Grrlfriend Market Bag

Have you ever made something because you thought you wanted it, only to find out you really didn't need it and might never use it? That's my situation with this knitted market bag.

What enticed me about this beauty was the fantasy of walking a farmer's market and filling my hand knit bag to the brim. The yarn was what sold me on it. I just love the colors. It's Linsey from Berroco yarns. Wonderful to work with, in a blend of linen and cotton. The self-striping effect is so cool!

I say going to the farmer's market is a fantasy, because I have yet to find the likes of the HUGE one in my hometown (Ithaca, NY) here in central Massachusetts. A roofed pavilion, stalls too numerous to count, live music, purveyors of fresh cooked snacks and lunches, art, wine, baked goods, preserves, hand spun yarn - all enhance the task of shopping for the freshest of vegetables and fruit. I miss it.

This summer my husband and I bought a farm share, or CSA. Every Thursday I drive 8 miles to a home where I pick up produce that was delivered earlier in the day. We bought a small share, and it's proven to be more than the two of us can eat. Last week's share contained 2 ears of corn, 4 bell peppers, 4 or 5 hot peppers, lettuce, arugula, a cucumber, cilantro, an eggplant, two summer squash, a pint of tiny yellow pear-shaped tomatoes, and a large tomato. On paper this sounds wonderful, but there was just as much in our box the previous week, and the week before, and the week before... I have banana peppers coming out of my ears. I have a refrigerator bursting with produce, and I'll be picking up more on Thursday.

Ok, I admit, I'm not much for cooking. People say I'm a good cook, but it doesn't happen often. I think it's because I put so much of my creative juices into sewing and knitting. I have little energy left when I enter my small kitchen. Which is another issue. Last night my husband helped me make a grilled vegetable lasagna, and we kept bumping into each other. It was frustrating to have so little counter space, and I had an "aha moment". I finally realized the space issue is part of the reason I don't cook much. The other is that my husband often works late, and I don't like to cook for just myself. A bowl of cereal and fruit is just fine some evenings. Or a salad with every vegetable in my fridge at the time.

The farm share has helped us eat better, and I've made some delicious recipes, but I'm going to be relieved when it ends in a couple of weeks. We're not signing up for the fall session because there will be kale, kale, and more kale. In June, I had kale coming out of my ears. And we don't care for kale, collards, or escarole. We tried it; it doesn't make our taste buds happy. So this fall I'll be going to the local farm stand and buying what appeals to me at the time. And maybe I'll use my bag - although I don't want to get it wet or dirty, or - why did I make this bag?

Look how cool the bottom is! The cast on stitches are pulled through a circle of yarn (Emily Ocker's Beginning, which can be found online). It's a really cool way to start a project. The bag was designed by Laura Spradlin and the pattern is available on Ravelry. It was lots of fun to make. The only change I made was to make two shorter straps instead of one shoulder strap.

Time will tell what I carry in this bag, but I have to admit, it does look great full of vegetables!

In the studio, I'm busy making handbags. I, who vowed to never make another bag for as long as I live, have three handbags in the works. It's been fun shopping my stash and designing one-of-a-kind bags. I let the fabrics dictate the style, shape and mood of each one. That's much easier than trying to figure out how to make a fabric do something it doesn't want to do. I've been doing the painting all at once, since there is some set up and tear down involved in that process. Then I move forward cutting and sewing each one until I arrive at a place where I need another supply, or I'm not sure how I want a certain element to look, and I start working on a different one. I'm usually a one-project-at-a-time kind of gal, but I'm enjoying working this way right now.

I find I really enjoy drafting the patterns, too. There is something very pleasurable about a pencil in my hand. The simple act of physically transferring thought onto paper is something I so seldom do in this digital age. Each time I pick up a pencil, I realize how much I've missed writing and drawing. I've purchased a small sketch pad, pencils, a sharpener and an eraser to keep in my car, so that I can draw ideas as they come to mind. Not while I'm driving, but in between appointments, errands, work and home, etc. Of course, I'll need to design a bag to keep them in!

