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Memories to Heirlooms

Remember When. . . I knew a good airman?

9/29/2021

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Do you have a friend that you have known for years; through  their children’s births, through good and hard times? I have several. The children of one of these families  made me an adopted aunt. I have been to birthday and Christmas celebrations, summer picnics and weddings. Through this I got to know their extended family including their Sasha, my friend’s father. 
Picture
1950s
Picture
1952
Their Sasha made a career of the Air Force. It was there he met is match, a registered nurse, also in the USAF.  Sasha and MomMom were a match made in heaven and tough and nails.  It prepared them to raise their five children in the service, where they were stationed all over the world.  
Picture
Sasha retired from the Air Force June of 1971 as lieutenant colonel. He was a hospital administrator in the Air Force and continued that career in civilian life. 
​He was kind, funny, bright and honorable.  I loved kidding and talking with him.   After he passed, my friend asked me to make 10 pillows from his dress uniform, over coat, dog tags and medals for the men in the family.  Once I could bring myself to cut, it became a remarkable experience. Each pillow was unique but on each one I placed his monogram and made a pocket to hold a card that listed his honors. 
Information card in a monogramed pocket on the back of the pillow.
Description of the materials used to make the pillow.
Description of honors earned by Sasha in service to our country.
I feel blessed to be able to use my talents to help tell his story and make something so special for the family. I believe he would have been happy and honored with the results.
​
If you have items tucked away for safe keeping, we could work together to create heirlooms that you  live  in your home and the homes of people you love.  Contact us and we can start a special tribute.
Pillow made form military uniform
2nd pillow made from military uniform
3rd. Pillow made from a military uniform
4th pillow made from a military uniform and dog tag
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Remember When. . . we saved an old friend?

9/16/2021

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My brother, Mike, tells the story about visiting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa when my beloved stuffed animal, Sleepy Cat, had been left at home. At bedtime, I was inconsolable because I had never slept without my dear friend. Great Grandpa, in his kind and quiet way, walked out of the room, returned with a big fluffy slipper, and handed it to me. Problem solved. 

​Sleepy Cat was with me well into my adulthood when she was well past her prime. 
I share this with you so you might understand that when I first saw Celia's Slippy Blanket, all worn and torn, I understood this was a well-loved, dependable, dear old friend.
Image of a white blanket with sagging filler and rips and tears.
Slippy Blanket when I received her.
Celia thought Slippy was lost for good but recently found it at the bottom of her childhood closet while helping her mother move. Celia claimed Slippy Blanket as a child when her parents didn't like how it slipped off their bed. She just loved it's slipperiness and has fond memories of its original gold background and pink roses. Several weeks after I received Slippy, Celia contacted me to explain how important the curved quilting (bottom left-hand corner of the above picture) was to her. She told me that as a child, she would trace the stitches with her finger. I had to look very closely to see what she meant, which only deepened my understanding of their bond. 
a torn seam in the blanket with some apparent repair work
some of the damage
A zig zagged repair through all layers
one of the repairs
As I started to work, I counted 5 past surgeries; from zig-zag to fine hand stitches to darning. For years, life has been breathed into Slippy Blanket, and now it was my turn. ​
Celia's primary wish was to restore Slippy to it's silky, fluffiness in either pink, grey or a combination of the two.

Fiber Identification

A fabric scrap being held over a candle
fabric scrap being burned in a candle
fabric scrap melting
fabric scrap melting
I knew Slippy was made from a synthetic fiber by its feel and durability. To determine which fiber I conducted a burn test. Conclusion: polyester because it melted to hard ash. (Fabric Mart has great instructions for conducting and evaluating a burn test.)

Fabric Dying

original color of the seam binding and Slippy scrap
original seam binding and Slippy scrap
Fabrics samples enter the dye bath
fabrics enter the dye bath
samples of the dye results of the binding and blanket scraps.  One charcoal grey and one Raspberry pink
finished samples
Did you know polyester fabric could be dyed at home? I didn't until I talked to the wonderful people at Dharma Trading Company. They told me about iDye Poly, and the results were fantastic. I sent the samples off in the mail and Celia settled on the raspberry color.
Off white Slippy Blanket parts and two bobbins of thread with the iDye Poly dye packet
Slippy Blanket and thread with dye packet
pale pink fabric held above the dye bath
entering the dye bath
Bright raspberry fabric floating in a large pot.
finished fabric
Slippy was dyed outside using a turkey fryer. It was great not to have the fumes in the house. I also dyed some small spools of cotton quilting thread to see if the whole spool would take the dye. Answer: Cotton does not take iPoly dye as polyester does.

The Puzzle

Designing on graph paper by drawing larger pieces on the paper and making cut out of the smaller pieces so they could be moved around.
design templates for front and back of blanket
Slippy was studied to determine how much usable fabric was available. Then it was graphed with movable "puzzle pieces" to determine how to remake Slippy as large as possible. Only once this was decided was any fabric cut.
Pieces of Raspberry fabric sewn together using a French seam which was folded and stitched resulting in  two parallel stitch lines.
seams
The pieces were sewn using a French seam, which encases the edges. Then the seam was folded to one side and stitched again, resulting in a strong bond and design detail.

Patching

5 dots of Slippy Blanket scrap fused down to another scrap.  Dots are marked to indicate which product is being tested.
patch test
Some of the fabric pieces needed to be patched or reinforced. Rather than sew down the patches, which would affect the feel, patches were fused using iron-on webbing. I tested 4 webbings: Heat and Bond, Light Wonder Under, Heavy Wonder Under and Ultra Hold Heat and Bond. For the test, each was fused to a scrap of fabric and washed with 5 different loads of laundry. Ultra Hold Heat & Bond had the best hold but stiffened the fabric. The other three all held well without impacting the feel, so I went with Heat and Bond. I applied it on the wrong side of the fabric at every place Slippy could use some reinforcement.

