Mother’s Day presents for my girls “organic cotton bandanas”

Organic cotton bandanas….that would be a nice cottage industry! I was going to be lazy and buy blanks and print them, but it is almost impossible to find organic cotton bandanas! Not that it took all that long to hem 8 squares (they each got three and I kept two for myself).

Base dye was chaparral (yellow) but over dyed a few of them with cutch. Various leaves were applied, some worked well, others not so great. Sprinkled some dye powders on them (madder, cochineal, turmeric),  covered with rust cloth and steamed for an hour.

My two bandanas were not eco printed. I used them to practice with painting on natural dye pigments (such as was done on the previous post of the give away dress). haven’t taken photos of them yet. Their base colors were chaparral and cutch.

 

GIVE AWAY TIME!

Made myself a new dress, and I just don’t like the way it feels on me 😦

“A Verb For Keeping Warm” pattern, bias cut medium/heavy weight hemp dress, dyed with madder and decorated with walnut ink circles. No pockets. Size Large (armpit to armpit measurement is almost 22 inches).

Drawing will be on June 16th. Open to everybody in the world! Just leave a comment saying you are interested and I will add your name to the ‘hat’.

Eco Print dresses for Jo and her dolly

Thought it would be fun to make Josephine and her doll dresses for her birthday. The doll made it there in time, the dresses were a bit late 😦

photo by Lillian Short

Used a pattern called “Easy Peazy Pleats” by Olive Ann Designs.

The base fabric (cotton/hemp blend) was dyed with kamala, then overdyed with madder. I used mainly used guava leaves with some flowers in the ‘circles’ (the flowers did NOT turn out well) for the eco prints.

Originally I was going to stamp some bees on it too, with earth pigments….but ran out of time. So will save that idea for some bandanas I want to make.

Precut fabric for Lilly…..

The thought is in the air for doing some collaborative projects….. with me dyeing the fabric and Lilly sewing it into one of a kind garments.

Here is a dress blank that I dyed for her, using a 100actsofsewing pattern. The photos are a bit ‘rough’ as I was trying to take photos quickly with a camera whose battery needed recharging (wanted to get the package in the mail today).

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Whiling away the time….

Took a tumble on the stairs at work yesterday, nothing major, just missed the bottom step. But whacked my arm pretty hard and it swelled up impressively 😀 Got to come home, and stay home again today. Hopefully I will be back to work tomorrow….. I’m planning on it, but it all depends on what the boss says. She wanted me to go in for an ex-ray, but everybody who has looked at it seems to think it’s just a bad contusion and not a broken arm (I even called the doctor who treated my broken arm a couple of years ago and he seems to think, from what I told him and no loss of mobility, that it is in all likelihood not broken)….. I am not in a hurry to waste money and time in Urgent Care.

Other than that little boo-boo life is good! I got into a class/workshop with Irit Dulman this summer in Portland!! Yippee!! A double blessing since I will also get to spend time with my kids and my little grand daughter (who is growing like a weed and changing by the moment!).

I think that the workshop with Irit will propel me into another level of eco printing. I’m okay at it, but she is so far ahead of me that I will come away will a new fervor and momentum. PLUS, she is more discriminate with her leaves….. a discussion we had a few years ago. I tend to pour the leaves onto the fabric, like fallen leaves on the forest floor, while she seems more contemplative with her placement.

Here are a few of my latest eco print scarves……

This one is handwoven out of raw silk, then eco printed. I thought about over printing it, it seems a bit insipid to me, but Jeph talked me out of it.

 

And these two are more circular sanded silk charmeuse scarves.

I am also working on a top for myself….. it’s almost done. And a purse…. ha ha ha, the purse is taking it’s time. I wove a length of fabric out of hemp, cottolin and raw silk…… making 4 inch squares down the middle that would just be raw silk, that I then eco printed. All went well so far. BUT I am finding myself spatially challenged with the folding up of the fabric (turning it into the purse). It’s the purse that was found here  http://donisdelis.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-tutorial.html  AND I have made it before, although it has been a few years. Each time I make it, I find myself scratching my head and thinking “huh?” You would think that it would come back to me….. 🙂 it will!

Re-opening my etsy shop?

Am not quite sure about this… it’s still in the contemplation stage.

Oh? Really? I listed a piece of eco printed fabric today… dipping my toes into the water of indecision.

