vintage find: Hexe Automatic Needle threader

I found this little jewel recently and it is in such good shape! It's a Vintage Hexe Automatic Needle Threader that came with a box and instructions. There's also a blade on the back of threader to cut the thread. Made in Western Germany. I found an ad for one from the magazine Popular Science from 1964.

sari quilt finished

I finally finished and mailed off my baby quilt for the Sari Bari auction. I'll let you know the details of the auction as soon as I have the dates and info.

I learned a lot about sewing with thin fabrics during this project and can post a sari quilting tutorial if anyone is interested.

Just let me know.
http://www.saribari.com, http://apatchofshade.blogspot.com/2012/06/sari-quilting.html

sari quilting

I answered a Call for Quilters from Sari Bari, a charity based in India and was sent these beautiful preworn saris to use for making a quilt. The quilt will be auctioned off at a Quilt Raffle to help raise funds for the charity.

From their website: Sari Bari is a safe place of employment where women who have been exploited in the sex trade or who are vulnerable to trafficking can experience a new life in the making.

Sari Bari does not rescue women, but rather seeks restoration for those who have been trafficked or held in the sex trade by poverty and lack of empowerment. Approximately 65 percent of women in the red light areas no longer qualify for legal action in the form of rescue. While they were likely first trafficked in their teen years, many are now middle-aged and are trapped by circumstances that have bound them since childhood. We hope to offer high-risk girls an opportunity to life-giving education and work that will protect them from ever entering the sex trade. Additionally, up to 20 percent of Sari Bari jobs at our locations within the city are given to at-risk women who live in the red-light districts. These are usually daughters of women currently in the sex trade, who are uneducated and at a high-risk of being lured or forced into prostitution. 

 
The name "Sari Bari" comes from two symbols. A sari is the traditional clothing worn by women in India. In India, a sari represents the essence of womanhood. The word bari mean "house or home" in the Bengali language.

  http://www.saribari.com

Susana Allen Hunter

I just discovered this amazing quilt maker from the 1930's. She lived on a tenant farm in Alabama and made her quilts out of things that were available to her: work clothes worn in the fields, sacks from the cotton seed they planted, scraps from clothing sewn by hand for her family, and sugar sacks from the local general store. These photos are from an exhibit at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan.

The first quilt called the "Britches Quilt", was most likely made from Julius Hunter’s worn clothing, and could be an icon of the Southern tenant farmer. The front of the quilt is made from worn denim overalls and flannel work shirts. The backing is made from mule feed sacks. The second photo is the back of a quilt made from used corn meal sacks.

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/pic/2008/08_feb.asp
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/sets/72157624585114963

Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works

Wish I could have seen this show of Louise Bourgeoise's fabric!

From Hauser & Wirth London: 'The exhibition will feature over seventy fabric drawings made between 2002 and 2008. Made from clothes and other domestic effects accrued over decades, Bourgeois’s fabric drawings are abstract yet acutely personal works, retaining allusions to the materials’ past incarnations.'

'Fabric played an important role in Bourgeois’s life. She grew up surrounded by the textiles of her parents’ tapestry restoration workshop, and from the age of twelve helped the business by drawing in the sections of the missing parts that were to be repaired. A life-long hoarder of clothes and household items such as tablecloths, napkins and bed linen, Bourgeois cut up and re-stitched these, transforming her lived materials into art. Through sewing she attempted to effect psychological repair: ‘I always had the fear of being separated and abandoned. The sewing is my attempt to keep things together and make things whole’.

http://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/743/louise-bourgeois-the-fabric-works/view/

memorial pillow finished

Mailing it out tomorrow!! I'm happy with the way it turned out but also learned a lot for next time!

Wish I could be there to see Jennifer's reaction!

hand embroidery

Working on the embroidery details...the end is near!!!

Dosa clothing

Clothing designer Christina Kim  works with traditional craftspeople in Bosnia, Cambodia, China, India, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, and Peru
to weave recycled materials into fabric for her Dosa line. The collection features unusual textiles and handmade details.
She believes that when garments pass through multiple pairs of hands during their construction, they undergo a "transfer of energy."
She regards clothing imperfections not as "flaws" but as personality markers, as distinctive as a beauty mark. 

These photos show women working with hand-woven Indian cloth.
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-0419-profilesdosa-pg,0,5127070.photogallery

memorial pillow update

These photos show progress of the small pillow I'm making out of neckties.
After weaving the ties together I taped them in a diagonal pattern and then stitched them together using the tape as a guide.

The second photo shows the back before sewing. Please forgive the bad photos it was a dark rainy day!

new project

I'm starting a new 'Memorial Pillow' for someone whose dad passed away recently.
I hope this will offer her some comfort in time and honor the life of her dad.
The photos show step one and two: receiving the clothing; deconstructing; and then starting the design process.