This just in: Nita Lou Bryant Designs Women's Exercise Clothes

Based on an experience I had shopping for new athletic shoes this week, I started designing a line of women's exercise clothes. My designs feature handwritten word mandalas. The first one, pictured below, is on the back of the top I wore to the gym yesterday. As with most things I create, there is a story behind it--but it's a story I don't know the ending to yet. So for now I leave you with a photograph and these words:

stronger every day

believe it.

Watch this space... 

stronger every day (believe it) photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

 

 

Nita Lou's Laptop Sleeve & Assorted Cases

Nita Lou's Laptop Sleeve
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Oh, my gosh--I actually made something for myself! I made a fabric laptop sleeve for my new MacBook Air, and assorted little cases for miscellaneous laptop related stuff. I just love those vintage Boulder Dam postcards I mentioned before so I used them again for this project, making fabric transfers to iron on the images. As usual with my Amateur Seamstress Soft Goods projects, you can find flaws o' plenty in the sewing. But these were a lot of fun to make and--I like to think--both functional and stylish, in a quirky kind of way.

I made a slide show of all the components and put this cool watery music with it from an album by Harold Budd and Brian Eno called The Pearl.

I'd write more about this project but I started sewing some altered towels earlier today that I can't wait to get back to! So if you have any questions about the laptop sleeve collection, just ask 'em. Meanwhile, here is a sneak preview of one of the towels:

sneak preview of altered towel

photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Whatever form your own artistic endeavors may take, here's wishing you happy times creating!

CAUTION: Amateur Seamstress & Artist at Work

In answer to the oft-asked question, "Hey, Nita Lou, whatcha workin' on over at the studio this week?" I am pleased to provide the following response.

Amateur Seamstress Fabric Coat Hanger Covers!

Rats. I know I took some photos of these but I can't seem to find them right now... Hold that thought.

Amateur Artist watercolor and stamped notebook cover!

About which I produced a stunning little slideshow called Bad Stamp Pad Notebook Cover documenting the process--below are a few stills from it. Despite my initial disappointment with the pitiful watercolor set and sorry old dried-out stamp pads I had on hand, I am rather pleased with the end result. I think it would make an attractive pattern stamped onto fabric--IF I had any idea how to do that.

Pitiful Watercolor Set and Blank Notebook Cover
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Close-up of Applying Purple Watercolor Paint to Wooden Stamp
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Watercolor and Stamped Notebook Cover Close-up
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Amateur Seamstress Fabricards©!


More fun with vintage postcards and fabric transfers...I just love working with these things.

Birthday Card for my sister-in-law in Taft, Texas
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Birthday Card for my sweet little mother-in-law in Chattanooga
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Birthday Card for one of my husband's aunts, also in Chattanooga
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

 Sorry it's probably going to arrive late, Aunt Sharon!

Anniversary Card for my brother and his wife in Taft, Texas
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Close-up of little car from vintage postcard and Amateur Seamstress zig-zag stitching
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011
 

I've never made and mailed fabric cards before, so I consulted with the postal clerk about what type of envelope to use (padded mailer) and how much it would cost ($1.20-$1.39, depending on whether card was flat or folded). Unfortunately, we were so busy yakking about the cards that I fear some may have gotten put into the wrong envelopes! (Aunt Sharon, if you get ML's card could y'all please just swap?)

Here's one more but I'm only going to show it to you from the back because it's for my sister whose birthday is today.

Back view of birthday card for my sister, who lives in Manhattan, KS
photo by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

NOTE: Your card's going to arrive late too, Sis. When that envelope does show up could you please confirm that you got this card, instead of the one meant for Aunt Sharon?

Thanks!

Sigh.

I need to get better at doing all this handmade stuff far enough in advance... 

Amateur Seamstress Adventures: 3-D Sewing

Well. Someone got a little compulsive in the studio yesterday. Okay, make that more compulsive than usual.

I set out to make a simple, little fabric envelope--something one might use to present a gift card, say, or perhaps some crisp folding money. I sewed several of these as Christmas gifts, in various fabrics. (See sample in photos, below).

fabric envelope (open) photo by Nita Lou Bryant

fabric envelope (closed) photo by Nita Lou Bryant

What was different this time was that I wanted to incorporate a photo transfer made from an old postcard.

I have a box full of postcards: some I inherited from my mom, the rest I scavenged at great personal risk at Brock's Books in San Antonio, Texas, when I was in college. *(See bonus bookstore anecdote, below.) The postcard in question is, in my opinion, extremely cool and spooky. Because this was only the second fabric transfer I've ever done in my life, though, it turned out a bit, um, lumpy.

