D Whynn Designs

Behind The Scenes: A Photo Shoot

Anyone who has any kind of internet presence - blog, Facebook, online store, Etsy shop - knows how important good photos are to grab your audience. Unfortunately, for me, my skills in this area are lacking to say the least. I have no patience whatsoever for setting up the perfect photo scene and usually end up with the attitude  "just take it and fix it in Photoshop." So when Estelle of EZ Photography offered to take some photos of my new boutique children's clothing line, I jumped at the opportunity.

Estelle has the talent and the ability to not only capture the perfect lighting, the perfect background, the perfect mood for the photo, she also finds the unique beauty in each of her subjects, be it the special smile, the eyes, the laugh, that certain look. But what I find most captivating in her photos is that she is able to portray the personality too -- all that makes one special! I knew she was the right professional to show off my clothing and bring out the best in our models.

Estelle arranged for us to meet at a time when the light would be just right, at the perfect location, with our beautiful models and we anxiously crossed our fingers that the ever-changing, unpredictable Florida weather would cooperate.

 I have watched Estelle work before but never on such a personal level! And this is where the fun started.  Estelle is all giggly fun sunshine and rainbows looking at our little ones through the viewfinder and at the same time behind the scenes (that would be to me) she is like a drill sargeant barking out orders.  "Move to the left, move right, stand behind me, fix the bow, do you like her hair, fix it, be funny . . . .. ." I don't know when I've had so much fun being involved in a photo!

Because from this:

 

You get this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And from this:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 You get something that looks almost like this:

 

And when you are behind the scenes you get my most favorite shot of all -- leaning over Mom's shoulder while she's at work: (Aren't they beautiful?)



An 18-month-old strutting her stuff:



The bubbly personality of a 3-year-old:

 

Check out EZ Photography's website to see examples of all her photography, from newborns, little ones, families and couples celebrating their anniversaries.

It's not too early to start thinking about Christmas photos ---- hmm, something like a couple of siblings on the beach that would be the perfect gift for a mom (and the grandparents and, and . . .) for the holidays - HINT, HINT, you two!!!!

All clothing designed and created by D Whynn Designs.  Visit my Etsy shop here.



 

 

 

 

 

Messenger - ing

A few months ago we were preparing to leave for California and I decided I needed a new bag. I hadn't made a bag for myself in forever and I would certainly need something for the trip.  It had to be large, with lots of pockets and comfortable to carry across the country and then all over.

Here we have a messenger style bag with lots of inner pockets for my iPad, pens, pencils, cell phone, camera, Kleenex and all my hubby's junk.  Drink holder on the side and zippered pocket on the front for Important Stuff.  I knew I had a cool charm to use as a zipper pull but of course that was no where to be found.

 

An inside shot.  You can tell by the collection of assorted junk in there that I've been carrying it for a while.

 

 

I love going through my old bags and finding all that "bonus" money collecting on the bottom and in the pockets.

Fabric: Assorted Amy Butler prints

Pattern: My own design

And also not one other person in Carmel, CA, was carrying a bag like this. Or even anything close.  I could say because it was unique and original, but I think the truth of the matter is that designer leather bags were The bag to be carried.

New Pattern

 

Ribbons and Bows Wall Hanging or Table Runner is a quick to assemble fun pattern featuring three-dimensional bow ties.

Makes a great gift or a quick decoration for your own home.

Pattern is listed in the shop.

Check out the pretty fabrics my mother used - a totally different look.  All it needs is a little quilting and some binding.  Great job, Mom! Love the fabric choices and it looks perfect!

 

If you are looking for the pot holder tutorial I'm putting the finishing touches on the tutorial and I'll have it up over the weekend!

 

The Good . . . . . and The Bad

A bit ago the fine folks at C&T Publishing sent me a package of their new Insul Fleece insulated batting and asked me to try it out and see what I think.

 

I love the idea of using insulated batting and have used tons of it in the past, so I was anxious to experiment with this new product.  I am highly impressed!  It is soft and flexible and much much easier to sew with.  Hopefully, you can see how soft it is from this photo:

 

This is the GOOD!

I decided I'd start with some potholders. They are fast and easy - a great way to test the insulated batting.  Plus I had been dying to use this new fabric, Domestic Divas by Riley Blake Designs, that I just LOVE.

