Upcoming Workshops!

Wondering where you can see me IRL in 2024?! Here’s the start!

February 28-March 2 - Sewing & Stitchery Expo, Puyallup WA

First, I’m teaching a bunch of workshops at the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA! You can view all the classes and register to attend the Expo here

  1. Sun Prints on Fabric

  2. Dyeing for Color

  3. Beginner Crochet (the first class already sold out and they added a second one!)

  4. Crochet a Granny Square Vest

  5. Creating Symbols as Memory Markers

Saturday, March 16th - Summit Selvage

Make Your Own Sherpa Bucket Hat! 2-6pm

Learn how to create a cute and cozy reversible bucket hat! Participants will learn how to pick fabrics, basic pattern cutting, machine sewing and simple hat making techniques. All materials provided, basic machine sewing knowledge required.

March + April - The Works, Seattle WA

Then, I will be teaching crochet and tufting classes at The Works in Seattle! I have taught dozens of tufting classes and I love it every time. Rug tufting with a machine is so satisfying and fun, I’m looking forward to sharing the joy in this art space in Seattle!

Intro to Tufting

Spend a day learning the art of rug tufting! Create a small one-of-a-kind rug or wall hanging from rug yarn using an electric tufting machine. Almost like drawing, the machine rapidly pokes yarn through a backing cloth, allowing you to create any type of design with a variety of yarn colors to choose from.

In this 5 hour class, you will:

  • Gain insight into the fundamental techniques of operating a tufting machine.

  • Experience the joy and simplicity of rug tufting.

  • Get hands-on help from a tufting pro!

  • Receive finishing instructions on how to cut, glue, and finish your tufted piece.

You will leave class having created your own rug or wall hanging, approximately 2’x2’. As always, all materials will be provided, and all skill levels are welcome!

Sunday, March 17, 10am-3pm

Saturday, March 30, 10am-3pm

Saturday, April 27, 10am-3pm

 
 

Intro to Crochet

We start from scratch and end 4 weeks with 3 finished projects! You will finish this 4 week series with a beanie, produce bag, and granny square sling bag plus the confidence to tackle any crochet project you dream of!

Thursdays, February 22-March 14, 6:30-8:30pm

In Other News

And the rest of my life?

 

Doing accounting homework and reminiscing about Wegman’s at my dog coat job

 

It’s a new quarter at Entrepreneurship Community College and I am deep in accounting homework. After a Bachelors and a Masters degree, I made it through without ever taking college level math (thanks Art School!) I am certainly learning a lot about accounting….

 

Tulum, MX

 

In mid January I went on vacation with my sister and her partner to Isla Mujeres, Mexico! We had been planning the trip for over a year and it was a perfect time.

 

Sublimation prints that I made at the Federal Way library!!!

 

February 1st I decided to make the leap and move down to Portland, OR! I have housing and not much else, so if you want to connect me with people, and especially jobs, send them my way! I am looking for (ideally) part time work in arts education or admin while I keep this little biz going. I’ll leave you with a final note from my exercise video; it’s just you and your butt

xo,

Vivien

A Journey in Entrepreneurship & Upcoming Craft Fairs

I moved from Philly to Seattle in late August, and set out trying to figure out what I should do for work. I’ve been selling stuff at craft fairs for a long time, I love sewing and I’ve decided to make the leap and try it full time!

on the beach at Discovery Park in October

My plan is to expand what I sell to include sewing and quilting services! I will move my focus to quilting, offering quilt coats (custom or ready-made), quilt hats (?!), and a variety of smaller quilted items, like my cast iron skillet mittens, and potholders. I will still continue to offer all my hand-sewn sustainable home goods in addition - reusable sandwich wraps, reusable snack packs, “unpaper” towels made from flannel, and reusable coffee filters.

In preparation, I’ve been taking a bunch of business classes! I am doing an Entrepreneurship certificate at North Seattle Community College, and a Business Basics class through Ventures. I’m learning about marketing, and finding my “break even” in finances! I have a never ending to-do list of things to prepare, ideas to work, etc. I’ve been talking other quilters to learn about the ins-and-outs of offering quilting services, and how to do longarm quilting for other people. If you are reading this and happen to want or know someone who wants a quilt finished, send them my way!!

And I hope by the end of this, I don’t have to keep spelling entrepreneur!

