Eco Printing

Around 3 years ago during my Blodeuwedd - The Flower Bride project I buried a silk scarf in our compost heap at home.  I placed rose leaves onto the silk then rolled it up and thought I would find it again after 3 or so months.  Well my husband found it 2 weeks ago, he passed me a dirty roll and said I presume this is yours!  It never made it to my project and unfortunately I don't have the original photographs to show the first step before burial.   My tutor at Bradford Hannah Lamb may well remember the missing piece from my files.  

Now that I have found it I hope to revive it within my ongoing project with vintage scarves.  I feel that I can add this (embroidered of course) as the only 'new' scarf - as it really was found and revived.

Claire Wellesley-Smith and Hannah will understand my delight at finding it - there is no comparison to the wonderful India Flint!

Natural Dyeing - Workshop with Claire Wellesley-Smith

I had a lovely weekend on Claire Wellesley-Smith's Natural Dyeing Workshop at The Hive in Shipley.  The two days covered an introduction to natural dyeing using plants from the garden and also kitchen waste such as onions.  The colour palette produced from plants/trees such as woad, elder, walnut, madder and indigo (to name a few) are joyous.  Although some can produce bright colours they certainly aren't harsh like synthetic dyes and really do echo the colour palette of your garden.

Claire is a very good tutor, calm, organised and very willing to share her wealth of experience.  It is not just about learning what you can do with plants etc but also the history behind natural dyeing. It was really interesting.

The other nice thing about attending this workshop was sharing within the group of people attending - all very eager to learn more, getting our hands (with rubber gloves on!) stuck in and delighting in the outcome.  This organic way of dyeing isn't always predictable - so its exciting to see what comes out of the pot and after its dry, the final colour.  Of course you can always dye your fabric first in onion skin dye, once dry (or rised) you can put into the Madder pot and out comes a lovely orange.  Gaining other colours comes with experience.

Claire's guidance produced a room full of colour in silk, wool, yarns, fleece and cottons.  This introduction was exciting and there is so much more to learn.  I am looking to using the fabrics within some patchwork which as I feel the 'slow' process of creating and the calmness it brings is perfect; therefore stitching into the fabric and making slow textiles is another important process.

Thank you Claire, your workshop was wonderful and inspiring.  I would recommend this to everyone who enjoys creating organically, involving the slow process and the excitement the whole process brings, learning a new skill which was just pure fun.

I will post more photographs this week but here are all my fabrics just drying in the sunshine.

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Workshop - Fiona Wilson

On 19th May I attended one of Fiona Wilson's workshops called Drawn Marks for Stitch.

Because we had completed our degree together (Fiona graduated the year before me) Fiona was worried that she couldn't teach me anything (I am sure she wont mind me talking about this).

I explained that even though a person has completed a degree etc sometimes life takes over and you forget a) how much you know b) how to think, create and just play c) you can lose confidence in your own skills.  Therefore I had a wonderful day, drawing and stitching, playing and remembering!  

Fiona is an excellent 'teacher' she is calm clear and very informative.  But most importantly she allows you to play in your creativity, which is something you quite often forget to do.  

If you think you cant draw - you can, if you are a relatively beginner to machine stitching - she teaches you skills to use your machine better - even if your machine only has a straight stitch there is so much you can do with it!

Thank you Fiona for a lovely day.

Found and Revived continued

Still progressing with my project but haven't found a "Winter" design scarf yet - I am looking for nylon, preferred age around 1950's/60's similar to the ones I have.  Ebay hopefully will be a source - but if anyone has an old scarf in a drawer they would be willing to sell me?

I really hope to find one with a label on (my spring ones just states Nylon, Italy) but I love the fact its still on.

I find some stitches more enjoyable - cretan, herringbone, french, whipped spider web and bullion are favourites - in fact I cant really think of any stitch I don't particularly like but I am sure you know what I mean when you have ones you just love doing.

With the wonderful weather I have been stitching outside in the shade, which is just perfect.

Found and Revived

I have a new project on the go called "Found and Revived" and here is a sneak peak.  I love vintage scarves even when they are slightly damaged and worn in places and by embellishment and embroidery you can revive areas.

They won't be wearable because they are too delicate - this is a Nylon one made in Italy (looks like 1950's/60's) and there will be four in total.

Susan Crawford

Last November I met Susan Crawford at the Knitting & Stitch Show in Harrogate and yesterday had the pleasure of meeting her again. She adapts vintage knitting patterns and resizes them - but stays true to the original design. She has written 3 books (two co-authored with Jane Waller) A Stitch in Time (Vol I&II) and Vintage Gifts to Knit. Vintage fashion, patterns and the history of British knitting are her obsessions (her words) and I would say she is unique in her style and adaptation, reclaiming and reviving amazing designs.

My knitting is basic to say the least but I hope sometime in the future I will have time to (try) knit one of her designs.

Studio Space

I have been using our basement for quite some time as my studio space but always sat in my dining-room to sew because of the large windows and the light being better. So I finally made the change into our spare bedroom upstairs which is a lovely light/bright space - I should have done it years ago.

A lot of de-cluttering has had to take place which is good and I now have a more creative room to work in. There is still a lot to move up here but essentially I can now work straight away which makes me feel so much happier. Light is so important when sewing.

Its tidy at the moment - not sure what it will look like in a few weeks time.....