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Fri 28 Jan, 2005 01:08 pm
Today I posted the following in the "General" forum, as I couldn't find one for needlecrafts. There are all sorts of crafts, of course, and I personally think they're all good for you. Needlecrafts would include anything done with thread or yarn or fabric....from Macrame (no needle actually) to Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Weaving, Punch-Needle, Cutwork, Network, Plastic Canvas, Hardanger, Cross-Stitch, Blackwork, Knitting & Crochet, Quilting, Lace-making, Sewing, etc. I thought if there was enough interest in the thread, maybe they could start a forum for Crafts? Well, why not try?
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Hi everyone, I knit too, and love to talk about it. My sister taught me Continental, SO much easier than American, esp. when you're doing knit/purl combinations. I only use the US method when using 2 colors in a row, and then it's a bit of a struggle as US seems so awkward to me. Anyway, all the stuff I made knitting turned out sort of....ugly. Nothing ever fit me right, and I had the hardest time figuring out how it would fit until after it was completely done.
I used to sew all my own clothes, back when I was in the corporate world. Even made tailored suits. Some stuff just didn't work, but I had much better success with sewing than with knitting.
I knit, crochet, sew, bead, embroider, weave, make lace, just about anything involving fabric, thread, & yarn, except for quilting & tatting. Is there a forum for needlecrafts? Guess not, eh? Can we start one?
My latest project is embroidery of all the types of flowers in our yard, done on a set of beautiful linen napkins (8 of them) which I got at a thrift store for $2.50. I love thrift stores! Just started the drawings for them, I plan to lace them all together into a wall hanging when I'm done. I'm not very good at drawing, but you really don't have to be to draw for embroidery.
I just got a Fantastic Deal on eBay for perle cotton, I got 140+ balls of it for $15. since it was listed under sewing thread instead of embroidery thread. Mostly DMC brand, my favorite! I was so happy when it arrived, hubby had to take a picture of me gloating over it! I just Love perle cotton for embroidery, way better than embroidery floss. I don't like to separate the floss strands, and perle cotton is way more shiney with more vivid colors (in my opinion).
I have more yarn than should be legal, having collected it all at thrift stores or eBay. I don't even go to the local yarn shop, given the prices are SO HIGH! Cripes, I couldn't even make one sweater at those prices.
Recently got 2 weaving looms (simple table ones) on eBay, and have found I Love weaving. Way faster than knitting, and a lot easier for me. It just whips right along!
Anyway I could talk all day about needlecrafts. But no forum? Waaaahhhh!
Goody!
Letsee. Last thing I did was modest but turned out nicely. I wanted to give something nice, personal and CHEAP to the neighbors for Christmas. I had a bunch of leftover felt from an activity for my daughter's birthday party (had a thread on that), including very dark navy blue with some sparkle to it and white with some sparkle. What I decided to do was make ornaments: a circle (~ 4 inches diameter) of dark blue with a white appliqued snowflake, sewn on with small glittery clear glass beads to accent the snowflake pattern.
The first one I sewed like a pillow -- good sides together, around the edges, turn right side out again to stuff -- but I thought it actually looked better before I turned it right side out again. So the rest of them I put wrong sides together, sewed most of the way around, stuffed, and then finished sewing.
For two of them I beaded the kids' names on the back, and for another I put the year. (I started them well before Christmas but finished them by hand when the power was out in The Ice Storm of 2004, so they became appropriate mementos.)
I took pictures but haven't had that roll developed yet, will post when I do. (They're not a big deal, but were fun to make, especially in the context of sitting in front of the fire wrapped in blankets.)
I once got a gash in my left leg working in Nigeria. I had to sew it up . I did a fairly good job and my stitches were even.
See, I believe you. How many stitches?
Sozobe, Wow! This was just an idea you came up with? Sooooo cool!
Americans are famous for being afraid to do anything without a pattern---folks in other parts of the world are much more creative/daring. Would love to see photos!
