Leftover bits of silk and brocade in blues, greens and mauves, just begging to be part of something or other. I don't know what, but it was lovely to pat them and take them home. I'm thinking of doing a small bag in crazy patchork, but for now they're just fun to have and they won't cause me any problems with clothes not fitting properly.
Showing posts with label silk scraps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silk scraps. Show all posts
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Treats
I spent a happy couple of hours stitching at my friend M's place yesterday afternoon. We used to be part of the same quilting group, but my attendance has fallen to nearly zero lately. That makes it extra good to catch up when we can. I'd asked M to spare me the temptation of any sweet treats. My resistance is particularly low with the cold weather. Instead I found these scraps of fabric on the table when I arrived: 
Leftover bits of silk and brocade in blues, greens and mauves, just begging to be part of something or other. I don't know what, but it was lovely to pat them and take them home. I'm thinking of doing a small bag in crazy patchork, but for now they're just fun to have and they won't cause me any problems with clothes not fitting properly.
Leftover bits of silk and brocade in blues, greens and mauves, just begging to be part of something or other. I don't know what, but it was lovely to pat them and take them home. I'm thinking of doing a small bag in crazy patchork, but for now they're just fun to have and they won't cause me any problems with clothes not fitting properly. 
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Reverse Psychology
This is the front of the bag in which I've been keeping the Cockatoo Quilt:
I made it the day I washed my first fleece. It's a crazy bag and I made it by crazy process of reverse psychology . . .
I'd been warned to prevent felting when I washed my fleece. I'd read that temperature changes and agitation were the main things to avoid. So I was very, very careful. I used lukewarm water to soak the fleece overnight; I handled it gently, and all the time I was anxiously looking out for any signs of felting--not that I really knew what to look out for. By the next afternoon I had a clean, unfelted fleece and a body full of anxious energy.
With the washing safely out of the way, I decided to give vent to some of my pent up energy. I took a few handfuls of fleece and determined to find out what I would need to do to make it felt. I let myself loose on that fleece for an hour or so.
I made it the day I washed my first fleece. It's a crazy bag and I made it by crazy process of reverse psychology . . .I'd been warned to prevent felting when I washed my fleece. I'd read that temperature changes and agitation were the main things to avoid. So I was very, very careful. I used lukewarm water to soak the fleece overnight; I handled it gently, and all the time I was anxiously looking out for any signs of felting--not that I really knew what to look out for. By the next afternoon I had a clean, unfelted fleece and a body full of anxious energy.
With the washing safely out of the way, I decided to give vent to some of my pent up energy. I took a few handfuls of fleece and determined to find out what I would need to do to make it felt. I let myself loose on that fleece for an hour or so.
- I lathered it with soap,
- I poured boiling water on it,
- I rubbed it and scrubbed it
. . . I treated it as badly as I knew how . . . and still it hardly felted. But I did feel better. Then I spread the wool roughly over a rectangle of gold coloured fabric, I added scraps of silk and stitched it all down with variegated cotton thread. Another piece of fabric and a ribbon handle and there was my crazy bag. I'm more confident handling fleeces now, but the crazy bag is still lots of fun.
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