The Bobbin Blogs On

The Bobbin's Year End Newsletter 2011

The Bobbin Slow Fashion + Sustainable Design Year End Newsletter 2011    Happy Hand made Holidays! It has been many moons since I've written a Bobbin Newsletter.  The Bobbin survived "The Great Move" and quietly celebrated another year-in-the-life as a small business in America. The transition from brick & mortar retail store to custom design studio has been quite the rollercoaster ride. After working my way through Planning & Zoning, navigating a name change, website change & re-brand, The Bobbin Slow Fashion & Sustainable Design emerged. As an official Vermont artists studio located in the South End Arts District, The Bobbin is available for custom design and sustainability consultations. I am so honored to be a participant in this year's 15th annual Women's Economic Opportunity Conference. I will be a panelist for the "Arts Go Online" morning workshop. The conference is in its 15th year and is sponsored by Vermont's own U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. The morning keynote speaker is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This conference is free and open to the public. Childcare is available for those who pre-register. To learn more: CLICK HERE                                                              Radically classic custom clothing & accessories sustainably made in Vermont. The Bobbin's evolving slow fashion designs are well tailored & ethically hand made.      Playful. Empowered. Authentic.            As we have collectively learned that our food is not grown at the grocery store, it is now time to learn that our clothing is not sewn at the department store. Photo: Gyllian Svensson Bobbin sez... Eat Local! Dress Local! Buy Handmade! Do you know who sews your clothes? A Year in the Life of The Bobbin In January of 2011, I had the pleasure of participating in an episode of "Vermont Edition", our local VPR radio show. 2011 was declared "The Year of Making" through a call in show with Jane Lindholm, focusing on Vermonters growing interest in making things with our hands and a return to more traditional ways of living.   The prediction has certainly rung true for me... This "Year of Making" has brought forth not just one, but TWO Slow Fashion Collections; including dozens of new patterns created for sustainable textiles. I also created a series of Sustainable Sculptures and designed/produced custom jersey tanks for our local roller derby team, The Green Mountain Derby Dames!     The Derby Tanks are "Green Mountain" green with a black racing stripe down each side. The fabric is a super stretch athletic performance material, made right here in the grand ole' U.S.A.! It was a real treat for me to work on a local level and become a corporate sponsor of a fantastic team. The GMDD "Grade A Fancy's" certainly look fancy & fierce in their locally made custom tanks!    美国产品 Made in America     The first slow fashion collection of the year, "Made in America", was an exploration of the dichotomy between fashion & labor in China and America. Vintage velvets, velours & plenty of sweet stripes accent this sustainable line of ECHO tops, Swing Skirts, Art Jackets & fuzzy Vermont Panda hats.   Lake Champlain: After the Flood   The second slow fashion collection is inspired by Lake Champlain : After the Flood. The Collection explores the strength and resilience that help us move through mourning and overcome loss. The Lake Gowns' languid lines are broken by the rigid structure of the tailored pants and vests in motion. These original custom designs were created with all sustainable textiles including vintage silks and wools from the 1930's and 1940's.       Gyllian's Sustainable Sculptures - Art Hop 2011   I was also able to expand my artistic horizons this last year to create a series of sustainable sculptures created from found and recycled objects, including many sticks, stones, barks & branches scavenged from wake of Lake Champlain's Flooding & Hurricane Irene. Living on Lake Champlain will, I'm certain, continue to inspire my designs for decades to come.  The languid lines of the Lake Gown are the apex of the entire collection. A marriage of turquoise cotton & silver silk this gown explores the crossroads of strength crashing against mourning. Tom's of Maine Blog Posts 2011 brought along two opportunities to bring The Bobbin's message of sustainable fashion to Tom's of Maine's eco-friendly fans. In March, I wrote a post explaining the concepts and ideas behind Slow Fashion and its relationship to other "Slow" movements.   Photo: Kristin LaMonde Click this link to read post: What is Slow Fashion? In September, I wrote another post: DIY Let's Make Sustainable Napkins. A step-by-step tutorial (with fun pictures)     Wanna make your own sustainable napkins? CLICK HERE    7 Day's Presents: Strut VI!    This year marked the 6th year of Burlington's very own fashion show STRUT! A popular attraction of SEABA's South End Art Hop, this years show was the biggest and best yet. Sponsored by Seven Days and showcasing twenty designers, this years STRUT! really rocked the runway.     Photo: Eva Sollberger of Seven Days       In honor of 7days Newspaper's "Sweet 16" birthday. I designed this paper skirt. Individual panels are created from folded sheets of newspaper, specifically selected for their color & content. The panels are sewn together and hand-painted.         Buy Hand made & Sustainable this Holiday! EcoOwls, Swing Skirts, Art Jackets, ECHO tops and more! To learn more about The Bobbin, check out our Blog: The Bobbin Blogs On Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on the Facebook join our Fan Page Sustainably Yours, Gyllian Rae Svensson The Bobbin Slow Fashion & Sustainable Design, LLC 802-355-4264 [email protected] thebobbin.com gyllian.com

