modern made life

prints are ready

2011-10-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

I just listed the first of my new prints in my Etsy shop this morning. It took forever to find time to calculate the shipping, test the packaging, etc. I can't repeat enough how much I missed the straightforwardness of printing on paper! After some of the marathon sewing sessions I've been through over the years, it it so refreshing to print and be done. Plus, not being limited on how many colors I can use, like with greeting cards (because otherwise I'd have to charge too much) is very liberating.

I should have more new additions over the coming weeks, including a few select mash-ups of some of my old designs, and another colorway of the design above (those are actually ready to go, I just need a bright day to take good pics).

Hopefully with all my ideas for future prints, they'll keep getting better as I go along. I've got some 3+ color prints with lots of cool layering in the works now. I'm really excited to get them finished. It's always such a struggle to find the time to do any work that's production related during the week, but I at least got a bit of sketching done last night while Dad had the Peanut running laps around the house to wear him out (this was at 9 pm, mind you). Despite our best efforts we are stuck with a little night owl, at least for now. There's only so much you can do to manipulate the sleep patterns of a one year old. But who knows? In a few months maybe, hopefully, that will change. Just got to find those workable moments when I can.

first fall prints

2011-10-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the first set of new prints last week. Today I'm ordering protective sleeves and rigid mailers so I can officially start selling them in my shop, but I figured I'd offer up a sneak peek.

They all measure 11" x 14" and are printed on a heavyweight cardstock from French Paper Company. More colorways are in the works. Some of these will also be repeated on pillows too...slightly larger though. Still deciding if I want to make some or all of these as pillows, what colors and fabrics to print on, etc., but I hope to get those started by next weekend.

I had planned to work on the new print colorways this weekend, but a scuffle with a mini tree stump on Saturday morning put me out of commission. This evil tree and I have been battling for years and I needed to dig out the stump so I could transplant a shrub there. Normally I love trees, but this is a super invasive Mimosa tree that is right next to our fence. I swear it grows a foot a day and makes babies everywhere. So, in a moment of laziness I decided I would stand on it and use my weight to knock it over instead of hacking through the last large uncut root. I'll save you the nasty details, but basically a piece of the stump broke off and my foot hit the ground at the wrong angle wrenching my knee.

I triumphed over the stump in the end though, thanks to my husband agreeing to finish the job. I'm almost better today, so maybe tomorrow I can handle standing awhile to finish those prints. Otherwise I'll be announcing their arrival in my shop as soon as the mailers arrive.

thrifty makeover: storage bench

2011-09-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yay for getting more things done! Here's the recently finished bench / play table / storage by the front door. The front door opens up right into the livingroom, so we needed to do something that would not only keep our son's (a.k.a.-the Peanut) toys tidy, but hold shoes, create additional seating, and be something that looked good with the rest of the room. Originally it was going to be a solid color and have a tie-on type cushion spanning the bench, but when the Peanut started rolling his toys around on it I realized it would also make a great area for playing too.

The table was leftover from a preschool that was getting new furniture. It had about ten layers of paint and years of chips and wear, but it is really well made and sturdy so I took the time to strip the paint. I was hoping the wood underneath would be good enough to leave as-is, but unfortunately there were huge chips in the veneer and lots of wood filler. I decided to use paint the same color brown that we have the "library" corner of the livingroom. Not sure it was the best choice at first, but once I came up with the idea for the stripes I was 100x happier with it...and ecstatic not to have to repaint the whole thing over.

It will be used as a play table most of the time, so I added the stripes to complement the other turquiose accents in the room and make it less boring. I also make the two smaller cushions that can be easily added and removed when needed. The bins underneath hold toys and shoes (which the Peanut seems to find indistiguishable from one another).

To the left of the bench is the "closet", made from another cast off item from the preschool. The shelf was originally unfinished, hookless, and the backboard was shorter and wavy along the bottom edge. Oh, and it was much longer too. To gussy it up I removed one of the brackets, took off the wavy backboard, trimmed the shelf, and reattached the bracket along with a more substantial and less whimsical backboard. The backer was a spare piece of pine I had left over from another project which I topped with some oak veneer I scored awhile back. The hooks were the most expensive part of the project and picked up at Target for about $12. The paint and acrylic polyurethane were leftovers from the tv console.

I still want to put something to the right of the bench, but I'm not sure what. Here's the "in progress" shot of that area.

I miss the console table we used to have along this wall a bit, but the bench is far more functional in the long run....and I've heard it's great for rolling toys around on.

a splash of pattern

2011-09-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

I went all crazy last weekend and decided to fancy up the backsplash in our kitchen.

I know, I know...the chevron trend in home dec is really starting to wear out it's welcome. Up until now I have skirted around my hidden desires to use it somewhere in my house. I couldn't help but finally give in for this particular project. Someday I would like to give our kitchen a full h-to-t makeover, but in the meantime I figured maybe paint could take the place of tile and brighten up the room a bit.

BEFORE

So out came the leftover paints again and I quickly rolled the cream color on the wall. When I got to this point I started having second thoughts. Anything too close to white on the walls makes me feel really sad (maybe it was from my years of renting and being desperate to paint?) and I was getting that uh-oh feeling. Soldiering on I decided to at least mock up a portion of the wall with the full design just to make sure. That did the trick. Just needed to lighten the beige a bit and I had it finished in a day or so.