Not sure that I want to have the hassle of shop upkeep again….. maybe just post a thing here and there? Would it be worth it? Guess I will find out.

Here is what I posted. A piece of eco printed wool fabric, measuring 54 by 68 inches.

 

Eucalyptus and madder prints…. with a sprinkling of turmeric around them. Bundled and boiled in  indigo/soapnut bath.

Jeph’s CD pouches…..

I really thought that 20 C.D. pouches could be made quickly, after all, I had already printed the fabric for them!

But no. He ended up having his Christmas present presented to him in various  stages of completion. Some were totally done. Some had their side closure stitched and were waiting for the sides to be hand stitched. And the rest were sewn and turned right side out, but with the hand stitching still to be done.

The outside is raw silk printed with eucalyptus. The inner cloth is old madras fabric that was purchased over a decade ago (intended as rags for a rug). There is batting between the two layers….. making a nice soft pouch for the C.D.s

Now all he has to do is create the music 🙂

 

Some close ups

 

Did some weaving too, during the pre holiday rush. A scarf for each of the kids. Alas, I didn’t get photos of them before I packed them up and shipped them off. 😦

Lilly did send a couple of photos of her scarf…. on her, and draped around Ellie. Her scarf was inspired Susan’s scarves (aka avalanchelooms) ….. I was showing her photos of Susan’s, and she said that she always liked my old samplers (from 30+ years ago). So I combined the great rose path patterns that Susan uses, with all the odds and ends of Harrisville yarns I had left. It actually turned out to be a bright, happy scarf! We were both pleased with it.

A Small Quilt For Ellie’s First Birthday

My littlest quilt to date. Not that I’ve made many, which might be obvious to most people 😉

And technically it’s not a ‘quilt’…. since there is no quilting involved. An eco print patchwork comforter with alpaca ties anchoring it….. a mouthful! Quilt is so much easier to say!

One side, my favorite, is a large piece of eco printed silk charmeuse. The other is squares of eco printed raw silk, with naturally dyed strips between. Organic cotton batting sandwiched in-between.

These photos were shot this morning, before I was finished. Wanted to catch the early morning light…..

Interesting that the marigold leaves printed yellow on the charmeuse and green on the raw silk!

 

A bit of autumn sunshine….

….. caught in a skein of organic merino!

Yes, it’s that time of year once again. The countryside is covered with a yellow haze  of blooming snakeweed (a.k.a. rubberbush).

So headed out yesterday morning to gather a bag full of blossoms.

 

Then into a pot they went….

 

A bit of boiling, and straining, then added the pre-mordanted (alum and creme of tartar)  merino.

 

And here is the dried skein….. a lovely yellow!

 

 

And here is the sweater my sister-in-law knit for Ellie out of this yarn!! Isn’t it lovely!?!?

New Wool Skirt

The wool had been hiding, safe from moths…. and apparently safe from me too! I had no idea where I had stashed it, reminding me that we all do get more like our mothers as we age…. my mom was infamous for hiding things to keep them safe, and never finding them again. Or, to the delight of her grandchildren, offering rewards for the lucky child who could!

This wool was purchased in Portland a few years ago. A remnant, just saying wool/wool blend. I purchased it, along with a few more pieces. They were washed, then baptized in the Pacific ocean (I always get strange looks from the beach goers, wondering what the crazy lady is doing!). And then put someplace safe 😉

Found my stash a couple of weeks ago (Ellie’s jacket was made from one of the pieces)….. was VERY happy!! Especially since the milky merino that I had splurged on was also in the container!

Had hoped to duplicate, roughly, the wonderful results that I had had on the blanket. But didn’t. Love it anyway!

I’ve noticed something about prints, and life. From a distance things can seem murky and dismal…. but upon closer inspection, all the little gems shine forth. Reminds me that I need to be happy with those little delights and not concentrate so much on the big picture. I’d be so much happier if I did!

 

The skirt fits and I love it!

Not sure why I can’t iron out the creases (couldn’t with Ellie’s jacket either). Perhaps it was with something added to the wool? But I am not going to let a few wrinkles make me unhappy….. if I did that, I’d get depressed every time I looked into the mirror 😉

Oh…. 17 people have their names in the ‘hat’ so far…… I am amazed at the response!