Fade away

I swear that this year is passing at lightning speed. I can not keep up and too many things have been left un-blogged:

Another loom, Mirabelle, was given new life on Mother's day. Samm is off and running with her new weaving and some amazing paper self-spun yarn as weft. I look forward to when she shows me how to do that!

Winter is here with rain, lightning, thunder and a leaking roof. Enough said, will deal with that tomorrow when I ring up the roof plumber and then wait........

Craft camp (a week ago already), organised by Suzie, was a productive and much needed couple of days away. I had been feeling any trace of creativity has 'faded' away and that I really need to make something, anything as I have not really woven, knitted or sewn very much this year. Suzie pointed out this fabric (called Fade Away) to me a couple months ago at Tessuti. She said that I had to go and see it. In fact, I had seen it and decided that if I did not have a project for it, I was not going to get it. (You see I am trying to cut down on buying fabric and yarn this year, not very successfully I might add.) Upon second look, I figured it was the perfect thing for the New York cape. I have seen a sample of it in the shop and had seen a few of them made in blogland.

Jules and I did a sew-a-long and made hers out of Harris Tweed, complete with label that has the weaver's name on it! I can't wait to see her finished cape.

The fabric is amazing: a double weave with gradation of woollen weft from black to white with a mix of silk in the middle. I had a good look at the structure and will try to have a go at weaving something like it one day. I still have some scraps so will do a study of it then.

I think that this is the best use of the fabric that I can come up with to show off its beauty. As the fabric was reversible, I just managed to to cut out the pieces of the cape , less the front facing. Suzie, the most generous soul gave me enough from her piece to make the facing. I am forever grateful and relieved that I did not have to look for alternative fabric. 

The original pattern calls for an exposed wool binding. I didn't want that dark outline around the paler section at the bottom so I made some binding out of some silk chiffon I had in stash. I turned the hem under with the binding and then hand stitched it down so that there was no exposed stitching on the outside.

All the seams were bound with the silk binding (pattern calls for ready made purchased bias binding) as well but they are machine stitched. I was a bit confused as whether they were totally bound with bias tape or what is called Hong Kong finish. I think that the latter results in less bulk.

I also used sewn on 18mm press studs instead of buttons.
I felt like I had done this in a much more complicated method than what the pattern had intended. However, I think that the fabric itself dictated some of that. One good thing with having Tessuti in Melbourne was that I could try on their sample at the store before starting the project. There are probably a couple of technical things I would do differently but I like it that I learn something new with every project. A big thank you to Suzie and Lisa for all your help.
So bring on Winter, I am ready with cape.

Ginkgo O Ginkgo

The Ginkgo (銀杏) is one of my favourite trees and I wish that I could have one in my garden. However, I am a brown thumb and the only things that tend to grow in my garden are the undesirables termed as 'weeds'.
It is close to a year since I was last in Japan, there the Ginkgo trees are found in lots of places, as street trees where they are young, contained, pruned and grow quite straight.

In temple grounds where they are ancient specimens,  propped up, fenced off and protected.

 I love the fan shaped leaves and the colours as they turn in Autumn.

I love how easy it is to use it as a motif in design.

There is this talented textile print studio, Ink and Spindle in Melbourne that has translated this motif so well...... 

I have been making cushions out of their 'ginkgo' range, some for presents for friends living overseas and one for myself to keep! I have inserted invisible zips in the seam and sewed up the corners to create the box shape. Easy!

Under cover

I have been meaning to do this for a while.
The skein winder comes in this beautiful unpolished timber and it has been sitting on top of the book shelf, gathering dust. I use it but not often enough that it stays dust-free.

During the break between Christmas and New Year, I made some carry bags from Ikea fabric, which I use for groceries. I love their bold prints as I am not mad keen on those green 'environment' bags. From the bags, I seem to have these strips of fabric left over. I have been thinking of ways to use up fabric scraps, so I took the skein winder out and did a bit of wrapping with the fabric and it fits perfectly! Bonus points for using zippers from my stash as well.
They were so easy I managed to whip up three of them, one for myself and the other two are on their way to new homes.  

At last

I started this last year aiming to have it ready for spring/summer but at last, it is completed. Fortunately, the autumn weather is still warm enough to wear it.

The pattern was rated easy but it was not so easy and definitely for experienced sewer with time. There was a confusing section in the instruction on the collar stand and that made me put the project on hold for a bit, while I try to find out what I was supposed to do. Finally, a friend and I worked it out over some tea and cake one day!

It is made of an Italian linen I bought on sale for A$10/m, beautiful to work with and I had washed it before hand so that I won't have to get it dry cleaned.  I also found these painted buttons made of coconut shell that matched perfectly! They are 40mm dia so I decided to sew snaps/large press studs behind instead of making button holes.

One thnig leads to another and this side of the press-stud needed to be covered. I found the instructions to do them on the Threads website. Very easy to follow and am very pleased with the results. If I had a thinner material, it would have been better, but this works.

Loom waste

This will be the practice piece for the box cushions. It is a sample that I wove from the last 50cm left on the loom. I like to use as much of the warp as I possibly can, usually by trying new weaves and experimenting with different tie-ups and threading.
It is an 8-shaft honeycomb woven with 2 ply bendigo wool for the base weave and a slub yarn as the outline weft. I like the way it shrinks after washing to give a lace-like effect.

I got some black denim to form the basic stucture of the cushion and I think the texture and the colour work well together. The fringe will be hidden in the hem so that I get a neat square finish.

The very last bit of loom waste: what do other weavers do with them?
I usually give mine to Michelle who will use it in her resin and glass projects, and I have been saving the ends of the needlepoint scraps for Carole to use in her felting.