Usually I base stuff on patterns, but hardly ever follow them exactly, unless I'm making a garment. Then I follow the instructions and wonder if they were really for a dog sweater?
Sozobe, would you be interested in starting a thread for all the other crafters? People are really into Scrapbooking right now, and of course there's ceramics/pottery, woodworking, basketry, decorative painting, it's a very long list. I did Needlecrafting just because that's what I know about & like.
farmerman wrote:I once got a gash in my left leg working in Nigeria. I had to sew it up . I did a fairly good job and my stitches were even.
Didya really?
You know, I just learned that when stitching wounds, each stitch is knotted separately....no continuous thread. Never knew that.
So did it heal OK?
Link to Fiber Arts Articles
There's a very talented fiber artist named Lili Pintea-Reed on Suite101.com who's written almost 200 articles for needleworkers, all available online. Her focus is on weaving, dying, spinning, and knitting.
Lots of cool stuff on dying with readily available plants, easy knitting patterns, fabric origins and new kinds of fabrics, and a very cool "paste-resist" method of dying similar to Batik, but way easier.
Almost none of her weaving projects require an expensive loom, you can use cardbord, pins, or a simple frame loom for them.
Suite 101 Fiber Arts Articles
Awesome thread. I love doing crafts of all kinds, but my favorite is cross stitch. I prefer the large projects that take me about 6 months to finish. Here's one I did last year. I have others, but I haven't framed them yet.
That little white circle to the left of the picture is just the reflection of the camera flash.
ooh, cool, you did make the thread! I just knit, so far.
You know I'd never miss a thread like this ;-)
WOW, Montana! Did you stitch the whole background & everything? Geez, you have so much more patience than I do! I have trouble finishing a doily!
I've got to post pix of my great-grandmother's cutwork silk tablecloths. She designed them as well as stitching them....the stitches are So Tiny, it must have taken years to work!
I really like designing things, and also have to post pix of them...embroidery, beadwork, crochet....off to look for a place to post them pix!
Dragonfly necklace image
OK, first try at an image....This is a beaded necklace (worked in brick stitch) of my own design. We have these beautiful blue dragonflies in the summer, and this is based on one of them. Hope it works!
Gosh, Montana. I've seen that before I think, amazing. How long did it take you?
BorisKitten, sure, I'll start a thread for other miscellaneous crafts.
The dying thing reminded me of this project:
Sorry not very good detail, was taken with our old crummy camera.
This was a combo of pattern and making things up -- the basic vest was a pattern, but I inset the antique lace. It was an old linen tea towel that I loved and wanted to do something with (got at Goodwill), had some white linen on hand and carefully dyed it with a few different teas to match the color. So the insetting was difficult -- if I remember right (this was 10 years ago) the lace was attached to the linen on one side and not on the other, so had to carefully attach the somewhat fragile old lace. (Cotton, I think.) Then the buttons were old mother-of-pearl that I had.
That was a fun project, took a lot of figuring out, especially the color matching.
The vast majority of the time I start from materials I have and then figure out what to do with them. That's for reasons both of cost and the challenge -- a lot of the fun of it for me is making something from nothing. (That vest cost me something like a buck total out of pocket.)
Two things I'm looking forward to working with now are a 40's - 50's era lightweight, flowy rayon with a cherry print that I got eons ago (4 yards for $5 at church thrift store) but is very cool right now (thinking of some kind of fluttery ruffly skirt) and a 20's girl's communion dress or something (cheap at a garage sale), white cotton lawn with a lot of lace and embroidery. The top is damaged but the skirt is perfect, not sure exactly what I'll do with it, maybe something for sozlet.
This is a rare concept ---> materials rather than materials ---> concept project. I wanted to make a stuffed animal for my new baby niece. I got a cashmere sweater at a flea market (had one stain on it so cheap, otherwise very good condition) and the inside of the ears were leftover silk satin from my wedding dress. And silk embroidery floss for eyes. (Can you tell I made this thing before I was a mom, myself?) (Somehow it became a favorite anyway -- Christmas pic a year later was taken with her holding the bunny, aw.)
