[tags]fabric, fabric designers, pagnelli[/tags]

I am so excited to get a chance to talk with you about your work! I love your show and adore the modern craft projects you create- not to mention you are an absolute doll!

Awe shucks…I’m a big fan of yours too! We had so much fun taping the Candiland episodes!

So how did you get your crafty start?

I guess I’ve always crafted…I’ve been stitching since I could hold a needle really and like many girls, Barbie was my first muse. I made her a lot of outfits with scraps from my Mum’s sewing basket. She made a lot of our clothes and taught me the basics and I just took it from there. My TV break came from an ad in Craig’s List while I was living in NYC. DIY were looking for a host who could crochet, sew, quilt and embroider … it was so random but I’d been doing all of that since I was a wee one and I thought – ‘hey why not!’.

As a guest and a big fan of your show Uncommon Threads, I am so bummed that it is not currently airing in the US- any idea when it will be shown again?

Ahh…the question I’m asked on my site constantly! The truth is that I really don’t know. At the beginning of the year DIY told me that the second season (which is currently airing in Australia) would go to air in the second quarter of the year. That came and went and they’ve kept me in the dark since then. But they have 65 eps that have only aired on HGTV. So now I’m pretty confident that they’ll get a run this year. In the mean time I’m working on some other projects and would love to get some new craft on TV soon! (since I spoke with Allison, DIY has started aring UT- check your local listings)

I’ve received a few letters about projects we did on your show from Australia- is Uncommon Threads airing there?

Uncommon Threads has been on in OZ for about 3 years. Its awesome that Aussie crafters can get a chance to see what’s happening in the U.S and I know that our craft community is loving the show.

When you are not involved in Crafty TV Shows- what can you usually be found doing?

Before I was in front of the camera I had been directing TV for years – so it was a pretty natural transition for me. So for the last 12 months I’ve stepped behind the camera once again in Australia and have been directing a few different shows including one with a very good friend of mine who is a fab landscape designer. The show ‘Dry Spell Gardening’ shows people how to design wow gardens that don’t impact heavily on the environment. It’s a huge issue in Oz right now because we are such a dry continent and it’s only getting worse. And as a design addict – it’s a great fit for me.

Aside from that I’m still designing for craft mags (Sew News, Sew Simple and Get Creative). I’m slowly putting together designs for a craft book that I hope to have out early next year.

I’m also a self confessed foodie and LOVE cooking. So dinner parties bring out my inner Martha/Nigella – I get to decorate, cook, eat, drink yummy wine and chat to friends – all of my favorite things rolled into one evening!

Tell me about Home Made Modern.

homeMADEmodern is a contemporary homewears line that I’m working on which will feature handmade details such as embroidery, felting and crochet. It’s taken me much longer than anticipated with all of the other projects that I’ve taken on, but it’s something that I’m pretty excited about! I’m developing products that I’ve designed as we speak and before I launch the site (www.homemademodern.com), I’ll be gathering designs from other textile and craft designers to feature on the label.

Do you ever sew clothing or do you prefer creating for the home?

Oh yeah…for sure! Actually last time we caught up at your groovy pad in LA I was wearing a dress I had made (note- the dress was fabulous!). Dresses are absolutely my favorite thing to make and there’s nothing like making something that fits your body perfectly! And I’m easily seduced by fabric so even if I’m shopping for work, I’ll see something that I have to have. And like all sewers it sometimes sits in my sewing cupboard for way too long!

What or who inspires you?

For me it’s so random…I’m a very visual person – so design in all fields is my passion. I love modern architecture, photography, and design. I travel a lot and find so many ideas when I do – just because I think that you see things in a really fresh way when they’re foreign to you. And I’m inspired by all of the crafty women that I meet along the way. You can never learn enough skills or techniques and there are so many chicks of all ages bringing something unique to the craft world that it’s just so inspirational.

What sewing machine do you use?

I’m a big fan of the Bernina! We used them on Uncommon Threads and then I went out and bought one myself. They handle both delicate and heavy fabrics so well. Prior to that I had been using a vintage Lemair Helvetia that was my Mum’s. It was that awesome 1960’s mint green and it was a sad day when it finally died. But I have to say, I don’t miss the tension issues it often had…she was a very temperamental machine!

What music do you usually listen to when you create?

Tori Amos seems to fit my creative energy most days and if I’m feeling a little dark – I can’t go past some old Portishead or Beth Gibbons. Bjork is another fav for me!

And a question I always ask- what’s your favorite candy?

And fav candy is definitely ICE CREAM (I’d almost sell my mother for it) … anything nutty, chocolatey or with lots of bits in it. I can’t have it in the freezer at home because I have absolutely no self control!

Uncommon Threads started airing on the DIY Network again this summer. (Yay!!)

