Gail Patrice Design | Category Archive

Don’t you just love hand-dyed ribbon?

Posted on 14. Jul, 2011 by gail in Blog

Have been hand-dyeing yards and yards of 1/4″ and 1/2″-wide ribbon for my “It’s All About Embellishment” hands-on workshop at the 2011 American Sewing Guild National Conference in Los Angeles in a few weeks. Just finished pressing a bunch and put them on my table to grab a phone call. When I came back, thought they looked so pretty in a jumble, wanted to share them. Hope to see lots of you in my classes and workshops!

Downton Abbey goes Vogue!

Posted on 06. Jul, 2011 by gail in Blog

My favorite new PBS series, Downton Abbey, will be back on air in January 2012–hooray! If you’re a fan of British drama a la Upstairs Downstairs, be sure to check it out. I’ll have to re-watch Season 1 on my DVD set this summer to hold me ’til then. But the latest issue of Vogue will help the withdrawal symptoms a lot. Can’t wait ’til it arrives in the mailbox.

Alabama Chanin at the Textile Museum

Posted on 19. Jun, 2011 by gail in Blog

Had a fun visit with my sister, Judy and her husband Jeff in Baltimore last week. A few weeks ago, was thumbing through the Members’ Magazine of the Textile Museum and noticed that on Thursday evening June 16th Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin was the featured speaker. Have been a fan of her beautiful work and decided to make the pilgrimage to attend the event, “Life Is In the Details.” She spoke about her business model and how her “slow design” enterprise evolved. Natalie took lots of questions from the audience and she signed my copy of her book! (It’s a personal triumph that I even remembered to bring it with me from home.) If you’re visiting our nation’s capital and have a chance, head over to 2320 S St. NW and tour through the museum–it’s well worth it.

Thursday was a very museum-y day. Earlier that day, Judy and I also attended a lecture by Rena Hoisington on 18th century French etchings and prints at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (The BMA has (I think) the largest Matisse collection in the world.) As we were walking back to the car, I looked down at the sidewalk outside the museum and saw this button and beads.How cool is that? I think it’s a good omen for my upcoming book on embellishment techniques!

Shout Color Catcher® to the rescue! Or when red dye bleeds onto white fabric

Posted on 01. Jun, 2011 by gail in Blog

Haven’t posted in a while, but yes, I’m still alive and well! Am working on a book aptly named “It’s All About Embellishment!” It will be loaded with close-up color photos of each technique and clear step-by-step instructions. All of the techniques in the book can be done on any zigzag capable sewing machine. Stay tuned-will let you know when it’s available to purchase.

One of the technique chapters is on twin needling. I used a red variegated cotton quilting thread that I’ve used loads of times without any problems, but this time when I removed the water erasable lines with a wet Q-Tip, the red dye bled onto the white jacket fabric in a couple of spots! Major problem. (Fortunately the fabric had been pre-washed.) Here’s a wonderful solution.

I threw the jacket into the washer (gentle cycle) with a small amount of detergent and a Shout Color Catcher® sheet. Most of the dye came out of the white fabric and the thread retained its original color. One more cycle with another Color Catcher® sheet and the spot is so faint it’s almost impossible to see. Crisis averted!

It’s All About Embellishment! at R I Sewing Network

Posted on 14. Feb, 2011 by Gail Yellen in Blog

Took a ride to East Greenwich, RI early last Saturday (February 12th) to present my “It’s All About Embellishment” workshop at the Rhode Island Sewing Network. What a talented, inspiring group of women they are! It’s always fun to see Diane Martin, Carolyn Gazerro and the whole gang. Thanks for inviting me.

Had 2 fun surprises. They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Sheila Vargas created a Collage It! jacket from my Template Set 1 that’s a terrific color copy of the Template 1 cover jacket. Thanks Sheila-great job! And Ruth Gross created a vest from felted sweaters in the same neutral color combo as my very first Collage It! jacket–beautiful!

Hope to see all of you again soon.

Here are a few photos of our creative workshop.

