Navy Tea Towels on 12 Shafts ~ Part Two

After I finished weaving the 4 tea towels that are fulfilling a commission, these four were woven in golden yellow. I can now turn to the 2/8 cotton stash for the last 2 tea towels on the navy blue warp.  There is so much colour to choose from blues and teals, pinks and purples or the oranges, reds and greens.

I went for the bright red for the last 2 tea towels.  It is a classic colour combination for a reason and deservedly so; its such a lovely combination.

The 6 tea towels are finally off the loom and they make a satisfying pile.  I cut them into pairs and using the sewing machine stabilize the raw edges before tossing them into the washing machine and dryer.  I did put the red tea towels in a separate wash load just in case the red dye decided to run a bit.

I spent all day yesterday ironing!  First I like to press the tea towels in the steam press before cutting them apart and pressing up the hems.

Then I use a metal ruler and an iron to press up the hems, being careful not to burn my fingers on the hot metal of the ruler.  I pin the hem in place and they are ready to be hand sewn.

Here is the stack ready to be sewn.

Final Garden Photo is frost.  Everything this morning looks like it has been flocked with a thick layer of white.  The black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus) in the back is beautifully outlined.

But there are hints that spring is close, the hoop daffodils (Narcissus bulbocodium 'Arctic Bells') in the foreground are almost ready to bloom and in the back in a small pile of crocus that are just peeking out.

The greenhouse is also thickly coated in frost but as the sun climbs in the sky it hits the edge and starts to clear the glass.  There are already seeds started in the greenhouse, sweet peas, primroses and hellebore's.  They like a long and cold start before becoming seedlings.

Grey Striped Tea Towels Part 3

Once I fixed the threading mistake I quickly got into the groove with weaving the tea towels again.  I’m always surprized at how fast a tea towel weaves up once I sit down to do it.  I do a different band of colours on each tea towel to make them individual, here is an example.

I don’t have much to show about the tea towels as I’m still weaving them but it is always exciting when you finish the tea towel and finish a pirn at the same time!

I’m almost done weaving the towel number five and only have one tea towel left to weave this week before I can cut off, wash and hem the tea towels and have them ready for the Etsy Shop.

But I’ve been doing something else this past week.  I have been in the garage painting.

It is a grandfather clock that we bought in the 1980's when a local grandfather clock manufacturer closed down.   I just couldn't find a place in the house for it while it was natural coloured.  So we  painted it a lovely dark blue based off of one of the shades of Tencel; does anyone else take cones of yarn to the paint store?!  It needs a bit of moving about in place to get it perfect in the room and then the debate is whether or not to start it up.  I'm not sure if we can stand the ticking that close to the couch only time will tell.

Final Garden photo is a blue hydrangea, the flowers start a lovely yellow but then change to blue, unfortunately the flowers are sterile so no food for the pollinators so it will be leaving the garden this year because we are focusing on making our garden a true feast for the wee beasties.

Tea Towels Just Keep On Rolling Off the Looms

The blue tea towels are off the loom, here they are waiting to be cut into twos and then the raw edges sewed to stabilize before going into the wash.  I machine wash and machine dry my tea towels before hemming.

I also steam press the tea towels before hemming, I think that it easier to fold up the hem.

It can be hard to choose which side is the right side.  There isn’t much difference between the two sides but with the tea towel on the right the pink stripe creates triangles which I think looks better.

It has been a cold and rainy June-uary but the last couple of days have been nice enough to sit outside and hand hem the tea towels.

I will give the tea towels one more steam pressing before I take product pictures so they can go into the shop.  Hopefully they will be available by next week.

Speaking of Etsy I’m part of a prototype group for testing videos in listings.  So I’ve been learning how to video my scarves.

Each video is only about 15 seconds long but it still seems to take a while to video each scarf!   I hope that the videos will help to show the true colour of the scarves because frankly sometimes the still photos just blah out!  Here is a sample video.

Since I live on an island there is always going to be wind, and I think that the wind adds drama and interest to the video.

Final garden shot is Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ and Jagged Leaf Verbena.  The Salvia looks like little Canadian flags, perfect for Canada Day on July 1st.

Finishing the Tussah Silk Scarves

The two silk scarves that where inspired by one of the succulents in my garden are off the loom, washed and dried.  Now they are ready to have the fringes twisted; for the silver scarf I choose to do the twizzling in small bouts, for a more delicate appearance.

