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A Little Stich Practice

A Little Stich Practice

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I finally put the free motion embroidery foot on my Sewing Machine.  I did a small sample to see what different movements did.  I used contrasting thread so I could see what I had done better. As you can see I did a few things. I tried to sew down some loopy yarn. this was hard. The yarn moves and you can’t really pin it very well. Its to easy to run the machine over the pins.

machine stitch sample

The solid red, with lots of stitching is a piece of silk  carrier rod. I tried moving the felt at different speeds and having the machine sew at different speeds.  Fast machine and slow hands seemed to work best so far. You can see near the end I was getting better at controlling what I was doing and managed to write my name. I like the way the stitching looks on the tree best, well the green part anyway.

Here is a shot at the back side.

machine stitch sample back

The machine stitching looks so different than hand stitching. I think the combination of the two will be great. But for now I need to practice my machine stitching. Anyone have any tips or suggestions about machine stitching?

Around the web

Around the web

Comments 3 comments

felting around the web 4

http://www.megacrafty.com/2011/09/tip-easy-way-to-make-felted-balls.html

Inger’s Watermelon Slippers

stitching around the web

http://thatfuzzyfeelingsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/my-new-sewing-machine-progress-report.html

Chain Stitched Jupiter Embroidery

Mr. Finch’s Stitched Moths, Animals and Other Insects

Knotted Feather Stitch Elephant

spinning around the web

http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/2964668/post113681387/ mostly Russian distaffs

Felt Boots Progress

Felt Boots Progress

Comments 12 comments

I have managed to  finish the first stage of my felt boots. They are now felted. You saw the tongues already. http://wp.me/p1WEqk-16m.

Next I had to make the loops so I will be able to lace up the boots.

loop barbells

First you make short ropes with fluffy ends

loops felted together

Then you have to felt them into another piece of felt. then I can cut them out to sew them onto the boots.

Then onto felting the boots.

resist on top

You do not wrap all the sides around the resist.

insert tongue

You have to insert the tongues.

boots cut apart

Here they are cut down the middle and you can see me working the back so there will be no ridge.

one boot shrunk

Here is one after fulling bedside the unshrunk boot.

finished stage one

and both boots done, on top of one half the resist.

leaves

I have started to make the embellishments.

Have you tried anything new lately?

Two Tongues Made

Two Tongues Made

Comments 13 comments

This week I feel like the worlds slowest felter. I managed to get the two tongues for my boots made and that it. They look huge when you start but when your done they are the right sized. The final shrinking does take some work but these are boots so they need to be sturdy.

tongue before and after

One of the reasons I haven’t had time is the lambs. This little guy is called Mr Boots. He is one of a set of quadruplets. He was the first born and got cold while his 3 sisters were born. He was 4 pounds when he was born and looked like a lamb shaped chicken wing, all skin and bone and no substance. He ended up in the house in a dog cage in my living room. It’s a good thing I am not house proud. He is filling out and has a really good set of lungs.

boots

These are his 3 sisters under the heat lamp staying warm. They are doing well and no longer need the lamp.

Mr Boots sisters

We are heading in to some warmer weather this week so things should be a little easier all round. I hope that I have more to show you about boots in my next post.

Sewing, Felt Hat to Purse, Felt Boots.

Sewing, Felt Hat to Purse, Felt Boots.

Comments 13 comments

Last time I told you about organising one section of my room and clearing off the table. My next area is the sewing area. It’s coming along. It started like this:

sewing area before

There is also a bunch of stuff on the floor under and around it that you can’t see in the picture. I have made progress but the shelves to the bookcase have disappeared so it’s hard to fill them up. I did switch the old singer that needs a part for a newer one. I haven’t tried it but it may need a cleaning. I still have the pfaff I can use. I want to set it up for free motion embroidery. It is a work in progress

As part of trying to do some fiber art everyday I have been working on converting a hat to a purse, well, 3 hats actually. The hats started out looking like this:

hat to purse 2

I cut the holy part off and did this:

hat to purse 1

This should add some interest with great texture.

Here is one that has the texture done. The colour on the left one is more what it looks like I think it’s called Laurel.

hat to purse 3 hat to purse 4

I had planed to get the lining in before posting but that didn’t happen. I will show you when I get it done. It will also get a zipper too. I haven’t decided if it should be a clutch or I should find some sort of strap for it. What do you think?

Lastly I have started my on-line boot class. It took me  a while to convince You Tube to let me see the videos and then my Internet went out for a week. So all I managed to do was my sample and get my pattern drawn out.  The sample of gray Finn wool shrank a little more than 50%.

shrinkage

There was a lot of measuring and some math to get the pattern the correct size for the shrinkage.  This is what it looks like at the moment.

boot patten

My mom came for a visit so I couldn’t lay out the boots today. I decided I want to make a leave motif on the boots when they are done so I cut out leaf shapes in white and black. the booths are gray. I stretched a couple with some vintage “artisanal silk”. I am told it’s not real silk but its pretty.  I don’t know if I like it. I was thinking of sewing some veins on with my machine to see how that looks. I have some dissolvable interfacing I thought if I put the leaves on that I should be able to stitch them.

