Category Archives: Sewing

January 29, 2015 · 12:49 pm

Quilt finished at long last!

It has been a long time coming, but toward the end of my first burst of holiday time I finally got a proverbial wriggle on and made some serious quilt progress. I have created a series of blocks that each showcase leaves from a specific eucalypt, and embroidered the name of the eucalypt onto the block with eucalyptus-dyed silk thread. Who knew I had it in me?  I thought I had decided against embroidery as a child, never to go back.  I tracked the old posts on this project because I wondered just how long I have been working on this quilt (or not working on it, which is the routine case, of course!)  Just between you and me, this post in July 2013 is my first intimation on the blog that this project was in my mind.  Blocks sitting waiting for courage here.  Blocks finished here.  Sashing attached with help from a visiting friend here. Dyeing the border here.  Back finished here.  Finally, it was assembly time!  Here is the back, pinned out flat on the floor, wrong side up.

2015-01-03 14.38.04

I love the wrong side.  Of most things. The back is made of a mix of recycled, inherited and thrifted fabric.  Next, the minimal batting option for women of a certain age in a warm climate: an ancient flannellette sheet, well past its prime.  It’s hard to tell it was ever blue now.

2015-01-03 14.56.57

The top, pinned out over the rest, is made of stash black fabrics and a mix of recycled and thrifted fabric again:

2015-01-03 16.05.14

All layers pinned together, I decided on machine quilting, coaxed by a friend. The quilting part has never gripped me.  My last quilt was tie-quilted and not really ‘quilted’ with stitching much at all. Clearly the patchwork is my main interest, and the dyeing, of course.  Then, time to make the binding.  There were plenty of leftovers.  I made metres of binding and followed the instructions in Block Party by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kristen Lejnieks.   As usual, with less precision than the authors suggest might be warranted.  Just the same… here it is, kept tidy until stitching-on time…  Second Skin was right behind the ironing board, and seemed perfect for multiple reasons…

2015-01-03 16.44.04

I do understand bias binding, and there are places for it, but I can’t see the point when binding a straight edge, so I went with on-the-grain binding and contrary to the instructions, sewed seams straight across at 90 degrees (okay, it creates less bulk to use 45 degree seams–that part, I concede). I made an exception when I had a moment of curiosity and finished with a lovely 45 degree seam–seen under sewing-machine-mood-lighting below.  Because who needs seams that match?  Maybe next time I’ll give all the binding that treatment, you just never know.  I followed the instructions for mitred corners.  Simple and effective!  Much better than my own past efforts at reverse engineering without instructions.  Done!

2015-01-04 16.57.11

Apart, that is, from the metres and metres of hand stitching required on the back.  And here it is, midsummer!

2015-01-04 16.59.16

But all such jobs come to an end, and now, finally, I have a quilt I love.  I am surprised by how much I like the embroidery.  It just glowed in the sunlit window the day I tried for pictures.

2015-01-14 15.24.40

I like all those blocks with their Latin names and motley prints.

2015-01-14 15.53.07

And I like its all-over-leafiness and the nicely bound edge.  I expect this quilt will be a companion for many years to come, and this is such a happy thing!

2015-01-14 15.25.10

 

24 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Natural dyeing, Sewing

Tagged as , , , , ,

January 26, 2015 · 12:47 pm

…because there can never be too much plant-protective bunting

I have been tidying up the bunting we set up to protect recently planted and small native plants as I pass, adding a few pennants and re-tying after wind and rain.  I am surprised it has lasted so long.  But there are other plants in need of protection.  A woman had a long chat with me as we each tried to figure out what to do about cars parked in ‘the garden’, as she put it, in another nearby newly planted patch.  She confided that there was bunting across the way and it was wonderful and effective and she wished there was some in her street.  I confessed I’d made it and explained how in answer to her questions.  She asked for some.

2015-01-14 17.11.08

We discussed the council and what we might be able to do. I encouraged her to call them.   In the end, I made some more bunting.

2015-01-14 17.48.01

It’s low-fi bunting, this.  I have made some that is labour intensive and lovely, but in the case of bunting that suggests people should stop going where they feel entitled to go–through experience I have learned that sometimes metres of it will be ripped down and vanish in a single night.  I’m not up for that when I have spent a lavish amount of time and care.  This is bunting made from scraps, with minimal effort.

2015-01-14 17.48.08

I cut fabrics to shape, and then sew onto recycled string.  Here, two strands of cotton yarn from an unpicked second hand jumper.  I dyed them years back, inadvisedly, but here they are, coming into their own.  The fabrics include a second hand napkin, what is left of a thrifted sheet (considering most of it became a shirt for a friend years back), remainders of a bag made for my mother, little bits from the cupboard, a panel from a thrifted skirt…

2015-01-14 17.12.16

I piece together little bits, and don’t worry about grain and such.  They just need to flutter in the breeze and offer a tip that this is not a parking bay.  Drape is not a big concern!