Putting it together

1 roll each of backing, batting and top.  Each is rolled on a pool noodle and unrolled as needed to pin it together.
combining 3 layers
Slippy Blanket laying flat and being pinned together through all 3 layers using safety pins.
pinning the layers
Lenny, a tuxedo cat, looking over the progress as the blanket is being sewn.
quality control
  • Quilter's Dream Batting Company sent samples of all their batting options, and we choose Quilter's Dream Puff Batting to give the most loft possible.  
  • Each layer of the quilt was rolled onto its own Pool Noodle so that it could be unrolled as needed avoiding folds and puckers. It worked great! Next, the layers were pinned, and marks and reinforcements were placed where the quilt would be tied. 
  • Finally, the binding was added as Lenny supervised. I always check with clients to see there are any issues with the "staff" performing their duties or if they should be on vacation for a project.

Slippy Reborn

Finished Slippy Blanket, Raspberry fabric with a shinny raspberry binding, tied together every 10 inches.  A pocket is in the lower right corner.  The blanket is draped over a bench outdoors.
finished front
Raspberry blanket with shinny binding and white knot tails every 10 inches.
finished back
3 inch by 4
pocket with rose button
Two 3 inch blankets.  One with curved quilting and one with a rose button in the center.  Each has the fluffy batting inside.
finger blankets
Slippy ended up being a good-sized quilt  tied with white wool yarn. The pocket in the corner is large enough to hold Slippy's Story Starter as well as Celia's chapstick and worry stone. The button is a vintage yellow rose button reminiscent of Slippy's faded roses and the roses from Celia's childhood bedroom.   Two "finger" blankets were also made for Celia to keep in her pocket when life gets tough.

Best wishes to Celia and Slippy for a long and happy life together.

Have a beloved keepsake that is past its prime? Contact me so we can discuss the possibility of giving it new life!
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Remember When. . . their story was written in the stars?

9/9/2021

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The Couple

Young smiling couple standing in front of tall grasses.
I was pleased when Ashley and James accepted my offer to make a tree skirt as a wedding gift. James is the grandson of one of my best friends, Mary Lou Ellsworth, and although I have heard stories about him all his life, we have only met once. Other than wanting it to have a Moravian star, the couple gave me complete creative freedom. Ashley told me they were more traditional with their Christmas colors and decorations. I knew that all six of Mary Lou's children display Moravian stars each year to have some Pennsylvania in their holiday. I was good to go.

The Design

Patchwork nautical star with 16  points in black blue purple and green.
So began the search for a patchwork pattern of a star. I settled on this one by Jinny Beyer called Sea of Crisis. At first, the name did not seem Christmassy, but the design was perfect - so perfect that I did not look at how complicated it was to make. Those two thoughts converged for me as I worked on this piece. 

The Complication

Patchwork pattern made of triangles and squared to resemble a wind mill.
#1 - Summer Winds - Easy
Putting this star together took persistence and resiliency. That continued once it was together, as it did not lay flat, so I had to ease into a curved piece. The more trouble I had, the more I thought about the star and the journey Mary and Joseph had to make: 90 miles  at least five days through desert on a donkey eight months pregnant  I never really thought about the crisis Mary and Joseph were in. That made the name of the pattern very fitting. It also seemed appropriate that I have to perceive a little to create such a meaningful Christmas symbol.
#2 Sea of Crisis - Challenging
Here are two Jinny Beyer designs.
  1. Summer Winds - easy - squares and isosceles triangles (two of the sides are the same.) It is easy to see how they go together, and it is hard to get them together wrong.
  2. Sea of Crisis - challenging - every pattern is cut out right side up and upside down as well as each background triangle has no two sides the same. There is only one way the pieces will go together. 

The Crisis 

Patchwork star of yellow fabrics on a black background.  The square finished piece did not lay flat so it is pinned down to the circular piece to make it lay flat.
Yellow star on black background, bordered with red piping and holly fabric.
Putting this star together took persistence and resiliency. That continued once it was together, as it did not lay flat, so I had to ease into a curved piece. The more trouble I had, the more I thought about the star and the journey Mary and Joseph had to make:
  • 90 miles 
  • at least five days
  • through desert
  • on a donkey
  • eight months pregnant 
I never really thought about how Mary and Joseph were in crisis. That made the name of the pattern very fitting. It also seemed appropriate that creating such a meaningful Christmas symbol involved a bit of struggle.

Let it shine!

Tree skirt folded in half showing 3 of the 5 stars.
The five stars were fitted into the skirt, bordered with thin red pipping. The edge and center was made from a beautiful holly fabric with gold accents. The skirt was  finished with simple quilting.  

A Little Note

Back of the tree skirt folded over to display a holly bordered labeled pocket.  In the pocket is a booklet with a note to the couple.
A pocket was sewn to the back to hold a note to the happy couple. May this skirt grace their tree for all their Christmases to come.
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Can't find the right color fabric?

9/1/2021

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Picture
Picture
The fabric on the left was the right tone but too bright for my current project. Solution: The soak the fabric in tea until it mellowed to the perfect color and set the color by ironing the fabric. (I usually use basic tea, but used Chai Rooibos for this.)
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    Jean is the owner and designer for Remember When Studio.  

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