Daryl's Blog

Friday, December 19, 2008

It is days like this that make me love living in the northeast. The snow fell, steady, it was very gray outside, but the earth was covered with a blanket of beautiful clean snow, well maybe not the earth, but my little corner of northern NJ. School had been canceled and all of my daughter’s after school activities, my husband was able to work from home, we cranked up the wood stove, and I disappeared into my studio. I worked on the ginger jars, late last night I decided to take the one I made yesterday apart, and rework the top. If I stitched around the top first, and then assembled the sides, the top would be smoother. So I redid the jar from yesterday, and made four more. I think they will make terrific colorful gifts.

In the latest issue of Handwoven, the same one where I read Syne Mitchell’s column about creating a blog, Madelyn van der Hoogt’s letter from the editor talked about making resolutions to do more of something, like weaving, but before one can do that, one has to plan and prepare the warp and then set up the loom. It struck a chord because I need to do all the pattern prep work before I begin to make garments from the projects listed in previous blogs. I have three more garment projects on the table which I will describe in future posts, but for now, my more immediate problem is the constantly changing body I live in. Let me digress.

I spent five years on Tamoxifen, after my breast cancer diagnosis. Having been thrown instantly into menopause by the chemotherapy, my body changed rapidly from a premenopausal 46 year old, into a post menopausal body, losing height, and adding about 25 pounds. I kept that weight for many years. No matter how hard I tried, I seemed stuck at this new weight, and this whole new, very different body. Missing a few parts, but hey, at least I’m alive. I’ve been off Tamoxifen about a year now, and I am amazed at how my body is changing, every so slowly back to my original pre cancer shape, slimmer hips, about 10 pounds lighter, which sounds wonderful I know, but besides all my clothes not fitting anymore, because I had to buy all knew ones in the last few years, my dressform needs to be completely refit. The last few garments I made using this form came out much larger than I expected, once I tried them on myself. So I took some measurements, and to my shock, I needed to reshape the hips and drop 3 inches off the form.

Taking advantage of my 16 year old daughter home from school for the snow day, I peeled her away from her computer, and got her to help me refit the muslin cover on my Uniquely You Dress Form. If you have fluctuating weight, this is a great form, since all you have to do is rip open the seams and refit the cover and the form will change with you.

While my daughter helped me fit the cover, she poked around the studio, always a dangerous thing, and got intrigued by the ginger jars I was making out of the shibori papers. She dug through my stash, and my library, and found the book by Linda Johansen on Fabric Boxes. She found a Chinese Food type container to make out of a couple of bandanas. She ran to her room, and brought out her collection of bandanas, and decided to try to make a fabric box with two she had with a breast cancer theme, from a Susan Komen run we attended back in 2003. Two of us in this small studio is something to see. We managed not to fall over each other, I worked on the cutting table while she sewed, and the photo above shows her finished box. I was quite proud of her, and I think she was proud of herself, and for about four hours today, she didn’t play on the computer…

And my dressform now fits my body, so I can start working out some of the garment ideas I have for project 1-3.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Today was a detour day. By that I mean, all that I had planned to do in the studio got pushed aside for other more important things that life has a way of

throwing you. I started the morning by having a colonoscopy. What, you may ask has this to do with weaving? As a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed at age 46, and having just buried a close friend in her 50’s with colon cancer, I am a firm believer that everything in your studio will wait while you do the important screenings that can make the difference between another day in the studio and, well, lets just say for now, I will have more days in the studio. Last month the oncologist gave me a clean bill of health, and my colon is perfect and good for another 5 years. So if you are putting off getting a routine exam, as annoying and cumbersome as they can be, think of all the things you might never get to in the studio… Make it your New Year’s Resolution.

All was not lost, I did manage to do a prototype for a couple of Christmas gifts I have to make for some good friends. I’ve done this technique with scraps of handwoven fabric. There are a number of books out, many by Linda Johansen, on making fabric vases, bowls, boxes, etc. They were the technique du jour in the quilting circles a few years ago.

