How do you measure success? How about 13 new weavers? (A couple were just getting back into it after a long hiatus…) We had a fantastic time at the Jockey Hollow Guild beginning weaving class I taught on Saturday. The weather was pretty iffy, and a couple of the students complained of icy driveways, even though it was pouring rain and suppose to be in the upper 50’s. But everyone made it and all 13 looms performed like rusty little troopers. Being Structo’s and all…
I give everyone a one yard warp, from brightly colored rug yarn, (no choice of warp colors but they can use whatever weft they want), and have them thread, beam and weave a color/pattern gamp, that plays on light dark and stripes, and straight draw/point twill. They get to really explore color and structure on a four shaft loom, in six hours. Whew!
Meanwhile, I finished the crimp cloth from Dianne Totten’s class that’s been sitting on my loom since October of 2012. I just have to pull the shibori threads, and steam set the crimps. The weft is Orlon from Yarn Barn with a 10/2 cotton warp from Webs. I’ve got some great ideas swimming in my head for what to do with it. Can’t wait to see how many yards come off the loom.
Every time I walk by my sewing machine it gives me that look. You know. Same look my dogs have when they see suitcases. Last November I pulled some fabric off the shelves and pre-shrunk it, to make a color block dress, but wasn’t married to the pattern I had. The recent issue of Vogue patterns had the perfect pattern and there was this sale, and well, I ended up with about 10 new patterns. They came in the other day.
Anyway, the fabric was collected from my many stops over the years, over many years actually, the same fabric in three colorways, all in remnant bins, from three different venues. Go figure. It is all bamboo, which is what attracted me to it in the first place, and the colors together are lovely. I’m planning black on top since the black is smaller pieces. The aqua goes in the middle and the brown on the bottom. The jury is out on the little pockets. I thought they were in-seam but it turns out they are patch. Odd. Shouldn’t be hard to re-engineer that…
I made up the muslin from leftover stuff in my junk fabric box in the attic (thank you Ginnie and Cindy!) The dress is really boxy, so I pinned the sides in for a little more shape. Otherwise, I like the dress. The bamboo is pretty lightweight, blouse weight actually, so I’m thinking I’m going to underline it, and not sure about the lining. I may end up making facings instead and though I don’t normally like facings, I can hand stitch them down and anchor them to the underlining for a smooth front. I’m teaching a seminar in underlinings at the American Sewing Guild Conference in St. Louis next July, so I’ll need all the examples and pictures I can get.
Don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned the loom clearing resolution yet, but tomorrow, I’m determined to layout and finish felting the panels for the jacket I started way too long ago (scroll down here), so I can clean up that mess out of my studio. And the mohair yardage on that same post from March 2013 I just linked to, is still on the loom. You are gonna get finished next… Stay tuned…