Hi. Remember me? I still make stuff, really, but a lot more of it has been digital lately.

And, wow, I really need to upgrade this site. But whatever.

So what moves me to write today? Selfishness. No, not mine, but the kind of selfishness meant to stifle others’ creativity for the sake of your own.

If your business is to make and sell art supplies, like, say, beautiful ribbons like these, you simply must learn to let go of them. It’s none of your business what people do with them once they have purchased them, unless someone sets themselves up as a reseller, claiming the designs as their own.

Imagine my dismay when I saw this wonderful collection, immediately started imagining a line of contemporary crazy-quilt postcards or wallhangings, or any number of other ideas, only to find this statement on the supplier’s homepage:

Please note that all Douglas Paquette ribbon designs are the exclusive property of Douglas Paquette Inc. These ribbons are original, copyrighted designs and may not be reproduced under any circumstances. Commercial use of these ribbons is prohibited with out [sic] written consent from Douglas Paquette Inc. Commercial use includes reselling any item with the ribbon as part of its design. (emphasis mine)

Now, some context. Douglas Paquette Inc. makes some really neat things with their ribbons, like belts, flip-flops, keychains and pet accessories. The “Ally’s Bazaar” site is where they sell ribbons in designs that they’re no longer using for new products. I can certainly understand that they don’t want anyone selling products similar to theirs using their own ribbon designs. But, there are a thousand other uses for ribbons like these that artists who make work for sale could dream up that wouldn’t be in any kind of direct competition with their products.

Legally speaking, Fair Use practices seem to suggest that the kind of statement made on the Ally’s Bazaar website is unenforceable with the exception of direct copying or reselling.

The same kind of issues come up with rubber stamp designs. Many designers claim that their copyright on the image made by a stamp prevents any artist from using the stamp on a work for sale, and many of these designers take this position very seriously, to the point of legal action.

Most artists, like me, don’t want to fight with suppliers for the rights to use art supplies and tools in work for sale, even when the law is on our side with respect to Fair Use. So, rather than spending my money on a product that has the potential to cause me a legal headache, I’m more likely to go find something else.

Which is a shame, because these suppliers who choose to operate with such unrealistic possessiveness limit themselves to the home hobbyist market, and miss out on possible wider exposure if an artist’s client asks, “Where did you get that beautiful ribbon?”

Here are four more postcards, since the jury of the Art Center at Fuller Lodge accepted the three below and will be selling them! I’m very happy about this, and the possibility of also participating in their “Affordable Art Sale” for the holidays.

Another fish:

Origami fish fabric postcard, all cotton, backed with watercolor paper, with triangle delica bead accents.

I’m experimenting with scanning these smaller pieces rather than photographing them, which is giving a much more realistic representation of the colors, but not as much sparkle on the bead accents. The “bubble” beads on this fish are matte, but the ones on the eye are shiny.

A red crane:

Origami crane fabric postcard, all cotton, backed with watercolor paper, with delica bead accents.

I have a new edge technique after the last ones — a double pass of my serger with a three-thread overlock hem stitch, once with the right side up and the second time with the wrong side up to fill it in. The corners aren’t as perfect as I would like them to be, but I’m working on them.

A yellow crane:

Origami crane fabric postcard, all cotton, quilted and backed with watercolor paper.

This one has a quilted background, instead of any beading accents, because I wanted to sink the blue fabric down a bit. I like how it turned out.

And finally, a blue crane:

Origami crane fabric postcard, all cotton, backed with watercolor paper, with bugle bead accents.

I love these colors, but the crane didn’t really pop out of the purple until I added the bugle beads along the border. Now I’m happy with it.

So I took a leap of faith this week, one that more established artists might laugh at but was kind of a big deal to me — I dropped off some fabric postcards to our local art gallery shop to be juried for possible sale. They can be mailed in clear envelopes with first-class postage.

Origami crane fabric postcard, all cotton, backed with watercolor paper and finished with Terry Grant’s edge technique

I really like doing origami with fabric. This is a crane I came up with a few years ago, making a wall hanging for friends for the wedding, and experimenting on a (not done yet) baby quilt for the same couple (baby is almost three now, I know…). I omit a couple of folds to keep the bulk down, and it gives it a bit of a unique look. I’d like to be able to make them smaller, but the corners get tricky and I haven’t found a starch I like.

Origami fish fabric postcard, all cotton, with delica beads, backed with watercolor paper and finished with Terry Grant’s edge technique

This is my favorite of these three. The pattern lends itself well to fabric, since all of the raw edges end up folded under. The points are still tricky.

Origami butterfly fabric postcard, all cotton, with delica beads, backed with watercolor paper and finished with Terry Grant’s edge technique

I had to manipulate this photo to get the colors to come out right — the red is the same fabric as in the crane above. There are three long raw edges on this one, so I do wonder how they’ll hold up even with the close quilting/applique. The beads also serve to anchor key folds down onto the backing. I’ll be doing some more experimenting with this pattern, or looking for a better one.

I need to find a faster edge finish, to keep the price point down on these. I love the way this looks, but it’s two passes with a very short stitch length, which takes up a lot of thread and is time consuming.

After a whirlwind of sewing and then traveling to something like nine states and visiting almost everyone in the world I could possibly be related to, I bring you the finished flower girl dress:

Silk dupioni flower girl dress, from the Pascal pattern printed in the Issue 114 - September/October 2007 of Sew Beautiful magazine, with hand embroidery and beading, modeled by the lovely Nora.

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I started with a sample piece of the silk dupioni fabric, backed with Floriani Dream Weave interfacing to keep the silk from shredding, and a variety of threads, beads, and stitches (slightly out of focus, but you get the idea):

and decided that the feathered buttonhole “vine” with french knots and pearl beads was the prettiest for a flower girl. The other bands are just too dense, particularly with the ribbon that will be used as a sash on the dress, though I’ll remember them for other projects.

So here’s just the vine for the neckline, before the knots, done with two strands of DMC floss:

(And yes, that is my lap, on the couch, in front of the TV — the best way to do handwork without noticing quite as much how long it can take!)

And with the french knots, but before the beads, done with a pale green Caron silk:

And here is the bodice almost completely embroidered — it just needs the pearl beads on the bottom line. The sash will go below that, which is a one-sided feathered buttonhole stitch. I’ll use the same pattern on the back, on either side of the button placket.

The sheen of the silk really makes it difficult to photograph. I’ll have to take it outside for a truer representation of the colors.

My hands are hurting this morning, from keeping the stitches so uniform and tying all of those knots. When I was younger, doing cross-stitch kits, I just couldn’t figure out how to do french knots, but now I really like them.

I like the way this is turning out; I think it’s better this way than it would have been smocked.