leaves

So I haven’t been able to actually do some fiber art every day but I have been thinking about it everyday and getting to play most days.

around the web

around the web

Comments 4 comments

felting around the web 5 small 400

http://www.peaceindustry.com/page.php

Recycled Knits and Fabrics combined with Felt Scarf by Sassafras Design

Heather’s Red and Yellow Scarves

http://mjuliarossi.blogspot.ca/

Have you been following Liz’s journey with her students for Holocaust Memorial Day?

http://www.feltinhand.com/gallery.htm

http://woollove-functional-fiberart.blogspot.ca/2013/01/under-big-top-scarf-part-1-of-2.html

knitting around the web

http://vimeo.com/54243073

stitching around the web

http://www.wendyfeldberg.ca/galleries.html

Nell’s Textile Art Gallery

mixed media around the web

Simple Directions for Covering a Lamp Shade with Felt

Acrylic Leaf Printing for your Art Journal Pages

Shrunken Books Tutorial from Maggie Grey

http://cornit-felt.blogspot.ca/2012/06/about-our-roses.html

dyeing around the web

http://wendyfe.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/eco-prints-to-start-the-year/

Around the Web

Around the Web

Comments 10 comments

I hope you are all staying sane in the madness around the holidays. Here are a few fun things I’ve found around the web this week. I hope you enjoy them. The list is a bit short as I’ve been busy with lots of holiday stuff at the store 🙂

fibres around the web

Giggle with the Goats

surface design around the web

Free Downloadable Labels from Alisa Burke

Felting around the web banner

Felted Calendar Covers by Jana

mixed media around the web

DIY Cat Toys by Design Sponge

Eyeglass Case to Sewing Kit by Tea Rose Home

 

stitching around the web

Betz White’s Appliqued Felt Christmas Scenes

My Second Entry into the Weather Felting Challenge.

My Second Entry into the Weather Felting Challenge.

Comments 14 comments

I was tidying up after making something else and had a pile of green trimming. With Zed’s felt scraps post still fresh in my mind they looked like branches to me. I think I must be in a tree mood. I used prefelt for the back ground because I didn’t have any scrap black felt and I wanted to get on with making the pictures and not with felt making.

  

I used the edge of an off cut in very pale blue piece of felt for the snow and a very thin edge piece for the clouds and moon. its hard to see but I layered the snow pieces on  2 of the pictures to see if it would give more depth after felting. i have never had much luck wet felting finished felt to semi felted pieces but after some rubbing and rolling it all went together really well. I am quit pleased with how they turned out.

There is more depth in the layered pieces. It doesn’t show well bit it does make the snow look more dimensional.  They still need ironing to straighten up the edges. They are a bit to big to use on cards. I think they might look nice side by side in a long frame.

So now I have answered Zed question what do you do with your scraps. http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2012/11/10/felt-and-fibre-scraps/

Exhibition and Sale

Exhibition and Sale

Comments 10 comments

The guild I belong to, the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild, had its annual exhibition and sale this last weekend. I had a booth selling scarves and wraps and flowers and cuffs and hats etc. The guild does a display on a theme and has demos and promotes our classes. It’s our big event for the year. The venue is beautiful it is a community center now but used to be a church and has a huge domed center.

Here are some pictures of my booth and me explaining what nuno felt is to a customer.

 

 

This is one of the organisers wearing an exquisite shawl she knit using her own hand spun alpaca.

This my friend Judy,http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jumaka.com%2Fspinning%2Fpetfur.html&h=fAQGCIXhy , she not only likes to spin yarn, including dog and cat fur she also likes to spin wood on a lathe to make nostepinne for manually making a center pull ball) and  drop spindles in several styles and weights including supported spindles like she is using in the picture. This is her booth, she shares it with another friend who is more camera shy.

 

The Guild display had the theme around the house  and of course we had spinners and weavers demonstrating.

 

Lastly here are pictures of some of the many booths that where there. We had a good variety with both finished goods and supplies.

     

     

All in all it was a good show with not as many people as usual but the ones that came were buying. I hope everyone’s upcoming sales are good.

Changing the Design of a Nuno Felt Shrug

Changing the Design of a Nuno Felt Shrug

Comments 7 comments

In the spring I made some shrug jackets using a pattern I saw in a book about making simple garments with your weaving. I don’t weave but I can felt a rectangle instead of weaving it.  You would think that I would read what to do instead of just going from memory but that would have been too easy. I made some nice looking shrugs.

Orange shrug after over dying

They look nice enough but they didn’t really fit as well as I would have liked. They were to puffy at the back so not very flattering. I think the problem is the rectangle they are made from was to wide making the shrug to long.  I decided to change them. I unpicked them and gave them a wash to get rid of all the thread holes.

I folded the top down about 1/3 to create a kimono sleeve. You end up with something that is more like a shawl that doesn’t fall off as you use you hands and go about your day.

If you would like a larger collar you can wear it the other way up.

You could also just sew a line down the edge or just the other direction to have a larger sleeve opening. I like these much better. I hope other people like them too. I am going to my guild exhibition and sale this weekend and I will have them there.  On that note if you are in Ottawa this weekend  Drop by the Glebe Community Center to see what we are up to.