I look for inspiration for ways to convey my ideas everywhere: blogs, Flickr albums dealing with all types of crafts and arts, books, magazines, people, nature, etc.

Please tell us about your banner design submission...
I wanted a design with the little thimble guy in it. I made over 5 versions before I found the right combo of motifs. One half is supposed to be day and the other night, and I wanted it to make you think the little guy just stitched it all. The bee and snail are padded a bit, although I think more thread ended up on the back of the fabric than the front! ;) I chose a more informal font for the letters and did those in whipped chain stitch so they are really defined. I was playing with the little green guy for some other designs, but I thought he might look cute in this design. Mostly I just wanted to make something bright and cheery.

I don't know, the actual piece looks a little softer and nicer in RL, but I have such a hard time getting nice pictures. They all turn out so dark, so they need to be lightened in photoshop which makes them brighter but not always nicer.

Emily, it's so nice to learn a little bit more about you. Thanks for the interview... and good luck with the banner contest!

Stitchy Woman

An Interview with Gina from Doe-C-Doe

Hi Gina! Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I went to school for graphic design, I met my guy while there and every since we’ve been together moving around, collecting more stuff and caring for our pets. Right now we live in the Midwest but we’re both originally from the East coast.

How did you come up with the name of your blog?
There are so many great names out there – I knew what I wanted to evoke but I couldn’t come up with something that felt right. I was watching an old movie on TMC, with Danny Kaye I think and they were talking about square dancing I guess…I liked the bounciness of it but wanted to make it feel less literal so I played with the words/sound and came up with doe-c-doe.

What’s one thing we probably don’t know about you?
I love to get a spoonful of peanut butter & then dip/scoop pieces of Hershey’s chocolate in it – try it, you’ll like it!



When did you first start stitching?
I started about 3 or 4 years ago – I used it as a creative outlet beyond the computer, which I spend a great deal of time on. Also, I find it relaxing and something I can do while watching tv which used to just be wasted time.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
Not really. I’d like to do more but I don’t have enough energy…

Stitching is very creative, yet also very detail oriented and precise. Does it reflect your personality?
It does reflect my personality because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I try to make my stitches really even but am constantly humbled by other people’s work.

Do you ever rip out stitches to re-do them in a different color or type of stitch?
I’ve done that a couple time because I wasn’t happy with the color I originally choose. I’ve learned that if I’m not happy with the way something is looking I need to just bite the bullet and fix it because I’ll never be really happy with it. So much time goes into a piece, in the end, it needs to be as close as possible to what I envisioned.

Where do you find the patterns you use?
I use vintage transfers from my collection, books, clip-art, free patterns others post and coloring books.



Do you have an all-time favorite pattern you’ve used again and again?
I haven’t repeated anything I’ve done yet – I tend to do something and then want to move on to something new.

What kinds of things do you embroider on (towels, pillowcases, etc)?
I’ve done a couple pillows & towels as gifts but I think my favorite formats are shadow-boxes & wall-hangings:

(I was inspired by a painting on flickr to create this piece)

This is my most recent finished project (using a free pattern provided by badbird):

Do you ever make anything for yourself?
Yes, but mostly I like to give embroidery as gifts because I know the people I’m giving it to really appreciate what goes into it.

Where do you find inspiration?
All over, the internet, vintage craft books, magazines, nature – the list goes on & on… If the embroidery is a gift for someone I definitely am inspired by them – that’s the best, when you get it just right!
I also find inspiration in my mom – not only because she makes beautiful things but because she gets so much joy out of what I make & I love making her smile!

Are there any websites or blogs you visit regularly for creative inspiration?
Just like everyone else I visit so many it’s hard to try to pick just a few {I list many on my blog}. However, I would say the blog that was the first one I read regularly and which has been such an overall inspiration to me is posie gets cozy.

Do you sell the items you make?
I don’t sell the items I make, although I’m very flattered when people say they wish I would! I’m thinking about opening an etsy shop & have considered selling digital copies of some of my vintage transfers there, but don’t know yet what I’m going to do.

If you could listen to anything while you worked on a project, what would it be?
When I’m stitching it’s the tv, ideally a movie I’ve seen many times before so I don’t have to look up too often! But when I’m preparing a project to start and am in my office its NPR. Since it’s the weekend usually its one of the “fun” shows like This American Life or Car Talk.

