Alicia Welcher's Blog

New Classes Posted!

2011-09-26T15:29:21Z

Ok... I guess it's official. I'm really bad at keeping up with this whole blog thing.

But! I did get new classes posted today for October through January. See the calendar for details. Also see my Flickr page for pictures of all of the upcoming projects.

Pattern Review - Oliver + S Bubble Dress

2011-05-29T16:13:46Z

I meant to post this before going on vacation, but ran out of time. I was asked to make a sample garment to show off a new Anna Griffin fabric and embroidery design set, Fifi & Fido, and was given this pattern to do so. This was my first experience with Oliver + S patterns and definitely will not be my last. The pattern contained a minimal number of pieces and was very well drafted and the instructions were very easy to follow. All in all, it took about half the time to complete that I thought it would. If you sew children's clothing at all, you might want to try one of these patterns!

Vacations are good for the soul...

2011-05-29T15:40:05Z

My husband and I recently spent two glorious weeks lazing around on a beach near Cabo San Lucas. It was WONDERFUL! Unfortunately, it's taken me another week to get over my "vacation brain" and get back to work. Oh well.

I took this shot from a tower at the top of the hotel - great view from up there. This might just have to become my desktop picture for a while.

We also spent plenty of time watching the pelicans and other wildlife frolic and sun themselves. I won't bore you with my myriad of pictures, though.

Ahhh...

Spring has sprung!

2011-04-11T16:30:00Z

Or at least it's trying really hard to. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and now it has even more callas on it. It's right outside the front window of my studio. Absolutely lovely to look at during a hectic work day! Or any other day for that matter.

I did some yard work in the back today, but will have to take a few minutes sometime this week to give this poor thing a hair cut. Some of the flowers that look beautiful here have aged a bit. Fortunately, they are quickly being replaced by new ones. There's also a rose bush that needs some care and I really should try to plant some shade loving somethings under the trees this year to give the weeds less room to grow.

Whoops! Forgot to share...

2011-04-10T19:23:00Z

I finished the "shrinking fabric" projects a while ago and completely forgot to share them. Sorry! Here's what they finally told me they wanted to be...

The grid without batting became a clutch purse adorned with a really cute spaghetti bias and ribbon flower made using Kari Mecca's Whimsey Sticks.

The grid with batting became a pillow cover.

And another piece that I made while playing became the flap for this purse.

Cute, cute! In my own rather humble opinion anyhow...

1998 Airstream Safari Re-Upholstery: The Beginning

2011-03-08T16:00:00Z

So... as I mentioned yesterday, my Mom has been diligently working on getting our Airstream travel trailer updated from it's forest green gingham "what-were-they-thinking?!?" to a cool, retro light teal and tan look. Here are a couple of the "befores" of the couch and the dinette cushions...

See? What were they thinking?!?

You can follow Mom's progress on her blog, Blue Denim and Lace. Scroll down to Personal Sewing Pages on the left and you'll find her first two Airstream installments there. Click on an ad along the way and you'll earn some extra Karma points!

Anyone know of a good Airstream body shop? Seriously. A huge windstorm swept across Montana last month and a tree broke off right next to our baby. Fortunately, nothing on the interior is damaged at all, but the exterior looks like this on the back driver side...

OUCH!

Yes Virginia! There is a cutting table under there!

2011-03-08T00:22:00Z

... and it's been almost as elusive as the jolly fat man himself of late.

I simply couldn't deal with the 12-15 square inches of open cutting space that I had left any longer and cleaned it up. While I was in the mood, I also cleaned up most of the rest of the room - yay! It's wonderful! I can see large spaces of floor and I don't have to kick anything out of the way to get to the ironing board.

The only problem at this point is that I don't want to mess it back up! However... you know me... I'm gonna. I actually started today by working on some fitting muslins for a class on Thursday. I also need to work on the "incredible shrinking fabric" projects for this same class as some of the students will finish up their jackets between now and our meeting in May.

Honestly, this clean-up has been rather liberating. The only piles that remain have to do with projects that are a priority to me, either personally or professionally, plus one pile of things that really only have a few minutes worth of work left to complete. Everything else was put on a project list and stored out of sight. I also put away several months worth of project "leftovers" that I had become quite lax about putting away... silly me.

Tomorrow, I will share a project of my Mom's with you. She's re-upholstering the interior goodies of our 1998 Airstream Safari while she's pretty much snowed in and it's turning out beautifully!

Glorious Day!

2011-01-19T23:30:00Z

Yesterday, I spent the morning playing with some new shrinking fabric that I purchased a bit ago but hadn't had the time to play with yet. What fun! All you do is put it to the wrong side of another piece of fabric, sew (or serge) the two together and steam with an iron. Voila! Texture galore! The picture below shows half of the fabric steamed:

I played with another piece where I put batting between the two pieces of fabric and it came out with a totally different texture. In the picture below, the one on the left has the batting in it and the one on the right does not. Members of my Advanced Serger Club at DSC will have a blast with this stuff in May!

One really good thing about having a dog in the house is that it makes me walk away and get some fresh air now and again throughout the day. Just as I finished taking the above photo, Julie decided that she wanted out. And how could I ever say no to this "poor pent up me" face?

As it turned out. her timing was perfect. When we went outside, it was a beautiful, clear, sunshiny day... and warm to boot! The first we've had in weeks. I immediately hightailed it back inside and changed into my scruffies so that I could do some overdue yard work, then spent a couple of hours out in that glorious warm sunshine. It did both my body and soul quite a bit of good. I was also able to open the windows for a bit to air out the house, which was beginning to smell a bit like poor little pent up puppy dog...

New Year... New Blog!

2011-01-15T18:02:00Z

I've decided that my new year started yesterday. Why so late? Well... I woke up on the 2nd feeling just horrid. Turned out that I had a kidney infection. So, rather than simply give up on all of my January aspirations ("resolutions" and I don't get along too well), I decided that my new year would start when I felt much better. Yesterday happened to be the first day that I woke up with enough energy to feel that I'd actually be able to get something done. Voila! New Year!

And get something done, I did! I managed to clean the refrigerator and half of the freezer before I ran out of energy. The rest of the freezer will most likely get done today. See? Pretty and shiny!

Well... except for that pink blotch in the middle. That's my reward! A glass of brut rose - yum! Ironically enough, it was put into the refrigerator on New Year's Eve but not one of the four adults in the house made it until midnight. Pitiful, I know.