Honoring Ñaña through fabric design

So a few weeks ago I posted some pictures of a few hand embroidered heirlooms I inherited from my great-grandmother.  I have been trying to think of a way to honor her memory and give more people the opportunity to enjoy her beautiful handwork. Donating the items to a museum was one option, and I'll probably pursue that further eventually. But then in dawned on me... fabric design!

I've already been toying with the idea of trying to design fabric. Actually, it all started with my oldest little brother who is a really talented graffiti artist. He makes these little robots that I absolutely love! I've been nagging him (as any responsible big sister would do) to get his designs up on Spoonflower. I've even offered to digitize his sketches and figure out all the repeats for him! I'm hoping we are still going to pursue that path eventually, but he's taking the LSAT in October and will be a brand new father by Halloween, so right now I know his time is pretty limited. And he's only going to get busier!

So I've had fabric design on the brain for a while. But last week it hit me... Why don't I just make Ñaña's embroidery into fabric? Why didn't I come up with this sooner? So for the last week I've been playing around and trying to teach myself Adobe Illustrator. Did you know you can get it for $20/month on the cloud instead of however many hundreds of dollars it costs to buy it outright? For a program like illustrator that's a phenomenal deal, and you get a 30-day free trial. After using this program for a week I'd say the $20/month is totally worth it. Such a great program! But enough gushing about AI. Here is a screen shot of the dress motifs after tracing a photograph using AI (with the inspiration dress)

Since gradients in color are difficult to screenprint I just went with solid forms. I think it looks a bit cleaner and more modern. Then I took just the large blue/yellow flower, and his little blue/yellow friend, and tried my hand at making a tossed design with a 12" repeat. I came up with two options, one with the flowers close together, 

and one with the flowers farther apart.

Bear in mind the large flowers are 2.5" tall so it's a pretty big motif. The repeat is 12" by 12".... can you find it? 

So now I'd like to get your input. Which do you like better, the close version or the spread out version? Maybe you don't like either? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below! In the meantime I'm off to make another pattern with some of the other motifs!

Free Headband Pattern & Tutorial!

I love headbands, especially fabric ones! Mostly because I have wild crazy hair and they are a great way to keep the fly-a-ways off my face. I could do ponytails of course, but those gave me headaches when my hair was long, and now it's too short for that. The thing that always drove me nuts about the fabric headbands is that there was always a gap in the back... much like any pants I try on (but that will be an entirely different blog post).

Since darts are the way we give our clothing shape and contour it around the curves of our bodies, one day I decided to add darts to the back of a basic headband pattern. First I tried just one, and it helped, but it wasn't good enough. Two was much better, and after a few iterations (where to place the darts, how wide to make the headbands, how quickly to taper down to the ends) I finally settled on a final design.

I've been teaching this pattern in my sewing summer camps and the girls really love to make them. They are probably an intermediate level project since accurate cutting and sewing are important for these to really fit well. But now you don't have to take my class since I have it all for you right here!
Click here for the free pattern download!

Contoured Reversible Headband

Materials
Two pieces of fabric at least 4” x 20” (two pieces make one headband) Scraps are fine, like the ones below. Make sure they are ironed nice and smooth.

Hair elastics

Coordinating thread
Cut out templates along solid lines, cutting out dart as you go.

Instructions
Fold fabric pieces right-sides together, matching short ends. Stack on top of each other, matching folded edges.

Place template on top of fabric with straight edge of template (where it says cut on fold) aligned on the fold.

Cut fabric with a rotary cutter but DO NOT CUT DART. Just cut straight across and continue following the template.

Using template as a guide, mark the darts on the wrong side of the fabric pieces with a fabric pencil. Be sure to mark two darts on each piece.

Fold each dart with right sides together, pinch at the point and match the “legs” of the dart. If you prefer you may pin in place and repeat for all darts, or fold & sew as you go.

Sew darts along the drawn lines, backstitch at each dart point.

Press all darts to the same side (either left or right).

Place pieces with right sides together, darts should snuggle up against eachother. If you prefer pin in place. In this picture I haven't aligned the long edge because I wanted to show you how the darts are supposed to snuggle. Don't they look cozy?

Sew along one edge with a ¼” seam allowance.

Turn and repeat for the other side. DO NOT SEW the super short ends, leave them open.

Turn the headband right-side out through either opening at the ends. I like to use this handy turning tool, sold at most quilt shops and chain fabric stores.

Just shove the tool inside the headband, grab the other end with the hook...

and carefully pull it back out while rolling the fabric over itself with moist fingers (I just lick my fingers but you can use a little water if you prefer). Once you get to hear you can remove the hook and just pull it right side out with your hands.

Now your headband will look puffy, like this

So you'll need to roll your seams to the very edge, it may help to wet your fingers a little when you do this. See how the seam is pushed out to the very edge in the second photo? You want to do that along each seam.

Press your headband flat. You’ll notice the headband wants to curve so pressing on a tailors ham is helpful. You should only see one fabric on each side, not both. If you can see both fabrics on one side you didn't roll your seams properly.

Fold one skinny end of your headband in ¼”

Then wrap the end around the hair elastic.

Sew across forward and back to secure the headband to the elastic.

Repeat on the other side, being careful not to twist your headband. It helps to lay it out like this...

The finished headband!

Put it on your head and wear it proudly! Don't forget the darts go to the back, the curved part goes to the front.

I'd love to see some pictures of your finished headbands! Feel free to post in the comments below or on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/simplyseamed

Hand Embroidered Cuban Family Heirlooms

I come from a family of makers. Seamstresses, knitters, artists, woodworkers, and all around handy-people. I have it on both sides of the family, but it seems especially strong on my mothers side, the Cuban side. My mother is a wonderful artist, when I was a little girl she would doodle the most amazing eyes! She could certainly draw other things too, but eyes were always her go-to sketch. My grandmother, Abuela, could sew very well and made my prom dresses. My great grandmother however, was in a class all her own. She was a seamstress by trade and did the most amazing hand embroidery I've ever seen! She passed away when I was 13, but I was lucky to have grown up with her for those few years, and she and Abuela were the ones that taught me to sew as a child. 

A few years ago Abuela, had to move from her apartment to an assisted living facility. In the process of moving and paring down her belongings I was very fortunate to inherit some amazing heirlooms (at least in my book)! Behold the treasure box of sewing goodies:

I remember this tape measure, the thimble, even the nail file... though I don't understand why it's in her sewing box. I'm pretty sure that's a rug hooking tool up there too, crochet hooks, and of course snips. But this is the boring stuff that only I, and perhaps my cousin Angie (named after my seamstress great-grandmother), would find interesting. The really good stuff was an assortment of clothing and a sampler hand embroidered by my great-grandmother!

However, the mark of good hand embroidery is when the back looks almost as good as the front.

Both my mom and aunt wore this dress as girls, I may have too. All made by hand, possibly an original pattern too.

A close up of the floral motif.

And the inside of the hem

The embroidery on this one has seen better days. I'm sure it was worn by several members of my family.

This one is my favorite. I actually remember wearing this in high school. We have pictures of my mom wearing it too. It's quite threadbare at this point. 

I love the details on the sleeves. I miss wearing this shirt, but if I did now it would probably disintegrate.

Eventually I would like to donate these items to a textile museum or history museum! Or do something else that would properly honor the beauty and history of these garments. They are too threadbare to wear anymore and it just doesn't seem right to leave these items in a box where hardly anyone will get to see them. Actually, if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do with these, how I can best honor my great-grandmothers memory, I'd love to hear them in the comments!