Spirit cloth - Serendipity I is done

I have finished it. I have to admit that I love it.

I have started the next one, haven't taken any pictures yet, but will be back soon with some. I am also experimenting with natural dyes. I have read Eco Colour by India Flint, and there is also a bit about plant dyes in my newest favourite book, Slow Stitch by Claire Wellesly Smith.

These jars contain some alum and spices, like turmeric and paprika, in different combinations. I have also picked some flowers, both wild and garden flowers (asked my landlady for the withered petals from her rose and peonybushes). Put them in the freezer for a few days, then did a few variations, e.g. used some as "tea" (poured hot water over the petals), some I simmered for about an hour before putting in the fabric, some I just put in some warm water and will let them sit for a long time, some I rolled up in a piece of fabric and put them in a ziplock bag... They are outside, theoretically the sun should warm them and help with the process but this is Sweden, we don't see much of the sun. :(

I started a book with records of all the experiments, otherwise it is difficult to remember. I will report here those methods that work. Really curious but have to wait for a while to have some results.

I have also been sewing a lot lately but my sewing machine has been acting up, and this morning it gave up totally. I need to take it to the service. :( Annoying: not only do I have a huge pile of clothes to mend, I wanted to make new curtains, and I am also planning to do some more patchwork. Not to mention the cost of the repair... let's hope it won't be too bad.

Spirit cloth - or where does it become art?

I consider myself very lucky that I could go and do a two-year textile teacher course at Umeå University. I needed the qualification, but I learnt more than what I am using in my job. I feel I managed to unleash some creativity, some freedom, som kind of courage in myself. Not fully, not yet, but I am on my way. :D

Since May, when the course was over, I have been planning to finally have lots of me-time in my crafts. Don't have to do any more homework. I have lots of sewing projects planned, clothes, bags and patchwork, but I was mostly looking forward to get into my most favourite of all crafts: embroidery. Even though I was working with it all this last term.

I have been looking at works, blogs, books by many textile artists and I have been accumulating inspiration. Then quite recently I found the concept of Spirit Cloth and a video course by Jude Hill, and I could wait no longer. I had to try my hand at it. Love the way Jude explains her work process, how she does not stress over things, how she builds up her pieces organically, almost randomly, with lots of improvisation. I thought this might be the right way for me.
I was also looking a lot at Karen Ruane, and Amy Meissner's Inheritance project ( I am even sending her some of my old fabric pieces for the project). I, too, love old fabrics and want to incorporate them in my work, want to give them new life.

So a few days ago I started, as if it was a lesson plan, by sewing three pieces of fabric together, like Jude says, in a landscape format. Then I sewed them on a very thin fabric. And old bit of linen, with the badly frayed edges became the bottom, a colour catcher that came out of the washing machine with this pretty peachy colour, forms the middle. The top part, the greenish-blue piece was originally my ironing cloth, which obtained the colour when I was trying to iron a pile of tie-dyed pieces. (They were done in my school in a science experiment and obviously the colour was not fixed because it all ended up on my iron and on my ironing cloth.)
I was really lucky with these colourful accidents, wasn't I?

After this, I added one element after the other. Old embroidery, doily, selvage from a nice fabric, a machine embroidered gauze fabric, leftover tulle pieces... a bunch of linen (or perhaps hemp) thread... lots of fraying edges... I was improvising. I added some figurative elements, like the birds and the flowers, but other parts are totally abstract. I used couching and applique.

I also added some embroidery stitches to enhance the shapes, but then I stopped myself thinking that I can continue with this when doing the "quilting". This is not going to be a real quilt, but it is three (or more) layers, and the backing fabric needs to be sewn together with the top layers. For backing I chose and old kitchen towel, looks like it might be hand woven. A bit thick, and a bit battered up, but it works well in giving the whole piece some stability.

I started the quilting, but not finished yet. I also started sewing down the "binding" - that is I just folded over the edge of the backing fabric. I left one side unsewn for the time being, in case the layers shift a bit in the quilting process.

