Gretchen's Saltbox Tee

Here is Gretchen in her Saltbox Tee. Doesn't she look gorgeous?! I think it suits her so well. 

During the process of receiving the handprinted fabrics from Gretchen and making our Saltbox Tee's I was posting on Instagram. In hindsight I wish I had taken better quality photos to share here.
Here are the two other prints that I didn't use. It was so hard to pick. Gretchen has since printed more designs on fabric and you can see what she's up to on her Instagram.



And one of my all time favorite photos of us. This one was taken by my mom in Santa Fe in the Summer of 1997. We were visiting Gretchen while she worked at a Summer Camp.
    

xoxo

Saltbox Tee, Twenty Seven Years in the Making

There is so much more to this blog post than this pattern, this fabric or this make. I have a story to tell about my oldest friend and the 27 years of friendship that lie behind this handmade tee.
 

In the seventh grade I started a new school. Picture me, super shy, super awkward and the new kid in a tiny, country middle school. The Forty some odd kids in my class had mostly been in school together since kindergarten. It was hard. I met Gretchen Schermerhorn that year. It was 1986 to be exact. She was popular, but different than most kids in that she was interested in art. She was always nice to me, but it wasn't until the summer after 9th grade (1990) that I got up the courage to call her and invite her over to my house. I asked her if she wanted to come over and make purses, and she did. My mom had a craft and sewing room above our garage and we took full advantage of the space and her materials. We painted with acrylics and 3-D fabric paint and glued together envelope purses with ribbon for straps. I will leave those to your imagination, though I do have one or two still. Those purses were our first handmade bond, a tradition that carries on to this day.



Gretchen and I remained close friends and graduated both high school and college together. We took watercolor, metals and ceramics classes together and were roommates in college. I majored in metals and she went into printmaking, ultimately pursuing an MFA in the field. Gretchen is a working artist and teacher, in printmaking, paper making and bookmaking. She works at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland.



Clearly I have brushed over the intervening years since college, but the point is, that our handmade bond continues. G gives the best gifts, always something unique and often handmade (by her or other artists). We have continued to make things for each other and together. When I saw her post a video on Instagram of herself printing on fabric I was, of course, intrigued. My interest was met with an offer, if I would make her a top with her fabric I could have some for myself as well. Yes, of course I said yes. This has to be the most special fabric that I have ever sewn with or worn. It was designed and printed by my life long friend and she trusted me to sew with it. I felt honored.



Gretchen picked the Saltbox tee by BluePrints for Sewing. I made the size C/D for myself. I love the details and structure of this top. The forward shoulder seam gives the appearance of a yoke, and the simple side vents lend a really nice fit. I was skeptical about the instructions for attaching the sleeves, but they really did ease in nicely. The contrast fabric is thrifted linen that I indigo dyed. It started a light mustard yellow, so it has a bit of green in with the indigo blue. This top is an excellent pattern for highlighting special prints, or even pattern mixing could be fun. This was my first time using a pattern from Blueprints for Sewing but it won't be my last.

Taylor the pattern designer says:

Blueprints for Sewing patterns are simple, flattering, comfortable, and classic with an artistic edge. They emphasize functionality and simplicity and feature thoughtful embellishments and adaptable cuts. Each pattern takes its inspiration from an architectural style.

I find all that to be true and it fits well with my personal aesthetic. I loved all the nods to architectural blueprints in the pattern layout. 

The handprinted fabric is quite stiff, but may soften up some with washing and wear. It is printed on Kona cotton. I had a really hard time picking from the 4 prints that G sent me, but the cactus won out in the end. I just adore this fabric so, so much.



I am waiting for Gretchen to send me a photo of her in her Saltbox Tee. We took a photo together at Christmas but it is dark and blurry. I will post her photo and some of my pics of the fabrics soon. You can see a bit more here. Thanks for letting me share a bit of my personal history with you.

Belated Belated

This is a super belated sharing of Gretchen's super belated Birthday gift. I started this project after her birthday, which is six days after mine in November. I don't think I got it in the mail to her until early February. I hand dyed some ombre yarn, which was a cool technique to learn. I knit it in endless stockinette and I'm a slow knitter anyways. It is just a big triangular scarf. I like the way it turned out.

I love the stippling effect that the dye created.

I intended this doo-dad to be a brooch but I thought it came out too big, so it is just a thing-a-ma-bob to look at. I embroidered on felt and stuffed it with polyfil.

I always enjoy making things for friends, sometimes I'm just a little late doing so.

My Valentine

Frank, my Valentine, my love.
I've said it all before, he's the best.
To know him is to love him.
Ask anyone who does know him and they will concur.
His infectious smile and laugh will win you over in a heartbeat.
I'm one lucky girl.

Our friend Meredith Martin took this photo of us the weekend of my birthday.
This is the tree we got married under in my parents backyard.  I love that spot and wanted some photos before my parents sell their house.

I have to run, I'm off to the front lines of the floral department at Central Market.  I will report back with details later in the week. Frank and I won't have time to cook a nice dinner tonight like we usually do, so we may celebrate later in the week.

