American Creativity.
American Craftsmanship.
American Sheep.
I had an idea that I would like to make a coating fabric like melton wool, and sew a coat from that fabric. My sewing style is not so fast, as I have dubbed it, "haut hybrid". I sew a with a mix of couture and machine sewing techniques. In my industrial sewing days we prided ourselves on never taking a hand stitch. In high couture sewing you never take a machine stitch.
Years ago I studied Apparel Art at a technical school and took fashion illustration classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I was trained to do factory garment construction, and worked in a sewing factory one summer. I used to copy illustrations from Woman's Wear Daily.
I like natural fibers, I really like wool. I have been weaving my fabric from yarn that is 100% U.S. grown and spun. I have happily used several lines and weights of yarn from Brown Sheep Company, Inc. in Nebraska.
I admit I felt unsettled that the pattern in the fabric did not match. With custom woven fabric the patterns and symetry are not as mechanical as they are with machine made fabric. I do like formal balance, but there is beauty in irregularity too. Sometimes I just run out of a yarn color.
Jeanne Ross
I like to make things. Clothing. Fabric. Ceramics. Leather Gloves. Stained Glass. Art Works. I like to learn how to make things, though I don't always want to keep making them after I figure out how.
One time I made menswear market totes from recycled mens suits. They had a lot of great pockets, but they retained the essence of old suits. Another time, inspired by Italian gloves, I decided to hand sew gloves from recycled leather jackets. I learned that leather gets old and gloves are not that easy to make.
I like color, and I enjoy designing and weaving colorful scarves from the yarn remains from fabric weaving.
It was exciting and interesting to see color combinations blend when I wove this length of fabric from worsted weight yarn.