You can see the quilting in the back, so far I was echoing the shapes on the front with matching thread - so the back will have different colours. But it's all right because most of them are muted and close to each other. Have I mentioned that I am also using some vintage thread? Bought them in a second-hand shop years ago. They are lovely to sew with, roughly the same thickness as 6-stranded floss, but 4 strands, and each ball is 40 meters. And I had an exact match for the linen and the peach fabric. I wish I had more colours.

I am enjoying the process. This took me about 4 days (not doing this all day, of course) so it is not so slow as one might think, considering it is all done by hand. But I am a bit unsure. My long term dream is to create textile art of my own. But I was reasoning like this: if I am waiting to become an artist before I start making things, it will never happen. It is better to get started, even if I am using methods learnt from others, even if I am not all that very original in my theme (like birds flying in the blue sky :P ) and just keep going. Sooner or later perhaps I will develop my own style, my own technique, my own little textile world.

This is the question that perplexes me. When does a piece of work become art? When does it become all mine - even if I am using motifs, like birds and flowers, that others also do? Will I know? Or is the doubt always part of it?

Anyway, I am going to be bold and name the piece. A piece of art (original or not, good or not) should have a title. So this is going to be Serendipity I. (The number indicates that there are more coming.)

If anyone has the answer to my questions, please don't hesitate to share :D

Happy stitching, everyone.

Christmas stitching 1

Perhaps you could guess from the pictures in my previous post: I was again selling some of my things at the Christmas market. I went to Vattholma julmarknad, this is near where we live, about 20 km from Uppsala, and also to Hågaby - this is in town. They went OK, not too good but better than lat year. I had to realise, again, that you cannot really make profit on needlework. At least I got back the cost of the material.

After the two big markets, I also did small ones in the staff room of my school, and at my boyfriend´s workplace. All the money from those I sent to a charity, and that felt really good.


So here are some of the things I made.

You may remember from the last two years that I love making small embroidered felt ornaments.

I made the usual read and white ones. Forgot to take a good picture of them, and now only have a few left, not the most beautiful ones. They looked like these, but there were different shapes, hearts and stars, decorated with applique, embroidery and beads.

Here is a detail from the above picture on the market, not a really good one but perhaps you can see the variety.

But my favourites were these white ornaments, embroidered with gold metallic thread. Unfortunately they were not as popular a the red-white combination. (Swedish people are quite traditional when it comes to their Christmas decorations.)

This time I also tried making some cross stitched ornaments. It was simply that I missed cross stitch, I didn´t stitch so much lately with all the university assignments. It was fun to stitch them - but did not sell many. I still have a lot of them left.

The ones with the red felt around them were not so easy to make: the felt stretched out of shape a little. Perhaps I should have starched it a bit before cutting.

I also made some felted ball ornaments. They are actually recycling: we make them at school, during the felting unit, and kids often leave them behind if they do not turn out as they expected. So I collected them, worked on them a bit more to make them fully felted, then dyed them in kool-aid. :) Then added some embroidery and beads.

And this year again I made the little walnut-babies. I love them, they have such a great feeling to them, old-fashioned, natural, cute... They speak of Christmas to me.

I wrote about how to make them here. This time I embroidered the star in the middle instead of glueing.



And finally, a few pictures about my embroideries that I made in the summer with flowers and grass. In case you have been wondering how they turned out after 5 months.
They still look quite good. The two flower-pieces haven´t changed at all, the grass has dried but still looks OK. They hang here above my sewing machine, I love looking at them.

Next time I will be coming back with describing my recycling Christmas projects. Watch this place.

Until then, happy stitching.

Agi

Embrodery experiments with flowers

Hello, everyone. Hope you are having a lovely summer.

I have actually started working this week. But before that, we went to Hungary and had some lovely time, except that it was so hot, it was too much. I loved coming back to Sweden.

During the holiday I only did a little crafting. I knitted a very simple pullover, I will show it next time.
And I did some embroidery. When I got homework at the university course to do experiments with knitting and sewing, I was a bit nervous, wasn't sure how to experiment, felt a bit insecure. But I actually got to like it. So I decided that I wanted to try something new with embroidery: I tried using real flowers.

I made two pieces: one with a piece of yarrow that, I was hoping, will dry nicely on the fabric - and it does, so far. On the other, I used a few very tiny flowers with colourful petals, and then I pressed them. I thought that the petals may even colour the fabric a bit, but they did not. Still, I like the result a lot. I am curious what will happen to the pressed ones with time.