"she, said" Svensson Original Designs

Radically classic custom clothing & accessories sustainably made in Vermont.

"she will shrink for no one"

"she can hear the train a coming"

"she walks slowly into the big wild woods"

"her boots are made for talking"

"but, she said, I think I'm sweet"

"she resides within her own time zone"

"she could not even begin to not know how to answer that question"

"she divines water, while skipping ahead"

"she's always ahead of the next wave"

"she is forever nostalgic for the future"

"she knows that she is evolving"

"just because, she doesn't have to"

"her ears are ever open"

"she enjoys dressing smartly"

"she enjoys writing in an obsolete vernacular"

"she is becoming her most sustainable self"

"she lives beyond girls-just-want-to-have-fun"

    smart * sassy * sweet

Let's Make Sustainable Napkins

DIY: Let’s make sustainable napkins!

Posted on Sep 22, 2011

Posted by Gyllian Rae Svensson, Tom’s of Maine fan, Burlington, Vermont

There is a nip in the air and summer is waning here in our Queen City of Burlington, Vermont. Over this past season I have dismantled my brick & mortar shop moving my business, The Bobbin, home to the South End Arts District. Working from home allowed me to create my latest Slow Fashion collection while fully involved in the day-to-day questions & chaos of my noisy, creative family. My adjustment to working at home has also highlighted the many troubles my family has with storage, recycling and especially organization.

As the back-to-school frenzy of September is transitioning into new schedules and routines, I find myself unpacking the fall wardrobes, searching out the pairs of elusive wool socks and wondering what to do with some of my family’s most cherished clothing items. Particularly ones that I would prefer they no longer wear out in public! From paint stains to frayed sleeves and awkward mends, there comes a time in the lifecycle of our favorite garments when we need to let go. Some clothing (wrong color, wrong size, and wrong style) can happily be donated to local churches and thrift stores. However some special clothes, those well-loved memory makers, I believe are best kept for upcycling and sustainable sewing projects. Beloved dresses, delicate silks and precious baby clothes are perfect materials for fiber art wall hangings and memory quilts. However, those everyday clothes, the work shirts, the summer skirts, aprons and soft cotton dresses can be upcycled, given a second life as a new useful member of the household. One such use for these soft cotton garments is reconstructing them into unique and practical Sustainable Napkins.

Gather your Supplies

You will need the following items for this project.

Sewing Machine -and/or- Needle & Thread
Iron & Ironing Board
Paper Bag
Metal Ruler
Pins & Pin Cushion
Paper Scissors
Fabric Scissors
Seam Ripper
Marker

To Make 8 Sustainable Napkins- you will need any combination of four clothing items. Example: 2 shirts & 2 aprons or 2 dresses & 2 skirts
The larger the clothing item, the greater number of napkins possible.

Prepare your Materials

Once you have sorted through your clothing, gather together varieties of all cotton (woven not-stretchy) skirts, dresses, shirts, aprons, etc... and wash in cold water with eco-friendly soap. Have fun mixing and matching your patterns and colors. Remember, you are making napkins!

Hang your wet laundry on a clothesline to dry, and then steam iron to remove all wrinkles.

With your fabric scissors, or seam ripper, remove all sleeves, collars and side seams to open up the larger fabric pieces.

Create your Pattern Pieces

With your paper scissors, cut down one side of your paper bag and cut around removing the bottom of the bag.