If this is something you might consider doing somewhere in your house, and you have a steady hand, I suggest creating a template of about three zig zag 'peaks' and using that to lay out the design with pencil. Then instead of taping your lines, buy a couple foam brushes and use the flat front edge to cozy up to your pencil lines with the paint. This worked really well for me and saved me from all the taping and touch ups. I find even with fancy Frog Tape, paint bleeding under the tape can be hit or miss on certain surfaces and I figured I'd spend more time taping and rolling on the paint anyway.

AFTER

All in all I am loving with the way it turned out. Our kitchen is soooo dark (due to an addition we are down to one tiny north facing window) and this brightens up the prep area immensly. Now I'm wondering if the whole room needs to be lighter. I am partial to the turquoise though, so it will be staying for now. If anything I need to repaint the cabinets after a recent botched attempt with Olympic low-VOC paint. Perfectly decent and affordable product for walls, not durable enough for cabinets (unless maybe you are painting bare wood and not going over paint layer like we were). It's been a year and they look almost worse than they did before I repainted them. Our cabinets are sans-handles so we've got tons of peeling in the "high traffic" areas. Plus the Peanut loves to scoot our black chairs around the room and their paint leaves pretty scuff marks all over the cabinets and the walls. Yay...guess we might be needing new chairs too. Maybe I should go with a semi-gloss white on the cabinets next time? I liked the beige that the previous owner had used, but again, more white would really brighten this room. Hmmmm....

for real this time

2011-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've been so wrapped up in working on my new pillows and prints, I forgot to actually post the new merchandise in my shop on Monday. Go me! The listings were even ready to go last week, but I didn't get a chance publish them at the time and completely forgot. Sigh. I try and keep a meticulous "to do" list these days, but unless it is an order I need to fill, other things occassionally slip through the cracks if I don't have a pen handy to jot it down when I think of it. Well, at least no one emailed asking where they were. They are now officially on sale as of a few hours ago. Phew!

Today's "to do" list is pretty packed. I'm finally about to order supplies for building new screens, as soon as I can test my chemicals and check whether they have gone bad or not (they are light/age sensitive and it would be a waste to shell out all that money if I can use up what I have first). There was also a lot of measuring and calculating involved this time around, so I don't buy too little or too much screen mesh. Basically, it took forever. I should receive everything late next week and hopefully (fingers crossed) have some in progress stuff to share soon. Until then I'll be putting together more posts on home dec projects I've been doing. The cushions for our new bench/storage/play table should get done this evening, and I have more on the agenda for the weekend. O.k., the baby's finally napping...time to get to work!

notebooks for sale

2011-09-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

The new notebooks are now for sale in my Etsy store. I'm keeping them exclusive to this shop for now, since there are only a few of each, but I'll be whipping up more for the holidays, gift fairs, etc.

I'm also all excited about some new pillows and prints I have in the works. Up until this point I've had lukewarm feelings for the pillows I've done, but a little spurt of creativity last week yielded some designs I am really proud of. Now I am just waiting on materials to build the screens and get going so I can show you samples. The art prints will be smaller versions of the pillow designs. I have also been doing some quick experiments, using some of my current designs and freezer paper stencils (a simple one-time use way to block out sections of a screen to print simple shapes) to work out an additional series of abstract prints.

This one is my favorite of the first experiments. The colors look didn't photograph quite right, but the top arches are actually a yellow and the bottom is orange (they look almost the same on my laptop screen). It has been so long since I have felt free to play with printing, and I had no idea how much I missed it. Printing greeting cards was pretty limiting since I had to make sure I could still sell them at a reasonable price (about two colors is the limit). Larger artwork allows me to use as many colors as I want and still create an affordable product. I really hope the prints sell well, because it would be so fun to work on paper more often!

thrify makeover - tv console

2011-09-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I grabbed this mid-century style bureau at the thrift store a few months back for $20, hoping to use it as a landing pad for the front door and a place to park our newly purchased smaller television.

I could tell right away it was nothing special or fancy, so I didn't feel bad giving it a makeover with some paint and fabric. I went ahead and removed the finish from the drawer fronts with a hand sander (since I would be painting over the wood I wans't too concerned with preserving the thin wood veneer). I decided to add a hint of sunny yellow to match the livingroom palette, then painted the bottom drawers the same hue as the walls to help the bulkiness of it recede a bit. Finally, I removed the cane lattice from the top drawer insets and lined them with a fancy gold fabric sample I had been saving for the perfect project.

My only disappointment so far is that the bottom drawers are slightly difficult to open because there is no separation between them in the middle. It is one of those issues that gets worse when you fill the drawers, which is why I didn't notice it in the store. I mainly use the bottom ones to hold some of my fabric stash anyway, so they don't need to be opened too often. The top drawers are great for winter gear (hats, gloves, etc.) and storing our DVD player, which we hardly ever use these days.