Here are some pictures:


Hanging on my wall:

On the first one I used feather stitch (without drawing any lines, hence little uneven) and French knots. I took this picture when the yarrow was still fresh:

On the second one it was some lazy daisies and just one straight stitches. Here the flowers were still fresh:

After pressing:

I have one more idea, not saying anything more. I will try at the weekend and we will see how it goes. Watch this place.

Anyone willing to come with me on this journey? It is GREAT FUN!

Blackwork biscornu for St. Patrick's Day

Hello,

I am back with more reports about my knitting - crochet course, with some more felting and some embroidery, a finally finished long-time WIP and another freebie - this time it is blackwork for St. Patrick's Day.



Here is a picture from one of my lessons. We just started our knitting unit, and I used this technique that I called the "human knitting machine" to teach the kids the basics. It was great fun! I learnt this at the university. It works the same way as finger knitting or the knitting looms, we just used the kids' hands instead of the pegs.

And here come some more pictures of my homework for the course.

To try out different materials, I did some crochet with a thick cotton cord. The flower shape, as well as the third one, in wool, was done with freeform crochet: I used no pattern, just started and then went on to see what happened. It was fun.

I tried out shadow knitting. I borrowed a book from the library, this one and tried to create my own pattern. While the book has some lovely modern looking pieces, and I found a few interesting pieces on the internet too, my experiment turned out a disaster. I wasn't thinking clearly, I should have realised that the pattern will become too long - I should have adjusted it accordingly. There was no time to do another experiment, and now I am busy with the next course, but this needs to be put on my list of "To try again". I certainly recommend trying this, it looks complicated but it isn't really and it is cool.

Another thing I learnt is called tvåendsstickning in Swedish. It means two-end-knitting, but it is usually called twined knitting in English. The basic technique is that you knit with tho threads, even if there is only one colour. They usually used the two ends of the same yarn ball, hence the name. The first stitch is knitted with one yarn, the second with the other and so on. Between each stitch you twist the threads. It makes a thick, firm fabric, there is hardly any stretch in it. Traditionally you have to do it with z-spinned yarn, that's what I was using for my mittens. I think it works with the usual s-spinned yarn, too, it only looks a bit different. I designed the pattern with the flowers myself, and on the palm side I was just improvising.

This is what it looks like on the inside. You can see how the twisted yarns create almost like a cord on the wrong side of the fabric.

Another homework was to take a knitted woollen sweater or something, felt it in the washing machine, and experiment with it: embroider on it, cut it apart etc. This is what I made out of two pieces. It's a vest, the collar and the sides come from one piece, the "body" from another. I added the crocheted band on the shoulders and around, and the embroidery. On the right side there is a Hungarian motif, on the left a Swedish one. I myself dyed the thread to match the rest.

Two pairs of socks that I also made. The first is knitting the traditional way - although that is still quite new to me. The other was knitted toes-up, and with an afterthought heel. Both of them were made on circular needles, instead of the usual double pointed ones, using the magic loop. I love this technique!

We also had a group homework: we had to create a piece together, on a chosen topic within "communication". We chose "power". We created a puzzle, and this is my piece. I collected a few pictures from the internet for inspiration, and then used a piece of a felted woollen pullover as background, then needle-felted and embroidered my interpretation.

I have collected quite a few links for all these techniques, if you are interested, go and look at my Pinterest page.


My old visitors can perhaps remember how I started to do some weaving on a huge piece of cardboard - perhaps two years ago? Shame, I know, but now I finally managed to finish it.

Although the edges became strangely loose, I still like it a lot. In the middle it is quite nice - not too densely packed but the boucle yarn has made a good, solid fabric, and still soft. I will use it as a scarf. I will take it off the cardboard and tie the ends tomorrow.

And finally, my freebie for you today. I made a blackwork pattern that reminds me of clovers, so I thought it would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. But with another colour it might give a different effect.

I made it into a biscornu pattern, I hope you will enjoy it. Some more clover patterns are coming soon.

Edit:
If you are interested in St. Patrick's Day patterns, why not take a look at my other freebies here, here and here?

