I am not the Mermaid - I am the Sea
In 2023 Rachel's friend, Torreah "Cookie" Washington, invited her to take part in an exhibit in Charleston, SC called Celebrating Black...
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Aug 3
Sangria, a Mermaid's Denial and a Watermelon Man
It sounds like a wayward fairytale but those are references to coats Rachel displayed at this year's Pacific International Quilt...
May 4
Not Just Another Coat!
Join Rachel tomorrow (May 5th, 2024) for an intensive one-day fashion show, online lecture and Q&A on coat making. Sign up for the class...
Mar 11
The Vest: An Optional Fashion Statement
The nice thing about wearing a vest is you have options. On a warm day you can wear a vest over a t-shirt to dress it up. You can put a...
Feb 20
The Coat Maker Series: African Emporium
I created African Emporium using oversized images from African wax prints. The idea behind this coat was a big marketplace full of...
Feb 17
The Coat Maker Series: Cater Corners
I recently took part in a quilt challenge hosted by Quilt Africa Fabric Tribe. The result was this coat made from wax prints and...
Feb 13
The Coat Maker Series: Adire in Blue
This coat is made using vintage Adire cloth, aka Yoruba cloth. Adire is the name given to indigo dyed cloth produced by Yoruba women of...
Feb 9
The Coat Maker Series: Dots and Stripes
I love to play with polka dots! For the layout of the many polka dot fabrics I used a design inspired by quilter Sarah Bond's...
Feb 7
Watermelon Wednesday: Watermelon 🍉 Doll Clothes
There are a few dolls in Rachel's house who sport watermelon themed fashion. The one pictured below has a complete ensemble. Headdress,...
Feb 6
The Coat Maker Series: Marcia Derse” Loose Change”
If you ask Rachel how to choose a pattern she will quickly tell you that you should choose something you can see yourself wearing. If...
Feb 3
The Coat Maker Series: All Things Blue
If you're taking Rachel's online coat making class this month you've heard her mention or seen her demo a coat named All Things Blue....
Jan 31
Watermelon Wednesday: Walls of Watermelon 🍉
Rachel has a lot of watermelons 🍉🍉 on the walls of her house. They come in all manner of paintings, sculpture and other...
Jan 30
The Coat Maker Series: Cherry Blossom Moon
I have done several exhibits together with two long-time friends. We like to set fabric themes for the 5 to 8 pieces we produce for the...
Jan 27
The Coat Maker Series: The Black Panther Coat “Out of the Shadows”
In Rachel's words, "I was gobsmacked by the movie, The Black Panther!" The third coat in this series jumps out at you, for sure! The...
Jan 24
All signs point to watermelon 🍉
Rachel has a lot of watermelon 🍉 signs 🪧 hung on the walls inside her house. We're featuring three of them today 🍉🍉🍉. This vintage...
Jan 23
The Coat Maker Series: Peacock Blue
The second coat in the coat maker series is Peacock Blue. Here is Rachel's description of how she came up with this coat: There are times...
Jan 19
The Coat Maker Series: The Short Sleeve Coat aka The Curtain Coat
As inspiration for anyone who is taking Rachel's upcoming online coat making class, or anyone who just wants to see some interesting...
Jan 17
Watermelon 🍉 Wednesday, the Kitchen Edition
This week for Watermelon Wednesday we'll focus on a few of the many watermelon decorations found in Rachel's kitchen. First we have a...
Jan 8
Slicing Into the New Year 🍉
We'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Yes, we know it's already the second week of January, but we've all been busy putting away...
Dec 30, 2023
Vittoria's Red Coat
We saved this dramatic red coat for the last one in this holiday series. This coat is an eye-catcher! Vittoria is modeling the coat in...
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