Making sure that I don't miss a deadline

Printed pinny

I printed this pinny a couple of weeks ago. A sample before starting work on my orange dress. The pinny was printed using three different thermofax screens from my collection. The flower and leaf designs are my own whilst the lovely bee image is a stock item from Thermofax Screens. I used calico (muslin) from my bolt of fabric. So useful to have a large amount of fabric to hand when needing to trial ideas. I won't be using the reverse side of this pinny since I have left it plain. However, now I come to think about it, that might be rather useful.......

Pinafore pattern

As you can see, the pattern is one of those really useful and practical ones. My only concern being that there is no pocket. Ah well, something to add to the next one?

My orange dress in the process of being printed. 

When printing the apron after I had made it - a deliberate act since my orange dress had already been sewn together - I quickly discovered that thermofax screens cannot cope with curves. So, for the dress I decided to use some of my collection of wooden print blocks. Drawing some chalk lines to help in keeping the prints an equal distance apart, I printed a quarter of the circle skirt at a time. It seemed to work well. My next project will be to print a length of fabric ready to make up into a dress or a skirt.

The dress has been worn and washed and has survived well. I did add a lining to the dress skirt section since I felt it needed a little more body. I bought some horsehair braid to attach to the hemline, but have not felt it needed that extra stiffening. I must get a photo of the dress once I have ironed it and it is ready to wear again.

Recent fabric purchases

I have been rather naughty lately and bought some fabric. Yes, I had planned to use up some of my fabric stash. Unfortunately, much of that stash isn't in the colours I really need for the clothing I plan to add to my wardrobe. The middle two fabrics here are denim. The upper one was bought from The Denim Company when I went to the Festival of Quilts last week. I just couldn't resist it. Such a pretty floral print.. The top fabric is a light lawn from the Fent Shop and I plan to make a blouse from this one. The green fabric at the bottom was a find in Abakhan and is a textured green jersey from which I plan to make a pair of culottes for the winter months. The plans for the two denim fabrics involve my making up a pinafore dress based on the design of a pair of dungarees seen at the International Model Aircraft Show at Weston Park in June. I managed to sketch the design on a page of my notebook. It will be quite a challenge to develop a pattern from a pencil drawing.......... One thing which troubles me, though is would this infringe copyright? I am not intending to make a pair of dungarees as seen at the show, but a pinafore dress with a similar top to the dungarees I saw.

There has been knitting. I have now completed this jumper and put it away for the cooler months. As you can see, it fits me perfectly. Since I am used to having rather boxy and loose fitting knitwear, this makes rather a nice change and will take quite a lot of getting used to. The design will not be available until the middle of next month since this was a test knit for the designer. I've now started another tes knit for the same designer. This time it is a hat for a toddler. A much quicker item.

I found these two books and the three metre length of muslin (cheesecloth) they are lying on last week on the sales table when I went to Pinfold. The fabric has now been washed and is waiting for different dyeing and printing projects. I quite fancy the idea of a long-sleeved cheesecloth shirt. A very seventies idea.

This last piece was finished a number of years ago and I had never done anything with it. The background is free machine embroidered onto calico with an embroidered paisley element held in place above it. The embroidered piece is stiffened with wire stitched into the outline. The whole was a challenge laid down some years ago by Sharon Boggon to use some of her paisley line drawings. It is quite a shock to realise that I had completed this piece back in January 2007! You can see the sequence of paisley designs I had worked at the time here. The others have not been mounted or framed either.

Those deadlines? Well, the jumper needed to be finished by September 17th. I am a month ahead of myself there. The hat needs to be completed by the end of the month, so I am on target with that. Just so long as I don't get sidetracked. 

I do have one deadline which I must not miss. I haven't yet started work on that. I need to complete my piece for the MEG Colour Challenge by September 25th. I have a diptych in mind for that one. However, I have a pair of culottes on my sewing table which must get finished first. Unfortunately, I made the really stupid mistake of cutting these out without a seam allowance. This has made sewing them a bit of an ongoing puzzle. What doesn't help is that I made exactly the same mistake the last time I used this pattern. Those culottes worked out quite well in the end and were worn a lot during last winter. I'm just hoping that I can make these work out too.

Speaking of deadlines, I really must get myself back and organised into posting here on the blog more regularly. I have got out of the habit and need to retrain myself back into posting weekly. This is one item on my to-do list which often gets overlooked. Apologies to anyone reading this.

Stitching , knitting and plans

My silk/cotton blouse found in a charity shop

 This lovely blouse was a lucky find earlier this year in a charity shop. I haven't worn it yet since I need to remake the sleeves. They are double layered and hang badly. My plan is to take the sleeves apart and to turn the inside layer into a cuff for the bottom of what should be a full elbow length sleeve. It shouldn't take long to achieve, but there seem to be rather a lot of other things that need to be finished first....... Gardening and cleaning my car currently head the list.