I plan to have at least one bag completed by the end of the week, so I'll be posting again soon. Tell me, how does your cooking mojo compare to your sewing or knitting mojo? Does it drain your creative energy, or can you do both with no trouble? I'm curious!

The Bag to End All Bagmaking (So I Vowed)

Some time ago I promised to write about a handbag I made in July. I'm finally ready to do it. I'm not sure what it is about my procrastination in blogging. I do my best writing with a really clear head, which I don't always have. So I put it off. Going forward, I'm going to try to blog during the process of making things, so things are fresher and quicker in getting onto the page. But I'm usually sewing full-tilt when I'm making something, so my head won't be clear... I don't know what the answer is. Any recommendations or thoughts from you readers are welcome!

Anyway, here it is, The Bag to End All Bag Making:

I started out with the desire to make a sturdy canvas bag to schelp all of my stuff to work - normal handbag items plus lunch and a water bottle. The natural colored canvas I painted with a wash didn't thrill me, but the pieces of linen I had painted with silk screen images did. So I switched to black duck, and was going to make "windows" in it and stitch the linen pieces in behind. Ever try to make a clean, flat window in duck? Not a chance. That's when Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8173 popped out of my pattern cabinet.

(Yes, I own a retro Butterick cabinet, gifted from an acquaintance who purchased it from a store that went out of business decades ago. It holds my pattern stash and much, much more.) But I digress.

The pattern is out of print, and I purchased it years ago because it incorporated silk screening. In fact, it's one of the patterns that nudged me into learning to paint fabric. I had never made it, and I had all of these images painted onto colorful fabric, and I had some gray silk dupioni and gray silk organza, and steam a seam lite, and batting, and Craf-Tex, and hardware, so I dove into the project. And it consumed me. For days. Weeks. For, maybe, 60 to 80 hours. Waaaaay too much time. But it was only time, and I was having fun, so it was all good.

Why did it take so much time? Cutting was partly to blame. I was very careful to cut the dupioni on grain, so I didn't double layer it. The various interfacings were stiff and bulky, so I cut them in one layer. All together, from the outside to the lining, there are 9 layers.

Interfacings, Steam a Seam, batting, and stiff
paperboard to stabilize the bottom.

Also, I cut out all of the images painted on the linen. Scissors worked best, but it took a lot of time. Sewing took a long time, too, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Materials for the exterior, and templates for
cutting the images into shapes.

The exterior of the bag is constructed in several layers. The first step is to paint the Steam a Seam Lite. In this photo, you'll notice dark coral rectangles toward the top of the bag. (Click on the photo for a larger image.)

These, along with dark gray squares across the center and dark teal rectangles along the bottom, were painted on the Steam a Seam. After they dried, I fused them to the two outer pieces of the bag. Peeling away the paper, I had a nice, tacky surface to lay the linen pieces and ribbon on. Then I fused the silk organza on top. The Steam a Seam melted into the dupioni, but also held the organza in place.

Quilting was the next step, and it took a long time. Probably 4 to 5 hours for each side. I used two colorways of variegated thread, outlining each piece and tying the ends on the back side of the fabric. This added a big Wow factor, bringing the linen pieces into focus behind the organza. 

I love how the many layers give so much depth. You can see the texture in the dupioni, the painting on the Steam a Seam, the linen pieces, the organza, and finally the stitching. The light batting gives the linen fragments some dimension.

I didn't have enough aqua/turquoise linen for the lining, so I used a stretch cotton satin from Sawyer Brook. I applied a non-stretch fusible interfacing to keep it from stretching, which worked very well.

Marcy included a zippered pocket in the pattern. I made it slightly deeper, and changed the technique a bit. She used the top zipper tape as the top edge of the pocket. I chose to cut a strip of fabric for the top instead. I love the contrast of the zipper with the gray dupioni.

I wanted more pockets, so I created a double pocket that is tucked to make pouch shapes. I couldn't resist using a painted linen remnant for the lining.