Last spring, I had done a series of papers, folded and dip dyed, so they came out sort of shibori looking. I wanted to do something special with them. So I dug out my Flexi Firm non fusible thick stiff interfacing, and some Wonder Under, and traced a pattern for a ginger jar from one of Linda Johansen’s books. I fused the paper to the Flexi Firm, with Wonder Under, and then started stitching around all the pieces with a zig-zag, catching in a satin cord on the edges. Once they were all stitched, I assembled them into a star sort of shape, and then hand sewed them into the form of the jar. I’m not completely happy with the top edge, I may try to add beads or something, I’ll see what I have in my stash.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Project number three is also yardage, this one I’ve been sitting on for awhile. There is sort of a story behind it. I have a few favorites of all my palettes I created during the years I wrote the forecast column for Handwoven Magazine. One was the Leaves and Berries palette, from Jan/Feb 2005. It was challenging to dye the warps since I am an inexperienced dyer, sort of by the seat of my pants, and I had to mix four different greens from what I had on hand. I used MX Fiber Reactive dyes from Pro-Chem.
I am not a planner. I just happily see where something takes me, and this yardage is a prime example. I dyed three different white warps, unmercerized cotton, cotton tape (which I had to really scour first to get the dye to penetrate), and rayon. They were all different sizes of yarns, and I had no plan, so I just wound 8 yard warps with as many ends as I could fit on the mill, or until the yarn ran out. Painting the warps independently of each other, meant that the colors were all the same, but the placement was random and different on all three warps.
I liked the imagery of berries oozing on the vine, brambles, so lengthwise stripes with twill vine like columns fit what I was trying to accomplish. Once the loom was warped, I started sampling with all kinds of different wefts. I cut the fabric off the loom after about 12″ and cut the piece into three different widths. The first I kept in my notebook, the second I gently swished in the bathroom sink with some shampoo. The third I finished securely around the edges and threw into the washer and dryer. So I had an idea of finishing and what each weft would do.
I liked the wool singles I tried, from Harrisville, and I liked one of the black wefts, so I went to the Harrisville site and was sad to learn that the cone I’d been sitting on for 15 years wasn’t made anymore. Imagine that. I looked through all my sample books, and found a Mainline two-ply by JaggerSpun, wool, in black, that looked a lot like the Harrisville singles in size. So I ordered it. Weaving this fabric wasn’t the easiest, the different size warps, and different structures had different take up, even though I used a second beam for the supplemental warp, I still had to rig up a third beam that was variable, so I could maintain even tension throughout the weaving. Two by Fours can be a wonderful thing!
When the fabric was off the loom, I threw it into the washer and then the dryer to simulate the same finishing as the sample. When the dryer was done, imagine my surprise when the fabric came out looking like the sample on top, and only a bit over 4 yards long. Shock wasn’t the half of it. But it is important to not look at something the way you expected it to look and if it doesn’t, then you failed, but rather to look at it with new eyes and see what you can do with this new version. The more I looked at it, the more I loved it.
So, now I need to make it into a smashing coat. I have a 31″ width, so I’m hoping to squeeze a good size coat from this yardage. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Project number two also involves yardage that was exhibited in Tampa at Convergence 2008 as part of the Ebb Tide Yardage Exhibit. This yardage is called Sandstone Layers, and like the previous yardage both are dyed to coordinate with palettes from my former Forecast Column from Handwoven Magazine. Both palettes were featured in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue.

I only have a bit over three yards left of this yardage, but it is 36″ wide. I used the rest of it for a window shade, which also hung in the functional exhibit at Convergence. If necessary, I am quite willing to cut it up for additional fabric to help the cause!

This fabric is handwoven rayon and cotton, from painted warps using MX Fiber Reactive Dyes. Woven on 8 shafts, this fabric is a combination of plain weave, twill, basket weave, and has a supplemental warp. I can see this in a short sweatery kind of jacket. Probably unlined. Stay tuned.

For those of you who have taken garment constructions workshops with me, you know I have always recommended HTCW’s Red Dot Tracer as a pattern medium. Sadly it is no longer available, but the good news is, Pellon has re-engineered their Tru-Grid pattern tracing medium, and it is now stable in all directions. I have tried it with a number of patterns and so far been very happy with its performance. I have changed my webshop http://www.weaversew.com/shop to make this product available instead of Red Dot Tracer. Thank you Pellon!