For napkins created from just one piece of fabric, we will draft a pattern from the larger paper bag remnant. This napkin design is best for beginner seamsters. While using a marker and ruler, measure 19" in Length and 11" in Width out of your paper bag creating a rectangle pattern. One piece of fabric cut from this pattern piece creates one napkin.

For napkins created from multiple smaller pieces of fabric, we will draft a pattern from the bottom of the bag. This napkin design is best for intermediate seamsters. While using a marker and ruler, measure 11" in Length and 6" in Width out of the bottom of your bag. Four pieces of fabric cut from this pattern piece, sewn together, create one napkin.

Layout Pattern Pieces & Cut Fabric

Layout your pattern pieces on the fabric (be sure to line up with the straight grain). Trace around the edges of your pattern pieces on the wrong side of the fabric and cut out the pieces with your fabric scissors.

Fold & Iron & Pin Under all Edges

A single napkin is created first through folding, ironing & pinning. Once properly ironed and pinned the napkin is ready for the seams to become permanent through use of needle and thread, or at the sewing machine.

Sew Folded Seams with Running Stitch

For machine sewing, adjust for a straight stitch at a medium length. For hand stitching, choose a long heavy needle with embroidery or heavy-duty thread in a color of your choosing. If you want your stitches to show, use a contrasting thread; otherwise match the thread to your fabric colors.

Pivot the Fabric at the Corners

Hand stitchers have no trouble with pivoting their corners, but on a machine it can be a little tricky. Sew in a straight line keeping the frayed edge inside the seam. When you reach the corners, pivot your fabric around, keeping the needle embedded. Sew all around returning to your original corner and back-tack (or double knot) to seal in your seams. Trim your threads and you are napkin ready!

Center Seams for Smaller Fabrics

To avoid any frayed edges in the center of your napkin, create a wide center seam. After stitching together your wide seam, iron flat and double fold your raw edge under. Once the seams are ironed and pinned, simple top-stitching will make the seams permanent. This project can be completed entirely with hand stitching, but it will take longer than with a machine. A combination of machine and hand stitching can lend a nice design effect.

Set the Table!

The addition of these Sustainable Napkins to our family’s busy routine has allowed us to say Goodbye to paper towels. At mealtimes we embrace the story-inducing memories of our unique table settings. Hopefully this project will inspire you to give your beloved textiles a second life too!

All photographs by Gyllian Rae Svensson. You can find Gyllian here!

Art Hop "Garden Party & Trunk Show"

In celebration of The Bobbin's official status as an Art Hop Site, we held a fantastic Garden Party & Trunk show during Saturday afternoon. It was a spectacular sunny day in Burlington, the clotheslines were filled with sustainable fashions while local favs "Electric Halo" rocked the garden stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"the gardens are

    alive with sustainable fashions"

Sustainable Sculptures

"she divines water"

This year The Bobbin is an official site for the Art Hop. (Site #2 Art Hop Map) In addition to clotheslines plump with local slow fashions, the garden will be alive with sustainable sculptures.

Gyllian had super fun this summer mucking about in the yard with her two favorite kiddos, acquiring recycled objects, sticks, stones & pinecones for our sculptures. It will be such a treat to watch them transform throughout the coming seasons.

"she is always evolving"

"G is for girrl"

"she creates transition"

'tween Graduation dress

I have recently crossed a parenting threshold and am now the proud Mama of a middle school student.  I can remember the first day of Kindergarten like it was yesterday and now, in a few short weeks, I will no longer trek off to the local elementary school. Instead, the bright big kid middle school full of advanced math, art electives, kissing gossip and unimaginable wonders awaits us.

In honor of this big move, my daughter designed her own "step up" graduation dress. Working from her pencil drawing and love of vibrant colors...we dove right into the project.

The bodice was created from super soft vintage teal jersey, combined with bright red velvet sleeves. I estimate these fabrics were made in the sixties and they are a joy to work with. Yes, a crucial design element was to have one long sleeve and the other short!

The unique skirt design is a patchwork of teal jersey, flowered red silk and a screen-printed japanese-inspired print. Cut in geometric shapes, utilizing zero-waste design principles, the skirt is "...exactly how I drew it!" exclaimed my creative daughter.