Can you show me a few projects and tell me about them?
This is an example of a gift inspired by the recipient’s interest. My guy loves to photograph bugs & I’ve never been big on the real bug specimen box thing so I thought this was a fun way to create my own version.


My dear friend suggested I try embroidering on a lampshade & this was the result, which I in turn gave to her for her baby’s nursery:


My sister loves Lucy & so I wanted to make her something related to that. I referenced Jenny Hart’s portraits to gain confidence and ended up being really happy with the results:


What three movies are next on your Netflix Queue?
Yikes, we don’t have Netflix! But here are 3 movies I always watch when they are on cable:
1. Amelie
2. My Favorite Wife
3. The Princess Bride

Where can we find more of you?
The thrift store! {Or here on Flickr}

Gina makes so many beautiful things and has all sorts of fun and wonderful collections. Make sure to visit her blog, Doe-C-Doe to check it all out for yourself!

Thank you, Gina!

xoxo

Stitchy Woman

Yay! I'm so excited to be posting my very first interview here on Feeling Stitchy! Please grab a cup of tea and sit with me as I share my interview with Heather from Heather Hales Designs.

Heather, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a 30 year old mother of a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl living in a suburb of Phoenix, AZ with my handsome husband. The fact that it gets so hot here in the summer (110+ for 30 straight days) really lends itself well to indoor activities…like stitching!

When I am not parenting or crafting I really enjoy reading. My husband and I have enough books to start our own library and the kids are well on their way to their own library too! I love classic literature (Steinbeck, Miller, James) and Spanish literature (Garcia-Marquez, Allende) - even though I don’t speak a lick of Spanish! I also enjoy baking; I make a pretty mean chocolate truffle cake if you are ever in these parts!



Were you interested in arts and crafts as a kid? What’s the first thing you remember creating?
Yes, I was interested in crafts a as child!! While I was really young my mother was working on her BA in textile art so she was always doing fun creative projects with my sister and I.

My very first sewing project (by hand) was a doll quilt I made for a first grade class assignment. I chose my very favorite prints from my mother’s fabric collection and pieced it by hand. Secretly, after I went to bed my mom stitched over my hand stitching on her sewing machine and I think she bound it for me too:
Cross stitching was also big in our house. I was always working on some cross stitch project, but now that I think about it I don’t know that I ever finished anything. I remember first learning about embroidery when we were in the middle of loading the moving truck for a move (one of MANY), I must have been about 8. My mom had put on a cotton blouse that she felt was a little too low, so she disappeared for 15 min and came back out with the same shirt only the front wasn’t so low and it was adorned with beautiful flowers. I was amazed and made her tell me how she did it! I tried for many years to embroider and I just could not get the stitches even and nice so I stopped trying. I took it up again shortly after my son was born and somehow it clicked and my stitches were straight and even.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
Oh I dabble a little in Photography, I’m not very good and I don’t have an SLR so mostly it is just for fun. I also like to pretend that I can design web pages and make graphics.

It takes so much time to complete an embroidery project. How much time do you usually spend on a project, and where do you find the time?
It depends. If it is a project that I am really excited about then I will take it with me everywhere and I usually get it done in a day or two. On the flip side I remember a kitchen towel I made a few months ago that took me a whole week to finish!
I really do take my projects with me everywhere. I’ll stitch in the parking lot of my son’s school while I wait for him to come out. This time of year so I also spend a lot of time stitching at the park while my kids play. Since my youngest is still at home I stitch while she naps or in the evenings after the kids are in bed.

Stitching is very creative, yet also very detail oriented and precise. Does it reflect your personality?
Sadly, no. I am certainly a type A personality but I tend to be lax on details. My mother was always telling me stop rushing through things and pay attention to what I was doing. I have to discipline myself to be detail oriented with the crafts and stitching that I do, but it does not come naturally to me.

Do you ever rip out stitches to re-do them in a different color or type of stitch?
Not very often. I usually think through a project pretty thoroughly before I start. I select colors and lay them all together to make sure the coordinate and balance and then I plan what stitch I will use for each area.

Which stitch do you use most often?
Stem stitch, although, the chain stitch is growing on me.

Where do you find the patterns you use?
I really like vintage patterns, something about the bygone era appeals to me. I wonder about the women who purchased them new- what were they like and what did they make? I find most of my patterns at a local antique mall, the flickr Hoop Love group and some on ebay. I also have started collecting vintage coloring books- they are great for patterns.

