#creativity within rules

​​​The geometry book is finished. I’ve been working on this project on and off since 2013. It’s a Japanese Album moleskine, sometimes called an accordion-fold book, of about 50 leaves or panels.  At this point, both sides of every sheet of paper in the book are inked with 111 geometry problems in both diagram and text.  (technically, there’s space for about three more on the inside of the front…

Remember that cute viking fabric that I made into those little drawstring bags? I found another strip of it.  But it wasn’t enough to make into a bag, unfortunately.  I was going to have to combine it with another kind of fabric? What goes with vikings, though? How do you combine viking warriors with anything else? Floral prints? But how about a brick wall?  If I make the bag tall enough, it will…

Just slightly more than a year ago, someone very important to me gave me a template for a Dresden Plate — a traditional appliqué or quilting pattern of a wheel or sun. This one is about 40” across.

A Dresden plate, originally at least, was usually done in bright blue/white pattern fabrics, often with alternating solid blue and white pieces. In this, it resembled a piece of Chinese export…

John Michael Greer‘s open post this month included a lot of comments from people either looking for places to buy robes, or looking for people to make robes for them.  I feel it’s important to start off with the idea that you should make your own robe as a magician…. it teaches important skills that it’s hard to get any other way.  But I did admit over there in a comment that yes, I make robes.…

I don’t really know what this garment is called.  The pattern envelope (McCall’s M7525) doesn’t call it anything; it just has a picture of the garment, and inside are instructions on how to make it.  So I did.  It comes with a pair of pants that are effectively hakama pants, even though they don’t have the exact right form of hakama.

So this is effectively a short yukata, or tie-front tunic…

Sewing: Reading a Pattern Envelope

A friend of mine has wanted an (English) Royal Navy style coat from the Napoleonic Era since childhood.  We’ve discussed it several times.  This spring, Burda issued the relevant pattern. Muaahhahahahahah! This isn’t quite the right pattern.  It’s going to be sort of a cross between Pattern style A and Pattern style B.  Getting the trousers right is going to be interesting; so is getting the cut…

I have no idea what this thing will become.  Maybe it’s part of a bag. Maybe it’s a piece of a table runner.  Maybe it’s a  part of a banner of some kind.  Maybe it will be a placemat.  Maybe it will be a panel on a jacket or a vest.  Maybe it will go into a baby quilt. Maybe it will be its own thing. I don’t know yet. And it’s delicious not knowing. Most of the things I make, I have a pretty…

It’s elementary, dear Watt Learning to make Half Triangle Squares (HTS). HTS’s are the basis of numerous quilt designs of all kinds.  You sew two big square together on all four sides, cut them diagonally from corner to corner, fold them open on the one seam each pair has, and voila! Four smaller squares composed of two right triangles attached along their common hypotenuse. I purchased four…