Monday, February 15, 2021

Art, Updates, and Tiny Things

      There are a lot of days where I don't get much done other than work and the bare minimum of everything else. The other day I made a random project for myself a priority. 
      I got this pink sweatshirt when Ethan and I went on our honeymoon, over 11 years ago. The zipper has been broken for several years and the sweatshirt has been in the back of my closet, either waiting to be fixed or waiting for me to be OK with rehoming it. I didn't want to rehome it, even though it is a bit too big for me at this point, so finally I fixed it. I have never actually replaced a zipper before. I have put zippers in pouches, but replacing one was a new experience. It's funny how much sewing I do and how many sewing related things I still almost never do. In case anyone is wondering, the island backdrop is a wall hanging in my classroom.
       The other day I also made time to sit and watch art. Travis worked on this sticker mosaic fox with Ethan. Travis actually did just about the whole thing. Ethan would take the pieces with some tweezers (some were really tiny!) and hold them over where they should go and Travis would push them down and make sure they were flat. Previous to doing the art Travis and I read some of the book on the history of mosaic art that came with this set. But for the art itself I just watched. And that was nice. 
       I may have mentioned (but I can't remember) that I was working with some designers on Spoonflower to get some of their designs shrunk down. The black and white horse print is still a bit larger than I would like, but I still really like it. The flamingos could be a bit smaller, but I never actually even heard from that designer, so I guess this is not too bad. I am definitely going to be making some backpacks from these fabrics. 

     I have finally made some progress on my bareback pads. The redesign of the girth went well and I managed to get these 6 pads partially done. I have to do a bit of cleanup on them still, but they are close. 
     I also have a big chunk of the work finished on the girths. My prototype (aka, mine) is at the top and is finished. I need to get all of the buckles onto the narrow ribbon and put into the girths. The ends are not glued down, so this step should be fairly easy. 

     I am making pretty good progress with the smaller items for my live sale. I feel that these are important since I won't be making any of them by custom order. For some reason that stresses me out. Especially saddlebags. That might be because they just have so many steps and I really have to want to do them (or work hard to talk myself into doing them) and if I HAD to make them it would be an added layer of stress. So my smaller items will only be available at live sales. If there is a particular color of something you want, ask. I may be able to make it, though it will still be a live sale only item. 

      I have a variety of projects in the works, at varying levels of doneness. Hopefully this week I can get more things wrapped up. That would be excellent. 

2 comments:

Lynn Isenbarger said...

I'm impressed that you can replace a zipper! I can put a zipper into a new garment but I have never tried replacing one in a finished garment. Intimidates me!

timaru star ii said...

On zippers: I have fixed them by squishing the metal slider tighter, with pliers. However this only fixes things for a shortish time.

The phrase 'semi-mass production' describes your operation, I think. I first heard this term with OrthoFlex Saddlery. Congratulations, and sympathy! with its pros and cons.