I love trimming interior pockets with ribbon. It adds a little detail that makes me smile when I see it.

These pockets are perfect for my glasses case and phone. I added a magnetic snap at the center above the pockets, to hold the bag closed.

I thought the shirred handles shown in the pattern photo looked dated, so I made stiff ones. I cut them a few inches shorter, as I don't carry bags on my shoulders. The handles are made with the technique I described in my previous post. I love how rigid the Craf-Tex makes them. They don't crumble in my hand!

Before assembling the outer bag, I cut pieces of heavy Craf-Tex the size of the sides of the bag. The corner edges of the bag are edgestitched, which holds the Craf-Tex in place. Craf-Tex is a very stiff product that gives the bag the rigidness and stability I like. I didn't use it on the ends, because I wanted them to fold in.

Applying the binding was the point at which this became The Bag to End All Bag Making. I vowed to never make another handbag again, ever. I recall begging the Universe to save me from myself. Sewing through all of the layers and getting the binding even were very demanding tasks, and tried my patience. it was quite crazy making!


In hindsight, I should have used the lite Craf-Tex, as the heavy was very difficult to stitch through, especially with 8 other layers involved. It was a real struggle for my machine, and I had to hand stitch the ring tabs in place on the inside, as my Pfaff just couldn't handle it.


Surprise, surprise - the Universe did not save me from myself. (Does it ever?) Two weeks later, I made another bag. With Craf-Tex only in the handles. And lots of paint, lots of color, and lots of play. It was a blast. So was this one, actually. I really enjoyed the process, enjoyed seeing what the bag became as I worked on it. And now I enjoy carrying it. It's not a canvas tote, but my handbag necessities fit inside, and I can even squeeze a sandwich into it!

French Holiday Bag

I promised to write about the bag I made in July, but first I want to tell you about the bag I made in the past week. As soon as I finished The Bag To End All Bagmaking, sneak peeked in my previous post, I learned about a handbag contest on Pattern Review. The bag had to be made between August 1 and 15. At first I didn't think I had the reserves to make another bag right away, but with the encouragement of others and two weeks of trying to figure out what to make, I started on this:

I've had Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8590 in my pattern stash for several years. It was actually the impetus that led me to collecting silk screens and learning how to use them. I've been gathering silk dupioni pieces as I see them when fabric shopping. When I realized this gorgeous rayon batik from Sawyer Brook coordinated nicely with several of the silks, I chose it as a lining fabric and dove into the project.

First up was to cut my fabric pieces down to size to prepare for painting them. I prefer to paint before cutting pattern pieces out, as it's easier to handle larger pieces of fabric. My bag is made from 8 fabrics (the pattern calls for 9, including lining). Marcy made the cutting process much easier by grouping pattern pieces according to which fabric they're to be cut from. Here is a sample panel:

The pieces are drafted on the same grain line, so you can simply lay the panel over the fabric and cut the pieces out. This is what I did, with the exception of two fabrics that were small and required the pieces to be placed closer together in different arrangements. To make placing the painted images easier, I drew an outline of each piece on the dupioni using a disappearing chalk. Here is one of the painted panels, before the pieces were cut out:

When selecting which silk screen images to use, I considered the lining fabric. It spoke to me of fields of sunflowers and blazing bonfires at sunset. The sunflowers led me to Provence, and the French Holiday Bag was given its name. I used images culled from French culture - a fleur-de-lis, the Eiffel Tower, a letter written in French, a labyrinth from Chartres - as well as natural elements such as a singing bird, a nautilus shell, honeycomb, a bee, and a hydrangea.

Painting these pieces was lots of fun. It was challenging to keep in my head which colors of fabric would be adjacent to one another in the finished bag, so I could choose paint colors accordingly. I used 7 colors of Lumiere that echo the colors in the fabrics. 

Construction of the bag went smoothly, with one exception. The interfacing was a Goldilocks affair. The first was too stiff, the second was too limp, but the third was just right. 