“Fabulous Felting” in ASG’s Notions winter issue

Posted on 26. Jan, 2011 by Gail Yellen in Blog

Calling all American Sewing Guild members! Check out my article “Fabulous Felting” in the winter issue of Notions (ASG’s quarterly publication.) It’s an overview of the felting process using wool sweaters to create collaged fabric. Along with clear close-up photos, the article takes you through the construction process. I’ve made a variety of jackets using Template Sets 1 and 2 and the Counterpoints Jacket pattern. You can see all of them on my Gallery pages. Check it out!

Bobbie Horwitz and Me-2009 National Sewing Month Contest Winners

Posted on 19. Aug, 2010 by Gail Yellen in Blog

One of the many high points of participating in the recent ASG National Conference in Atlanta, was a visit to my vendor booth by Bobbie Horwitz. She and I were two of the top 3 winners in the 2009 National Sewing Month Reuse, Remake, Restyle Contest. Made from an assortment of plastic bags, her raincoat,was serged together to create her own very cool collage. What a fabulous idea. (I’m wearing my winning entry made from some of my late mother’s sweaters. I used my Template Set 1 and Counterpoints Jacket pattern.)

We met at Blondell Howard’s Sassy Sewer Salon in Baltimore last June during a Friday night “meet and greet” get together that kicked off my Serger Workshop weekend. I was having so much fun meeting and greeting lots of sewing enthusiasts, I neglected to get a picture of us together. Couldn’t let another golden opportunity go by. Thanks for stopping by, Bobbie!

Threads magazine reader’s closet

Posted on 10. May, 2010 by Gail Yellen in Blog

Just wanted to let you know that I posted pics of my latest Counterpoints Jacket using Template Set 2 and pieces from 5 different sweatshirts in Threads online reader’s closet. It’s impossible to get wool sweaters to felt in the warmer states and sweatshirts work great. And since it’s already May, it’s getting too warm for felted wool (although it’s been extremely windy and unseasonably cool in CT for the past 3 days.) The felting process is eliminated and there’s no need for interfacing or lining, so the construction is very quick. Also did some beading to highlight design details. The color combo reminds me of coffee with cream and sugar. Finished the beading while watching “It’s Complicated.” Very entertaining. I love Meryl Streep. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were also excellent. Next up: The Stockbridge Skirt with “It’s All About Embellishment” techniques.

Threads magazine reader’s closet

Posted on 08. May, 2010 by Gail Yellen in Blog

Just wanted to tell you that my teal linen jacket with the “Un-Be-Weavable” woven ribbon technique is featured on page 85 of the latest Threads magazine (July 2010 number 149.) It’s very exciting!!! The linen was substantial enough to allow me to pull warp and weft threads without breaking, so it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with the technique. The ribbon is hand-dyed and I beaded it at random intervals as I wove. In an upcoming post, I’ll tell you what I learned about the “Un-Be-Weavable” technique and a few tips on how to plot your placement. In the meantime, here are a few more pics of the jacket.

Jacket Back

Here’s the intersection of the warp and weft channels on the front.

Here’s the beaded button close-up. Didn’t notice how much it looks like a troll face before this photo!

Here’s the “dangle” on the left front.

And here’s a sleeve detail.

P.S. More of my hand-dyed ribbon can be seen in Jennifer Hasemann’s (as always) terrific Embroidery Essentials article on Free-motion embellishment (pgs. 24 and 25.)

Beading Cuff–What a Cool Idea

Posted on 07. May, 2010 by Gail Yellen in Blog

I love to bead but hate always having to sit in my sewing room because I need a table for the beads. Here’s a beadi-licious beading cuff I saw in The Alabama Stitch Book a couple of years ago and finally got around to making one. Not only does it allow you to bead anywhere (as long as you have decent light), but it’s very motion efficient as well. Your beading needle will pick up the beads easily and quickly from low tack painter’s tape. Since I saved so much time using this cuff, I can spend it trotting back to the bead shop because I discovered that I’m about 8 beads short for this project! (I’ll post pics of the Collage It! sweatshirt jacket that I’m working on.)

It takes about 2 minutes (if that) to construct. Just cut off the cuff ribbing from a sweatshirt.

Trim off the seam and open the double layer of ribbing to make it a single layer.