Ann Williamson

Handmade Designer Women's Apparel

applique

One last look

6 Comments

Before I refocus towards new work, how about one last look at some of the pieces that were sold at the Baltimore show?

A tomato red coat with appliqués in a slightly different red. I posted a story about this one in October when I started it. Check it out here.

I did finish it, just in time for the show.

A jacket, sewn from the remainder pieces of coat I made a number of years ago.

All those little bits and pieces, left over from various projects, that I store away. Eventually, sometimes years later, I use them for a new project.

Waste nothing! A skirt pieced from various leftover scraps of kimono silks, all woven with sparkling metallic threads.

Topped with a black hitoe that was sewn from an amazing ‘rinzo’ kimono silk, a kind of a damask.

A detail shot.

Formal wedding kimonos are fantastic to work with, not only are they amazingly gorgeous, but they also have extra long sleeves, also covered with designs. Those long sleeves mean all the more beautiful fabric to work with. Like this oversized jacket, loose and full.

And enough fabric left over to make a second jacket.

And a red and gold jacket sewn from the remainders of another oversized jacket.

Below, that oversized jacket, the one that I had first sewn from the red and gold kimono silk. I brought it back with me and listed it on my web-shop. You can check it out here.

This is how it goes, I start with a beautiful kimono silk and see where it leads me. I sew up new work and send those jackets, coats, skirts on their way. Then, maybe the best part, I get to start all over again.

Every time it’s different, sometimes a challenge, but in the end, always fun, always rewarding.

ACC Baltimore ’23 Coming Up!

3 Comments

I’m sewing up a storm these days. New jackets and coats are flying out of my studio. Pieced, appliquéd or beaded, each one sewn using a gorgeous kimono silk. No more sitting and waiting patiently on my shelves, these fabrics will be out and about, living their new lives.

I started this pieced jacket a few weeks ago, using fabrics from my scrap stash. From a pile of fabric bits and pieces to a brand new jacket. Magic!

The Met Museum’s Instagram account has a picture of a Japanese pieced vest from the first half of the 1800’s. The caption reads, ‘Patchwork has connotations of longevity, since stitching together the scraps extended their use.’ I love it! Wear a jacket made from leftover fabric scraps and add years to your life. Perfect!

The back.

Below, a new trench coat sewn from an amazing old meisen kimono.

You remember ‘meisen’, yes? Where they weave the fabric, print the design, unweave it, then reweave it?

When it is rewoven, the threads do not line up and you get a soft, out of focus edge.

This stuff is gorgeous!

I started this black and white striped coat with appliqués of thin bias tubes a few months ago.

Finished and ready for the show!

From the side, appliqués on the sleeves.

And the back.

And for a bit of sparkle, nothing beats glittery gold.

From an amazing kimono, a silk woven with golden threads, with beads sprinkled about for even more shine.

And the back.

These and many others will be coming with me to Baltimore for the big craft show.

March 3-5. Which is soon!

Can’t wait!

New Year New Work

3 Comments

Happy 2023! Are you ready?

January always feels like a brand new beginning. Anything is possible! We can start over, look to the future and choose wherever we want to go.

The holidays are over and there are no distractions. I can step into my studio and focus on my work.

I’m just now finishing up a couple of pieced jackets. I start with kimono silk scraps from past work. I sew the little pieces together into blocks, then lay them out until they flow together and look right.

It’s kind of like a water color, where the process dictates the outcome.

As I lay out the pieces I check out the composition by taking snap shots along the way. Why is it that a photo helps to look at the overall design? Back in the day, artists would turn their work upside down to see how the balance and composition was working. Or, they’d look in a mirror. The camera in my phone serves the same purpose. And a bonus, I have a record of what I’ve been working on.

Also in the works, an appliqué piece, now ready for hand sewing.

Scraps from the main body of the jacket were cut into squares and pinned along the bottom panel.

A detail. Next up, some time spent appliquéing them in place.

To you, I am sending all my wishes for a very happy 2023!

And all the time, with no distractions, that you’ll need to pursue your passions.

Two New Coats and How They Came to be

13 Comments

People ask, “Where do your idea come from?”

Sometimes they are from something I made before and wanted to do again, only in a different way.

For example, I’d been wanting to revisit this piece I had made years ago. It was a white on white wrap top. Sewn from a matte silk crepe and appliquéd with satin bias tubes.

I liked the subtle textural contrasts and have been wanting to do something like it again.

This time, instead of concentric spiral shapes, I decided to do something with more energy. In my pile of old drawings, I found a sketch of a skirt with scribbly, graffiti shapes.

I went with a gorgeous tomato red kimono silk for the base and used a slightly redder, shinier fabric for the appliqués.

Below, in process, pinned and ready for basting. The back and sleeves have the same designs.

Now it’s in my hand-work queue.

Stay tuned.

Another coat, from over a year ago, made with the fabric below. I was surprised to discover that the Japanese weavers wove the plaid in a random, totally laissez-faire way. It is not at all what I think of as ‘plaid,’ where all the stripes are the same distance apart and you can line them up so ‘the plaid matches.’

I laid out sections of the fabric next to each other and in most areas there was no way to line it up. It was one step from impossible to match the plaid. Can you see how the horizontal lines are close at the top, then shift so much that they are completely out of alignment at the bottom?

Although I had to go through the whole bolt, I was able to find enough areas to at least, kind of, match the plaid.

Below, the front of the finished coat.

I didn’t even try to get the sleeves to line up. If I had, my head would have exploded. But, I did manage to line up the sides and pocket pieces so they were close enough.

After I finished that coat, I thought, I’ll use the rest of the fabric and make another piece where absolutely nothing lines up. I’ll work with the uneven, totally random, ‘plaid-like’ fabric. Everything will be totally out of order and it will become a piece about a plaid that absolutely does not even try to line up.

On my wall, in process.

Below, Finished!

Nothing lines up and it is not supposed to.

One last thing, as requested and in order to make my blog more readable, we’ve adjusted the font so it is darker and thicker. After all, my whole goal here is to tell my stories. Legibility is definitely the way to go!

Beaded Jacket Finished!

14 Comments

Whew! This jacket was completed in the knick of time. I promised ‘the end of summer,’ which technically won’t be until September 22nd, but because I think that Labor Day is the official end of summer, Labor Day was my goal. I was on a mission to finish. And Hooray! I did it!

I usually keep a hand sewing project next to my comfy TV chair and work on it slowly without a concern or thought for time. It takes as long as it takes and I don’t pay attention to the clock or the day or even the month. I had zero idea how long it had taken me the first time to make this jacket, so it was a surprise to realize how many hours I had spent.

It was a while,….

But I’m on the other side now. Done! Such a good feeling.

Next up, a video. I’m going to be participating in the American Craft Council’s online craft show this October, ‘The American Craft Made Pop-Up Market.’ They sent out a request for a 30 second video about one of the pieces that will be available for sale.

They’re fun to make so we’re on it. Scarves do well online, so that’s my subject. All about a scarf in a 30 second video.

Wish us luck!

Happy Happy Happy Labor Day to you and all my wishes for a lovely Fall, when ever you decide that it begins.