I started by fusing Acro, a very stiff tailoring interfacing, to all of the outer pieces. After sewing the sides of the bag together, I realized there was no way it was going to gather well when the elastic was inserted into the front and back. it was just. too. darn. stiff. Out came the seam ripper and the seams, and I peeled off all of the interfacing. 

My next choice was Armo Weft, a weft-insertion interfacing that gives soft stability. After fusing it, I knew this would gather nicely, so I moved forward and sewed the outer shell of the bag. And it had very little body. 

Sooooo, I added a layer of Form-Flex, a woven fusible that had just the right amount of oomph. 

The left side with Form-Flex. Nice and stiff, as opposed to the opposite side! It fused nicely over the sides of the bag, even though the seams had been sewn. After fusing, I stitched the Form-Flex to the seam allowances, to keep it in place. Not the proper method of applying interfacing, but no way was I ripping the seams out again.

It stands up! Much better.

The bag has four pockets - one on each outside end, a zippered one inside, and an open double pocket inside. I used the zippered one as drafted, but cut the other one longer, and made two small tucks at the bottom edge. 

This forms a pouch, which makes it easier to slip in a glasses case or cell phone. I like to add small details to my bags, so I stitched on some grosgrain ribbon. 

The grosgrain is also on the inside of the outer pockets, where it will never be seen (but it will make me smile when I remember it!)

The zippered pocket uses a welt method for inserting the zipper. It makes a nice, clean finish. I love all this color!

I wanted stiff, uncrushable handles, so I made some changes there. For each handle I cut two pieces of fabric and a 1" strip of Craf-Tex Lite, a stiff interfacing  product Marcy stocks. It's fusible, so I simply wrapped one piece of fabric around it and fused. 

I pressed the edges of the other strip of fabric an eighth of an inch narrower, sprayed it with adhesive, and finger pressed it to the other strip. I then edge stitched the handle with the narrower fabric facing up.

This process encases all of the raw edges without having to turn a tube of fabric, and the Craf-Tex makes it very durable.

To stabilize the bottom, Marcy recommends plastic canvas or cardboard. I prefer a really stiff bottom in my bags, and years ago I purchased a large piece of paperboard. It works great for this purpose. I add a layer of needlepunch so there's no "CLUNK" when I drop things into my bag.

I added feet to the bottom of the bag, which is why you see a hole drilled in the paperboard.

I ran into some difficulty when trying to pull the elastic through the casings on the front and back. My bodkin slipped off the elastic several times. I finally got it through. Instead of stitching in the ditch with the machine, I did it by hand. There's a ditch on the facing side, too, so the stitching needed to hide in both ditches.

Marcy used narrow ties to close the bag, which gave a nice finishing touch. I knew I wouldn't want to have to tie it shut, so I inserted a small magnetic snap in the center front and back facings.

The snap makes the bag a bit plainer, but with all of the images, color, and that fabulous lining, I think it looks just great! It won't be an everyday bag, but I can hardly wait to carry it to a museum, out to dinner, or on a shopping trip. Who knows? Maybe some day I'll get to carry it in Provence!

My 13th Month Blogiversary!

I must have been knee deep in sewing on June 29, the first anniversary of my first post on this blog. I discovered a few days later I had missed the date. So I'm celebrating a month later!

It's hard to believe a year (and more) has passed since beginning this adventure. I've had lots of fun sewing, knitting, painting, and writing about it, but the best reward has been all of the wonderful people I've met here. You readers have lifted me up and boosted my spirits time and time again. Your blogs have inspired me. So on this blogiversary, I celebrate each of you! Thank you for keeping me company here!

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Since I haven't posted in a while, you may wonder what have I been up to this month. For starters, I made a wearable muslin of a tank top pattern today. It's too wide through the neckline and shoulders, and I cut the vee neck too low, so it's going to be loungewear for home. I'll probably make some adjustments and try it again, as it fits well in the lower part. It's darted, which makes for a terrific fit through the bust.