Happy Valentines Day!
xoxo
Ashley

Photos by Jill Johnson

These photos were all taken by Jill Johnson for the story in 360 West. Jill was fun to work with and really put me at ease. I love the portraits as well as the detail shots of my materials and workbench. Thanks for sharing these Jill!
Be sure and check out her website, she has some great stuff on there.
Jill even photographed a book called Kitty Wigs, it's really funny and cute.

I also have to give a big thank you to Judy Wiley who wrote the story. I could tell it was going to be a good one because Judy was really curious about my design process, materials and the actual work that goes into creating jewelry. Judy was also great to work with and I have received nothing but positive feedback about the story.

Here is the story on the 360 West website in case you missed it the other day.

My Dad's First Tattoo

I don't know why I haven't shared this sooner. This image has been on my desktop since before Christmas. I took it quickly at Thanksgiving as Karlie wasn't wanting to be held or pose for pictures. This is my dad, who my niece Karlie has started calling Baba, showing off his tattoo in honor of his first grandchild. The artwork and tattoo are by Megan Emery of Bijou Studio in Austin. She is really fabulous. Isn't this the sweetest thing ever?! I photoshopped the image and printed it out as a Christmas gift for my parents and for my brother and sis in law.

Cleaning Out

I started cleaning out around my studio area a couple of days ago and came across the treasures. The Mexican Fire Agate was given to me by a wonderful customer and I had totally forgotten that I had it. I don't remember realizing how beautiful it was when I received it.
The tiny bottles were in a box of found objects that I collected from my mom's stash several years ago. I filled the middle one with some Mexican Fire Opal chips that I inherited from my Pawpaw. I am not sure where or how he collected those, or if he purchased them, but I always remember a jar of them next to his easy chair along with another rock that he called a dinosaur egg. Those little opal chips came out of the bigger jar that was his and the whole collection is very precious to me. In fact, Ann Jenkins included one in a necklace that she made or me. The tiny geode must have come from Pawpaw too, though I'm not sure when I acquired it. I love this little collection in my window sill, it makes me smile and think of my Pawpaw.

Handmade Jewelry Jackpot!

It had been a while since I had done a trade with another jeweler. I did two recently and both items came in the mail yesterday! My package from Stacey of Wildflower Designs was waiting for me at the main post office and, as I'm sure you can tell, it made going to the post office worthwhile. I am so in love with this necklace, the stone is gorgeous and the setting really shows it off! I get compliments all the time on the earrings that I have from Stacey and I'm sure this one will be no different.

I also did a trade with Claire Buck when we shared a booth a few weeks ago. She mailed me the earrings that she made me and they came in yesterday too. I love them, aren't they clever?! They are fold formed copper and I think the texture and shape are beautiful.

I am so pleased to have these pieces in my handmade jewelry collection!

My personal couture seamstress

Yes, I have a personal Couture seamstress to sew me party dresses that fit perfectly! She is also known as my awesome mom, Connie Akers. My mom is just too good to me. When she moves away to the Hill Country I'll be going through withdrawals. I have mentioned before that I do love to sew, but I can't make fitted things for myself. Perhaps if I had a dress form I could, but mom just makes it look so easy. She knows where to take things up to make them fit just right.

My bridesmaid dress for Robin and Chases' wedding is one of those custom fit items. We used Vogue 8494 (purchased for $3.99 at a Joann sale, of course!) and made a wearable muslin. I did do the sewing on the muslin version, with mom helping me to fit it perfectly. We didn't take the muslin apart, but transferred the changes to the pattern pieces directly from the dress. That part was a bit tricky, but worked out in the end. In my opinion, this pattern is too complex for a casual sundress, but does fit like a glove and is quite flattering. On this version I had cut a larger skirt to accommodate my curves and we put some pleats in to easily fit it to the bodice.

Here is my muslin in a striped Seersucker.
It looks much better now that it is ironed and hemmed.


The dress for the wedding needed to be Navy and I found some great fabrics at Golden D'or in Dallas. They have an annual summer sale and I got my fabrics during that. I got a Linen Weave Silk for the main fabric, Silk Dupioni for the contrast bands and Silk Organza for the pleated ruffle (my addition to the pattern).

I was so nervous to cut into the fabrics because they were so nice.

As I mentioned before, my seamstress (mom) did the sewing on this one. I was just too worried about messing something up and the dress had to be perfect for the wedding!

Here is the completed dress. I love the weight of the Linen Weave Silk, I think it would be considered a suiting weight. It really has a nice structure to it without being uncomfortable, and fits so well. We did view B with the contrast bands and added the organza pleated ruffle to the bottom. For the ruffle we doubled the organza and used a pleating board to make the pleats. We ironed it really well, took it out of the pleating board and stitched the pleats down to keep them in place.



Ruffle detail


Dad and I in front of the paper moon at the wedding.
This is a good view of how the dress fit me.

