Needle Felting

At the Kansas City Weaver's Guild meeting today we had a mini-workshop about needle felting. If you've ever done regular wet felting before, this is quite different. You're using very small amounts of wool to "paint" a picture onto a wool/fabric background. The felting is done by stabbing special barbed needles repeatedly through both layers to attach them together. You have to have foam underneath it to cushion the stabbing motion. It's really easy and pretty fast. The action of punching the needle in and out is officially called "needling", but we decided it was funner to call it "stabbing" and say things like, "This stabbing is so therapeutic."

It was fun to do, but I don't see myself doing anymore of it anytime soon. I hate to say this, but I don't really know what you would use it for except to make cutesy pictures on stuff, which.... is not my cup of tea. You can use a similar technique to make little felted animals though, and that would be fun to make with or for children.

The pictures are of me using my fancy needle felting tool (with 5 needles in it), my friend Becky using a single needle on her project, and my finished flower. I think I'm going to sew it into an eyeglasses case for my grandma. She loves putting flowers on everything she wears.

Failed Projects

Just so no one thinks I'm that great, I thought I'd post what I've been doing all week....failed projects. First, I made two shirts from Vogue pattern 8392 and note in the picture above, it looks like a sack on me, even after I tried taking in the waist a bit. (I didn't even bother finishing the second shirt.) (And I didn't even bother taking a decent picture.)

Then, I was all excited to make a dress from Vogue pattern 1044 for a friend's wedding coming up. I've had this really nice suit wool for a while and decided to use it for the dress. Well, the pattern worked great, it fits well, but.... it looks like I should be in a business meeting. This is a classic example of one thing I struggle with a lot: choosing the right fabric to go with the pattern. I'm usually attracted to plainer, natural fiber fabrics like cotton, linen, and wool. Well, none of those really say "fancy dress for a wedding". So now I'm not sure what to do with this top of the dress. I didn't even start on the skirt part yet because I don't know if I even want to complete the dress. Any suggestions on how to make this not look like a business suit would be very appreciated. I'm thinking some kind of stitching in a contrast color, like a golden yellow, might at least brighten it up a bit.

So, be aware, a large percentage of my projects do not turn out successfully. Thankfully, I think I can salvage most of the material from the shirts and use it for something else. These are the times when I take a break from frenetic sewing and clean the house, at least that is somewhat satisfying.

kimono challenge

I have three used Japanese kimonos that I bought on impulse 4 years ago. Needless to say, I've never actually worn them or done anything with them. Two of them have nice patterns on the fabric but are scratchy, the third one is soft silk and very pretty. Someone suggested that I use them to make something else from the fabric. For some reason I'm not getting inspired though. So I thought I'd post on here and see if anyone has any suggestions for what to make from them. I'm mainly concerned with the silky one. It's a short kimono, and only comes to the hips, so not as much material as the other ones. Any ideas?

scarves for wiksten

I'm a little late posting this, but the scarves I was weaving here.... are done! And they'll be for sale on September 3 with the other new stuff from wiksten's fall collection. I had extra warp left on the loom and wove a rather short one, but I actually really like it styled with a brooch and I'm keeping it for myself. If you end up being one of the lucky ones to purchase a scarf, I would suggest a brooch as another good way to style it.
Just as fyi, the scarves are woven from 100% cotton in an old Finnish Twill pattern. They can be handwashed in detergent, hung dry, and then blocked (ironed into shape). They should be fairly sturdy and quite durable.
Just out of curiosity, I'd like to know, what kind of scarves are your favorite to wear? Do you like warm soft ones in the winter time, or flowy silk ones to dress up an outfit, or do you like to wear a different scarf with every outfit any time of year? (I'm personally a winter scarf lover, but I'm curious what other people like.)

teaching shirts

My latest project was inspired by the fact that I have no cool shirts to wear when I'm teaching art during the school year. I teach at a homeschool group and so it's a very relaxed atmosphere, but teachers still want to look spiffy so the students will be more likely to respect them. (sneaky, I know) So instead of boring polo shirts this year, I'm going to try these out. Hey, I'm the art teacher, I'm supposed to wear weird clothes aren't I?

For the shirts I used Simplicity pattern 2922 (it's a "inspired by project runway", which I didn't even realize until after I'd made the shirts). Jenny had extra of the tree/bird fabric and I really liked it, so she sold some to me and I thought it would be perfect with this shirt pattern. I was originally going to make only one out of the patterned fabric, but thought that it would probably be too busy and the yoke wouldn't show up, so I flipped the pieces and made 2.

The only problem I had with the pattern was that it called for gathering in the front and back. Well, this made it look puffy and awful, like the shirt didn't fit right. I was a little frustrated, but then thought of trying pleats instead, which ended up being excellent. I made the pleats in the back longer than the ones in the front (see photo). I definitely like the patterned yoke shirt better than the plain yoke one. But overall, a success!

guatemalan weaving

I have several projects in the process, and no pictures of them, so I thought I'd post one of my favorite summer tops to wear. It's a very simple tunic that I made 3-4 years ago when I thought I didn't need patterns (haha). Needless to say, it's very poorly made and I only just got around to serging the seams last winter.
But it's my favorite summer top because of the material.
There used to be a shop in Westport called Central American Textile Company which had amazing stuff. Unfortunately, there's not many people around like me who go crazy for handwoven stuff, and she closed. But I splurged and got this material. It's handwoven ikat cloth in white and gray with blue vertical stripes and areas of green and orange. It's actually pretty subdued colors compared to most Central American cloth. It's extremely soft and comfy. I have a gored skirt out of it too, but that is for church or special occasion wear only. I'd love to buy more similar fabric, but I'd have to save up first--it was 3 yards for $70 on discount.
On the bright side, one of my friends visited Panama last winter and brought me back some stuff that she paid a whopping $10 for: a handwoven table runner, a mola, and a little embroidered dress "for my first born child". Maybe I just need a plane ticket to Guatemala...

Summer Reading

One of my favorite authors is Sherwood Smith. As another of her fans put it, her writing is so good that she's raised my expectations too high for almost anything else. She is a writer that captures true adventure and the characters alone are intriguing enough to draw you in. Her most recent book has just been published, A Stranger to Command. I highly recommend any of her books to anyone enjoying adventure novels. (Don't be put off by the cover if you think it's weird.)