I figure, it was a $20 bureau in a sea of uglier $80+ ones, and it was an attractive and mostly functional solution to my problem. Now I just need to figure out the space on the wall above it!

renovation update

2011-09-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Since I didn't get a chance to mess with my fun new yarn this weekend, I thought today would be the perfect day to share pics of our lovely new doorway. I have to say I am very proud of this project, and I'm so glad that I decided to take the harder route and curve the corners to match the other doorway. The plasterwork isn't perfect, but our walls already have ages worth of paint and blemishes so the imperfections blend in nicely. I plan to go back and touch up someday but for now it is done enough (i.e.- my usual perfectionism is out the window with a baby nipping at my heals).

O.k., so I know this one says "after" and you are thinking...where is the "before"? Well, as I started looking for a "before" I realised because I'm still in the process of decorating, all my befores actually look great, since the room was finished when I took them. So, lets just wait until the whole room is done. Honestly, my livingroom has been through 3 makeovers in the six years I've lived here. I get bored so I change up the color scheme a bit and shift things around. All inexpensive stuff. I'll have to do a "generations of my livingroom" tour once this new phase is complete and share all the old pics.

Notice I decided to paint faux trim to highlight the doorway? After lots of standing back, squinting, and staring at the wall like a weirdo, I knew I needed trim around both arched doorways to help break up the expanse and make the wall feel less "cave-like". They do make flexible moulding for projects like this, and it is affordable, but the total cost was a little too rich for our blood right now. Someday, though. I thought maybe I could find a temporary substitute, something to create a small detail around the outer edge of the paint. I scoured the hardware store for anything that would mimic the look (tubing, weatherstripping, rope, etc.), but either it was too soft, not paintable, not glueable, or just not convincing enough. I briefly though maybe I could sculpt it out of plaster, but who am I kidding. All that would lead to is a lot of tears and screaming over a wall. Finally I tried soaking some thin balsa dowels and dried them in a mold to create a curve. Alas, they were so thin there weren't a whole lot of ways to attach it successfully. Overall not worth the effort, and so I plan to just touch up my quick painting job for now and leave it as is.

The rest of the room is still coming together and less camera worthy. Things have to be relocated and reimagined, like tackling the complete blankness over the sofa. I need to finish a few pillows and a bench cushion. Our sofa cover is also on it's death bed (thanks cats!) and I'd like to sew a custom slipcover this time out of something more cat hair and claw friendly than the canvas offerings at Ikea. It's a big project and I want to make sure I have the time to do it right. More project updates soon!

puffy!

2011-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Despite not having done an actual project with it yet, I wanted to share this neat yarn I found the other day while wandering around the craft store. It's called Puff Ball by Bernat and it's marketed as a Christmas item. I don't knit, despite many failed attempts to learn, but I think this would make great garland for a tree, or maybe some sort of wintry mobile, or swags over a doorway.

Believe it or not I actually spent five minutes debating whether I should buy a skein (it was around $2.50 with the 40% off coupon I had), because that's how things are around here lately, but after pondering more projects I could do with it I justified taking one home. Plus it makes my 10 month old laugh whenever I show it to him (I guess it looks like a fuzzy critter?), so after that it was a done deal.

I'm contemplating sewing it to a pillow, or maybe on a lampshade? I spent a few minutes playing with it when I got home and now I'm all inspired. Yes, I have no time for new projects, but super quick ones like this always seem to slip in somehow. Since I have ALOT of yardage I am going to attempt the pillow cover idea and squirrel the rest away for holiday decorating. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

prepping for fall

2011-09-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Ugh, what a year this has been so far! If only I had known how crazy balancing motherhood and running my business was going to be. Well, I guess if I had known I wouldn't have done it any differently, but just trying to get some fresh merchandise up and ready for the holiday season is such a struggle right now. I have wanted to keep up with blogging, but there just isn't always time or energy to spare. I know with time things will get easier (hopefully at some point he'll have a more regular sleep schedule and I'll be able to work at night), but I'm definitely scrambling to keep things going in the meantime.

My triumph this week was finding a moment on Sunday to whip up some new limited edition notebook covers. I'm still in the process of binding, but I should have these done over the weekend and in the shop for a trial run by next week. I've sold similar notebooks in retail shops, but never online. They always sold out and are an easy gift, so I'm hoping they'll do well.

This type of small edition is going to have to be my new way of working for the forseeable future. It is very conducive to impromptu 20 minute slots of time and working with whatever paper/ink/supplies happen to be in the studio. I'll still be keeping my pouches in stock, but there may be a few less continuous styles more limited edition styles. I'm also strongly considering discontinuing my larger bags. They take a lot of room to print, the price of canvas has gone up 25%, and while the sell o.k. it's not enough for it to be worth focusing on at this point. I'm still toying with the fabric cuff idea I was working on earlier this year, but I still haven't worked out a closure that pleases me. I think maybe I'll have to rework the originals at some point, but I'll probably put the cuffs on the back burner right now.

So, other than that, I still owe you a promised review of my now new-ish sewing machine and a peek at my almost finished living room wall. I am really going to try to keep up with keeping in touch. Really, I just need to get my share-y side in gear and do it. No excuses!

thifty makeovers

2011-04-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Since we opened a large section of wall in our livingroom, all kinds of furniture challenges have arisen. I can't share entire room yet since our new doorway is still in the final stages of being plastered and painted (I've got my fingers crossed I'll finish this weekend), but I thought I'd whip up a few posts on the rescued furniture makeovers I did on the cheap to suit our new livingroom layout.