I pieced together some fabrics and used a spray adhesive to adhere it to a piece of the Insul Fleece:

 

Quilting through the Insul-Fleece was a breeze.  I added a back and there you have it:

 

Loved the softness of the potholder, it doesn't make that crinkly sound and how cute are those fabrics?

The potholder itself ---- perfect . . . . . . . . . . .  if you have the hands of a giant:

(Honestly, what was I thinking, the thing is huge - makes a great hotpad though.)

 

Finished Potholder 1 --- The BAD.

Back to the drawing board, re-sized and we have Potholder 2:

 

Size is perfect but Potholder 2 ---- FAIL!  Yikes!  Look at the workmanship on that thing. 

Note to Self:  Trying to design and sew, while making dinner and feeding the dogs and doing all that other household stuff at the same time NEVER works!

Once again it's back to the drawing board . . . . check in tomorrow - It's all GOOD!

 

My Big Fat Dresden Experiment

I'm not quite sure how it happened -- perhaps I've seen many Dresden projects lately -- but for some reason I became intrigued by Dresden plates to the point that I decided that I had to try making one.  Even though I have about 17 other projects going, some with deadlines, I dropped everything to pursue Dresden plate making.

After a trip to the bookcase (I like books as much as fabric!) and some time on the internet, I felt I was good to go.  I was pretty sure I even had a ruler that was a free bonus from some quilt show I had been to a few years back.

I decided to pull some fabrics from the bin labeled Big and Bright.  Well, I'm not actually organized enough to have labeled the bin, but at least the fabric is sorted and I know that that particular bin is full of Big and Brights, mostly Amy Butler and the like.

 

I cut a whole bunch of 4-1/2" strips and then used my handy dandy ruler and cut lots and lots of angled pieces. 

Then I assembled a whole pile of these things:

 

Viola - a Dresden plate!

 

These were pretty fun to make especially in the No Rhyme or Reason manner in which I assembled them. 

So I made a bunch more.

Now I guess I just have to figure out what to do with all these pieces from my sidetracked Dresden Plate project! 

That, and get back to work!

Too Pretty To Cut

I love fabric.  I buy fabric.  I own (alot) of fabric.  Probably too much fabric.  Sometimes I have a hard time cutting into particularly beautiful fabrics. I fold them and unfold them and smooth them and fix them and think of all the thinks that this fabric would work for --- and then I can't bring myself to cut it.  Which is just ridiculous because there will always be more beautiful fabrics and exactly how much fabric can I hoard collect.

Not too long ago I was taking a trip and I did not have a bag to take.  Believe it or not, I haven't made myself a new bag in OVER a YEAR.  I must say that the bag I made longer than a year ago has held up well but I'm about six months over looking at it.  My trip was fast approaching and I didn't have time to make a whole new bag --- and that's when I did it.  I cut up some beautiful Japanese linen that I was "saving".

Quick and fast tote bag. Great size for my travels. Completed in a short period of time.  Best of all I actually got over it and cut!

Between the straps and inner pocket I used up almost every scrap of the full yard.

I tried a new interfacing experiment with this tote and am pleased with the way it came out. I fused a medium weight interfacing to the lining of the bag instead of the linen. The bag maintains a crisp shape and the linen has no wrinkles or creases.

Isn't there a fabric cutting rule:  Cut into one yard of "saving it" fabric, you can add 6 more yards??

 

Out of The Bag

Almost a year ago I was contacted by the C&T Publishing Company. They were starting a new craft book line and were interested in my lunch bag design for one of their upcoming books.  Several emails were exchanged; the product line they were proposing sounding pretty exciting and I decided to give it a whirl.

I re-designed my lunch bag pattern adding a new feature (that my daughter had been nagging  suggesting that I add) and sewed up samples to the wee hours of the morning until it was all just right.

For a while it was top secret hush, hush, hush and night and day rush, rush, rush and then out the door went bag and pattern.

All too quickly a whole year went by and the book will be out this month.  This is another book in their new Design Collective books line which is part of Stash Books.

 

I purchased the  book Little Birds from this same line when it came out a few months ago and I love it.  Filled with 26 great projects in a perfect little book.