No pattern, just eyeballed it.
I only have photos in albums until 2000, after that it's a lot harder to find things. (I *really* need to organize my photos...)
Oh boy, this is so fun! I love that vest! Really a camisole now, it's too pretty to be a vest.
Did you have to inset the lace by hand? I probably would have, for this, just because the older & more valuable a fabric is, the more likely my sewing machine is to suck it into the bobbin area and rip it to shreds. Lace & silk are the worst!
And so many buttons! You've got to use a lot of these to get that really antique look, I think. If I did that many buttons, I'd probably sew the button placket shut and pull the thing over my head, putting the buttons on for decoration. I still find it hard to correctly line up buttonholes with their corresponding buttons, even after much experience.
I've used tea dye here, where there's a lot of iron in the water, and the color always looks funny. It gets a more muddy than an antique look. Works great in other towns (we have a well, not city water) or with bottled water.
Have you tried Kool-Aid dyeing? That might be really good to use with the paste-resist technique I saw as a Batik replacement. I've heard the colors are really vivid with Kool-Aid, and of course it's non-toxic, and you don't need nasty chemical mordants to set the dye. I've never tried it, though. Anybody else try it?
And that rayon vintage fabric sounds wonderful. One of the few items of clothing I make without a pattern is long skirts with several tiers. Easy, just make one strip quite a bit longer than your waist measurement & 6 to 20" wide. Then make each strip (or tier) 2.5 times longer than the last one, sew 'em together, gathering each to the width of the bottom of the previous tier, and voila!
These are my all-time favorite skirts, with a drawstring at the top so you can loosen it after dinner! These _always_ fit, lose or gain with abandon, and they drape beatifully. I make 'em swirl just for fun. You can also, if you don't have enough fabric, make each tier a different color or fabric, or even piece the tiers. I wear long ones with boots or sandals pretty much all the time. So much more comfy than blue jeans!
BorisKitten wrote:WOW, Montana! Did you stitch the whole background & everything? Geez, you have so much more patience than I do! I have trouble finishing a doily!
I've got to post pix of my great-grandmother's cutwork silk tablecloths. She designed them as well as stitching them....the stitches are So Tiny, it must have taken years to work!
I really like designing things, and also have to post pix of them...embroidery, beadwork, crochet....off to look for a place to post them pix!
Thank you :-D Yes, the whole thing is stitched, including the background. It took me about 6 months to finish that one. I really enjoy doing them.
Re: Dragonfly necklace image
BorisKitten wrote:OK, first try at an image....This is a beaded necklace (worked in brick stitch) of my own design. We have these beautiful blue dragonflies in the summer, and this is based on one of them. Hope it works!
That is very pretty :-D
Also love that Cashmere bunny. Now I wouldn't have been brave enough to try to make something 3-D like that without a pattern. Did you just cut a big bunny shape out of the fabric? I imagine I'd try that method first. The patterns for stuffed animals always seem to have a Lot of pieces, with separate little arms & legs, etc.
A Cashmere sweater is perfect for this!
I have quite a few felted wool sweaters from thrift stores I'm planning to make into a purse. If they're not felted already, I felt them in the washer/dryer. So many cool patterns in vintage sweaters!
Speaking of fabric, I found several yards of a silk, oh, what do you call that, when reflective threads are woven in so when you turn the fabric, it changes color???? Anyway this pattern is so odd I'm not sure what to use it for, other than drapes, which I don't really need. I'll have to show it to you all. It has pink/red flowers on a sort of melon-colored background. Maybe one of those tier skirts? But you know what happens when you use fabric with big flowers....one is always centered directly over your butt, the other 2 over each breast, now matter how hard you try to avoid exactly that effect.
Reminds me of the old advice, "If you get a stain, sew a flower on it!" Only once with all the stains I've gotten on clothing have I gotten a stain where I could put a flower without looking like an idiot! You know, "What's with the flower in your armpit?" "Is that a flower on your crotch?"
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