Karin Jordan Studio

Personalized Zakka Pincushions

What is Zakka? It’s a Japanese term meaning “various things,” and it’s come to define a popular style where one makes or finds beauty in everyday items. I’m all for functional creativity, and I’ve been to Japan, so I dove into my first Zakka book with full concentration. Zakka Style, by Rashida Coleman-Hale, explains the aesthetic and is filled with fun little patterns by different artists. 

I have a group of three friends who I love dearly. We’ve known each other for eons. The best part is that we are all creative and crafty, and they put up with my crazy. We try to get together for lunch when we can. This proves difficult, as we have 7.5 small children between us and one of us lives in a different state (me). After making the Skinny Pincushion, I had a lot of leftover reptile litter, so I decided to go Zakka with it and make my friends some personalized gifts for the next time I see them (hopefully soon!). 

With a set of rubber alphabet stamps that I bought in Northampton, Mass. while I was in college, a foam brush, and some black fabric paint, I stamped our monograms on squares of plain linen. I put the three letter stamps together with a rubber band to help with the spacing. For the two that use the same letter twice, I sandwiched a random letter in between and just didn't paint it. Then I centered the duplicate in the middle and eyeballed the placement. The paint easily washes off the stamps with a little soap and an old toothbrush.

Splurge Geometric Circles in mint green by Donna Wilder for Fabric Traditions.

Michael Miller Stitch Floral Square in mustard.

Bohemian Flowerlet Green by Top Drawer.

I particularly like how the Liberty Lifestyle Stile fabric in Herbert Blue goes with the Arts and Crafts-style font. The Arts and Crafts-style is rooted in Japanese print design so I thought it was a nice fit!

Project notes: 

1. Because I wasn’t sure how the letters would fall, I cut the linen squares larger than the pattern required so I’d have some wiggle room. I also wound up cutting the prints larger so that seam on top would fall off-center. 
2. As I did with the Skinny Pincushion, I used reptile litter instead of poly stuffing. To accommodate the change, I left a 1” opening at the linen end of the pincushions and used a handmade paper funnel that fit the hole to pour the litter in. I stuffed a wad of poly stuffing into the openings to firm up the pincushion and ensure that the ground walnut shells wouldn’t fall out as I blind stitched them shut.

Were my friends closer, I'd put these out on lunch plates as placecards. 

If you'd like to see more examples of Zakka items, there are a ton of people participating in sew-alongs, and many photos to be inspired by on Flickr. 

Cheers!

Karin

 

 

 

A Fun and Functional Apron for Kids

MOM! Can we make cookies? MOM! Can we make pizza? MOM! Can we make bread? Annabel never needs much of a push to get her into cooking mode. There is a pizza garden at her school and on Wednesday afternoon, they make pizza. Her teachers tell me she’s always the first one to the kitchen. At three and a half, everything is about dress up, so I figured she needed an apron to help her play the part. 

I found this fabulous little pattern and tutorial over at Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. It’s got two front pockets, and ties behind the neck and in the back. I chose a lavender polka-dot fabric to make the bias tape and a magenta and purple modern floral for the body of the apron. I used a 1" Clover Bias Tape Maker. She recommended using these ingenious little Clover Wonder Clips to help with the bias tape. I am no longer afraid of making bias tape! I realized it was wrestling with the pins that was the problem in previous projects.

 

 

Annabel wanted to wear it to bed. When she woke up in the morning, she came downstairs dressed for school wearing it. She pouted, took it off, and put it back on when she returned home. Then we made cookies.

Colton wanted to help so he played with a spoon and an empty bowl until we got to his favorite part — putting the dough on the cookie sheet. He managed to break the wooden spoon. How do you break a wooden spoon??! 

I might have to make myself a matching one. If I do, It’ll probably be a half apron so we don’t look too dorky. ;)

 

Enjoy! 

Karin   

 

Craft with Kids: Embroidered Family Portrait

One of Annabel’s first drawings of the four of us was on the fridge for months. Instead of putting it away, not to be seen again for years, I decided to embroider it on fabric and turn it into a 12 x 16” pillow that we could enjoy every day.

I edited her original drawing down a bit. I think I'm the one with the big head.

I used split stitch to outline the figure and for the hair, satin stitch for the noses and French knots for the eyes.

The original piece of linen fabric was cut to 13 x 17”. After I finished the portrait, I thought a 2” frame with Annabel’s favorite purple fabric would be better than plain linen, so I made a few adjustments.

