Felt making and dyeing.

The past two weekends have seen me taking part in very different workshops.

The first of these was a workshop with Edwina MacKinnon. Here we dyed with indigo and also Potassium Permanganate. This gives a delightful brown shade which goes well with indigo.

Dyeing samples drying on the grass.

We had to leave the samples to dry for a week before rinsing out. As you can see, my samples were wrapped around sticks, clamped with bulldog clips and rubber bands. I tried some Shibori too (the 

fabric is stitched and the fabric gathered firmly before dyeing.) All this was great fun.

Dyeing samples after being unwrapped and rinsed.

The fabric was eventually washed out yesterday and hung out to dry on my washing line. I have still to iron it and put it all away. I think my favourite has to be the blue and white piece to the left of this photo. This was the cotton piece which  I have bound up with bulldog clips. You may see some brown marks on the cloth. These occurred because a couple of the bulldog clips decided to start rusting. Really interesting results.

Turkish felt.

I had some fun during the week playing around trying to make another piece of Turkish felt. This was the result. The fibres used for the back are all orangey brown and yellow. The fabric was first rust dyed before being used for the felt. It really wasn't a very good piece of rust dyeing, so I was quite happy to use it here. It hasn't felted quite as well as my first attempt, but I am quite pleased with it.

broken crockery and tiles

Taking Ella for a walk, I found some really lovely pieces of broken crockery. I couldn't resist picking these up since I could see some possibilities for their use.

the reverse of the same tiles and crockery pieces.

I found the reverse sides just as interesting as the coloured tops, especially those printed marks. These may well reappear at some time in the future. I haven't quite decided how to use them yet.

Felt made using bits and pieces of discarded samples.

Last Friday, I went along to Friday Felters where we made felt to make into twiddlemuffs for alzheimers patients. I am not sure that my piece is going to be good enough since it would need rather more elements to fiddle with. I will need to play with this piece rather more.

Following Friday's felt making session, I returned to Frodsham, once again for another feltmaking workshop. This time it was with the International Feltmakers Association. We were making felt using prefelts, pieces of partially felted fabric. The pattern was based on a skyscraper scene which we were given to use. Pieces of prefelt were cut to shape before the whole piece was felted onto a background of wool tops. 

My skyscraper scene

As you can see, I had a lot of fun playing around with colours. It still needs a little bit of finishing off, but I am really quite pleased with this.

A rather busy few days

Last week was really enjoyable and extremely busy - attending a workshop (woven cushion cover); giving a talk; giving a workshop (mixed media - focussing on texture). Oh, and I returned the quilt stands I had borrowed for the talk too. They will be needed by a group giving an exhibition very soon.

The talk seemed to go down well. I'd taken a lot of my quilts along for the audience to see and handle. They were very complimentary, which was nice.

The workshop on Friday, using the samples I showed last time worked well. We played with Lutrador and Tyvek as well as the Texture Magic samples I have already shared. I brought my heat gun along for the Lutrador samples and one of my irons used for the texture magic samples. Brenda lent me one of her irons for the Tyvek (protected by baking parchment). While my soldering iron was used for making holes in acrylic felt and some sheer fabrics I had brought along. A good time seemed to be had by all. With a lot of interest in exactly how the different materials reacted when heated. I know I learnt a lot from watching everyone else, as well as trying out a couple of ideas myself. 

The workshop on the Wednesday at Pinfold was great fun and I got quite a lot of sewing done.

Reverse of woven cushion cover

The base layer is a water soluble fabric. I drew a grid of lines over this ready for the sewing of strips. Three sets of strips have been added to the base in the photo above.

Adding the last strips

 At the time of writing this, the strips have all been sewn in place and the edging added. I have already washed the water soluble fabric out of the cushion cover and it is now drying in my airing cupboard ready for finishing. I'm hoping to get the cushion made up later this week. Tomorrow?
There are other projects partially made, like the butterfly block intended to be added over the paper collage fabric I showed last week. I haven't had time to work on these just yet, but plan to get some serious sewing done in the next few days.

Butterick 5662

At the weekend I spotted a couple of vintage sewing patterns in a charity shop and bought them. I can see myself making most of these items, including the pair of shorts. Making the trousers first might be a better plan since some trousers were rather loose fitting in the early nineties when the second photo was printed. The first pattern doesn't have a date on it, but it could easily come from the late seventies, early eighties. That waistcoat pattern could become a useful base for the patchwork waistcoat I keep thinking about making. I was challenged some years back to sew myself a patchwork waistcoat but never found the time to start one. Perhaps now is the time?

Butterick 4928

Preparing for a talk and a workshop

Samples for a mixed media workshop

I've been busily hand stitching this last weekend. These are samples for a workshop which I shall be leading on Friday. It is a mixed media workshop and will focus on texture.The samples are calico over Texture Magic. I shall be steaming one of these samples to show exactly what happens with this strange medium. It is a steam activated shrinking fabric which makes some really nice textural interest. I haven't done it with handstitching before, so this should be really interesting. It won't be possible to do machine stitching on the day. I'll post photos once I've shrunk this first sample. Then I should be able to post photos of the other samples I am in the middle of making. I really shouldn't have sat down to write this post.

Fabric bought from Ikea

Last week I had the chance to go into Ikea again. I bought this piece of fabric. It should make a really nice jacket. Not expensive either. I'd gone in to get some more black for the back of my African Crosses quilt. I really do need to get on with that one, especially since there are another three quilt tops which also need layering and quilting. I've decided this must be the year when I start delving into that pile of unfinished projects. 

Paper collage

On Tuesday, I went to Alsager Creative Stitchers. They had a talk from Sue Boardman called "Torn apart and Stitched up". She specialises in stitched paper collage. The challenge for the group this year is to make a butterfly each month inspired by the speaker. Hence my paper collage. I'm not keen on stitching through paper using my machine, so I scanned and printed the collage onto printable cotton.

Printed and stitched version of the paper collage

This is the result. I have free machine stitched all over it using a variegated thread. I'm going to applique a butterfly over the top. You will have to wait for the butterfly, it still resides inside my head. My sewing machine is now safely packed away ready for a workshop tomorrow - lead by Ann Spargo, we will be weaving fabric to make a waistcoat. Fun! Photos later.

ACS butterfly - first version

For the January meeting the members stitched a butterfly onto thin calico.  We were to use a straight stitch, so I have used backstitch. I have also added some beads. The outline of the butterfly itself was the only thing supplied, apart from the fabric. Such an enjoyable session.

Oh, preparation for a talk? Well, that happens tomorrow evening. It will be rather a busy day.