2015-01-14 18.26.18

My very patient beloved agreed to come and help me put it up.

2015-01-14 18.41.26

And here we are, admiring our handiwork as the sun goes down and passersby come past with their dogs, too polite to ask. As you can see, the plants we are trying to protect are still small.  Those that haven’t already died must be hard to see from a car.   There is still another spot near here where people park… so there may yet be more bunting!

6 Comments

Filed under Craftivism, Sewing

Tagged as ,

January 12, 2015 · 5:54 pm

Home made mending kits

On a visit to relatives not so long ago, I discovered that an entire family were depending on a single tin of buttons and needles and thread for mending.  When we visited, I was called on to assist in mending and when the tin could not be found–repairs could not be made.  I decided that this was not good enough.  So when we got home, I made up two mending kits to add to the family resources, as two members of the family are reaching the fledging stage of life.  Each comes with a Pohutukawa-leaf needle case, a seam ripper, thread, buttons, and a few other basics.

2015-01-03 17.09.36

Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) is native to Aotearoa/New Zealand and widely grown in Australia.  Here is the interior view of one of the needle case.  They are simple: two layers of leaf-printed wool blanketing, blanket-stitched together.  The leaves gave completely different prints on each side, so the outside of the needle case is one side of the leaf and the inside is a print from the other side.

2015-01-03 17.09.53

This kit makes use of a tin left behind by recent Austrian visitors. It contained a rather delicious Austrian chocolate covered delicacy, but not for long!  I’m delighted to find the next use for this tin.  This kit was big enough to also fit a pre-loved darning mushroom.

2015-01-03 17.08.11

These little kits have found their way to their new homes by mail–I received a text message of thanks today.  And now, I’ll finish on a gratuitous koala picture.

2015-01-07 17.01.35

The appearance of this amazing creature on a Manchurian pear tree at my place of work is not a good sign.  It arrived in a period of extreme heat and little rainfall, no doubt seeking water (and fame, I’m sure–in the bush, koalas are much further away and very hard to photograph effectively–JOKE!).  Over the years a koala has turned up in this spot once in a while–presumably the same one–and water is provided.  In a day or two, it heads back to the nearby eucalypts, since koalas have a very narrow dietary range.  Sometimes one or two can be sighted from a glass walkway up on the second floor, hanging out in the treetops, to equal fascination on the part of passing humans.  Enjoy!

8 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Natural dyeing, Sewing

Tagged as , , ,

January 7, 2015 · 3:29 pm

Summer Indigo 1: Preparation of fructose vat and fabrics

I’ve had indigo on my mind (oh, and on my fingers, too!).  I’d been planning a summer indigo dyeing day with a bunch of locals–and there are folk at the Guild who want to try indigo too.  I was keen to try the fructose vat again.  My last experiment with the fructose indigo vat involved some errors on my part… so I decided on treating it (and all other indigo vats) as a learning experience and trying again. I love the idea of being able to run an indigo vat without using sodium hydrosulphite, and I also love the idea of being able to use local fruit and even the leftovers from jam or other uses of fruit to prepare a vat, thus wasting nothing.  This is what the fructose vat has to offer… So, I took up Maiwa’s instruction sheet for Michel Garcia’s fructose vat, and began.  I am just so delighted to have access to Michel Garcia’s wisdom on this subject.  You can see the instructions as a blog post here or a downloadable pdf here.

2014-12-28 12.45.25

I decided to make a starter: beginning with a concentrated solution first and adding it into the larger vat later. The instructions on hydrating the indigo with marbles in a plastic jar are just such genius… so I started there. I also decided to start the day before I planned dyeing with my group of friends–this was one part of the instructions I missed last time.  Soon my strong solution was ready. Freshly mixed:

2014-12-28 12.59.59

And then… the magic started!

2014-12-28 16.55.39

I mixed the starter into the larger vat and then contrived a very sophisticated system for overnight: a very big bucket with a towel and my two woollen dye blankets inside for insulation, then the vat.  Wrapped for the night!

2014-12-28 18.56.38

Next morning… it all looked rather fabulous!

2014-12-29 10.42.12

In the meantime, I’d been plying my needle during various festive gatherings.

2014-12-26 14.17.52

Can you see the half-circles in the half-light?

2014-12-25 17.25.43

I read Vivien Prideaux’s A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing and tried out some of her ideas in a rather less precise manner than she proposes.  Essentialy, I decided that anything I could prepare to dye in advance was a bonus and precision was the least of my concerns.  her ideas were very helpful.

