Newly dyed dress

The last few days haven't seen a lot of stitching - I finished putting the pieces together on this dress which was started several months ago as an experiment. You can see my last post which mentioned the dress here. I must now get started on the rest of this project. However, it will have to wait until the African Crosses Quilt gets quilted. I must get this one out of the way. It has been stalled for rather too long as I prevaricated over getting all the stitching completed around each of the appliqued pieces.

African Quilt - pinned ready to quilt

Finally ready to quilt this one. It has been hanging around for far too long. I need to get it done before a talk I am giving next month. The dress will also need to be completed by then too......

African Quilt - ideas for quilting

For the quilt, I decided to revisit a design I played with some years ago. It is based on photos of a rather beautiful carved head which my daughter brought back with her from Tanzania. She wouldn't part with the head, so I took photos and completed a couple of embroideries based on it. I'm going back to the original photo for my quilting design. Must get this finished ready to start work on the quilt itself.

Recent reading matter

My head has not really been on quilting recently. I am keen on getting some dressmaking done this autumn. Not sure how I shall fit this all in, but I am going to try.

Exhibition visited in Macclesfield

On Friday, I found myself in Macclesfield. Whilst there, I visited this exhibition. There are some really interesting pieces on show here, and in the cafe area I found a series of delightful 3D bird sculptures in a mixture of felt and wire with some driftwood. They were made by Alison Rose. I am lucky enough to have gained a place on the workshop she is doing in October. We will be making birds. Such fun!

Exhibition visited in Stockport

Yesterday I travelled to Stockport and whilst there went to this exhibition in the Art Gallery. If you look at the top layer of images of the work on display, especially the image which is third from the left. In this image, on the bottom right corner is a design which should look rather familiar. Yes, it is the very same Tuareg cross which I used as the basis for the applique motifs on my African quilt. This image is of a piece made by Magie Relph where she has used her collection of crosses.

An interesting exhibition by Etcetera. I really enjoyed the wide variety of work on show.

After looking at all this wonderful work I really ought to get on and make something.

Sewing and dyeing

Drying the newly washed dye samples 

As promised last time, here are the photos of the dried samples. These first two photos show everything drying on my washing line.

Persian berries sample

Alder Buckthorn

Rhubarb root sample

Logwood

Apparently, adding a small amount of washing soda carefully to the dye bath can turn the colour from brown to purple. A fascinating process. We were told that the colour could change to navy if too much washing soda is added.

Madder

Cochineal

Dyers Greenweed 

The beautiful darker green was achieved by the addition of washing soda to a smaller sample of the dye bath, Such a difference to what was originally a rather insipid yellow.

Such an exciting process. The last photo shows my favourite - Japanese Indigo. This is a piece of silk and I love it because of the various colours. Some red has leached onto it, but I think it makes it such a really interesting piece of fabric.

Japanese Indigo

I really don't know what I shall with these samples. They are quite small, but I expect most will end up being used one day.

The experimental dress

This is where I have got up to with my dress. The skirt is quite full, and now has pockets which were not part of the original design. I now need to get going with the printing.Not sure where this project is heading at the moment, and totally unsure whether it is worth the effort, but we shall see. I was feeling rather unsure whether to continue at all until I read the Blog posted today by Cherie Haas, the online Editor of Cloth Paper Scissors. Her title was "You might not like this". In her piece, Cherie wrote ",,,,if a project is scary, if it's so big that it seems impossible, then it's worth doing". "I invite you ro dig in, dig deep, and be authentic. You have nothing to lose."

(I should note here that, at the time of writing this, the Blog post mentioned above has not been added to the Cloth Paper Scissors website. Hopefully it will be added later. I found it well worth reading.)

Cherie Haas might have been talking just to me, the dithering, prevaricating me. I really felt encouraged by her words. I just need to clear a space to get the printing done. Sadly it will have to wait until the next project has been completed.

Work in progress

This is not a big project, just a pair of pot holders. The last set I made is currently living with my elder daughter and I miss having them in my kitchen. These will be a bit bigger. I must also get my piano stool upholstered, but that is a story for another day.

Busy sewing, stitching and crochet too!

New pincushion

The past few weeks and months have been crazy. I really don't know where the time has gone, but little in the way of sewing was completed until recently. Hence this post.

The first project was a new pincushion to house my new glass-headed pins. My old, much loved pincushion had seen better days and is currently residing at my younger daughter's house. She didn't have enough pins to assist in constructing a new upholstered cover for her renovated bench. I gave her mine, complete with old pincushion. So, having bought some new pins to replace the donated ones, I put this pincushion together. It is very simple. A little pot, around 2.5 inches tall, found in a charity shop stuffed, with a wad of polyester toy stuffing. The stuffing is contained within a piece of fabric made of selvedges from my collection.

Crochet cushion cover

I also finished this crochet cushion cover. The design was found inside issue 57 of the Inside Crochet magazine. The original design was for double knitting, but I have used 4ply. It makes for a really comfy cushion.

Culottes

This pair of culottes has also been completed recently. The design comes from an old pattern originally from the Burda magazine dating from October 1989. I made these back in 1989 and wore them out, finding them really comfortable to wear. Not surprisingly, I have had to enlarge the pattern by two sizes................. I am rather heavier than I used to be.

Shirt

Another version of my favourite shirt pattern. This time a fitted version of the Hotpatterns design which sadly now seems to be out of print. This now has buttons down the front and is ready to wear as soon as I get around to ironing it.

Dress pattern

This is a current project. Being constructed out of calico (muslin?), this is rather an experiment. I am intending to use this as a printing project once I have the bodice and the skirt constructed. Hopefully I should be able to get most of the sewing done this evening. I shall have to wait until later this week before getting started with the printing, Funnily enough I am off to a printing workshop tomorrow. Sadly, not an occasion when I can get started with this.

The pattern is from  Prima Magazine and is dated 1990. I found it in a charity shop.

Crochet cushion cover in progress

Another current project. This is a project to use up my stash of 4ply yarn, or some of it. The design is actually for double knitting, so my version will need rather more of the little hexagons. The pattern came in a booklet supplied with the May edition of "Knitting Magazine" (UK).

The crochet pattern

Ah well, I must get back to the sewing if I am to get the bodice and skirt parts completed today.