I've been doing a lot of knitting this month, partly as a means of staying cool in the heat. Sounds like any oxymoron, I know. Our home is air conditioned, but my husband thinks 78 is comfortable. My overweight, postmenopausal body thinks otherwise! Our den is on our basement level, and it's cooler down there. There's a large window and a sliding door, so I don't feel hemmed in. The TV and stereo are down there, so it's the perfect place to knit.

First I started a drapey cardigan for myself, in a gorgeous cherry red textural cotton ribbon yarn. A couple of weeks into that, I got the itch to knit a throw for  my sister. I've been at that for about two weeks now. I'm on my third version, as I wasn't pleased with how the first two looked. Here's a sneak peak:

A market bag is also in the works. I save it for knitting group nights, as it's easy to knit with conversation going on. Then there are the socks and necklace, set aside some time ago and waiting to be finished. Can you tell I like to jump around a bit on knitting projects?!

My largest and most time consuming project this month is a handbag. It was a project to end all projects, involving paint, quilting, and eight layers of fabric and interfacing. I'll be writing about it soon. Until then, here's a sneak peak:

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Thanks for stopping by and helping me celebrate a fun, fun year of blogging!

Indian Corn, Horace and Trillian - Say, What?

That's probably the most obscure title I've ever composed, but what else can I say about a shawl, a horse, and a scarf? These are some of the knitting projects I've completed in the past six months.

By far the oldest of these projects, I purchased this yarn in Maine and began knitting it at least 10 years ago. My longtime blog readers might recognize the fabric, as it was featured in a blog header last autumn. The yarn is a wool boucle from Mountain Colors, in a colorway they named indian corn. The triangular shawl is knit with garter stitch throughout. On size 7 needles, it took what seemed like forever to knit.

About halfway through, my relationship with the friend I was making it for cooled, so I put it away for what ended up being several years. When I came across it last fall I realized I now have a friend who will appreciate it, so I finished it up. The fabric is very spongy and not scratchy, so it will be a pleasure to wear.

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Meet Horace the Horse, a project I began a little over two years ago for my niece's baby. That baby is now a toddler, and there's a new 5-month-old in the house. I saw them over the 4th holiday, and decided a few days earlier it was time to finish it and give it to my grandniece.

The pattern is from the book, Vintage Baby Knits, and the pattern hails from the 1930's. I chose it because my niece likes horses, and she decorated the nursery with a vintage vibe. This took a fair amount of time to knit, and even more time to sew together, stuff and embroider. Not to mention the mane, which was hooked into the fabric, piece by piece. 

The finishing was rather difficult, as the book gave no instruction on how to do the embroidery, nor where to place it. All I had was one photo from which to make educated guesses. A look at Ravelry told me I'm not the only one who was puzzled by this. The instructions in the book are rather sparse.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to present the horse to my grandniece in person, as there were 3 other toddlers present who would have wanted to play with it. But it was a big hit with the moms (my nieces) who got a sneak peek before it went onto a high shelf.

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Those of you who were reading my blog last summer will recall this scarf, as I started it last July, and photographed it for my blog header over the winter. It is finally finished!

This is Trillian, an elongated triangle that was fun to knit but took a long time. By now you're probably catching on to the fact that I get bored with most knitting projects before completing them. I always have several projects on needles, and I jump around between them. I take the easier ones to my weekly knitting club at my local yarn shop (The Fiber Loft in Harvard, MA), and save more complicated work for quiet at-home times. 

Along with the great stripes of this shawl, I really like the simple lace edging. I'm not a frilly kind of gal, but this bold, geometric lace adds the perfect finishing touch to the scarf. 

This scarf is going to be great fun to wear. I'll be using it to perk up black tops, and tone down purple and blue ones. You can read about the pattern and yarn at my earlier post about Trillian.

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That's a snippet of what my knitting needles have wrought so far this year. I'm sure I missed a project or two, and will post them when I finish another item or two.