I decided against mitered corners as I liked the look of the straight seams.

There wasn’t enough polka-dot left for envelope-style back, so I used a different fabric. I cut two 13 x 20” pieces. I sewed double folded seams on one edge each of the short sides of the 13 x 20” rectangles. Wrong sides together, I lined up the two back pieces on top of the front piece. This left several inches of overlap to hide the insert. One quick rectangle sewn on the machine and it was all done.

I can’t wait to see how we look as we get older!  

Karin

 

 

Earth Day in New Hampshire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids brought me this little bouquet of things they collected on their walk with their grandparents. 

 

 

 

It's our first spring in New Hampshire. I've been missing all the daffodils, other bulbs and perennials I spent years planting in Massachusetts. It's a fair trade for the sheer joy on Colton's face as he ran down the grassy hill in front of the house today, laughing and chasing me with a stick. 

Hope you had as good an Earth Day as we did,

Karin

 

Field Trip! Exeter Handkerchief Company

After last week’s events in Boston, I was not feeling creative. My husband worked from home several days during the week because his office was two blocks from the marathon finish line, in the crime scene zone. Friday we woke up to an automated phone call from his company saying that the building was closed until further notice. We watched the news and waited. We went to bed after it was over, tired from the surreal nature of it all. 

Usually when I wake up on Saturday morning, I’m raring to get into my studio and be productive. This weekend, I needed inspiration. My solution was a trip New Hampshire’s largest fabric store — Exeter Handkerchief Company. I’m lucky in that it’s only two miles from our house.

 

 

The 1827 building has three floors, 20,000 square feet, designer fabric from all over the world. The third floor is my favorite as it holds 50,000 yards of home furnishing fabrics for $9 a yard. The big, unadvertised secret is that it's $6 a yard on Tuesday. Incredible.

The wonderfully helpful salespeople eyed me skeptically as I took pictures of their “mess.” I assured them that it was a lovely level of disarray, filled with hope and possibilities — just what I was craving after the past week. They nodded in understanding. My fellow fabric hoarders got it. The disheveled nature of the fabric rolls and trims allows you the thrill of the hunt. 

Recently cut fabric and trim piled up on the stairs to go back up to the third floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a thing for circles.

 

 

 

I managed to get out of there with less than five yards of fabric, only because I'd already been to the sale at Joann's that morning. ;)

Happy shopping,

Karin

 

 

The Super Helpful Skinny Pincushion

I am perhaps absurdly excited about this project. I love mixing colorful prints with plain linen and there was an unusual element to it that I’d never worked with before (reptile litter!). It also took less than an hour to make, and it solves a problem. So really, it’s the perfect project. Thanks to Noodlehead for posting her completed pincushion and for sending me to the Green Bee blog for the free pattern!  

While using the sewing machine, I have a tendency to pick pins out before they go under the foot. This typically results in pins landing haphazardly on my desk or on the floor. With this terrific little guy sitting in front, I can now stick recently removed pins safely out of the way. I don’t plan on storing pins in it long term — I’ll have to make something else filled with reptile litter for that, but it’s nice to have a fun little completed project to greet me as I sit down to sew.    

This 5 quart bag of reptile litter was less than $5 at the local pet store. The key is to find a litter that is ground walnut shells, as it helps keep the pins sharp. I also like that it adds weight to the pincushion. 

Project notes: The pattern says to leave an opening on the long side seam for turning and stuffing. If you plan on using the ground walnut shells, I'd recommend leaving one end open instead, as it's easier to use a funnel to fill it with litter. I used a small wad of stuffing at the opening on top of the litter. This helped pack it more tightly and kept the litter from falling out as I blind stitched the opening closed. Also, because reptile litter is 'for animals,' Annabel thought it might be appetizing. I managed to intervene, but... just sayin'. 

To see the Zakka-style pincushions I handprinted and filled with reptile litter, please go here. 

Have fun!

Karin

 

The Last of the Sew, Mama, Sew! Fabric

I’ve been waiting for this bittersweet moment. My final fabric order from Sew, Mama, Sew! arrived in the mail today. As soon as I saw their post that they would be closing the fabric shop, I went online and started throwing fabric in my cart. 23 pages later, I was ready to check out. While I was competing in the closeout shopping frenzy, my cart totals continued to change as others snapped up the yardage I'd selected. This was probably a good thing, as I hadn’t been keeping track of how much I’d added.  