The first is this cute little table. I had been looking forever for an extra-narrow non-bulky side table to place in a tight spot next to this chair. We had temporarily moved our boxy Ikea Malm end table from the bedroom (those will be getting a makeover someday too), but it was too much next to the equally white and heavy looking chest of drawers.

I've realized over the years that you have to give up looking for something in order to find it. Sure enough, I was out thrifting one day and found this perfect artdeco-ish side table! I was able to take it completely apart so I could sand it down to the bare wood (luckily someone had refinished it really badly and the varnish came off without a lot of effort). I thought at first I would paint the whole thing with the bright saffron yellow, but once I had painted everything but the tops I realized I liked some of the worn wood showing. So I used an oak stain on those and covered the whole thing with a clear acrylic gloss coat.

I was so rushed to get started sanding I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll have to trust me that it looks 100 times better.

Table $6 + paint $3 (love the new sample size jars at the hardware store!) + clear polycrylic gloss $0 (already had) = Total project $9.

Now, if only I had time to make a new slipcover for that chair (I cropped it out because it's so tattered). It is the most un-catfriendly fabric ever. They tore it apart it within days of its arrival. And don't get me started on the cat hair! Sigh...someday.

In other news, about a year ago I bought this fun sheet of Cavallini wrapping paper for $3.75 and framed it to use as a poster in our kitchen (sorry for the bad pic). Imagine how my jaw hit the floor this morning when I saw this, along with other Cavallini wraps/ "posters", for sale online at a certain trendy store with the initials UO for...$24 each (not including the $10 shipping)!!! While I have bought many a reasonably priced bedspread from them over the years, this is just crazypants. I've seen these in lots of online and brick and mortar shops and they are always less than $5. I wish I could let people know. I feel bad for whoever unknowingly pays that much. Sheesh!

everything in limbo

2011-03-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Things have been inching along here. I still have nothing to share as far as new products go. I have managed to finish up some wedding invitations for friends, a part of my business I do on the side from time to time. Plus, our hole in the wall is now a useable doorway! I have lots of complicated finish work to do over the weekend though. Feeling tired already. Here's the progress so far....

Please pardon the bad pictures. Of course, there have to be technical difficulties to make the project more exciting. Our home, built in 1949, has walls sculpted out of many layers starting with what we think is gypsum board, followed by a layer of greyish plaster, then a layer of white plaster. Problem with this is...the walls are not an even thickness. You really can't tell unless you are looking at a cross section, but the side closest to the corner is a half inch thicker than the other side of the opening. Sweet. Now is when my art school training plus years of watching This Old House come in handy. The biggest struggle will come in wanting to mimic this arch detail from the doorway on the other end of the wall.

I know how to go about doing it, but with the uneven wall widths it's going to get much trickier. We'll see. Next update it will probably be all square and trimmed out to hide the unevenness I will undoubtably spend all weekend fussing with to no avail.

This cross section shows the difference in width even between the faces of the wall. Lovely, huh? Trying to link a new piece of even drywall above the doorway seamlessly with the old plaster walls is going to be a challenge. Add an inevitably fussy baby into the mix and I'll be really impressed if this turns out the way we planned. Oh, the suspense!

works in progress

2011-03-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a new week and new month. My new sewing machine was delivered yesterday and I'm so excited! May be a few days before I get to play around with it, but I gave it a big hug last night and figure I can peruse the manual in the meantime. I want to test it out before I unleash it on more important pieces by whipping up some spring pants for the baby this weekend.

I have also managed to start developing my new bags. It is easy to forget how many steps are involved in creating a new product, and with only a few hours in the day to work (or less) the process tends to get even more drawn out. I purchased fabrics the previous weekend, developed the first cutting pattern during the week, and did my color sampling and choosing last weekend. Not long ago all this would have taken me two days tops. It's good though. Like I said before, I like that the slow pace gives me time to think things out.

These are my final choices for the canvas wallets and cellphone/iPod pouches.

For my fancy lined pouches I picked linen blends or cotton blends with a linen-like texture. I did a lot of experimenting for these...

...but decided to go for a subtle palette (except for the hot pink on beige!). I've already strayed from my planned colors and printed black triangles on the sample bag, which I am liking so far.

Things do tend to change when I actually start printing. These will also have a solid color band of fabric across the top, which is also why I'm thinking it's best to go simple color wise.

Here's the sketch of what I'm going for. We'll see how it turns out. Just have to pick a lining from my stash of fabric and sew it up.

It's hard to decide what to prioritize when I've got many projects going that aren't directly related to Modern Radar. Did I mention we busted a giant hole in our livingroom wall on Sunday? It was totally on purpose, but it took a lot longer than anticipated and I ended up vaccuuming up the plaster and washing the floors in the areas we had tarped off until 9 pm that night. We're adding a arched doorway between our livingroom and kitchen (something we've talked about since we bought our house many years ago) and started the demo Sunday. We were thrilled to not find any "issues" behind the plaster, so we can hopefully get it finished over the next two weeks. I'll be posting a house tour as soon as it is all ship shape.

sewing to win

2011-02-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

I am not the type to enter contests, but when I stopped by their blog one day and found out what the ladies over at Prudent Baby were giving away, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. The challenge was to create a potholder using one of their tutorials. It was my lucky day...I really needed some potholders anyway!