I'm so glad I learned to knit! Although it took me away from sewing for nearly a decade, I learned a great deal about fabric and garment construction, texture, and color. My sewing skills helped my knitting skills, and learning to knit helped my design skills. I love having a knitting project at hand for those times when I don't quite feel like sewing.

How about you? How do you create when you're not sewing? Do tell!

Deep Pink String Art Top

Fifth and final in my month-long Butterick 5215 series, this top may be my favorite. I love, love, love the color of the cotton/lycra jersey (from Homespun Boutique in Ithaca, NY). I always get compliments when wearing this color, as it flatters my skin tone. I also like the contrast added by the black, pewter and white paint, and how the black mesh trim frames it all.

I began with the same pattern pieces as I used in the fourth top. This time I overlapped the vertical seams in front and back, and inserted the mesh between them. I added two rows of black topstitching for an added punch. I finished the sleeves and lower hem the same way. Here is detail on the back:

Each of these elements contributes to the drama of the completed top, but the paint is the key. Since several readers have mentioned wanting to learn to use silk screens, I've photo documented the process so I can walk you through it.

I must stress, I'm no expert at this. I strongly recommend finding a good teacher. That can be done in person or virtually. I learned to do it by watching Marcy Tilton's CD, On the Surface, an excellent tool filled with all sorts of techniques for surface design. The CD gave me a good grounding in how to go about painting with silk screens, and experience has taught me even more. I still learn every time I paint with my screens. I'm going to show you how I do it, but please don't think this is the only way, or the best way. It's just my way, and it keeps evolving.

The first step is to set up a work area. You'll need a counter-height surface in an area where the floor can be covered or easily cleaned. Drips and spills can happen. I imagine a table would work, but sitting doesn't give the range of motion I prefer. You'll also need enough room for two kitty litter pans with some water in them, and some space to dry the screens after painting and washing them.


After years of wanting to silk screen but not having the proper space, I'm blessed to have a very large cutting table that's just the right height for my tallness, built by my husband. It's the perfect place for me to paint fabric. To protect my cutting mat, I purchased a roll of plastic table covering. The painting process goes best with a bit of padding on your work surface. I had some yardage of needlepunch (from back in the olden days when I made shoulder pads. Yeesh, to think of the time I spent on that!) I lay the needlepunch over my cutting mat, then unroll the plastic tablecloth over it. Blue painter's tape is used on the edges to hold everything in place.

Fabric can be painted in yardage, or after the pattern pieces are cut out. I prefer to do it after cutting, so I can better determine flattering image placement. After painting a damselfly nearly on my bust point on one of my early painted tops, I've learned to hold the piece against my body to see where I might want to place images, and where I might not want to. When painting a piece, I tape it down here and there on the edges to hold it in place.

To paint all of the black horizontal lines down the edges, I knew I would need to paint the screen several times. I used a ruler to measure the length of the image on the screen, then placed the screen so the next image would begin in the correct place.

I could have just painted starting at one end of the seam line, but the paint needs to dry before placing the screen adjacent to it, or else the frame will overlap and smear the paint. Since I had 4 repeats of the screen, it would take a long time to complete the painting, as I'd have to wait for one to dry before doing the next. So, I marked with tailor's chalk where the images would end/begin, and painted one at the end of the seam, and one two spaces away. These shots don't really explain the process, so I hope my words do.

For this top, I chose Neopaque paint in black, and Lumiere in pewter and white. I've always used a sponge brush to apply the paint. Another method is to store the paint in a squeeze bottle, squeeze a line onto the screen, and pull it across the image. Since making this top, I've tried the credit card method and I must say I actually prefer it. I think less paint is wasted using the card.

Once the screen is placed where I want to paint, I load up my foam brush, and stroke it across the image. The screen needs to be held in place with the free hand while the painting hand brushes across the image until it is completely covered. Then the screen is carefully peeled away from the fabric. My brush strokes can be seen here, and you can see the fabric through the screen as I'm lifting the screen away. (The lower part of the screen has no paint because I didn't use the entire width of the image.)