If you, or someone you love, would like to know the joys of designing and wearing a stunning sustainable garment, please contact Gyllian for a consultation. 802-355-4264.

To learn more about The Bobbin Slow Fashion & Sustainable Design Custom Design process and policies: CLICK HERE

 

What is Slow Fashion?

What is Slow Fashion?

Posted on Mar 11, 2011

Guest Blog Post for Tom's of Maine Blog: Good Matters

Gyllian Rae Svensson
The Bobbin Slow Fashion & Sustainable Design

There has been a lot of recent buzz in the new millennium about slowing down, nostalgia for a simpler life; a reconnection with our families, communities and a return to local living economies. Lawyers are leaving their practices to start small scale farms; Mothers are choosing to stay home with their children, building online brands to sell their handmade products. Not to mention all of the bakers, cheese makers, artists and seamstresses starting small in-home businesses, studios and local markets. Growing out of this desire to slow down, we have seen the rise of many global movements towards Slow Food, Slow Money and Slow Fashion.  As the Slow Food movement has taught us to learn about where our food comes from, who farmed it, and under what conditions it has been grown and cultivated, the Slow Fashion movement is asking the same questions about our clothing creation and consumption.

My children, growing up in Vermont, are very familiar with Slow Food. They know that all Spring, Summer & Fall their veggies are grown by Farmer Dave & Farmer Rachel at their organic farm CSA down the road. They have become familiar with the local growing seasons and flavors, eagerly anticipating that first batch of sweet corn, or the taste of a perfectly ripened tomato. Because their Mother, Gyllian Rae Svensson, is a Slow Fashion designer,  they also know that clothing can be made, mended or upcycled on a sewing machine. As we have collectively learned that our food is not grown at the grocery store, it is now time to learn that our clothing is not sewn at the department store.

In 2007, I founded The Bobbin, A Textile Upcycling & Sewing Education Studio promoting skill-building, creativity, family and community through Sustainable Textiles & Slow Fashion. Upcycling is the redesign or reconstruction of products, adding commercial and environmental value to already existing materials. Through The Bobbin, I design my own sustainable products and one-of-a-kind clothing, in addition to creating custom designs and textile restorations for local businesses. I also teach students, from pre-teens to seniors, how to sew & upcycle utilizing sustainable sewing and zero-waste design principles. All of my classes and private lessons are taught in my green studio using vintage sewing machines and sustainable textiles.

There are numerous environmental and human rights abuses that occur in our "fast fashion" global clothing industry. Appalled by what I have learned and observed within the current systems, my work through The Bobbin seeks to offer an alternative. The Bobbin’s motto: "Saving the planet, one stitch at a time" speaks to the idea that we, as consumers, have choices and can effect change in many ways. We can return to the basics: learn to sew, mend, restore and upcycle our existing wardrobes. We can respect the textiles and the labor that predates us, by purchasing vintage and thrift store clothing. We can pass down our cherished textiles to the next generation.  We can also organize clothing swaps in our communities passing along our wrong-style/wrong-size wardrobes to new homes.

We can also *gasp* buy less clothing and pay more for it. Instead of binging at the mall, we can choose to take a portion of our clothing budgets and invest in our local tailors, seamstresses and fashion designers. We might pay something closer to the real cost of that clothing, as the local designer’s wages will be higher than a manufacturing giant’s third-world employee, but it’s worth it. Few things bring us closer to our communities than building relationships with the people who make our food and our clothing. In the 21st Century, online sites such as ETSY allow makers of clothing to sell directly to customers, building national relationships that feel local. It costs a lot to make a nice piece of clothing that won’t fall apart and end up in a landfill in less than a year. Someone’s time AND treasure goes into that creation. Slow Fashion encourages you the consumer to appreciate all that went into making the very shirt on your back. I know that it costs me more to buy organic vegetables from my local farmer, but those vine-ripened tomatoes are made so much sweeter by the knowledge that they were grown by someone who really really cares about tomatoes.

Slow Fashion asks you to question where your clothing comes from, who made it and under what conditions.

I know that Farmers Rachel & Dave grew my family’s vegetables in an organic and sustainable way.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say the same about your clothing?

