Making a Stage Banner from Scratch

As I was designing & producing merch for John Doe's June/July tour, during one of our conversations we somehow came up with the idea of me making a stage banner for him. 

I've never made a stage banner before, but I love making new stuff.

I purchased some black canvas, thread, grommets & paint.  We decided the dimensions of the final banner and I set out to sew it up.  I just made the pattern up as I went along.  This was the only sketch I made, the rest was made up in my head or on the fly.

It took a lot of measuring and ironing but it's really just a bunch of straight stitching.  Two features that I added in that I'm proud of are a channel along the top where he can add in a dowel to stabilize it (if he needs to) and four pockets along the bottom where he can add in weights/washers to weigh it down. He probably won't need to do that for indoor gigs, but it might come in handy for outdoor gigs, and if I'm going to make a banner I might as well make it deluxe.

I mitred the corners and gave each border a double stitch for durability. This banner is going to be transported back and forth in and out of dark rock clubs, in and out of the tour van, and it'll spend a lot of time rolled, folded or wadded up, so durability is key.

Then it was time to paint the thing. I knew the design I wanted to paint on it, arrows, but I needed to make them straight and large enough to fit the scale of the banner.  A projector would have helped at this point, but since I don't have one I just had to hack it out.  I laid the banner on the floor and used several different types of rulers, pins and painters tape to block out the design. This was time-consuming and I did have to walk away from it for a little bit before I finally got the right dimensions.

By the time I got the design right, laying in the metallic gold paint was almost easy. Mind you, this is all done on the floor on my hands & knees, trying not to mess anything up.  Fun!  

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

Featherweight Studio custom banner for John Doe

I can't wait to see it onstage! I hope the metallic gold shimmers in the stage lights. The design is flexible to be hung vertically or horizontally. This banner will be showing up in a lot of photos this summer, and when the tour is over I'll be using it at Featherweight events & in photo shoots.

Welcome to Fashion Revolution week!

I'm so pleased to participate in Fashion Revolution week from April 18-24th.

Fashion Revolution is an initiative inspired by the tragedy in 2013 when 1,134 garment workers were killed in#Bangladesh when their unsafe workplace collapsed. Big brands outsource their manufacturing because it's cheaper. But at what cost? No human being should suffer or die so that we may have fast fashion.

One way I'm participating in #FashRev is by answering the question #Whomademyclothes? I get my Featherweight sweatshirts manufactured in San Francisco & have them dyed in Marin County, so I can visit the facilities in person. 

Who made my clothes?

Every T-shirt that I've made under the Featherweight brand has been made in the USA.  When I design and produce T-shirts and apparel for clients, I guide them to choose made in the USA or Fair Trade apparel.  

It takes more time and more money to source from reputable companies, and sometimes I'm unable to find the made-in-the-USA products I'd like to use.  As a one-person business, it would be WAY easier to source cheaper, more questionable products.  But I have to live by my values, which include seeing all humans (not just Americans) as having a right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness. I also believe in sustainability in design and manufacturing, because I plan to live a long happy life on the Earth!  For the most part I don't have the funds to create the quality, sustainable, beautiful products I'd like to see, but I keep designing anyway, embracing upcycling as another way to source raw materials.

Fashion Revolution encourages you to look inside your clothing labels & see where they were made. The brand that you gave your money to - do you trust that they're doing GOOD business, or just cheap business?

Clothing should be fun, not fatal. There are better ways to get dressed.

This is a huge passion & influence of mine, if you have any questions please ask!

NEW in the shop: HANDMADE UPCYCLED ZIPPER POUCHES

I'm having a lot of fun with styling my web shop photos! I grabbed a bunch of my stuff and played around with it.

Just added some new upcycled leather and suede pouches to the web shop. I started making these a couple years ago, and have a few that I use for myself all the time: a small version for art pens, a small version for makeup, and two large versions which I use as clutches for going out at night.  They've held up well over the years. I've also made a few as gifts, but this is the first time I'm selling them. 

Here's my first attempt at stop-motion animation, to show off how roomy & versatile the pouches are:

And of course I couldn't resist painting some of them.  Here's a time lapse of the jade green suede darling pouch:

Upcycling is dear to my heart. It means that I'm using existing, discarded leather and suede.  I find damaged or hideous vintage pieces, clip them up and make them into something current, useful and (I think) beautiful.

• See all HANDMADE ZIPPER POUCHES in the Featherweight Shop

From shirt to dress: upcycling & transforming an Eileen Fisher linen shirt

At the thrift store a few weeks ago, an unlikely piece caught my eye and spoke to me.  Sometimes this happens to me: I see a piece of clothing that I would normally overlook, but it grabs my attention & won't let me ignore it.

This time it was an oversized navy linen button down blouse by Eileen Fisher:

BEFORE:  The thrifted Eileen Fisher blouse. It's hard to see the scale, but it was a very baggy fit on me.

This shirt is not my style and it didn't fit me. It made no sense to me why it wanted to come home with me, but I bought it on faith for $3.99. I did appreciate the beauty of the linen; the navy is a really rich shade in person, and the linen itself has a softness and drape that felt really good.  I don't know if it's part of Eileen's collection using organic linen, but the quality of the fabric is beautiful.

The shirt sat in my studio for a few weeks untouched. I have been really busy with projects & I was getting work wrapped up in time to depart for SXSW in Austin, TX. I love Austin and I always look forward to the warm weather there, especially since it's been raining so much in the Bay Area where I live. I also love to make myself a new outfit before I go on a trip, but I really didn't have the time.

Again, the shirt insisted.

The Sunday before I left, I stole a few hours to myself, to create a dress out of the shirt. My goals were:

• make an easy, wearable, comfortable dress for warm weather
• make a dress I could wear a belt with (my sweetheart had just bought me a leather belt from an antique shop & I wanted to wear it)

I started without a plan.  First I basted the side seams to narrow them. Then I cut off the sleeves. Then I attempted to add length, piece by piece. I would baste, try on, adjust, stitch, then move to the next design decision. It was a bit like jazz; I know the rules and techniques of sewing and fitting a garment, but I was improvising as I went along.

I ended up using almost all of the fabric from the original shirt. Here are my leftovers:

LEFTOVERS: Collar & a few bits of the sleeves

When I tried on the finished dress, I decided it needed some arrows. The last step was to hand paint gold arrows on the front and back.

I wore my finished dress in Austin and I loved it! 

I made this dress from a button down shirt. Boots by Cobra Rock.

I hand-painted metallic gold arrows on the back.

It's hard to see some of the details in these photos, but I sewed the cuffs from the sleeves onto the bottom hem of the dress.  I sewed the front button placket shut with a criss-cross pattern. When I narrowed the side seams for the second time, I took the seam allowance that I cut off and sewed it onto the hems of the sleeves.  A lot of the edges on the sleeve and hem are left raw.

This was such a fun project and it gave me the opportunity to do some of my favorite things: sew, transform, upcycle, create, paint & wear something one-of-a-kind!