Sunday - Some dyeing, some sewing

Today is set out to be a prep day, I have the Estuary Skirt pattern all printed out and ready to tape together. Couldn't find tape anywhere in the house and my usual postal supply cupboard (my Dad!) had none either.. so I have ordered some online to arrive later today after which I will be spending a happy hour watching some BBC Glastonbury stuff and cutting and sticking my pages together.

Yesterday I learnt how to do a new thing. I'm so pleased that I have to share. I dyed this wool top all by myself and I'm really proud of it.

It is natural oatmeal coloured Blue Faced Leicester and I was going for navy and rust... LOL! That did not happen in the pot. BUT - I am loving how it came out anyway, it's very autumnal. There's teal, sky blue, forest green, sage green, rust, ochre colours. My Husband says it reminds him of the rock pools in Cornwall. High praise indeed. Honestly, it's amazing and I cannot believe I actually did it myself. By some miracle it didn't felt at all and is still super soft, I really want to spin it but I still want to look at it. I'm so torn.

 All my information has come from a combo of Youtube and this book. It has literally answered every question I had about dyeing and I feel like I have the confidence to do it again, but better-er! I got hold of a little acid dye kit from George Weil which seems to have a good amount of dye powders in it along with some other bits like syringes.

I have put some neppy bits in some bright orange dye and I'm thinking to card them into my new braid but I'll wait and see how they come out first before I commit to that. Definitely been on a spinning tangent this week!

Had a lot of fun though.

Spinning is cheaper than therapy, especially when it's from stash

Using stash instead of buying makes it free, right? The money is long gone!

This week began with being rushed to hospital with a suspected cardiac episode. Fortunately, all was well but I have been trying to take it easy since. I have been playing with fibre rather than sewing as it is less thinky and more meditative.

I have taken the opportunity to use up some of my fibre stash and spin it up. The coloured yarn here was spun from a braid of hand dyed Blue-Faced Leicester from The Shepherds Hut (Etsy) that was gifted to me about 3 years ago for Christmas. Despite the age of it, it drafted really well. It's probably one of the most even yarns I've ever made, I ended up with 2 skeins, one at about 80g and one about 20g. It's about DK weight but still thick and thin.

The white is just some blended tops (literally anything I could find that was wool and natural) that I've spun up to do some dye experiments with.

I have also spun from some astoundingly beautiful rolags that I received for Christmas a couple of years ago, they are full of silk, full of sparkles and all in the colours of pheasants. I think they were from Fellview Fibres on Etsy. I always put off spinning them because I was frightened that I wouldn't be able to do them justice. Honestly, the photo doesn't really capture them properly either.  Oh Em Gee I just love how these skeins turned out, they are SO soft and I find the colour variations really interesting.

This one I made from my own rolags that had a good amount of BFL, merino, rose and sparkly stuff in. The blue/grey side was a blended top from Spin Jones (also Etsy - I get all my fibre from there, it's great :D). This yarn came out thinner than I can normally manage easily so I am pleased about that but it is less consistent than usual... and it's never all that consistent. I wish I had a picture of the rolags because they were genuinely pretty.

My little handspun nook is looking quite healthy, I love the colours in there and how you really can't just buy commercial yarn that looks that way.

Mini Batt DIY

I wanted to play with something more textural on the blending board for spinning. I know that my wheel can't really do bulky art yarn so couldn't go too overboard with stuffing things in. The original intention was to make rolags but I ended up making a sort of faux mini batt accidentally. 

It contains Blue Faced Leicester wool, rose fibre, coral pink merino wool and mixed purple-y sari silk bits.

It definitely did not make for even singles, but that's what I was going for. I made one bobbin full, wound a ball and plied it with itself. It's beautifully thick and thin, though it didn't come out quite like I imagined it would. I did enjoy the experiment!

It does have a certain charm, the rose fibre stranded throughout gives it a pearlescent quality and the sari bits are adding some texture. I like the effect but I think the pink is slightly wrong. I might try dyeing it? Never tried dying before - first time for everything!