These are my entries, printed up with two Modern Radar prints. The colors were chosen to coordinate with my kitchen decor. It was a challenge getting these done since I made them the week my son decided not to nap and be constantly fussy. I totally admit to sewing parts of these on a machine while my baby was breastfeeding in my lap. Sometimes you just have to get things done, whether your baby wants to cooperate or not :).

Well, I didn't win the ultimate prize, but I was one of the ten finalists! Yay! I'm definitely surprised considering they had over 850 entries. I really don't know how they managed to decide between all of them. When it comes down to it so much is personal taste and I'm just flattered the judges liked mine that much.

So, one of the two ultimate prizes in the contest was a Brother PC-420 PRW sewing machine. I just recently gave myself license to replace my dying machine and have my eye on the slightly less fancy PC-210. Believe it or not, here is my current machine, and the one that I have built my business on...

I have had this thing FOREVER. It's actually the third machine I've owned over the span of my life. It is incredibly simple and was originally purchased as an eleventh hour substitute for another machine that broke on me in the middle of an important project. Well, somehow that $80 deal at the now defunct Ames dept. store has become my faithful companion for the last 10+ years.

I mean, it technically still works, although my husband has had to bring the foot pedal back from the dead at least four times over the past year (he is very supportive of my plans for a new machine). It's the equivalent of being content driving a '96 Civic, but it's nothing like driving a brand new Mustang. There are definitely features and a smoothness of operation I have been missing, plus it is starting to get out of whack from the abuse it's taken over all these years. Yet, somehow there always seems to be something else crucial we need to spend money on, so I've been trying to plug along the best I can. Honestly, I really can't endorse Brother machines enough. Just over the past three years I have sewn at least a couple thousand canvas pouches and hundreds of tote bags.

This is what I am planning to buy. These machines get such glowing reviews for their price range. Man, look at all those different stitches! With new plans forming for fancier pleated pouches and such to sell only in my Etsy shop, having a new machine will really save me a lot of frustration. Once it arrives (I'm hoping to buy it this weekend for my birthday) and I get to use it a bit I'll be sure to give you a full review for those also ready to take the plunge.

lovely treats

2011-02-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day. I know a lot of folks avoid the celebration all together. Totally respect that. I am hopelessly festive though. We try and avoid the consumerist part of the holiday by making eachother cards and gifts. My husband had been mentioning chicken soup and dumplings with a longing look in his eye, so that is what I made for him. I had never done dumplings before. Mmmmm...delicious, and easy too!

The broth looks so pretty before it starts cooking. I make the soup from scratch, which is surprisingly easy once you get the process streamlined. I just throw some veggie scraps, bay leaves, peppercorns, olive oil and sea salt in a pot with a bone-in split breast and simmer for 20. Then I strain the broth, add fresh veggies, basil, and parsley. The chicken is shredded with a fork and set aside. The dumplings are dropped in after 10 minutes along with the shredded chicken. Five more minutes and we're done. I've used more complicated recipes and really can't tell the difference, but maybe it is just a matter of personal taste. An hour later we were eating piping hot bowls of homemade soup.

I also made gingerbread hedgehogs since I was out of eggs (gingerbread cookies don't need eggs). What better way to say "I love you" that a hedgehog wearing a heart :)?

cheers for dressforms!

2011-02-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had one of those "why didn't I do this years ago" moments? Well, one of many for me came recently right before Archer was born, when we started watching Project Runway on DVD. We've been slowly working backwards from Season 8 and are now almost done with Season 3 (we don't have cable at our house so I missed them the first time around).

Now, I have been making clothes for myself for over 20 years, normally working from commercial patterns. Sewing pattern company's designs, while never too exciting to begin with, have become increasingly 'blah' over the years and I have been dreaming of making clothing for scratch for a long time. Being tall and curvy, even buying clothing off the rack can be tricky, especially on a $20 or under budget...and the shapeless sewing patterns that seem the norm nowadays just make me look like I'm still pregnant, even with extra tailoring.

Anyway, watching all these designers on t.v. using dressforms to create patterns I had my big "DUH" moment. Having never taken a fashion or sewing course, I barely had a flicker of a notion that I could construct my own patterns this way. I was stuck on the idea that I had to draft patterns flat, which I have tried to learn, but is a really difficult way to start designing a garment. Draping and cutting on a dressform is SO much easier, then you refine the flat pattern later. Add in the advantage of sewing from flat patterns for 20+ years, and all that experience with how to construct garments properly has proved really helpful. I'm now designing my third blouse and absolutely kicking myself for not doing this years ago.

The choices for dressforms are few, and I found there is an enormous quality gap between the student/home sewer models and the designer/tailor models. I purchased my adjustable form for $100 (I saw the same one going for up to $229) and that was pretty much what it was worth. Most of the moving parts are plastic and I would worry if I adjusted it too much it might break. The next level up in quality seem to be the professional, single size forms where you add padding to adjust the fit to your body, which start at $400 and are a little more complicated than I need. While I am happy with the one I bought for now, if anyone happens to know if someone makes a better quality (i.e.-all metal parts besides the body itself) adjustable form I will probably want to upgrade at some point. I find vintage ones from time to time that are nice and sturdy, but are usually too petite and not in the best cosmetic shape.

