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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Curiouser and Curiouser…



Curious5


You might be wondering just what this might be. It’s a Curious Bundle, a fabric journal of sorts taught by Susie Lafond in her online class. As it turns out, I’ll sew just about anything I can get my hands on. So when I discovered Susie’s class, I had to sign up!


Curious4

Making the bundle involves so many things I love- journal making, fabric scraps and selvages, sewing, and gathering bits and pieces together. Many of Susie’s projects make use of recycled jeans. I didn’t have any to part with so I purchased denim fabric instead. I also used many of the fabric scraps I got from Julie Sefton at Me and My Quilts. And a big bag of selvages also provided fodder. The rest of Julie's generous assortment is going into a string-rag quilt. I’ve always wanted to make one of those. How come other people’s scraps are always more interesting than my own? But I digress.


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The bundle is long, so it’s hard to get a photo of it unrolled and open. But it unfolds along stitched spine lines to reveal “pages”, each with a sewn on pocket.  Part of the fun was to distress the denim to add interesting texture. You can slice, rip, tear, shred, and abrade your way through this step.  And once distressed, the denim is washed to get a delightful frayed look. The strings that came through with the wash were truly a tangle, but the results are worth it.

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This one has a window cut out. Susie does a lot of “loose page journaling” so the pockets make good storage for those. I tend to make a lot of elements for journals, like doodled flowers, mandalas, and folded paper pieces. That’s what I’ll plan to keep in my Curious Bundle. Those elements are not easy to store and often get lost in the shuffle, so having them in one place will make handy when the time is right.


Curious1


The inside of the bundle also has pockets, so there’s ample storage. I’m guessing it will be quite chunky by the time I fill it with papers and pages. I had bits and pieces of fabrics I’d printed, painted or drawn and they seemed like a good choice for the colorful interior. I must get on to stuffing those pockets! What’s even more fun is that Susie included has three projects in her online class, and this is just the first one. So there’s more stitching happiness to come and I’ve got plenty of scraps for it!


7 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

This is wonderful. I have seen Susie's work, especially on the ROD site. I like how you made yours. It's ironic, because my friend Sally was sending some jeans to the thrift store and I asked for them. Of course they are about six sizes too large for me, but that didn't matter to me, because I want to use them in my scrappy journal covers. Now I'm considering distressing some of the pants she gave me. You are a REAL inspiration.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I love the idea of a Curious Bundle . . . your's looks so interesting. Must go and look to see if there are any tutorials online for this. Fascinating!! (and so happy those scraps found such a wonderful home)

Createology said...

Great bundle of Creative Bliss. This is such a fun way to incorporate sew much and you have done it with wild abandon. Sew Fun!!!

sonja said...

Nancy,you sure find some really neat project ideas to investigate and this is a colorful one and looks like a bundle of joyful fun to me ! You just gotta love those selvages of color dots and well as thin fabric ripped and frayed and giving them a life outside of the scrap bags!

Robbie said...

I think it's great that you take so many online classes. I enjoy them so much..especially those that I can take my time at and not feel like I have to have something finished within a time frame. I get distracted! HA Even my dog training is an online course. But you go at your own pace and you have access for a year...I love it! Look forward to seeing these pieces in person this winter!!

Susie said...

Awwwwww Thanks so much Nancy for the sweet commentary. I am so happy you enjoyed the class and your bundle is AWESOME and colorful. Love it bunches and bunches. Many big hugs headed your way for the links and wonderful feedback too. :)

Nancy said...

I love this...great idea...I've never seen one of these before but the project certainly takes in lots of different interests which like you I enjoy.....