Liberty Thea Boho Shirt v2.0

First stop on the rushed wardrobe pieces is the Liberty Thea Boho Shirt (view D). Though to be honest, I really haven't rushed at all. I have rescued a pink poly crepe-y fabric with little indigo birds all over it and some dark mussel shell type buttons from my stash.

I have made it sleeveless rather than have the short sleeve. The fabric is slightly sheer but I'm leaving it unlined to keep it airy. I'm also omitting the button placket so that my lovely buttons will be on show. There is supposed to be a bow at the neck in view D, which I think I may make in a contrast fabric. I have added 3 cm into the gathers on the front yoke.

This version went together as well as the last version I made. The fabric itself is a little slippery and puckering here and there but not too bad - I do love the little birds on it! To make it sleeveless, I bound the sleeve openings with bias binding and turned it to the inside.

Why is it that I was happy to just leave this on the dummy without it's hem done for a week? I always do that, I seem to run out of steam when it comes to the final hurdle. I forced my way through it this morning and have a new pink blouse to add to my wardrobe. I think I'm going without the necktie after all...  In hindsight, this fabric needed some interfacing on the placket but I am generally pleased with how it turned out. Most importantly, it fits me!

Sewing plans for June/July

Well, I have received a jury summons for July so it seems I will be forced out of the house by then. The important question obviously, is what to wear? I don't have much in the way of 'nice' clothes right now partly due to being a mom at home (the joys of daily paint smears and spilt drinks) and  living in a building site it has been important to not have anything too precious to wreck!

I had planned to spend some months creating some nice outfits for myself now that I have my sewing things back. But I will have to come up with a few things before then. I am assuming a being inside a courtroom will mean high summer heat and no air conditioning so I will be focusing on light airy clothes. Purchasing power is low right now, I'm sure everyone is feeling the financial situation like our household is. Put simply, this is going to have to be a stash project...

I have a few things that were purchased for other projects that didn't get used so I can reincorporate those things.

So! Here's the plan. (so far)

• Liberty Thea Boho Shirt (view D).

• Mimi G Simplicity 8084 (view B but even shorter so it's a top rather than a dress).

• Sew Liberated 'Estuary Skirt'

• The Great British Sewing Bee 'Fashion with Fabric': The Cami top. Several probably. It doesn't use much fabric and I wear these sort of tops all time. I won't be adding that flounce though.

If there's time I would like to piece together some denim off cuts into a skirt of some kind. But I don't have any sort of pattern for that so it would need a purchase.

Since I still have the bits and bobs around from my last Thea shirt, I'm going to work on that one first. Tonight's job will be tracing the different collar and put a tiny FBA in the front.

Northern Lights Weaving

 Here we go!

I warped up the whole 24" of the loom for the first time with a black wool/acrylic mix in DK weight.
The hand spun all went in on the weft and I am going for a clasped weft which means you can use two or more colours on each row. I thought it might help get the flowing shapes that I was after.

Started off with using 2 colours, which progressed to 3 and then 4 once I started working the flashes of acid green in.. Four wasn't the greatest idea I ever had, I was pretty unorganised about it and it was ending up a right mess, but the weaving looked ok!

It is finished but is currently rolled onto the loom so I have no idea what it actually looks like as a whole. I will be finding out once I have filled up the rest of the warp with some sampling. I have about 20cm to play with, so will see what happens!

Northern Lights Handspun

I have a fancy to do a much darker weaving so I have been spinning these with the theme of the northern lights while we have had so much lovely sunshine. They are a mix of everything, wool, silk, bamboo, rose.. I could go on! 

It's a mix of black/midnight blue, through bright purples and eventually getting to proper acid green. I think I might try some sort of clasped weft effect. The plan for the final weaving is putting it on the wall rather than a garment so I don't need to worry too much about how practical or 'correct' it is - I'm just going to go for what I feel.

Rigid Heddle Weaving

I treated myself to a loom a couple of months ago and I have been getting to know it.

