4 Free Tickets to The Brementown Musicians

          Hey guys, it's that time of month again where we give away free tickets for the upcoming play. This time we are giving away an entire family's worth of tickets so both you and the kids can have a night out. Four free tickets to the Brementown Musicians. This is a classic retelling of a Grimm Fairy Tale. I'm so excited over the costumes.

           The show date is Thursday, May 2nd from 7:30-9:00 pm. Simply leave a comment on the blog or facebook to enter. We will have a drawing for one lucky reader on Friday, April 5th.

            Have a great week!

Artists for the Spring Arts and Crafts Show

Hey guys, welcome back from the weekend, it's spring! The Durham Art Walk is starting to come together, we're officially on the map! I hope to see you all out in a few weeks at the place. At this point we are slated to have 11 artists in our Acorn to Oak Handmade Location at Coco Cinnamon. Looks like a good group all around. Happy Monday. I hope that you have exciting things in your life happening too!

Artists: 

Kathleen Garcia with K Garcia Photography (Photography)

Christine Mertz with Harvaitt Design (Oil Painting)

Christine M Johnson with Poppy and Purl (Hand-crochet hats)

Melissa McLawhorn with Salvaged Jewelry (Jewelry)

Al with StickStaffCane (Hand-carved wood sculpture)

Dara and Nash Page from Li Sashay (textile and metal art)

Jill Evans from Jill's Jewels (Jewelry)

Elizabeth Strugatz with Wired'n'Twisted'n'Stoned (Bead Wire)

Rachel Rooker  with Thaila’s Treasure Box (Jewelry)

Shannon Talton with Art’n’Silk (painted silk scarves)

Pascale Toussaint with Pascale’s Studio (Oil on Canvas and Custom Art Prints)

Volunteering at Maker-Faire and Animazement

    Hey guys, we don't have any product to sell at our normal shows except the Durham Art Walk so we are volunteering at Maker-Faire and Animazement instead of running booths. Hopefully this will be fun for everyone and look forward to seeing you there! These are great events we support, sometimes it's about the money. And sometimes it's just about having a good time. This year it looks like more of the second.

Advanced Hand-Sewing

               In response to requests the past week, I'm posting a resource in the blog on where to go if you are interested in doing advanced hand-sewing if you're not on a time budget: Alabama Chanin. She has a great class on Craftsy for learning traditional sewing techniques for $49.99 which is one of the few online sewing classes which actually delivers as promised.
               Most of what I'm going to teach you is speed sewing to fix clothes you've bought to make them fit you better. I'm a whole under 15 minutes or it isn't practical kinda gal. But I know some people like the whole making from scratch, not just altering so I'll give you my favorite resource for doing beautiful high-end work when time isn't an issue. These are weekend projects, doable, but not something to whip up in a night. Natalie also has several books out, but I'd start with the videos myself as I'm a visual person. 

New Commercial for Rogue Gunfighter Vests

                       Hey guys, I don't normally show private label work, but got permission from my design boss as the commercial is in the public domain to give people a little taste of what I do behind the scenes for my military and law enforcement work. Rogue Gunfighter recently released a snazzy new commercial about a new vest series I helped sew for OEM manufacturing out in RTP. The video is a little over the top, but hey...most military stuff is.
                       These vests are locally made here in North Carolina in the Triangle (some by me!) and the Southeast at 2 other plants. The prices are competitive, Berry Compliant, and all the gear is made to hold up to serious abuse. I love stuff that is manufactured in the US because of the huge jump in quality. One of the great advantages you have as a buyer purchasing locally is significant improvements in fabric quality as good heavy weight fabric is expensive to ship over long distances and one of the first things to go under the ax of competitive pricing. If I'm a cop, I want to know my vest will actually stop a bullet, not just look good. Anyways, hopefully you will be entertained for the day.
                       Note, I don't release pictures or video of private label work I do without express permission after the product has already been finished and in public domain. Patterns, flats, and other technical pieces are never available out of respect.

Behind the Scenes Look at the Importance of Being Earnest

                                   Hey guys, thought you might enjoy a small behind the scenes pass to the upcoming Raleigh Little Theater Play, The Importance of Being Earnest. One of the great things I love about theater is you get to create over the top pieces there's no way you could sell for a living. Take this over the top yellow number. All that yellow and pink! Crazy. I'm trying to put together a behind the scenes tour for people who are not familar with a theater costume shop to enjoy. There's something about this process which is a little like weaving together magic.
                                    I love how this place shakes the cobwebs of my daily routine from me and let's me just experience a small sense of wonder. Oh and this photo comes to you courtesy of my friend and patternmaker, Heather Meadows. I always forget to take pictures. If anyone is interested in hiring her for costume/patternmaking work, feel free to e-mail me at: dsmcginn1@lisashay.com.

Textile Friday: Professional Home Textile Repairs

                   Buttonhole thread. Actually if you remember nothing else I say from the next few weeks, remember that. It's the difference in hand-sewing at home between stuff that falls apart and traditional tailored clothing which is made to last the centuries. Look right. See this. This is buttonhole thread. It's what professional shops use to make their hand repairs last.
                   The beloved favorite of shops in the US has always been Rice's Silamide and it's expensive and sold in amounts WAY too much to be practical for the average home sewer. I know theater majors who talk about this stuff with open lust as being out of their department's budget. If you love theater and want to improve shows you personally see, spring for some of this stuff in bulk and watch the costume room faces light up in your beloved theater.
              Because your secret is it is sold in every major beading store probably in the nation in small 40 yard stock cards you can buy for $1-2 including some lovely samplers for $9 on Etsy, Overstock, etc. which offer a dozen major colors for under $10. This and a couple of good needles is all you need to do the repairs I'm going to show you over the next few weeks. No fancy machine. No breaking the bank. No hours laboring to create the perfect x or y.

                    Ah, but you say, I want something historical or traditional and cost is no object, well...allow me to let you feast your eyes upon kimono silk. This is also often called filament silk thread. I know some of my friends will spring the extra $ (These packs are $2.50 each online) for the fussy fabrics or when they want beautiful invisible stitches. Great stuff silk thread. Strong. Flexible. Made to last. It's been used by every major culture to my knowledge for thousands of years because it works. Everyone always mentions the needle as their weapon of choice, but for me it's thread. Well, I'm off to do some spring cleaning. Happy St. Patty's Day.