Heather Ross - Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching

For My Sister,
Christine Domino Danner

Originally published in 2009 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of ABRAMS
This edition published in 2013.

Text and illustrations copyright 2009 by Heather Ross
Photographs copyright 2009 by John Gruen

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition of this book as follows:

Ross, Heather.
Weekend sewing: More than 40 projects and ideas for inspired stitching / Heather Ross.
p. cm.
STC Craft/A Melanie Falick book.
ISBN 978-1-58479-675-6
1. Sewing. 2. Clothing and dress. 3. House furnishings. I. Title.

TT705.R67 2008
646.2dc22

2008018851

Paperback edition ISBN: 978-1-61769-042-6
eBook edition ISBN: 978-1-68335-727-8

Editor: Melanie Falick
Technical Editor: Christine Timmons
Designer: Brooke Hellewell Reynolds
Production Manager: Erin Vandeveer

ABRAMS The Art of Books
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
abramsbooks.com

As a child, I lived with my mom and twin sister in a one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Northern Vermont. My daily routine was guided by the light and the seasons becauseaside from schoolthere really was nowhere else to be. Our property was bordered by a rushing river that tumbled into a tall waterfall and ended in a deep and perfect swimming hole. Whenever we could, my sister and I would swim and explore the woods and orchards around our house, but when the long, dark winters drove us inside, we would spend countless hours executing elaborate craft projects.

Both of us learned to sew and knit early, and by the time we were five years old, we were already stitching costumes for our dolls and for one very reluctant but tragically slow-moving tomcat. We created silly costumes for each other, stitched tiny winter coats for the house-gnomes we imagined needing them, and knitted even tinier scarves for blue jays with toothpicks and embroidery floss. I vividly recall the bright spring day I decided to plug in my great-grandmothers mint green Singer sewing machine: Holding my breath, I switched on the little lightbulb and stomped on the foot pedal as hard as I could, both frightened and thrilled by the power I ignited. The moment I saw the perfectly spaced, secure stitches I had made, I was utterly hooked.

As I grew up, I continued to sew, my fascination fueled by the extensive collection of exotic fabrics that my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother had collected from destinations far and wide: China, Japan, Indonesia, Austria, and Mexico. Heavy silk brocades, kimono fabrics, hand-printed batiks, felted wools, and brightly colored serapes became dresses, coats, costumes, and handbags. By the time I was twelve, I was planning and staging fashion shows for my extended family, and by sixteen, I was running a cottage industry from my kitchen table, making prom dresses and ski suits for my friends and classmates. Oddly, it had never occurred to me that I could choose art as a career. When I went to college, I studied history and law, putting aside sewing and other crafts for a few years to concentrate on a career that would give my life the structure and stability that my childhood lacked. But not long after finishing college, I found myself craving art, color, and even chaos, and the ideas and projects that filled my mind actually kept me awake at night. I so fondly recalled those long, unscheduled days of sewing and sketchingand that chest of exotic fabricsthat one day I found myself enrolled in folk art classes in San Miguel DAllende, Mexico, having left my structured life and my wristwatch far behind.

One thing led to another: I moved to northern California after art school and started a line of childrens clothing made from my own printed fabrics, featuring ripe apples, wildflowers, inchworms, and house-gnomesthe icons of my childhood. The line was received well, and soon I was running my own company. And wearing a wristwatch. And working on weekends. After almost a decade of this, I was exhausted, and I sold the company. Almost without planning it, the first place I returned to after the ink was dry on the deal was that perfect swimming hole behind that schoolhouse. Amazingly, it was exactly as I had remembered it, as though it had been waiting for me.

These days, I live in New York City, a place that is ruled by the clock. My life as an artist and designer of fabric and clothing requires me to be accessible, punctual, and dressed appropriately (which means shoes, even in the summertime!). From Monday morning through Friday afternoon, my life is generally about deadlines and timelines and bottom lines. Often, it is only during weekends and holidaysand those few work days when I sneak away and play hookythat I can take time out to sew for pure pleasure. I think of this as weekend sewing.

Logical as it may seem, for me weekend sewing is not limited to Saturday and Sunday. Rather, I consider it to be any time I am able to immerse myself so fully in the joy of sewing that I lose track of time and even myself, just like I did as a child. It is my hope that with Weekend Sewing, this book, I will inspire you to steal some time from your busy life for this simple joywhether sewing for you is a newfound passion or a lifelong friend.

I filled Weekend Sewing with clothing, accessories, and home items that not only can be completed in a weekend, but also seem well suited to weekend style. Some of the projects, like the Quick Garden Gloves, Saturday-Night Silk-Jersey Set, Rubys Bloomers, or Fat-Quarter Napkins, can be completed in just a few hours. Others, like the Weekend-Away Travel Bag, Trapeze Sundress, or Guest Room Slippers, might take a day or two (How wonderful it is to imagine devoting two whole days to sewing!). And because weekends are often the most fun when theyre social, I also included recipes and ideas that might inspire you to invite others in, whether to thread up a machine next to yours and sew the day away, or to share a simple meal, an opinion about hem length, and a good story.

Regardless of when you find your time to sew, I hope youlike mewill find the process of surrounding yourself with fabric, color, pattern, and possibility renewing, and the prospect of emerging from the weekend with a finished projectsomething both beautiful and usefulimmensely satisfying.

On my luckiest of New York City Saturdays, I wander through the farmers market early in the morning to forage for dinner and cut flowers, stopping at the magazine stand on the way home to scout for fresh ideas. Once home, I will turn to the big wooden cabinet that sits closed and quiet in my living room all week long, and open it to reveal a small world of fabrics, books, sketches, and jars of buttons and trims, all surrounding my ancient but trusty machine. As I sit down and switch on that little lightbulb, my sewing machine comes to life with a scratchy little hum, its motor pausing as though it needs to yawn very largely before greeting me, and then it will be ready to sew, just exactly as I left it, as though it has been waiting for me.