In the meantime, I am signed up for a few craft fairs this season and would love to see you there~

  1. Thursday, November 30th, 11a-4pm | North Seattle Community College

  2. Sunday, December 3rd, 10a-5pm | Urban Craft Uprising

  3. Saturday, December 9th, 12-6pm | Upcycled Holiday Market @ Recreative Georgetown

Bartram's Garden Fan Art Quilts

I wanted to make a little post here about some quilts that I made in 2019 about one of my favorite places in Philly, Bartram’s Garden.

Both of these quilts were in a show in Philly that was a collab with William Way and Bartram’s called Queer Ecologies (see the work and info here!)

The first is a map of Bartram’s - relatively straightforward. The top is all silk organza that has been naturally dyed - one of the colors is from stuff I collected at Bartram’s (leaves, flowers, tree parts, and random bits of metal)

The second quilt is a detail of one of the buildings on campus - it’s hard to tell but the color is all underneath! The cotton batting is dyed blue-green-brown, with a sheer silk organza quilted on top

Bartram’s bought both of these quilts so they live there permanently now! Stop by and visit them sometime!

 
 

Elsewhere Studios Residency in Paonia, CO

Mapping Memories

 
 

Greetings from my January 2022 residency at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, Colorado! Here I am at the Colorado National Monument.

I spent the month at Elsewhere making a quilt that I’m calling Mapping Memories (sneak peek)

 
 

Inspiration:

In March 2020, I started going on way more walks than I ever had before. And not only that, but I was going on walks primarily within a few mile radius of my home in Philly. At this point these walks were generally the only reason I left my house. 

 

I was given a new perspective on the neighborhood; I practiced identifying trees while watching them go from bare to bud to bloom, I noticed details on the sidewalks, and met neighbors. I went swimming in the summer and cross country skiing in the parks in the winter. 

These walks were space for me to process the pandemic unfolding before me, and simply to pass the time. Days, weeks and months passed and I barely knew what had happened. A large portion of what is now the past year and a half is marked by these near-daily walks. 

I wanted to make a quilt based on these walks - I sorted through photos I had taken and designed quilt squares for each one - drawings based directly on the photos, with the main colors and shapes, inspired by topographical maps and symbols used in maps. I thought a lot about how symbols are used, and what it means to turn a memory into a shape. I thought about the functions of maps, and how this quilt might function as a “wayfinder”. I read about Pierre Bourdieu’s use of the term habitus, and how he used it to refer to knowing a space through routine (like walking!) 

 

I see these quilt squares as a sort of memory map of this time period. A symbol created for each location, my memories embedded in each one:

  • Watching buildings get torn down and rebuilt, with the ghosts of previous buildings embedded on them, a common sight in Philadelphia

  • Sunsets

  • Birthdays

  • Interesting textures that take many passes to notice

Process:

 

I traced all my drawings onto brown paper and used those as patterns - if the lines were small and straight enough, I would sew the paper directly onto the fabric to try to get the most precise lines that I could. In most cases, I cut out each individual shape and used it as a pattern piece. 

A trick I learned for finding color values - take a picture of them in black and white! It’s much easier to tell what is a light, medium or dark shade. Here are all my little color swatches for some of the quilt squares. 

Aaaaand here it is! A whole quilt top! The final decision, which was by far the hardest part for me, was deciding what pattern to quilt (the part where you sew all the layers together) everything together with. I played with making samples of a variety of maps - the topography of Philly, the riverways of Philly, the pattern from a sewer grate.

I still couldn’t decide so I took a break and went cross country skiing at Grand Mesa.

 
 

Finally I decided to go with a map of the geology of the region. Here’s what it looks like quilted!

 

Virtual Quilting Workshop

Back in December I taught a quilting workshop through the Fabric Workshop and Museum here in Philly — participants got to sew a square I designed that was inspired by the current exhibition — Samara Golden: Upstairs at Steve’s. The goal was to create something that could be hand-sewn and incorporated a 3D illusion.

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I had so much fun! I enjoyed coming up with the design, and helping others learn to make it. The fabrics are all remnants from fabrics that artists have screenprinted at the Fabric Workshop. I learned that while doing the absolute hardest part of the quilt (those quarter circles in the center) got it out of the way, it made it much harder in a group setting to keep everyone at the same pace. I will be working on an instructional PDF for this design so that anyone can make it at home. Coming soon!

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