No problem, I thought, I'll just flatten it out by sewing around it. However, this only served to create more ripples in the fabric. Which led to more sewing in an attempt to camouflage those. But you know what? The more I sewed around and around the fabric transfer, the more I began to like the general effect of it. I started getting excited.

Straps!  Why, I could attach shoulder straps to this little bag, I thought. Grabbing some green bias tape from my basket of notions I sewed that for a while to make straps, adding a row of bias tape around the top of the bag as an accent. I ended up changing my mind about the straps and ripping them off but kept the trim. Obviously what this bag needed instead of straps, I realized, was a magnetic closure.

Had I ever before attached a magnetic snap to a bag? No, and frankly the illustration on the package provided this amateur seamstress no clue whatsoever about how they were supposed to be affixed to the fabric. I bent and re-bent the prongs on the metal snap pieces so many times I completely wore out two of them. And there were tears in the fabric where the prongs had been poked in. No matter: I boldly pinned more bias tape in place to cover up the holes, accidentally piercing my little finger in the process.Yeow!  (This is is an approximation of the word loudly uttered at this point in the studio.)  By now I was obsessed with wrestling those blankety-blank metal snaps to the ground, so I blotted the blood from my wound and soldiered on. The next thing I knew--and who didn't see this coming?--whump! I broke the sewing machine needle. Which pretty much forced me to pause in my creative frenzy long enough to take a good, long look at my sewing project.

What had begun as a simple little fabric envelope now resembled a three-dimensional mixed media textile art installation.

Looking at my watch, I realized that my studio time allotment had ended thirty minutes ago. With reluctance (along with a throbbing little finger), I switched off my sewing machine. Before leaving, I took a few photos of my work in progress (see below).

Studying these photos, I'll have to confess that I'm really not sure, any longer, exactly what I am making. All I know is I can't wait to get back to doing some more 3-D sewing!

Note to self:  remember to take box of band-aids to studio.

Bias Tape & Lethal Pins photo by Nita Lou Bryant

Vexing Snaps photo by Nita Lou Bryant

Spooky Cool Postcard Fabric Transfer & Rows of Sewing photo by Nita Lou Bryant

*Bonus bookstore anecdote

Brock's was legendary. Texas Monthly dubbed the owner, Norman Brock,  "the most disorganized and frustrating bookseller in Texas" in a 1975 article but the crowd I ran with at Trinity University loved to go there. I was personally responsible for closing off an entire aisle in the store one day when I extracted from a tall stack the one volume that was apparently key to that passageway remaining open. I had to skedaddle to avoid being walled up at Brock's forever. Which, come to think of it, might not have been such a bad fate.

Sweet Dreams Pillowslips by Nita Lou Bryant

As stated in an earlier post about my imaginary business (Amateur Seamstress Soft Goods, "Made with More Love Than Skill"), I began by making scarves. I envisioned a line of silky, seductive scarfery similar to the kind currently sported by swan-neck models in high fashion layouts. Alas, my own creations mostly ended up possessing a somewhat ecclesiastical aspect--more suitable, perhaps, for lay ministers or choir directors. But when I turned my attention to pillowslips, I hit my sewing stride.

The first pair I sewed were in a wheat-patterned fabric, for my sister who lives in Kansas.

From wheat I moved to a series of pillowslips constructed of small floral prints. I am excessively fond of small floral prints, though thanks to a former Washington, D.C. work friend, I no longer wear them.*[See bonus wardrobe story, below.]  I began making matching pairs, then branched out to choosing fabric in the same pattern, but different (and, I like to think) complementary colors. Sewing pillowslips is extremely satisfying, especially for a novice seamstress. They are simple to cut out and require only a few seams, sewn as straight as your skill level allows. I made several sets for Christmas gifts for family and friends.

With my first pair of pillowslips in 2011, I embarked on contrasting trim--mainly because the fabric I ordered online arrived somewhat variable in measure. The 1-1/4 yards required for one pillowslip ended up being cut a bit short, so I had to improvise. And isn't that often the way, both in life and in sewing? You have a plan for what you want to do, but have to adapt it to ever-changing circumstances. We'll talk more about this when we come to Adventures with Quilted Placemats, in another post.

Anyway, below are a few photos of what I call Sweet Dreams Pillowslips, designed to mix and match with linens you already have. Because Amateur Seamstress Soft Goods doesn't carry entire sets of sheets. Yet...