Here is a glimpse of the neckline detail of my current top-in-progress, the working pattern still pinned to the dressform. Nothing mind-blowingly original (in fact I'm realizing this shot looks like a big mess out of context), but it fits and I love it! I'm planning to make the final one in something more colorful, which I will proudly share when it's finished. It may take a bit since I have to steal away moments here and there to work on it. I'm having lots of fun though. If these go well I'm thinking I might even make them in different sizes and try adding a few to my Etsy shop...using hand printed fabric of course.

ideas...ideas...

2011-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Over the past year I've been trying to figure out different products I can make for Modern Radar with all of the canvas scraps I have left over from making totes and pouches. My husband and I are reorganizing our garage studio so it is more functional, and I've got all of these small slivers of leftover fabric, especially from cutting out totes, that I refuse to throw away. I like to create as little waste as possible, for environmental as well as economic reasons, so they have been piling up under my worktable and really have to go!

My first idea was to make these cute printed wallets. It is a simple one pocket design with a flap, which of course could be used for things other than a wallet. I've been test driving this one for a few weeks now and I love it. Every time I pull it out of my bag in a store the color pops in the bright light and I think, "ooh, hello pretty thing". Very appropriate for the season too. I have hesitated to start making these for my shop because I like the snaps to not show on the outside, and to do that they really need to be sewn on by hand, which can be time consuming (especially if I were to offer them wholesale too). I toyed with the idea of trying to attach the faster pronged kind to the lining before I sew them and just hope everything lines up in the end, but I know without even trying that it would be a huge pain in the butt. Anyway, now that I spend so much time with a sleeping baby in my lap I'm thinking, why not just sew them on? I've also made a larger padded one out of cute vintage fabric for my Kindle, and a small one for my husband's iPod.

I gave him the case for Christmas, and so far it is looking fairly crisp and clean. He is the best tester because he works in a warehouse and drives a delivery van, so things like his iPod take a good beating. The extra heavy ink I used stands up well, so I may try selling a few of these too.

Another concept I had were these cuff bracelets. At first I was a bit concerned they'd be too reminiscent of the studded bracelets I wore back in my teens and early twenties, but they came out more delicate and fun, which was what I was going for. The main hold up on these is figuring out the best closure. I want to use a snap, but it is taking a bit to parse out just the right type, size and placement so that the end lays flat. Who knew it would be so complex? Velcro is also an option, but I'm worried it makes it a cheaper looking product. Maybe if I could find colors to match the canvas, but that may be more trouble than it's worth.

A sample of a few different color combos. I plan to have at least one other print besides the triangles. They are styled for a tight fit, which may also be an issue for sizing. I need to round up a bunch of my friends to find out what a good size range might be. Wrists, prepare to be measured!!

back to blogging

2011-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Wow, the months that have passed since my last post have just flown by. I'm finding that having a four month old gives me ample opportunity to sit and write while hanging out or feeding him, so I should be checking in here more often now. He's asleep in my lap as we speak. I know if I move him he'll wake up cranky, so I'll stay peacefully trapped for now.

I have to say that the hardest part of being a new mom so far is not always being able to do what I want when I want. I'm learning to be patient about tackling all the fun projects and ideas spinning around in my head, but it is hard. I make a lot of lists. I'm really looking forward to when he is old enough and we can make stuff together! I guess there is a chance he might not be a creative type, but I have a hard time believing that is genetically possible.

I have been able to get little things done here and there. I'm finding my newly limited time has brought surprising focus and care to the things I do manage to accomplish. Before, it seemed like my time was unlimited, and despite being fairly organized and proactive I would become a little lost from time to time. Now I get to put a lot more thought into each new project before I start and I've been a lot happier with the results!

This unusually cold and windy winter has definitely carried on longer than I'd like. I long for warmer days when we can go for daily walks around the neighborhood or sit out on the back porch. For now, I'm focusing my free moments trapped indoors on new ideas and new directions for Modern Radar. Wholesale business has really slowed over the past six months, and a few of my biggest customers have closed shop. In a way, this gives me more motivation to work harder on the retail side of things. Despite really wanting to, I have often avoided making limited edition or fancier items because I wouldn't be able to make them available for wholesale customers at a reasonable price. In order to actually make money via wholesale I have needed to keep things simple, affordable, and reproduceable. This can definitely start getting stale very quickly. Next month marks the beginning of my fourth year of self-employment, and I feel Modern Radar needs a bit of a makeover. While I'm not planning on getting rid of my pouches or totes, my greeting card sales have been waning to the point that I may not replace them once they sell out. In place of those I want to lean away from papergoods and have plans for lots of experimental items...the first bits of which I'll be sharing over the next week or so.

if only I could make money selling drool :)

I am really optimistic for this new year and the changing winds. Maybe being a new mom keeps me upbeat and motivated. It may still be the middle of winter, but it is definitely spring in my mind.

bad blogger

2010-10-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Sorry I've been so bad at updating lately. I may have to trim back my original ambitions to post a couple of time a week for now, seeing that I became new mom two weeks ago. While juggling a new baby and daily life is not turning out to be as difficult as everyone told me it would be, there are definitely a lot less hours in the day to get work done.