2014-12-25 16.21.24

I had so much calico from my most recent inheritance I really just stitched whenever I could find time and interest…

2014-12-25 15.12.16

And piled up a little stack of fabric in preparation.

2014-12-25 15.09.28

13 Comments

Filed under Natural dyeing, Sewing

Tagged as , ,

January 1, 2015 · 4:40 pm

Solstice bag extravaganza

As alert readers may have noticed, from time to time I get onto a theme and just keep going.  Bags are one such recurring theme, and in the quiet time on this blog a lot of bags got made. You have only seen the first few.  It went on to become what I whimsically refer to as ‘a bag jag’.  I am susceptible.

2014-12-14 16.51.02

I started on scraps that were on the floor and scaled up to long saved remnants and fabrics bought as offcuts, garments saved for re-use… and from there just kept going.

2014-12-14 16.50.52

 

Why not use some of the bark cloth curtains?  What am I saving them for?  What about those bits purchased at the  op shop?  That rolled up set of print scraps I picked up at a garage sale one time?  Why not interface the openings with the scrap canvas I collected  when I used to dumpster dive that canvas place on the way home from work?  You get the picture.  Before long there was this.

2014-12-14 16.51.43

Then I made more and some went to be Hannukah and Solstice and Christmas gifts so quickly they were not even photographed.  In the end I decided to go for it and just kept making with a view to taking them to my friends’ solstice party/picnic/clothes swap/pinata in the park.  It was a fun thing to do, and a fabulous evening as always, it made me smile to see some folks’ surprise that someone had made them just to give away, and I now have none of these bags left, and a marginally smaller stash of fabrics!

6 Comments

Filed under Neighbourhood pleasures, Sewing

Tagged as , , ,

December 16, 2014 · 3:33 pm

Pecan leaf bag

Some time ago I acquired some pecan leaves from a tree grown by my friends.  They were always destined for the dye pot!  Some prints turned out crisper than others, but overall I loved these prints.  They were printed onto leftovers from a skirt lining and some other plain cotton fabric I bought at a church fete… it clearly had a weaving defect of some kind that meant none of the selvedges and none of the grain in the fabric ran straight.  Best not used for clothing, perhaps, but I have had a great time taking it from plain white to all kinds of other treasures.

2014-11-24 10.33.48

Once I had pieced all the oddly shaped sections together, I had four decent sized panels, and the challenge of choosing which I would prefer on the outside and which for the inside.

2014-11-24 18.42.11

In what turns out to be just about a signature of my sewing, I preferred the pieced together panels to some of the whole leaf prints.

2014-11-24 18.41.06

But the whole leaf prints were good too.

2014-11-24 18.41.24

I decided to give this bag to some friends who live locally.  I often see them in the distance with one calico bag or another in hand or over shoulder… so it seemed likely this would be useful to them.  And I love that they live nearby and that they are fellow carers for the neighbourhood and its people.  I slipped it in their letterbox with a little card…

11 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Neighbourhood pleasures, Sewing

Tagged as , ,

December 12, 2014 · 1:08 pm

Guerilla saltbush planting–and more solace pennants

The latest round of saltbush seedlings have gone out into the big, wide (hot, dry) world.  With the occasional alyssum seedling carried along for the ride.  We loaded up the wheelbarrow and headed out with our well soaked seedlings.

2014-12-07 12.27.33

There was precious little soil to plant them in, in places… but we will just try them out and see how far they get.  We were planting by a pedestrian and cycle crossing, and I was a bit surprised by how many people thanked and congratulated us, perhaps giving us credit for planting that has been done by the council, as well as the 20 or so plants we were setting out.

2014-12-07 12.25.58

Once they were watered in, we wandered off down the road to spread a bit more mulch and pick plastics out of the mulch council has supplied.  Since planting we have realised that the council workers who are watering the council plantings are also watering the ones we put in–awesome!

2014-12-07 12.32.41

There have been yet more pennants for Solace… I went to a conference and spent the quiet evenings, of which there were few, stitching away on these.

2014-12-07 19.35.25

Some are double sided… I told my sister (we had dinner one night while I was conferencing) about the project and she asked what I was writing on the pennants.  When I said ‘ladybirds’ she laughed and said she felt that way about ladybirds too!

2014-12-07 19.34.22
‘Weeding and revegetation’ seemed an appropriate one to show in this post… but when I made this pennant I was thinking of dear friends who weed and care for precious places in the Blue Mountains and beyond… and of pulling out caltrop in the new plantings in our street, which is part of the route of a bikeway!  Caltrop produces the ‘three corner jack’, a vicious spiny seed capsule more than capable of piercing a thong (flip flop) or deflating a bicycle tyre.  For another contribution to the project, you might like to go here and be inspired.

