Last February (February 2011 that is) I wove up a length of fabric out of wool and silk. The yarns I used were in their natural off white pristine state, which means……. dye!! I have an aversion to white, white anything! Who knows why…….. maybe because I’m a naturally grubby person?
I dyed it with cochineal.
I can’t weave or bundle right now, but I can sew! This fabric jumped off the shelf into my arms last night and said “Do me do me!!” So I did!
The process transported me into creative fantasyland….. and all sorts of projects leapt into my brain. And because it was ‘fantasyland’ all of the things I imagined were much more finished/polished than my usual creations.
tremblinginsidethecocoon 
very pretty!
Thanks Lilly!
The ones in my brain are REALLY pretty!!
This is so beautiful! what a bright colour. Do you have problems with cochineal rubbing off afterwards? when you knit or weave, do you get pink hands??
I like colours too. When I see something completely white I always tend to at least add one drop of colour… can’t help it. 🙂
Thanks Mariana!
I’ve never had problems with cochineal rubbing off on my hands when I weave….. and after the weaving is done I wash and rinse the end product thoroughly, until the water runs clear.
I’ve gotten blue hands from spinning with indigo dyed fibers though 🙂 that’s always fun!
White reminds me of a canvas, ready to be painted on. White seems unfinished. White begs for color!
Beautiful shrug and I love the colour. I have the same thing with white, I can’t keep it white anyway. I am constantly looking for white now, too much urge to dye.
Love it Julie, the colour of course (!) but the lightness of the fabric and the style of the shrug. I find sometimes that handwoven fabric can look sort of lumpy and old fashioned when it’s made up into a garment, but this certainly isn’t.
I agree with what you say about white weaving. I am at present warping up for a very fine silk and merino shawl in white and I was thinking how it would turn out dyed with indigo or cochineal. But there are lots of people who actually like white so I will leave it undyed.
Thanks Gill!
I have thoughts for making more….. hopefully they will also be without lumps! 🙂
I know what you mean…. so many handwoven garments look ‘rough/lumpy’, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily, and I like the look sometimes. But it’s nice to have something be a bit more sleek and polished for other occasions.
What weave is your silk, merino shawl? I can’t wait to see it!
Mmm, I am probably the black sheep here 🙂 as I like white and undyed as much as I like colorful. I feel comfortable working in white but always enjoy colorful which others made. It must be very exciting to sew from one’s own weaving, the shrug is perfect in my eyes! lots of love from SK
Thank you Monika!
Maybe those of us who like white over color are just compensating for our not being able to keep white things clean? 😀
….. and I’m sure you will be weaving fabric soon, and then you can stitch it up into something!! Something glorious!!
Hey Julie
So glad to have found your blog 🙂 and sad to hear of your recent injury. Love the blog and all your experiments with dyeing etc. This shrug is gorgeous and along with the others, I agree the colour is very pretty. I haven’t had time to do anything lately but always enjoying reading and seeing what others are up too 🙂 Hope you will be up weaving and bundling soon…..with love Sheila
Hi Sheila!!
I’m glad you found me!
I’d been wondering what you have been up to since I hadn’t seen any new posts on Flickr…… but did remember you saying that you were going to have very little time to be creating.
Hopefully soon things will slow down and you can get back into your creative groove….. because you are so good at it!!
Hugs
Julie
Only 2 seams to sew that? It really looks pretty.
Two seams! It’s just a long rectangle…. like a shawl. Roughly 25 inches wide by 3 yards in length. It’s in an old “Threads” magazine….
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/17365/30-minute-jacket
It would fantastic in some of your rosepath fabric!!
Nice design. Thanks for that link. I never thought of weaving things to wear, but these last few years I’ve been lured into scarfs. No shawls yet, but definitely long lengths, the longer the better.
I wonder if a ragweave piece would be appealing or appalling. Since nothing is cut, I can just sew it up and see. How many years did it take you to make those seams? Times 2 for me.
🙂
You can’t be any slower than I am!
And you have made some great purses with your rose path designs…. just expand those a bit!
Lovely color and nicely shaped garment. Was it hard to make that first cut in your hand woven?
Thanks Moya,
This piece didn’t require any cuts, which was nice.
I have cut into handwoven fabric before however, and it is hard. Knowing that you had just woven all those threads together and now you’re just cutting them apart! And there’s then the problem with it wanting to come unraveled at the cuts….. much more so than with commercial fabric. But the satisfaction of creating a garment out of fabric you’ve made yourself far outweighs any trauma!!