new snowflake gift tags

The weekend before my son was due I had a little spurt of energy and decided to create a few new items for fall. I hadn't planned on making anything new this season, because I was so busy just trying to backstock my older designs. I've planned to take a vacation from printing and sewing through Christmas to spend more time with my husband and little Archer. Because of this I won't be taking any custom orders. However, here are the results of my quick weekend of inspiration. I'm actually really relieved I had the chance to make something new this season. I love having fresh items in my shop!

from top: diamonds, rosette, and orbit pouches

flora tote in red and orbit totes

Well, back to baby wrangling. I'll be posting the pouches in my shop today and the totes and tags tomorrow. These will be exclusive to my Etsy shop and retailers through the holidays. I will be updating my other online store come January.

new pillows...finally.

2010-08-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes making new items ends up being a much bigger project that I expected. I've been so busy sewing and printing pouches and totes lately I didn't realize how much my other supplies had dwindled. Between having to order new screen fabric, then trying to expose the screens and realizing my emulsion had gone bad (ugh), and then running out of pillow length zippers (all three of which I have to buy online for wholesale pricing)....I'm surprised I am able to share these this soon. But here they are!

You might recognize the 'flora' pattern from one of my pouches, sized up to fit pillows. I am also going to have both designs on pleated totes for the holiday season. The 'flora' design will be printed in fuchsia on red canvas, and the other pattern 'orbit' in black on a nutmeg brown with black straps.

The totes probably won't be available until November, but the pillows should make their appearance in my Etsy shop next week...as soon as I can take a few more pictures.

Since I finally finished all my backstock for the holidays I'm doing a lot of experimenting with new designs and ideas, so I may also have a few one-offs and limited edition items for sale this fall too. More to share soon!

production mode

2010-08-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

Finding time to post these last two weeks has been such a struggle. My days right now are mostly spent sitting at a sewing machine surrounded by piles of bags, trying to keep up momentum and finish what stock I think I'll need for the holidays. One of the drawbacks of being self-employed is taking a long stretch of time off is not always an option. Since I want to spend most of Oct-Dec getting used to being a mom, having a large back stock of merchandise ready for the late-Nov/early-Dec holiday rush is going to be key. I actually did finish all my small bags last Friday, which was a huge relief. Just totes are left now, and I'll need to make a lot less of those.

A warning to all the soon-to-be moms who use their hands for a living...get your important projects done early! Apparently carpal tunnel is a common side affect of pregnancy due to swelling in the wrists and hands. Luckily my case is fairly mild and printing and sewing don't affect it that much. However, my plans to work on new designs in Sept. are definitely shot. It's really hard to draw when your fingers go numb as soon as you pick up a pencil!

While I'm soldiering through making the last of these totes, I'm also planning some new pillows to add to the shop. Hopefully I'll have them finished soon so I can share the pics next week. I've also decided it's time to retire my "sprout" pouches. They sell fairly well in retail shops, but have not been as popular as the pleated pouches...and they use the difficult to print on off-white canvas which I am trying to work out of most of my designs. I get quite a few customers worrying the white canvas will get dirty anyway, so maybe it's time to replace them with something darker. I do still like the pattern, so there is a chance I might print some up in a different colorway on colored canvas. We'll see.

So, as soon as I get past this last blast of sewing I will be devoting much more time to posting diy projects, business tips, etc.. I'm SO looking forward to having all this production taken care of!

shopping for prints

2010-07-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

Since I am on the hunt for new prints for the house...I think I might just snap up one of these by Eleanor Grosch. I've been eager to buy one for awhile, and I don't want to do what I usually do and wait so long that they're sold out.

The Aesop's fable of the crow and the pitcher was always a favorite of mine as a kid, and the other bird print is really fun to look at. She also has one of a super cute pile of guinea pigs that I kinda want too (maybe for the nursery?).

Ugh, how to choose only one? I think I'll have to get the opinion of my other half. These prints are really large (18" x 24" I think?) and such a great deal. Need to make a decision soon!

busy week

2010-07-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Eeek! Well that week just flew by. Here's what I've been doing:

Such as it often is with my profession, last week started out quietly, then around Wednesday I got walloped by orders, inquiries, etc. Definitely a good thing (July can sometimes be painfully slow), except that by Friday I had almost 100 pouches to sew zippers on and my zipper supplier forgot to ship my package I ordered over a week and a half before. Oops! They rushed me my package and I ended up finishing all of them yesterday. Luckily it went a lot faster than I thought!

Since I haven't had time for much else lately other than cleaning and entertaining friends, I figured I'd share a somewhat recent project using this great Orla Kiley print I found at Hancock Fabrics (at least...I really hope it was licensed from her since I'll feel like a jerk if I'm buying a copy cat print). It's so rare to find fabric prints that aren't cheesy at the bigger fabric stores. Took me awhile to decide how to use it, but ultimately it ended up as a bathroom curtain.

