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Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Suffolk Puffs, Dorset Buttons and Stencilling

30th July 2014

Another amazing day...

...my walk from the bus to school this morning...











......today we learnt how to make a Suffolk Puff (not a cake!)...

......used some of my indigo muslin, small running stitches around the edge and padding circles inserted....


.....then stitches gathered and secured....


......a Dorset Button made by stitching blanket stitch around a curtain ring and working the centre by weaving the 'spokes'. I used 4 strands of silk thread. This can be made in any size and any thread.


My first attempt at stencilling, I need lots of practise!!!!


More indigo dyeing on silk noil...


....and threads and silk strips for weaving and couching.


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Walked home through Oxford, such beautiful buildings....











...a college garden...




...and even some yarn bombing!!!


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When I arrived back at my B&B Katherine took me to see The Turrill Sculpture Garden.....








....ceramic bird bath...


...water feature...






....such a beautiful setting for these wonderful works of art!

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Another wonderful day learning new skills, time is going too quickly!!!







Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Weaving, Drawn Thread and Preparing a Wall Hanging!!

29th July 2014

Another beautiful day weather wise and a brilliant day on the course.....

.....the garden where I am staying.....


...so peaceful.

Tie dyeing from yesterday...

...made using washers and buttons....


.....using marbles....


....fabric scrunched and clamped....


.....variety of yarns....


......

Last night I stitched on muslin......


....pulled the threads and stitched some of the pleats...


.....after ages unpicking this is the result!


 Think this is my favourite so far as the pattern is so delicate.

Today Anne demonstrated weaving, drawn thread and stitch, joining fabrics using stitch and lots of ideas for machine embroidery....


....tips on sewing separate panels as seen in the example in the bottom left of the photo...


....I then started three projects....


...weaving on my dyed hessian...


...drawn threads and some stitch....


....a wall hanging using some of my indigo dyed fabrics....


....the colours are actually more vibrant than they appear!

The others in the group were machining and creating some really beautiful and original pieces, Anne took lots of photos and I will let you know when they are on her site.

Such a wonderful, busy, creative day, looking forward to tomorrow......








Monday, 28 July 2014

Indigo Tie Dyeing

28th July 2014

As I write this post I have a view of the lovely garden where I am staying in Oxford. I will try to remember to take a photo tomorrow.
The lady I am staying with very kindly gave me a lift this morning and am am pleased to say I didn't get lost on my way back this evening!

The day started with setting up the vat (nappy bucket with lid) with the indigo dye.

Anne showed the group some of her beautiful work then we set to with thread, screws, bolts, buttons, pegs, shapes etc to make our creations.......

....I used running stitches.....


.....pulled tightly and secured....


.....then dropped in the vat for about 15 minutes.......

....wet...


...dry.


When the fabric is taken out of the vat it is green and it gradually changes .....


...... the stitches were removed and the fabric was rinsed until the water was clear.

Next I took a piece of muslin, gathered, twisted and knotted it...


.....wet...


...dry....


....cotton fabric folded and a rectangle was placed on it and secured with pegs....


.....result....


....hessian rolled and secured with an elastic band....


.....screws were wrapped with thread to produce this pattern...


.....unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of this before it went into the vat....


......the fabric was folded lengthways in triangles, wrapped around a bottle, secured with 2 elastic bands and buttons were put under the bands.

As you can see we had lots of fun  experimenting and will be 'showing and explaining' to the group tomorrow.

I am now going to attempt a spiral pattern with stitches so watch this space......