Allison’s website: www.allisonwhitlock.com

As part of their Handmade Portrait series, etsy talked to Wendy about how she got her start and the journey that got her where she is today. Truly an inspiring look at one of America’s hottest designers!

I had the pleasure of teaching my Recycled Clothing workshop there last August and I had a blast! I will be teaching 2 more really fun recycled workshops at DIY on August 2^nd- so if you are in the Portland area- definitely check it out!

I got the opportunity to talk to Jen Neitzel, owner and all around crafty superstar about the DIY Lounge and all her crafty ventures.

So first off, how did the DIY Lounge come about? DIY came about because I was working the craft/vendor circuit and meeting so many creative people who were making their own tools to make their art, creating one-of-a-kind work and often using recycled materials. It was all so unique and original. Most of them were struggling to get the word out about what they were doing and not making much money. I thought I could create a space where people could teach to supplement artists income, with a website that could also double as a marketing tool for teachers/artists to get the word out about their art.

So tell me about your label Knot Ugly. Knot Ugly is much older than DIY Lounge. It is the first creative business I ever embarked on. Originally I began with just knit and crochet, but over time I really wanted to sew with recycled materials.

How did you venture into recycled sweaters? I have been sewing with recycled materials for most of my life. When I saw the movie Pretty In Pink in my teens, I was really excited. I had been refashioning clothing for a few years by then. For me refashioning started as a way that I could wear vintage clothing that fit me, as well as being a great way to have great clothing on a dime. After I started Knot Ugly Designs I was ready to start doing some new things and working with recycled sweaters creating my own designs was just a natural extension of what I had always done. I felt that sticking with knitted sweaters was keeping with the knit and crochet and would appeal to the audience I already had.

I am always curious how people get their start- how did you learn to sew? I am a very creative, somewhat rebellious type of person and was even more like this as a child. I was obsessed with my mother’s sewing machine. I used to fain sickness and while my mother was at work I would spend the day sewing. By the time I was ten I was a much more proficient sewer than my mother. I had no formal training, my mother wasn’t skilled enough to teach me much. Almost everything I know is based on instincts. I am left-handed and from what I have read, lefties are often blessed with an ability to mentally construct 3-d images in their head. I am a classic lefty. I see things in my head and can even manipulate them and see them from different angles. I sometimes jot down sketches, but often don’t need them because I can see dimensional things in my mind, if that makes any sense. This is also what draws me to knit and crochet, converting things from flat 2-d to vivid 3-d! I just love it.

What sewing machine do you use? I have a couple of phaff machines. One that is older and one that brand-spanking new. I have to admit that my favorite machine is my Baby Lock Image serger. I have been having a passionate love affair with this machine from the minute I bought it 2 years ago. It makes everything look so finished with a certain rawness too that puts a smile on my face!

What would you like to see more of as far as crafts or the whole DIY movement goes? I feel like macramé never got it’s turn in the what was an old craft is now a new craft, like knit, crochet and embroidery did. I also want to see some of the tacky but cool crafts return like all of the kooky wall art of the 60 and 70’s. I really love the aquarium gravel and gold cording mounted on wood creations of the 60’s. I want to teach this class at DIY Lounge in the future. I keep seeing a skull and crossbones gravel art with cording image in my head that I need to work out when I can find the time.

Ooh gravel art, that would be so fun! I also wish String Art would make a come back!

Who are your crafty idols? I think the people I admire most are creative and business minded. Creativity is very right brained, where business is left brained. There are few who can master both of these at the same time. I really admire Rebecca Pearcy of Queen Bee and Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitches.

What inspires you? I love to see other people making original designs using unique, ideally reclaimed materials. Nothing gets me more excited.

I also love to see really ingenutive ideas (okay so I recently realized I made up this word. It is a word I have been using most of my life to describe what inspires me. I thought it was a word and I think it should be, but at this point the only word close to it is ingenious, but this doesn’t capture what I mean. To me ingenutive means creative, discovering a fresh idea that no one else has thought of, and a new beginning.)

What music can you usually be found listening to when you are creating? When I am doing most of my work I rarely listen to music. I am really into the archival radio shows of This American Life, To The Best Of Our Knowledge and Radio Lab that you can find online. I love to listen to great stories and find that when I am really into them hours can pass and I don’t even realize that I have been working the whole time.

When I knit and crochet I do listen to music. I find it helps me keep a good pace. Because of this, I try to listen to faster music with a strong beat. I find that Queen is always good knitting and crocheting also Fugazi is great needle and hook music.

For a good time, visit DIY Lounge!
DIY Blog
Original location: 1639 NE Alberta St. Portland, OR 97211
New location: 4429 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland, OR 97206
Phone: 503.804.2526

(photos Jen Neitzel, and from DIY’s Embroidery Class and DIY Sweater People)