Category: sewing

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A full day

Chocolate peanut butter cups surrounded by warm, chewy peanut butter cookies.

Sounds of an electric bass playing tentatively with a more assured hand on the piano.

Green threads, and off-white and blue and black and tan matching the various materials.

Sewing machines whirring, different speeds, different patterns, different results.

Snatches of seasonal songs over speakers, hummed, jazzed, reverent, words forgotten, silly.

Scents of vanilla and peanut butter nudging into the domain of garlic and tomatoes.

Small tree lights involved with shells, willows, baskets, plants, vases.

–Some of the things that made up my day. Tomorrow will include dirty socks.

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Shirts

The pocket book is coming along. Probably should have used a template to get them all the same size and shape, but then the pockets are different sizes and shapes. Some with flaps, some with buttons, some stand alone. The cloths are different weights of silk as well as different colors. There is this one – a dreamy suede-like silk in a deep gold woven in a lovely shimmery flowery pattern – if the shirt had fit I would be wearing it!

All the shirts come from a thrift shop in the area. Great way to find a variety of different cloth. The shirts were originally purchased with the idea of ripping them up and combining them with some of my mudcloth into vests or whatever. They got as far as being washed and considered….

At least, now, they are being used. And I have plenty of scraps to work into my original thought.

Making those first cuts was the hardest thing….

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Fibery Day

It seems it was a fibery sort of day for more than just me today.

Started off with a meeting of the creativity study group at the Weavers Guild – did a color and  drawing exercise with the group and signed up to lead next December’s project. From there I made a quick stop at Staples and then headed to Hancock Fabrics. I wanted to pick up some interfacing to use in the pocket book project.

While I was pondering the various thicknesses of interfacing, LD (one of the creativity group members that I had just met with) walked in! She had a felted sweater project she  needed to line. We shared ideas about each other’s projects, and in the middle of that discourse, JS (a woman from church) came in! She expressed great surprise and relief that I was there, proceeded to describe her fiber dilemma (the framing of a cross stitch piece with an irregular border) and both LD and I were able to give her some advice. Her husband thought it great that all the ‘experts’ were in the store!

And then when I was literally about 10 feet from the door on my way out (after deciding that one of LD’s suggestions would work and I didn’t need any interfacing), in walked IH (another Weavers Guild member who has been out of the country lately)! LD and I both chatted her up for a bit. Can’t remember her fiber need, but she is a dollmaker – I expect that might have been her interest today.

Back home, I was able to bury a bunch of ends in the arm socks that are finished, knit a bit more on one of the pairs still needing work, and fiddle around with the pocket book pieces a bit more today. Raised the ph on some of the black mud to get it good. And munched on a bunch of celery pieces.

All in all a very good, pleasantly filled, fibery sort of day.

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Boubou 2

Finished it today! Actually, all I had to do today on the piece was the pockets. BUT… the pieces of mudcloth I wanted to use needed to be darkened a bit which meant sunshine on the oak juice I had used as a wash. And today was a spectacularly sunny day – along with no humidity and cool temps!

Anyway, after the sunshine, it took a bit to situate the cloth just right, and then I wanted two pockets, and then the machine started to act up again, and … finally finished. I forgot about taking a picture until after I had it all neatly arranged to deliver to the guild house, so a detail showing the front pockets is all there is at the moment.

Tomorrow, recycled papermaking at the guild house as part of their MidSummer Fiber Arts Sampler. Come on over if you have the time!

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Boubou

Had the sewing machine cranking today (and no problems with it – hurray!). Our Weavers Guild exhibit chair wants an exhibit of clothing based on ethnic experiences and has asked our group of Mali travelers to come up with some pieces.  I have this really neat boubou that I brought back from Mali, so that is my inspiration.

A boubou is like a large rectangle of cloth with a hole for the head and a large pocket on the chest. Sometimes the sides are sewn together, sometimes not. The men seem to wear it like a duster – it covers their good clothing, keeping them clean from all the dust. I bought it to use as a before-and-after hot tub cover-up.

Some brown/black/gold/orange patterned cloth that I  had purchased with a swirly skirt in mind was put to use. The body is finished (just a bit of hem yet to do). I am waiting for the sunshine tomorrow (glorious rain today!) to darken some tannin before using a piece of mudcloth on the front for the pocket. Will post a picture when it is finished.

Should be finished with a series of mudcloth experiments tomorrow, too. Some interesting results coming out of it. And more experimenting to do, too!  It seems that one thing leads to another… and for every variable that gets changed, all the other ones need to be tested.