 

All Photographs by Kirstin LaMonde
http://klamondephoto.blogspot.com/

Vintage Puppet Restoration

The members of my generation "X" are well known for their nostalgic tendencies and deep desires to recreate, revere and reproduce the memorabilia of our own childhoods. In my experience, this tendency seems to worsen once we have children of our own. (It's the only way I can explain my uncontrollable need to acquire vintage fisher price toys, star wars action guys & read-along records.)

Recently a hip Dad from the neighborhood with his (almost) kindergartner in tow stopped by the shop with a fun restoration project. Thoughout the Dad's childhood, he had acquired a variety of vivid hand puppets, who had received much love and attention. As a Dad now, he wanted to share these fantastic puppets and memories with his own son. Most of the puppets needed their inner mouths reconstructed, in addition to minor repairs and re-creation of missing body parts.

The Duck puppet needed a brand new beak on the inside and out. He also needed a new tongue created upon the small triangle of felt that was left of his prior tongue.

 

The cat puppet was in great shape, but had lost his little fuzzy mouse friend somehow over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

I used scraps of faux fur, vintage buttons, wool yarn, heavy black thread and cotton stuffing to stitch up this cute critter.  

 

 

 

 

 

 This goofy purple guy needed his inner mouth reconstructed and his big nose tacked down for added stability.  Over the years he had lost his "little buddy" so I was given artistic licence to create one.  

The son was thrilled with the red finger puppet and requested three more in red, purple & orange.

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This type of work is very time consuming because it is primarily hand stitching. However, I truly enjoy the puzzle of reconstruction and the meditation of small, precise stitching.

What stitch will work best?

Which fabric will match effortlessly?

Where in my stash is that perfect thread or textile this project requires?

These are my daily musings in my Gen X existence as a mama, a seamster and a non-stop nostalgia junkie.

What can I restore for you?

New Year's Restoration

 
Happy New Year's Restoration from The Bobbin!

"...the older the better" is an cornerstone motto of The Bobbin's design philosophy and sensibility.  There is nothing I enjoy more than breathing new life into old textiles. The moment of discovery, the joy of investigating each stitch, the puzzling query into the best method of deconstruction and reconstruction...truly makes my heart pitter-pat.

Recently, my local Ward 5 city council representative Joan Shannon, brought in this fabulous 1970's latch hook rug. It was originally placed in a frame and had hung in a Denny's Restaurant for many years. Joan had acquired the rug and was interested in restoring it to hang prominently on a wall in her home.

This rug was created from thousands of individual strips of acrylic yarn hooked into a large piece of canvas. Out of the frame, there is approximately 4 inches of fraying canvas fabric left over on each side. This enormous and quite heavy rug measures 42"W x 98"L. which is over 8 feet in length!

After lengthy research, I decided the best option to restore this rug and enable it to hang on the wall, was to hand stitch a blind hem on all four sides with a heavy duty thread. The shorter sides were double folded and stitched in, while the top and bottom were sewn to allow for a one inch sleeve. 

After many long days of detailed hand stitching, it was time for the "moment-of-truth".  I purchased 10 foot long copper pipes from the hardware store, cut them down to size, covered the ends with copper tops, and slowly threaded the pipes through the meticulously hand stitched sleeves. Nervous that a slight misstep of my hand could rip away many hours of labor, I was thrilled when both rods threaded perfectly and the rug was finally ready to hang!

I throughly enjoyed the rug for the few days it hung on my wall before Joan came to retrieve it and bring it back home. The copper pipes were the perfect blend of sturdyness and subtle beauty which allowed the vintage canvas and yarns to hang effortlessly.

As the rug came down off my wall and headed back home, I was left to ponder what fun fiber restorations will come my way in 2011?

*If you have a custom sewing or fiber restoration job that you would like to see completed in the coming year, please call Gyllian at The Bobbin for a consultation. 802-862-7417

 

The Bobbin LIVE on WCAX "The 30"

 

 

Burlington, Vermont - December 22, 2010

Gyllian Rae Svensson of The Bobbin Sew Bar and Craft Lounge in Burlington joined The :30 to show us how to have a green Christmas.

Svensson shows us the possibilities with some of her own creations and urges us to make our own gifts for the holidays instead of supporting consumption culture. She supports up-cycling into new items using old clothing such as sweaters, jackets, and more.

For more info, watch the video from The :30.