Next step is to iron the scarves.  I had quite the ironing pile to go through; there is a tablecloth, a table runner, four tea towels and what seems to be a lot of scarves.  And yes that pink scarf is really long!  It turns out that 3/1 twill doesn’t have a lot of take up; the warp was originally 100 inches but after weaving it to what Mom thought was around 70 inches, and then washing the final length of the scarf is 82 ½ inches long!

I am always surprised by the change that a hard press makes on a scarf.  It not only flattens the scarf but brings out the sheen and allows the pattern to leap forward.

The weft that I used for the rosette scarf was a lovely rosy brown but when I washed the scarf the weft ran and a lot of the red came out of the scarf but it left behind a gorgeous copper colour weft with a lot of shine.  The scarf is still lovely, just a little different from how I thought it would turn out.

The silver weft that I used for the second scarf really muted the plum and moss of the warp.  It looks totally different from the copper scarf.

Final garden shot is Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and you can see a hummingbird hidden on both photos, that has staked out the patch.  The hummingbirds love this plant; they sit on the branches all day fighting off other hummingbirds, bees and seem to get particularly stroppy with the bumble bees!

Handwoven Garment Number Three

I’ve finished my second vest using Ngaire’s yardage.  This time rather than drafting my own pattern, I used an old favourite, McCalls 7407.  I have used this pattern before with pretty good success, so I thought I’d make my life easier.

I’ve again used decorative river stones to hold the pattern in place while I’m sorting out where the pieces will best fit.  I love this trick as it is much easier than pinning and unpinning each piece as you move them around.

This is a fully lined vest, so I did the same again with the lining.  I have a real beef with the linings that are available to me on the Island.  We have a very limited selection and sadly lower quality than what I would have wished for.

I will fast forward through all the sewing as it really was very straightforward and move on to where the real angst began.

I wanted to show that this was a truly handmade garment and there is no better way to do that than with embellishment.

My first thought was to make tassels on each side of the bodice.  My thought was to attach a cord and make a loop on each side and pull them over one another giving a loose tie.   Hmmmmm, no!

Then I thought I would make a tassel cord.

I used Bamboo 7 for the three strand cord and slip knotted it into a loop.  I made the tassel using the slip knot for the centre of the tassel.  Then using basic wrapping created the tassel.

The idea for the vest was to use buttons on each side of the bodice and loop the tassel over them to act as a closure.

Out came the button box and then I spent a blissful hour picking and sorting through them.  I became very nostalgic because this was something I did as a child, sitting on the living room carpet sorting away!

Buttons were chosen and the tassel was hung....nope, it didn’t work and it made the bodice sag.

My solution was cheap and cheerful, hook and eye closure.  Sometimes the simplest really are the best.

I think it worked well and it quietly makes sure that the neckline remains in place, showing off the nice scoop neck.

Our fashion show at the guild is next week and I feel really happy to be able to show all three of the garments made from Ngaires yardage projects.  This lovely Capelette, the Open Backed Vest and this vest.

Another Handwoven Garment

I may have caught a bit of a sewing fever, so onto another garment.  This is another one of Ngaire’s yardages that she wove in 2010, here is a link to the blog post about it.  It is a brightly striped twill gamp in 2/8 Orlec and 2/10 black Tencel.

My inspiration for this garment is this little vest that Ngaire wore when she was a teen.  It is an open front vest with no back, very simple and colourful.

To get an idea of the timeline for this....think MC Hammer!  Yup, we’re talking the early 90’s!

I had to create my own pattern and I made it in 2 sizes, small and medium (about size 12).  This was my first effort at pattern making and boy, did I learn a lot.

To work with the yardage I first stabilized it with black iron-on knit interfacing.  This step was absolutely necessary because as soon as I cut into the fabric it frayed like crazy.

This is the end result and I was pretty pleased that I got the pattern to match so well.

Now that I had the vest put together the problems started to rear their ugly head.   Hmmmm, young teen patterns don’t have shaping, yup I forgot the lady bumps!

 I have a work around to fix my slight gaping problem in the yoke area and I know it will work, but it won’t be pretty!  I am going to ease stitch some black elastic along the upper yolk and around the neck area and allow the elastic to gently give some shape.

I think it is going to look really good with my black knit jacket and a white shirt!  And the absence of a back will really cut down on the bulk.

Tulips on the table are a sure sign of spring!