 

6 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Neighbourhood pleasures, Sewing

Tagged as , , , ,

December 8, 2014 · 3:06 pm

Bag making

There came a point in the end of year crazy-pants where I couldn’t stand all the bits and pieces that were lurking around my office/sewing space. Finally, I decided to take action.  Who needs a potato sack in residence in their work space for months?  It went the way of so many potato sacks round here.  This one was a particularly nice sack, with quite a complex weave structure (for a hessian sack).  The printing was even less wash fast than usual (for a hessian sack) but hopefully it will now have another life being appreciated for its carrying qualities.

2014-11-29 16.38.19

Then there were all the small pieces of fabric left over from other things.  I created patchwork from them and soon had enough for a bag (or two!) lined with eco-prints I like less.

2014-11-29 18.15.55

These are mostly small pieces of pre-loved garments that have been turned into other things, with or without prior leaf prints.  This one has already gone to a happy home with friends who use bags all the time.

2014-11-29 18.15.49

And then there was the ongoing bag patching ritual.  There were three or four new holes… so my favourite bag got yet another patching job.  From this:

2014-11-23 12.35.17

To this!

2014-11-23 13.14.30

4 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Sewing

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

December 4, 2014 · 9:25 am

More ‘Solace’ pennants

I still think the idea of India Flint’s Solace project is wonderful.  Having made some contributions that were not to specifications recently… I felt moved to make some that were.  I’ve been piecing together scrap fabrics from other projects as well as using small pieces of treasured fabrics.

2014-11-19 11.04.59

I often think that growing plants from seed is so wonderful that it couldn’t be any better, more exciting or more awe-inspiring if it were magic.

2014-11-19 11.05.16

I am not sure anyone could be who they are without being among, being with, being part of a community.  I know this is true of me.  So friends are at the heart of all that gives me hope and capacity in life.

2014-11-19 11.04.47

And then there is kindness.  Kindness imparted or received. Kindness observed.  Even the kindness of strangers.  Kindness between strangers may be a special kind of treasure.

I found another contribution to Solace,  from Mo Crow, here.  You might want to visit and be inspired.

4 Comments

Filed under Leaf prints, Sewing

Tagged as

November 5, 2014 · 12:14 pm

Solace

India Flint posted some time ago about a new project of hers called Solace.  It speaks to lots of issues I think about a good deal.  Holding tough issues like climate change in my mind a lot, I found the concept of solace as a companion on that path a piece of genius.  She has asked for participants to make flags that could form part of an installation: ‘a collective impromptu poem, recorded on cloth, to sing in the winds’.  I love this idea too.  I pitched it to a group of friends who meet to figure out what we might be able to do about climate change.  We were thinking about despair and discouragement and how to respond to these things, and Solace seemed like one way to me.

2014-10-24 16.51.07

I packed my threads and other necessaries (and dinner…).  The core concept is to create a triangular flag (pennon) with a word or words stitched on it–so we needed thread and cloth.

2014-10-24 16.43.22

I also packed fabrics to share around… this one is a print of an extremely fine-leaved native she-oak… and sadly I wrote its name down in a very special secret place I cannot find now…

2014-10-24 16.43.42

This print resulted from a tip India gave me at her workshop.  It was so exciting when I unwrapped this bundle it is hard to believe months have passed without my having another attempt at that glorious green!  My dear friend took this piece of fabric home with some marigold-dyed thread for him to finish later.  There are some others in development too…

2014-10-25 19.17.22

This one is a print from a friend’s pecan leaves.  India proposes: ‘Stitch on it a word or a phrase or a sentence that might act as a wish for peace or an acknowledgement of beauty, imply a sense of stillness or simply something that  gives you solace. It can be as brief or as long as you like. A haiku, a snatch of song, a word that takes you where you want to be.’

2014-11-02 09.25.22

Now for the confession.  I can’t quite believe that I managed to take my eye off the rather simple instructions and make these shapes and not triangular flags as requested. Do not follow my example in this respect!  I am not sure how I’ve become so forgetful, or so bad at following instructions!

2014-11-02 09.25.29

I will either have to make some more–which I might do anyway for sheer pleasure and participation’s sake–and keep these ones at home–or just send these and hope that they will be OK in a crowd of triangles.  Perhaps with some triangular pennons for company.

2014-11-02 09.25.00

So… there is my start on joining in Solace for now. Anyone else participating?

2014-11-02 09.25.11

21 Comments

Filed under Craftivism, Leaf prints, Sewing

Tagged as , ,