Hungarian embroidery - on felt

I was at home last week with a really bad cold, and I had no energy to concentrate on anything. It was hard to read but I could not just lie idly, my hands need to be occupied with something.

I usually have a simple knitting for such occasions but I didn't have anything this time, and didn't want to start anything either because I have three on the go that are all put aside because I don't like them. Having a knitting block - but more about that in another post.

Anyway, I thought I can try embroidering something where I just draw some simple pattern and then follow the lines. Don't need to think or count. It worked so well that I was doing it all week.

I used some standard elements in Hungarian folk patterns, copying them from a cushion my mum made long ago, then I also tried a few that are not so traditional but I liked them. I used off-white felt and just some basic colours.

Here is the result:

Sorry about the hazy picture. There are a few that I embroidered again because Stephen liked them :)
They will be backed with red felt, the edges cut with zig-zag scissors, and I will add some stuffing and a cord. They will be featuring on the Christmas market. I know, it might be a bit early, but I start university next week, so I might not have too much time to prepare for the market.

I have also been doodling a bit on my cross stitch program. Soon coming back with another freebie.

Happy stitching.

Ági

Summer crafting: quilting, embroidery and a cross stitch freebie!

Hello, hello, I am still here enjoying my summer holiday. Apart from going to the sea yesterday (Oh, how lovely it was!) I was at home all the time and was keeping busy with all kinds of crafts.

First of all, I finally finished my first quilt. Do you remember? I wrote about it ages ago, when I started quilting it, I realised there were mistakes and that put me off it. Now I took it out, finished the quilting in a day (decided not to worry too much about the mistakes, just continue), made a scrappy binding and sewed it on with the machine. It is far from perfect but for a first quilt it is not too bad. If I may say so. I just love it :D

I am planning to make more quilts, definitely. I have already chosen a pattern and even cut the fabric for a huge overcast for my bed, but didn't want to start it until this one was finished. Now I can start it. Soon! But I also plan to do some small practise pieces to learn quilting, while I am doing the piecing for it. I hope that one will be much better. And I am thinking to sew the binding by hand!

Pictures:

I wanted to show my ongoing embroidery pieces to you. Do you ever stitch without a pattern? Just like doodling? Long ago I posted some improvised embroideries I did on felt, now I have some more on all kinds of leftover fabric.
Most of them I started at school. With year 5 classes I do a hand sewing unit, and with year 6 an embroidery unit. With most classes there comes a time when everyone is happily (or grudgingly) settled down with their work and I don't need to run around showing them the different steps. I sit down among my students and take out something to work on. It cannot be something very complicated because I am often interrupted, and of course, my main focus is on the children. But I found they like watching me actually make something, not only explain all the time, sometimes they even get inspired by my work.
Then it happened that I threw that piece of fabric with the needle and thread in my bag so I could stitch a bit on my way home, or while waiting at the dentist etc. That meant that next lesson I had to start a new one, right? :D


So here they are, not finished yet but they will slowly become something.

I also have this piece of Hungarian folk embroidery that I started a while back and pick it up once in a while to practice the special stitch it uses. It is very typical of the Hungarian area in Romania, and it is done with a stitch similar to the open chain stitch (see Mary Corbet's video here) except the stitches are laid very close to each other. It was not easy to learn and I am still not really good at it. First I constantly took it out but that is quite difficult, so I decided to just go on and hope to get better in time.

The next piece is a little experiment. Stephen bought for me a pile of old snaps and hook-and-eye fasteners once and I was thinking perhaps I could use them for decorative effect. So I sewed some hooks on the fabric, wrapped some thick thread around them, and the plan is to sew them down couching-style, also add some stitches around the hooks. We will see what happens to it. :)

The cross stitch I made I have already shown here (the birds), but now I am planning some more. I have to finish 3 squares for the charity quilts till the end of September, so I am working on those now. After that I will make some things to sell in my webshop. I have been working on some patterns, will show them later. But there is a small one, a biscornu pattern that I would like to share with you.

It is a red biscornu again, I just love red embroidery, but of course, you can use other colours too.

Please enjoy it and feel free to share it with others.

Click on the picture to get the pdf pattern. Happy stitching!