To try it out, I used up a couple of balls of scrap acrylic - you know what I'm talking about. The stuff that seems like a good idea at the time then you have no idea what to do with it and it ends up sitting in your stash forever.

The warp is a gold colour with lurex and the weft is burgundy, with rainbow lurex. Many sparkles. I think it would make a cool table runner at Christmas now. I found myself relieved with how easy it was to weave anything!

I did weave a quick blue scarf up for my Son after that, he insisted. I did forget to take a picture...

The original thinking around getting my own loom was that I hoped it would give me something to do with all the handspun that I had been accumulating so I warped up with a commercial acrylic and got to work at trying to achieve a semi-ombre effect scarf.

Honestly it ended up better than I imagined. It is plain weave, but the handspun gives it so much texture and interest. It's exactly the effect I wanted. I enjoy making yarn that just 'is' rather than go for a particular weight and I am awful at consistency, it's fun, but definitely thick and thin and here and there. The weaving really shows it off where attempting to knit it made it look awful.

I had a fancy to make dishcloths/cleaning cloths out of cotton. I used DK weight cotton on a 7.5 dent reed and they did look quite holey on the loom but once they were off they looked great.

I find weaving to be a lovely meditative activity. My only gripe really is that I can't carry it around very easily. I did get it on the patio in the sunshine with a G&T at one point which was amazing.

Now I have lots of weaving ideas cooking.

Time taken: Hours and hours, it's much quicker than knitting though.
Injuries: None and I put it together myself!

Liberty Thea Boho Shirt

I got the Liberty pattern for the Thea Boho Shirt and fabric way back in February but only just got around to making it. The fabric is a nice cotton with a ditsy print. I was drawn to those statement sleeves and thought it might be fun to just make it rather than be wearable. I cut it in a size 22 and found it a very straightforward pattern to follow. I did make a minor mistake on the hidden button placket but I doubt anyone in the real world will notice, so it's OK! It's all finished properly on the inside too.

I found that the sleeves weren't so 'statement' in my version, and I do wonder whether they just look massive because of the fashion styling on the packet. However, this does make the shirt more wearable for me.

Time taken: 8-10 hours, not sure. I don't know how the people on the sewing bee are knocking stuff up in two hours or less.
Coffee: Countless, possibly contributing to construction time.
Injuries: 1 bloody thumb. (Bashed with the sewing machine needle bar - could have been worse!)

An update

Wow, I haven't really posted anything here in a good while have I? My sewing stuff went away for over a year while we have major renovations done to the house. I won't bore you with the drama but the short story is that, they are still ongoing...

I did work on my border quilt in that time, but was mostly knitting bits and bobs and don't really have anything to show for it, and no, the quilt still isn't done. It was so stressful living in all the building stuff that I just couldn't cope with 'relaxing'. So I did what any normal person would do, I began a part time degree in Law. Ha!

We were almost done with the work as lock down was announced in the UK, so our builders could no longer visit and we have heard nothing since. At the moment, the sad assumption is that they have gone bust and may not return. We will deal with that bridge when we come to it.

I was able to move into my new sewing space when it arrived earlier this year after spending a couple of months as a small living room while the main one got remodelled. It isn't in the league of a 'pinterest' sewing room, but it's mine and I'm enjoying getting as much out of it as I can.

After struggling with the Y seams (great first-project-after-a-break that was, not) I ended up making masks and button bands for various places locally. I am still making the odd mask/band for family. I was happy to help but that kind of sewing really put me in a bad place mentally. I spent the whole time overthinking the pandemic situation, feeling spaced out and out of control. It wasn't good.

So I have been trying to give myself a bit of head space. It's hard with all the kids at home while schools etc. are shut and my husband is working from home but I am feeling much better.

I purchased a loom!

I have only done plain weave on it so far but I find it really meditative at the moment. I like it a lot. So anyway, I guess what I'm saying is - I've been making more and I feel more inclined to share now that I'm feeling better.

xx