Here's the finished product. Not the best picture, but it's super hard to take a good shot of a single window with a thin fabric curtain (I need an overcast day I guess). It looks much better in person. I'm planning on replacing a bunch of stuff on the wall with an art print soon, so maybe I'll take some better "show and tell" pictures then. I love having that little pop of red in the house amongst all my favorite blues and greens!

bag project

2010-07-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

While waiting for my son to arrive, I've been trying use my collection of cheap scavenged fabric to handmake as much baby stuff as I can. For one of the projects, a diaper bag, I originally purchased a commercial sewing pattern, which seemed the perfect thing at the time. It was a courier style bag with a big front flap and lots of little pockets.

However, when I finally sat down to tackle the project, I had a moment of clarity. I realized this would probably end up as my everyday bag and I would get annoyed having to wrestle with a big flap to get to my wallet while holding a baby. I'm also not much of a hyper organizer, so all the tiny pockets would never get used. I like a bag I can just quickly toss stuff into, and if I need to I'll add removable zipper pouches for organization. Good thing the pattern I bought was only $1!

Instead I decided to create my own design. My bag was loosely inspired by one in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby, but I made mine bigger, added gussets to the base, lots of velcro closures, and put an extra large pocket inside. The front pocket fabric is a leftover test print of one of my newest designs.

Lotta's book is great by the way, full of really easy projects for moms and soon-to-be moms that like to sew but don't have a lot of time for complicated projects. Any time I can simplify a project I'm much happier. Here's the travel changing pad from Simple Sewing... that I made using some old curtains.

I'm really pleased with the way both finished projects came out. I also might make a few custom zipper pouches to throw inside the bag at some point, but it was great to check another project off the baby stuff list!

relaxing in the garden

2010-07-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a fun weekend! I decided to take Monday off to allow plenty of relaxing, as well as time to use the break in the heat wave to tackle a few long neglected outdoor chores. I also got to eat the first tomato from my garden, after rescuing it from a shifty squirrel. It's been forever since I had a straight-from-the-garden tomato. I forgot how delicious they are.

So, my husband and I spent a few hours in the morning Sunday and Monday building bins for our cold composting piles. We really needed to reign in the loose sprawling pile that had enveloped that corner of our yard for years. So much tidier...and all that shoveling was a great workout! I'm very pleased.

love the new bins! next project: make door for tool shed.

I'm still amazed everyday when I head out to the garden to find giant veggie plants filling my porch and beds. Yea nature!! This is the first year I have started any of my vegetable plants from seed, which makes it extra rewarding. I'm in the process of learning organic fertilizing too (unfortunately the soil we started with isn't great), so I have a feeling I won't get a huge yields this year....but so far we've got plenty of basil, jalapenos, and oregano. Zucchini and more heirloom tomatoes are on the way. And now that I have reserved a compost bin expressly for the garden we should be able to build better soil by the time spring comes around again.

awww...back when the basil first sprouted

giant zucchini and tomatoes + very small raised bed = chaos

For next year, I hope to build a cold frame out of old windows to get the seedlings started sooner, and graduate to more expansive raised beds. The one thing I'm sad I didn't get to plant this year is mint, but I wanted to hold off until we had the proper spot since I know how it grows like crazy. The plan is to relocate our small experimental raised bed come next year and devote it entirely to mint.

new stuff

2010-06-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

I finally posted my new "flora" print pouches in my online shops. I'm hoping to phase out the "medallion" print in favor of this one to make my life a bit easier. For some reason the off-white canvas, no matter what brand I purchase, has a bumpier weave than the colored canvas, which makes it much harder to print fine detail.

Despite the fact that I have been screen printing for over 10 years now, whenever I would print a batch of medallion pouches I would end up ruining a third of them by using too much or too little ink. There was never a perfect method I could use. Depending on my mood, my reactions would range from a sigh, to stomping my feet like a toddler, to screams of frustration...which must have sounded really funny to anyone happening to walk by my garage at the time. So, for the sake of nature, my pocketbook, and my sanity, I'm really hoping this new pattern takes off. It is just a bold enough design that there is less room for printing errors, plus I personally like it more. Fingers crossed!

hi there!

2010-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new, and hopefully improved, blog. After a long hiatus from blogging, I've decided to make a fresh start. Other people's blogs have been such an incredible resource for me over the past 5 years, whether I'm looking for business advice, getting to peek inside someone's home (i love house tours!), or just becoming inspired by someone's thoughts on life. I want to try to give a bit of that back with the hope that someone else might be inspired or helped by my experiences.....whether you are a far away friend, customer, or fellow designer.

(sewing up batches of pouches)

I'm going to mostly focus on d.i.y. projects, my experiences running a business on a shoestring, design inspiration, and bits of daily life. If you're not familiar with what I am all about, the basics are....I am a work from home designer and soon-to-be mother of a little boy named Archer (due in Oct.!!). I share a home with a super creative husband and three cats. My business, called Modern Radar, involves screen printing and sewing bags, which I have been doing this full time for two and a half years now. I worked in retail for about 15 years prior to launching my own venture, and learned to screenprint while in college. I've built a very simple printing studio in my garage and have been sewing since I was about 10. Living most of my life on a somewhat strict budget, I have always enjoyed figuring out how to do or make everything I can, so I should have some fun ideas to share.

(pics from our porch garden)

Off to get some exercise then attempt to sew more backstock for the holidays (always difficult to motivate for in the middle of summer). More to come soon! Hope you'll check in from time to time and say "hi!".