Do you have an all-time favorite pattern you’ve used again and again?
After I make something once I am usually bored with it and want to move on to something new. I’ve used the vintage lollipop (from an old coloring book) more than a few times. It was a towel that people really liked and I got a lot of requests for it:


Did you collect anything as a kid? Do you collect anything now as an adult?
As a teenager I collected lip balm, not just any lip balm it either had to do something cool for your lips or come in a cute container. Now I am working on my collection of vintage embroidery patterns! Vogart’s are great, but I really like finding a McCall or Simplicity as they are harder to come by.

What kinds of things do you like to embroider on?
I like to embroider flannel blankets the most, and my second choice would be kitchen towels. I do stitch onesies, but I have yet to find a stabilizer that I like, so it is always a tricky process.

Do you ever make anything for yourself?
Rarely! I love what I make and wish that I had some of the things for myself. I just have such a hard time justifying using the time for myself rather than for a client or my family.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! I love looking at the packaging of things in bath and soap shops (can I just say that Lollia has some of the neatest designs on their packages!). I also love craft and home dec. magazines, they provide tons of eye candy for me. I am also prone to wasting large amounts of time late at night surfing through flickr.

Who encourages you in your artistic pursuits? Are there any blogs or websites you frequent?
My family encourages me, especially my sister-in-law Sarah she is my biggest cheerleader. My step-mother Kathleen is one of my best customers, it means so much to me that she likes my work enough to buy it for her friends! I love reading crafty blogs, I have a whole page (please link to my inspiration page) on my blog devoted to the artists that inspire me. Here is a short version of a really long list!

Jessie, you are one- I remember hunting you down after I found your adorable book plates at Mahar Drygoods. You always use such bold colors and I love the modern feel of your products.

I’m really liking the work of Julia of Symbiosis; her designs are so fresh with such clean lines.

I love the soft color pallet and classic look of everything that Kelly of My Happy Little Life creates.

The Mayfly is another blog I frequent. Her creations are so cute and practical! One day I am going to make her awesome car organizer.

Do you have a special food or drink you like to have while creating?
No, I try really hard to keep food away from the projects, although an occasional peanut M&M might slip in. I do like to watch movies while I stitch though- I love Netflix!

What are the next three movies in your Netflix que?
Cinderella (for my daughter), The Heiress, Howards End

If you could listen to anything while you worked on a project, what would it be?
I’m an ‘80’s junkie. I love the Cure, DepecheMode, Erasure, Yaz etc.

Can you show me a few projects and tell me about them?


1. This is a free hand embroidery I created for a fun small sized tote bag. It was a real stretch for me to not use a pattern; I was really pleased with how it turned out. 2. I first found this pattern in the flickr Hoop Love group and added it to my list of designs I want to stitch. I love bird patterns and this one was so sweet and I really liked that it was a larger pattern. Then I found the Alexander Henry fabric and decided they were meant to be together. 3. I free handed again and created this cute rocket ship for a onesie. It is one of the patterns I am going to offer for custom onesies in my shop soon. 4. This is the first time I have used linen. I love the fabric but hate the wrinkles! I noticed other designers were using linen a lot so I decided to give it a go.

Do you sell the items you make? And if so, do you have any tips for people who want to start selling their work, either online or at craft shows?
Yes, I sell items that I make. Any tips? Hmm, first I guess make sure there is a market for your items- ask friends that will be honest with you about your products. Feedback is hard to take sometimes but it will help you create products that really will sell or be in demand. I’ve only done 1 craft show and the one thing I did learn to make your display as eye catching and cute as you can, it really does increase your traffic. Market yourself and your shop. It is so hard to get noticed at Etsy these days; you have to bring people to your shop if you really want to make sales.

Where can we find more of you?
Frances Vintage in downtown Phoenix, my Etsy shop, heatherhalesDESIGNS the blog, and right here in the land of eternal sun! I love meeting new people; feel free to drop me a note if you’ll be in the area: heather@heatherhalesdesigns.com

Thank you so much, Heather!!!
Thank you Jessie- this was a real treat. I am so excited to keep reading your weekly interviews!

xx

I will be posting interviews every other Thursday with all sorts of stitchy gals. Haven't you always dreamed of seeing your name in stitch? Well, if you'd consider being interviewed, or to recommend someone whom you'd like to hear more about, please drop me a note at sweetjessie@comcast.net. Come on now, don't be shy!