My first art business

In the summer of 1990, the summer after ninth grade, I invited my friend Gretchen over to make purses. We had been friends in middle school, a tiny school with only about 40 in our ninth grade class, but had never hung out outside of school. Well, that purse making adventure turned into a lifelong friendship, and we have now been friends for twenty years! We have been in each others weddings and still have much in common, especially art. Gretchen is a talented printmaker and the art director of Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland. We only get to spend time together about twice a year now, and unfortunately I have not gotten to visit her in Maryland yet. Gretchen is still one of my closest and bestest friends in the world. It made me so happy to find this article while going through my parents stuff to pack for their move. If you click on the image the article should be large enough to read. This was written up that summer in our small town paper. My first business venture and my first press! Love you G!

I have also found several of the purses that we made and will be sure to share those soon. They are pretty funny.

This article was also in the same paper. My family hosted exchange students from Japan twice for a weekend each time. They were wonderful experiences and I still remember how to fold and origami crane! Sorry this story is cut off at the bottom, but you get the idea.

Rolling on down the road

Laura and Russ rolled out this morning the same way they arrived last week. We hosted them and really enjoyed the experience. I snapped these shots right before they hit the road this morning. They are heading up to Denton for a couple of days before they head east out of Texas. I have a lot more to share and say about their visit, but right now I'm just trying to catch up on my to do list. So more to come about these guys, for now just these two shots.

Where I have been

I have been buy getting ready for Fiesta Art Fair in San Antonio next weekend!
I made new displays with dad on Thursday and have been working away on new jewelry. I don't have any finished pieces to share yet, but here is my work bench full of projects. I did my email newsletter about my show on Mail Chimp, which I love. They make it so easy to have a professional looking email. Check out my email here. I'm also working on some simple literature to hang in my booth. I thought that some people might like to read little blurbs with answers to frequently asked questions.

parts and pieces ready to get a patina

these will become enameled earrings

bag 'o parts for fiber jewelry

Thursday evening mom and I went down to Main Street Art Festival, here in Fort Worth, to check it out. My friend Kari of Fat Cat Studio was participating for the first time so we chatted with her for a while. We then set out to see the show and it is so big! We were there for three hours and didn't see everything. Some artists were starting to close down their booths by the time we were leaving. I have always been intimidated by this show because of the size and the length (four days). But after talking to some wonderful artists I have gotten over my fear and plan to start applying. It is a hard one to get in to, but if I can it would be wonderful. There are artists from far and wide, I think the farthest on that I noticed was from British Columbia. Some of my favorites were: Rone Prinz (who couldn't have been more friendly and was one of the people that encouraged me to apply), Janice P. Ho (whose gorgeous quirky jewelry I had seen online before), Mimi Damrauer (who we chatted up about Chicago and fabric dyeing), Lisa Crowder (who I finally got to meet after seeing her work for years), Carrie of Skosh Design (who's jewelry incorporates unusual materials and will also be at Fiesta), and Kevin Peterson (who's paintings were really inspiring). I always get inspired by going to this show. I love doing shows myself and like to look at how people display their work. Main street has a great energy and has always been on a level that I have aspired to. Now I plan to take that next step to see if I could actually get there. I met lots of artists who will also be at Fiesta next weekend. Fiesta holds a party for their artists Saturday night, so hopefully I will get to talk with some of them more! The show goes through this evening, so there is still time to check it out.

I might not be posting much for the next week or so. When I get back from San Antonio my friends Laura and Russ of Path Less Pedaled will be here. I feel like I know them already from following their blog of their travels, but will finally meet them next week.

Tulip as Role Model by Connie Akers

I photographed this fiber art piece for my mom after she finished it the other day. It is called Tulip as Role Model and is inspired by a poem of the same title. I love the textures and all the details. My favorite parts of the roots and the three dimensional tulip.

Goody goody gum drops

Oh goody goody gum drops, that is how silly and giddy I feel at having received these wonderful earrings from Stacey of Wildflower Designs. I am over the moon in love with both of these pairs of enamel and sterling silver earrings! These earrings will definitely be well loved and worn, just like the pair I got from Stacey for my secret Santa gift.

My Ladies

These two ladies are two of my oldest and bestest friends. Gretchen, on the left lives in Maryland now and was in town for Christmas. Susan lives nearby with her cute family, but unfortunately we don't see each other too often. I was lucky enough to see these ladies three times within about a week and a half over Christmas. That is what the holidays are really all about, aren't they?!

I became friends with Gretchen in 1990 and we have upheld a long standing Christmas tradition. Frank and I go over to the Schermerhorn house on Christmas evening to spend time with the whole gang and exchange gifts. I am so, so happy that this tradition has endured.

In the picture of us above you can see Gretchen wearing the scarf that I made her.

Gretchen got me this wonderful bag from a talented Baltimore lady whose business is called Pistol Stitched. I first saw these bags at Fiesta two years ago and fell in love. I'm thrilled to have one of my own. I love that the handles are handmade as well as the bags!

Susan made these delicious chocolate truffles for us. Aren't they pretty?!

Sarah Schermerhorn, the mama to these two is the maker of my wonderful quilt! Aren't I lucky to have such wonderful friends?