NOTE:  Studio Nita Lou has been experiencing some, um, technical difficulties this morning so I honestly don't know whether what I'm posting, below, is a slideshow or a series of stills. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it/them.

*Bonus Wardrobe Story


It was 1983, and I'd recently moved to Washington, D.C. from Lubbock, Texas of all places. While searching for a teaching job, I hired on as a temporary secretary at what was then a Big Eight accounting firm, known in those days as Ernst & Whinney. After a time I made friends with a very well-dressed and self-possessed co-worker we shall call Penny Haley. Penny had big green eyes, blonde hair, and a personality that can only be described as electric. She kindly undertook to teach me the secrets of successfully navigating life at the big firm and in the big city. Starting with my clothes.

"Your entire wardrobe consists of small floral prints," she said, narrowing those beautiful eyes at me from behind the series of smoke rings she'd ever so elegantly exhaled. Thus I understood that solids were preferable. So on the very next payday, off in search of solids we went.

Penny had several rules about wardrobe. Buy the best quality you can get, even if it means that you own fewer garments. Never think in terms of mix and match: each outfit should stand alone. If your clothes were really nice, no one minded seeing a repeat.  Whatever you do, stick to a limited palette. I got tripped up by the latter rule when I impulsively attempted to accessorize--adding a red belt to the black and white outfit she'd selected for me to try. My emergence from the dressing room was met by a very long silence before Penny finally spoke.

"I prefer not to introduce a third color," was all she said.

The thing is, to this day I still hear that flat little voice in my head when I am clothes shopping. So, an entire closet filled with small floral print garments? No. My wardrobe consists of solid black, brown, navy, white, or gray with an occasional splash of muted (solid) color.

But floral print pillowslips? Just try to stop me...

Amateur Seamstress Soft Goods: Genesis of an Imaginary Business

for my mother, who once had her own dressmaking shop

Last October I developed a sudden, inexplicable interest in sewing. I rushed out and bought an inexpensive Singer, then  began making scarves from odds and ends of fabric found in a remnant bin at the fabric store.  As I completed my first creations I posted photos on Facebook for the amusement of family and friends, putting my former jewelry mannequin, Dharma Blog, back to work as my model.

The very first scarf I made was presented to a friend on the occasion of her husband's CD release party. The construction of three more scarves quickly followed. The green one I decided to set aside as a Christmas gift for my brother's wife but the orange one with knitted trim still hasn't found a home. I also made a purple silk scarf with peacock-print trim for a friend whose birthday is in late October but I somehow failed to take a photo of it.

In the photos above and below, Dharma Blog models the lilac scarf, green scarf, and orange scarf with knitted trim.
All scarves and photos by Nita Lou Bryant, 2010.

Next, I turned my attention to making pillows. Amidst a cache of buttons that had belonged to my mother was a metal fleur d'lis that I just knew had to go on something for my friend from New Orleans. You may notice that one of the fabrics used for the pillows is the same as the trim on the green scarf.

Left to right in the photos, below, the fleur d'lis pillow, front and back views.

Being a former business owner, I'd already begun to think in terms product lines. As I sewed, I found myself dreaming up names and slogans for the various items created by this amateur seamstress. For example, Hint of Glamour Scarf: Let your neck go Hollywood. And Soft Life Throw Pillows: Sit Back and Relax or Prop Yourself Up.  I took a break from sewing long enough to print out cards to attach to each finished product. While I was at it, I went online to place an order for fabric name tapes, just like the ones used by professional clothing designers. I even developed my own signature packaging consisting of a strip of contrasting fabric pinked on both edges with my label sewn onto the center of it. (See photo, below.)

As proprietor of my brand-new imaginary business I had a blast over the next couple of months, sewing Christmas gifts for family and friends. I made pillowcases and pajama bottoms; hankies and place mats and napkins; purses, fleece jackets and wraps; composition book covers and shopping bags; sleep shorts and aprons and bird ornaments. I even created (for an old friend from college) a unique holiday-print aromatherapy car air freshener in the shape of a gingerbread man.

I had sew much fun (ha,ha) that I can't wait to get started making gifts for next Christmas! In the meantime--oh, boy-- there are birthdays and anniversaries and myriad other gift-giving occasions ahead in the new year. Watch for my products, soon to be arriving in mailboxes all across the U.S.

Oh, and the name and slogan I came up with for my imaginary business?

Amateur Seamstress Soft Goods: Sewn with a Lot More Love Than Skill.

QUESTION FOR READERS:

Do you like to make gifts? If so, I'd love to see and hear about what you've made. Send me some photos and descriptions!