The back detail

This next item is one of those that I really need to get finished before too long. It is a set of pieces to make a butterfly block. A challenge from one of the groups I belong to - Alsager Creative Stitchers. It was a project that was the theme of their July meeting. Since I couldn't attend, I was given the block to finish at home.

On Saturday I went along to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. Such fun to meet up with friends again. There are some people I only seem to meet at the Festival. It is always a fascinating experience visiting the show, seeing so many amazing quilts, meeting friends, making new friends. So much to see and do. So many ideas beginning to develop.

This was most of my haul. There is some fabric which I cannot show here since it will become part of the NWCQ challenge which I am leading. I'll explain all about that another time since it should be a lot of fun. 

I've only shown one of my bundles of fabric from Empress Mills. I bought two. These are invaluable for my dyeing and printing. They are made up of a beautiful, tight woven cotton which is a joy to sew into. You can see some of the pieces drying on my washing line. My two bundles, when washed occupied all but half of one side. That last bit was used by a gorgeous piece of jersey found on a really interesting stand at the show. I bought the pattern there too. 

The Steam a Seam was free, as was a reel of cotton from Mettler. Being pink, it might not see any use for a while, but is bound to come in useful.The beautiful little zipped bag was won on the Tombola. It was made by Helen Butcher and will be used to house my new collection of quilt clips. You can see them peeping out at the top of the photo. I have one set of red and another of blue. I bought some more of the cotton sheets for my inkjet printer. I ran out recently, just when I really needed some more.....

Apart from some items for printing and dyeing, and thread too, there is a set of "Do it yourself markers" which I am looking forward to playing with. Apparently I should be able to use these to soak up colour, using them like a marker pen. I do like new toys.....

I managed to finish my cardigan, adding the buttons this afternoon. Why did I finish this on a really hot day so that I really don't fancy trying it on? I started this particular cardigan some months ago, abandoning it at one stage when I needed to get on with other projects. It is a pattern by Martin Storey for Jaeger, printed back in 2004. The design is called Lucille.

Ah well. I treated myself to some really nice yarn today whilst I was in the Wool Shop. It is a dangerous place to visit, especially when buying buttons armed with a collection of patterns. This is a soft Acrylic/ Bamboo mix. The pattern is from a Jaeger pattern book which is over ten years old. I've always loved this waistcoat pattern, so it will be nice to start this later.

Experiments in printing and dyeing.

Printed calico bag - inverted

I've been busy since I last wrote. Firstly, I was involved in a delightful printing workshop. This was such fun. We were printing bags ready for the Festival of Quilts. They were donated to the Tombola which raises funds for The Quilters' Guild of The British Isles of which I am a member.

Printed bamboo bag - correct orientation

Printed black calico bag - correct orientation

We could each buy three different bags - two were calico, one being black. The third was a little more unusual, being made of bamboo. I must admit to having preferred the calico bags. I brought six extra bags home with me to print as presents. The three shown will be, by now, with their new owners since I donated all three bags which were completed on the day. The photos were taken as they dried on a washing line.

Last Friday I was really lucky and went to an Introduction to natural dyeing with the Frodsham Friday Felters group. We travelled to North Wales and visited Helen Melvin in her fascinating Blaen Wern Dye Garden.

Rhubarb root (Rheum sp)

The photos you see here are the wet samples of the different dyes we tried as they waited on the draining board in my kitchen. I shall post photos of the rinsed and dried samples in my next post.

Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria)

Persian berries (Rhamus sp with rusty nails)

Helen's dyed wool - fermented Alder Buckthorn

Alder Buckthornm (Frangula alnus)

Cochineal (Dactylopius Coccus)

Logwood

Dyers Greenwood (Genista tinctoria)

Madder (Rubia tinctoria)

It was really interesting to walk around Helen's garden with her commentary on what each plant was and the colours that could be achieved using different mordants. Different parts of the plants were used - dried berries or roots, or fresh leaves (Japanese Indigo). All dyebaths, bar the Japanese Indigo, were prepared by Helen before we arrived so that we could make the best use of our time with her. I was able to help collect the leaves and liquidise them ready for use. Since I had forgotten to wear gloves, my nails were a rather nice shade of turquoise by the time I had finished.

The last photo shows the bodice I have been making. I am intending to print and paint the dress while it is in two pieces - the as yet uncompleted bodice and the skirt. The skirt has still to be assembled.

The almost finished bodice

You may have seen the pattern photograph in my last post. You can see it here.