The pattern for the vest I copied (one from Kenneth Cole I love) is all ready.
The khaki linen fabric has been preshrunk and the inkle band has been cut from the loom and wet finished in cool water. Both are hanging over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom.
Watching fabric dry is a pointless task.
I picked out a scrap of fabric that would be perfect for the binding trim for the inside seams.
Watching fabric dry is still a pointless task.
So I try to clear my cutting table, because eventually everything will dry and I can start trying to lay everything out and see what I have.
Sidebar: Last summer I worked on a series of felted pieces that I worked into three 9 x 9 x 3″ boxes for a Textile Study Group of NY exhibit, which I did not get accepted to, but are currently on display at the Creation Myths exhibit in Glens Falls NY, the brainchild of the Northeast Felters Guild.
Anyway, I still had a large mound of colorful carded batts of hand dyed corriedale fleece, that I kept moving around my studio. They’d end up on the ironing board, the sewing table, on top of any loom not in service supporting other looms, or of course on the cutting table. Which is where they were when I decided that I was bored with watching fabric dry, and I desperately wanted the batts someplace else, so what else could I do?
I grabbed the nearest large plastic container, which sits on the floor at my feet and holds all my long rulers I use for measuring and pattern work (plus my tape gun, don’t ask)…
No silly, I didn’t throw them away, I wrapped the batts around the trash can, and sacrificed a pair of nude panty hose, which no one wears anyway…
and I took the whole thing to the kitchen sink where I dunked it in hot soapy water and worked it until it was time to leave for physical therapy which of course was not one of my better ideas because I’m really really sore today, and I turned it into this…
Which got the batts out of the way, and gave me another large decorative storage container (once it dries, a week from now), and space on my cutting table to do the layout and assessment for the vest.
Stay tuned…
Vest is going to look awesome! what is wet finishing?
What a great basket! A whole new career, Daryl!
You are amazing!
Sheez, Daryl, if I’d known our little felting adventure in the shower last August was going to turn you into my competition…! 🙂 Just wish I had half your energy.
Daryl…your felted vessel is beautiful! A little hint to help your next one dry faster…put it in the microwave oven on high. I live in a very humid area and this technique helps all my felted wool dry before it gets too stinky.