Voila! Here is the painted image.

As is clear to see, I didn't force enough paint through the screen in a few places. This is easy to do, and I sometimes claim artistic license and leave it. This time I chose to use a very small paintbrush to touch it up. Here's a shot of the same image, touched up.

I did this along the length of the front and back seams, as sometimes the inner ends of the lines didn't match up well. The texture of the paint when dry can be a bit different when brushing it on like this, but in a bold paint job like this one, I wanted the graphic to be even and strong.


After using the screen ("striking") two or three times, it goes into the water bath. The paint can dry in the holes of the screen, so it's important to keep it very wet. That means working quickly. The metallic paints are worse for clogging screens, because the tiny metal bits dry rapidly. I use a sea sponge to softly wash the paint from the screen. Not all of the paint will come off, as the edges dry quickly. That's why you see darkness in the photos of the screen before I painted it. It's residue from past uses. It's dried on the surface of the screen, but not where the holes are.


Once clean, the screen goes for a dip in the rinse pan, and onto a wire dish rack to dry. If I'm in a hurry to use it again, as I was in this case, I lean it somewhere in the studio where there's good air flow. The wall directly across from my air conditioner has been my preferred drying area this summer.


Once I completed the black Riffle pattern, I started using the Circle Game screen (both from Marcy Tilton). I played with placement until I saw what I liked. I tried to paint two or three spheres with every strike, so I wouldn't have to make a separate strike for every sphere.

One effect I like is to blend two or more colors in one image. I used white and pewter on the large image above. This is done by simply swiping the colors where I want them. Sometimes the paint doesn't pass through the screen well where the colors meet, because I'm not applying even pressure there. Once again, a fine paintbrush completes the missing lines.

Toward the end of the painting process I got tired and made a big goof. Somehow I pushed a big blob of paint through the screen, resulting in this:

Actually, the blob was the wide line to the right of center. Not wanting to re-cut another front piece, I chose to turn the blob into a design element by painting a zig-zag across the entire image. This made the error appear more intentional, but I was still disappointed. After sitting on it (not literally!) overnight, I decided it didn't need to be "perfect" and went ahead with the construction of the top. The vertical and shoulder seams were sewn, and the mesh was inserted around the neck. I trimmed the last bit of the binding, and a moment later noticed I had cut about 2" into another part of the binding. That made two reasons to re-cut the left front piece. The third reason was the neckline was a little too wide at the left scoop, and wouldn't lie flat. I had the extra fabric, so I decided to redo it all. Hey - it's only time.

Taking out the double stitching was lots of fun, uh huh. So was cutting the left front again, this time folding out nearly an inch of the pattern at the front neck edge. Painting it was truly fun, as it was another day and I wasn't tired of painting. I placed the images a bit differently. Most notable is my choice of smaller images for the hemline. I decided placing a large sphere where it would fall in front of my crotch was not such a good idea! Here are the second and first pieces. The second is definitely an improvement.

I intentionally placed the spheres toward the center and neckline of the garment, to create a vertical element and frame my face. I always like to add a small touch of paint to a sleeve. It adds just a little touch of whimsy. I'm really pleased with the overall effect of the painting. The lines and spheres look as though they could be made of string!

A funky black mesh (from Marcy Tilton) was the icing on the cake for this top. It's a cool stripe of solid and sheer lines. The sheer parts have smidgens of fiber in them, like a burn-out. I cut the width of two stripes, but allowed only the sheer part to show. I like how it curls here and there, and gives strong definition to the neckline and overlapped seams.

Smooth, lightweight cotton jersey in a delicious color, bold graphic painting and asymmetry make this a top that I'll wear again and again. It was a very fun project, including the documentation of the painting process. I hope the information is helpful to anyone interested in learning to use silk screens. Please ask questions if you have them!

P.S. You may recall I was making these tops for a contest on Pattern Review. As the month progressed, I lost interest in the contest, and never entered it. But there's no loss, as I have five new tees to carry me through summer!