Liberty Lifestyle, Michael Miller, Stitch Floral, Piper, Seven Wonders. By the time I got to the Glimma I was already out of luck. I will enjoy using fabrics with names such as Cell Structure, Mirror Ball, Raspberry Jam Picnic and Cocoons Bone in upcoming projects. Thank you, Sew, Mama, Sew! Good luck on your new venture.

Now here's the question: Where will you be shopping online for fabric now?  

Happy sewing, 

Karin 

 

Craft with Kids: A Star Pillow for Flower the Horse

Annabel is obsessed with horses. When Daddy came home with a very special horse for her on Valentine's Day, she named it Flower. That night, she started tucking in all her horses.

Note the horse art and the red barn full of horses. She is wearing her favorite horse shirt under the denim jumper (she dresses herself in the morning). Her grandmother's saddle and English riding boots are on display in her room. You get the idea.

Annabel marches into my studio regularly and assumes I can conjure up anything. Not wanting to burst her bubble (yet), I do my best. One afternoon, with Flower under one arm, she asked if we could make a star. My first thought was of a doll-sized pillow. I have a bin of fabric samples from when I worked for an interior design magazine in the Boston Design Center eons ago, as well as of scrap fabric left over from projects. She picked out the blue with no hesitation. 

I printed a star shape from Google Images, traced it and cut the fabric leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Annabel stuffed it and she and Flower watched as I blind stitched the opening shut. Now she carries her favorite horse and her star pillow around.  I wonder if we'll be making larger ones for the mommy and daddy horses. If you happen to make one, enjoy your star!

Karin

 

How to Make a Monogrammed Felt Needle Book

I have a love/hate relationship with my standard tomato pincushion. I've had it since I was a teenager. It’s great for pins, but the mess of threads hanging out of needles jammed into the little attached strawberry. . . well. . . not so much. I’m always looking for things to create that are functional. When I was flipping through Alicia Paulson’s Embroidery Companion and saw a needle book, it was an ‘a-ha’ moment. I decided to take her basic idea and make it my own. 

I downloaded a ‘K’ monogram from Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread, and sized it to fit in the bottom right corner. To accommodate the monogram under the tab closure, I decided to make the book itself slightly larger than the one in the Embroidery Companion. Finished size is 4 x 6".

I’ve been wanting to try printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy by Sulky. It was a success. So much easier than trying to transfer the monogram with carbon paper. I highly recommend it. I printed it, cut out the square with the monogram on it, stuck it on the felt and started embroidering! Who could resist their motto, “Create with confidence.”?

DMC Embroidery thread colors are: 372, 732, 744, 935 and 3740. The hoop was my grandmothers — possibly not the best choice to embroider on thick wool felt as there is no adjustable clasp, but I love using a hoop that she held. It’s wonderful with thin fabrics as there is an inset band of felt on the outside of the inner hoop. I used it carefully to not stretch the felt. 

 

 

When the embroidery was complete, I gently washed the Fabri-Solvy off. I used as little water as possible because I didn’t want the felt to shrink. I then stitched around the cover with matching Gutermann thread on the machine and stitched the felt pages to the cover with a seam down the center.  

To finish the book, I used a button from my grandmother’s stash, and hand stitched around the border of the cover with the yellow embroidery floss. This is the inside of the top of my grandmother's shaker sewing box. Watch out tomato. There's a new pincushion in the works.

Karin

       

 

A Lovely Little Felt and Flannel Fox Pattern

Feeling foxy? I am. I don’t know what it is about the fox that’s so appealing. He’s crafty, conniving, cunning and somewhat elusive. Even so, I can’t stop pinning images of foxes to my newest Pinterest board.  

For this wonderful little pattern designed by Matsutake, I chose a brown and white polka-dot flannel for the body and off-white felt for the ears, chin and tip of the tail. Eyes and nose are black felt, hand sewn on with matching thread. Pupils are a few stitches of white embroidery thread. I printed the pages out at 130% for a 9” tall fox.  

Project notes: This pattern is fairly simple. However, you need to be careful with the seams. The pattern is cut on the lines you trace. I tend to prefer cutting outside the lines leaving a seam allowance of my choice and then sew on the traced lines. While I was stuffing the tail, I managed to tear the fabric near the opening. A larger seam allowance might have prevented this. The tail is also a bit top heavy, so I’ve gently stitched it to the back of the fox so it stays up (see top picture). This creates a tripod effect that allows him to stand on his own.   

Have fun!

Karin