Spectrolite for Windows! + spring sewing report
plus links and recs
Big news: Spectrolite for Windows is here! And: the imposition layouts for zine and book making that were in Spectrolite are now available in Layout Department (plus more), which has Mac and Windows apps.
The next major version of Spectrolite for Windows will have PDF support, and then in the future we plan to spin out the Tools and Contact Sheets (for riso animation) that are currently in the Mac version into their own standalone Mac + Windows apps (and make them better/cuter/more fun too).
So excited about all this — the infrastructure rewrite to make it all possible has been a huge project for us through this winter, and it feels really spring-y to get to share new work. And have a foundation for building a lot of new things next.
In the studio, I’ve been working on the upcoming all well kids sewing patterns. Tiny tops, tiny pants! Exceedingly cute and very fast to sew.
Feeling lots of creative energy with sewing lately with just playing — sewing or altering clothes for myself to wear, and for our house. I am just so horrified and angry about what America is doing in the world, and I’m finding it works keep my motivation up to keep taking action politically by also taking action with small creative things and getting energy from those. To notice when I’m feeling the urge to make something simple, and then just making the thing, as quick as I can.
I sewed a little hammock thing to hold the cords under Adam’s standing desk. I cut up some webbing and sewed the ends so they don’t fray, for yoga/stretching straps. I just thrifted another tshirt to hack into a cropped tank top for yoga, learning from my first version. I finally washed and pressed the 8 yards (!!) of Kvadrat wool deadstock I got off of ebay to finish sewing the cushion covers for the window seat. Progress! Closing open loops, finishing things, taking that energy and applying it to the next thing.
Another energizing thing lately: I checked out a bunch of sewing books from the library, and loved The Handsewn Wardrobe so much I had to immediately order my own copy — such great pattern making and sewing diagrams. (Louisa also has a wonderful newsletter.)
The book has me excited to make patterns based off my favorite jeans, edited to my taste/height/proportions even more. And to draft some knit tshirt patterns — I just thrifted some knit fabric to practice with, too. Reading not everything needs to exist as a finished piece of work was the reminder I needed: to just buy the fabric even though it’s white and I don’t really wear white (too hard to keep clean for how I live my life). But I can just practice. It cost $2/yard. And if I make a usable piece of clothing out of the white fabric, I can wear it or dye it or figure it out then. Otherwise it’s just practice. And I actually probably do need to practice first!
I also thought this post about sourcing sustainable trims & notions was great. I have been thinking about buying cotton thread to sew my garments with white/natural yardage (like silks and cottons from Dharma Trading) and then garment dying them once they’re sewn. Polyester thread doesn’t take dye in the same way as natural fibers, so I’ll need to figure that out.
So many technical challenges to figure out, to make art projects. It’s funny to see the parallels between inventing UX/UI design for apps, drafting sewing patterns and writing instructions for the public, and sewing patterns and projects just for your own use. They all have different technical challenges and satisfactions and things that block forward progress until you figure them out.
COOKING & EATING: We’ve started some seeds (mostly tomatoes) and are planning garden beds. I’m eating lots radish and onion soy sauce pickles (Alex’s mom’s recipe) and was really into this crispy shredded tofu recipe. These super seed crackers turned out great (I replaced the water and some of the flour with sourdough discard). I also really enjoyed this fermented sourdough maple pecan granola, although I did a about half sweetener it called for and it was still a bit too sweet for my taste.
WATCH: oh, the tsunami’s going to be an amazing opportunity for us. / hey raytheon, give me your fattest rocket
LOOK: Night Into Day (genuinely encouraging) \ Solar Panels That Don’t Look Like Solar Panels (cool) \ God forgives but paper grain don’t (lol) \ meet me at the flat file combo day bed on Mas Espacio (scroll down the page to find it) \ Old photos of Seattle before the Denny Regrade (a new form of spite house I didn’t know about!)
READ: A Few Motifs of Teaching (Robert Baxter) \ The Sky Is Not Falling On The Forest Service (logging info I didn’t know) \ The Invisible Kingdom Meghan O’Rourke
Off to read in the hammock because it’s SPRING,
—Amelia
P.S. — A preview of the trim / bleed / resize stuff we’re working on for Layout Department… You can click on the elements themselves (trim, bleed, document) to drag to resize visually too, it’s really fun to use.
Still sorting out the UX/UI details, so it will look different than this prototype, but that will be the next thing we release! (Then custom sizes for the sheets you’re printing on, after that.)