Imagine my surprise when I was sent a photo grid of some of the projects in the book and right there down in the right-hand corner next to the surf board is mine.

Check out the lunch bag for your bike.  How perfect is that!

 

  
In the meantime Stash Books is giving away two and a half yards of laminated fabric over on their Stash Books blog.  Click on over and register to win!

 

 

Pretty Maids All In A Row . .

A few months ago we added some children's patterns to our line at the quilt shop.  Here are some shop samples I created.  Reminded me of how much I enjoy sewing children's clothing!

With a matching dress for the doll, of course!

 

This darling outfit - halter top and skirt - was my absolute favorite but these are poor pictures.  I think it would have modeled better on a kid!

 The halter top.

The skirt.

Together.

These patterns are all by Mod Kid Boutique. I found the patterns to be well designed with plenty of photos, diagrams and easy to follow written instructions.  They are available in many quilt shops as well as all over the internet.

 
I cannot remember the designer of this pattern but it's an adorable dress for a baby or toddler or can be sized to be worn as a summer top for a child.  There are several differnt strap styles on the pattern. 

For my favorite 4-year-old.  She picked the fabric.

Today's cranky mood is brought to you by the fact that I purchased one brand new Christmas quilt/project book and then added my two Australian Shepherds and one swimming pool . . . . . . . . . 

  
  

A Humbling

 

That blue blob you see in the photo above would be what is called a complete and total design flop. Not a "can be fixed with some tweaking" design, but a complete and total "hit the trash and start over" kind of failure.

My first?  Hardly.  My last?  Highly doubt that.

Often times a design will look fantastic in my mind and even equally fantastic as a one-dimensional line drawing, but turning that into a three-dimensional fabric item has it's risk. 

A smart and cautious designer will usually make their first attempt out of muslin -- and I have yards and yards and yards of the stuff that someone gave me.  But sometimes one (me) becomes overly confident (I believe the word is cocky) and goes straight for the good stuff so sure they are that this design is going to be *the one*.

And in my case the good stuff went for approximately $9.00 a yard.  And also I happened to like that particular fabric which is now useless.

Next step . . . .well, quite frankly, it was turn off the machine and WALK AWAY from the whole mess.

After I recovered from my humbling experience I started over . . . . .

 

with the muslin . . . . . .

FINALLY - Two New Patterns & A Giveaway

I'm actually too embarrassed to admit to how long these patterns have been in the works. They have always been at the top of the list but it seems like for the past several months something else has come along that has been even higher on the Get It Done list.

First off the press is the Take the Steps Table Runner pattern. I designed this over the summer right after my local quilt shop got in all these fun summery batiks. Not the Christmas ones on the pattern cover, but the fruit ones shown below.

This would be a great project for a beginner or a quick and easy project for an experienced quilter.

This project takes 6 fat quarters and some yardage for the borders, backing and binding.

I have some Figgy Pudding Christmas fabric buried in my stash that I *hope* to have on my table this holiday season.

Next pattern is the Lella Bag, named after my daughter whose name is not Lella.

I designed this bag way back in June and even blogged about it at that time.  In fact, I'm still carrying that gray one on the cover of the pattern even though it surely is time for a new bag for myself.

The pattern contains full size pattern pieces and full color photos and diagrams.

My daughter finally just got her Lella Bag a couple of weeks ago. Her argument "how could the bag even be named after her if she DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ONE".  She won hands down and I let her have the pick of all that Amy Butler Love fabric.

I wanted this one out of the Simple Abundance fabric.  Love that fabric.

 

But I gave this bag away to a charity event at the local elementary school.

The patterns are available in my Etsy shop.

About that GiveAway. Since I'm still doing the Happy Dance about crossing these two big items off my list, I thought I'd share my joy by giving away TWO sets of the new patterns.

Easy enough to win -- leave a comment telling me about your holiday project list and if most of the items on your list  are for gift giving or for holiday decorating for yourself. I'll pick two winners on Monday, November 16, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Two more patterns on my To Do list. Goal set to have them written and out the door in 2009.

Next up is the Kid's Drawing Bag that I blogged about way back here.  Shouldn't be too hard since it's already in a rough draft state.