Aargh!

 Date today: 5/10/20

I decided to try out one of my graph paper designs with variegated thread today - for the blackwork course. 

I was well into it when I noticed that I hadn't done the design properly, it is meant to be symmetrical. 

Ah well, it is my own design, I can change it if I like. 

Then ... I discovered that my graphed design isn't accurate!! One side has 5 blocks for the line, the other (supposedly symmetrical) has 4!! So now I am just winging it, will see what develops as I sew. 

The white part of the thread isn't very good, it doesn't show up at all. So I am cutting those bits off and will see if I can find another use for them. Waste not, want not - especially in these lockdown days. 

Fabric Paint that works like dye

 It being 2/10/20, I had to post today!

And I have something of interest - to me, anyway.

As part of the Blackwork course I am doing, we were asked to play with some colouring of the fabric. I know that dyes for plant-based fabrics usually mean you have to mordant the fabric and, honestly, I just couldn't be bothered. 

But then I saw an article in Embellish magazine, about using paint on fabric (except I didn't realise that it was paint at first, it looked like silk painting with dyes). 

The article was interesting. The person who wrote it has done several articles in this magazine over the last few years and I have read them with mild interest. But this one happened to co-incide with the need to colour my linen (or linen-cotton in some cases). 

I contacted her and bought some of her fabric paints: Liquid Radiance. It also happened that she was running a free workshop on Zoom that I could 'attend'. So I did! 

The paints have worked well on the linen and I have had a small play with using coloured (variegated) threads and black threads. I have, once again, only used what I had seeing we still can't go to the shops - they aren't open yet! 

I only used red, yellow and blue. They travel and mix well. They can be put on dry fabric or dampened. Some fabrics didn't work very well dry, especially if they had not been prewashed. The fabric sometimes resisted the water soaking in. 

This piece was so small I had to attach it to some calico to put it in the hoop. 

The paint makes the fabric a tiny bit stiffer, which isn't a bad thing, I think it is less likely to fray. 

Some of the darker patches were a little bit harder to see for the embroidery but, overall, it was successful. 

I have done some samples, now to see if I can come up with a design. 

I did also play with some Shiva Oil sticks but haven't tried to sew on that fabric yet. The colours are nice and strong and I have heat set and washed it, which did get rid of some of the residue. 

Not having any idea of what I was wanting to achieve, I just rubbed on some colour and now need to play with some sewing. If it shows up, the colour is rather strong. 

Just Because I Had It

 As part of the Blackwork course I am doing, we are being encouraged to play with textile multi-media. I started painting on some linen and using Shiva Oil Sticks but more on that later - if it works at all. I had heard that someone has done some blackwork onto felting. Hmm, how is that done? Turns out you make the felt then place some linen over it and do the blackwork through it all. Then you pull out the linen. Not having any felt to hand, and not feeling like making any, I looked around. 

Lo and behold, I had some silk paper, with Angelina Fibre in it, lying around. Why not try?? 

So I found a small piece of linen - didn't want to do a big piece in case it was a disaster. 

It is the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria's 60th anniversary this year and the theme was, surprise, surprise, Diamonds. I found some images online and thought I would try them on graph paper. The designs didn't work well in that format, the angles were not right. 

Feeling a bit impatient, I then decided to just draw the diamond shape onto the fabric using a water soluble pen. The pen has a relatively thick nib (thick for blackwork, anyway). So I had to guess where some of the spaces ended. I also didn't do it all that carefully, so the shape isn't exactly symmetrical. 

I then placed the linen over the silk paper and started sewing. As I did a small design, the spaces were small, I had to choose small patterns. I varied the thickness of the threads to give a bit of difference. I also left some spaces empty - not only to hasten things but for aesthetic reasons too. But it did hasten things. 

When I pulled out the linen, some of the sewing caught in it because I had gone through it when sewing. Most of the sewing was ok but a few stitches did pull. Pulling out the threads also distorted some of the sewing so it doesn't look particularly like blackwork. Ah well, it was just an experiment. I am not unhappy with it, I just don't know what I would do with this sort of thing. This piece is going into my folder. 

Maybe I should call it a rough diamond. 

Experimenting with colouring linen for blackwork embroidery

Our final lesson for the blackwork course I am doing is about colouring the fabric and then doing some embroidery on it. We were asked to colour some calico but I haven't really understood why, unless the teacher thinks that most of the participants will not have coloured fabric before. 

It was also suggested that we use acrylic paint. But I have found that when I use that the fabric handles quite differently, quite stiffly. 

I have decided to play with the colouring of fabric a bit differently. So far, I have used Inktense blocks, the small ones, that look like sticks, and ink.  It has been interesting to find information about using them on fabric. Usually, the articles are about using Inktense pencils and blocks for quilting. We use even weave linen for blackwork. Here is one I found that is about dyeing the fabric for cross-stitch. As I found no information about that, I have decided that linen is a plant-based fabric, not all that different from cotton, so will just assume it is in the same category. 

Today I played with small bits of fabric. I used some that was not washed, presumably has size on it, and some that I washed. Then I tried the Inktense blocks with dry fabric, dampened fabric and dampened blocks. They gave different results. I think the best way to go will be with the dampened fabric because there is less smearing of colour - which will be less likely to come off on the embroidery threads, I hope. 

I have also tried some inks on the fabric, also dampened and not. I don't know if the inks will be permanent but I will heat set them when they are dry. Some sites have recommended leaving the dyes and inks for 72 hours, so I won't iron them till then. Then I may wash them to see if the colour stays. I have only done small fragments of fabric - partly because I don't have a lot of blackwork suitable fabrics and partly because it is relatively expensive and hard to get at the moment with lockdown still in force. Therefore it is possible that I won't bother with the rinsing. I am only playing around with colouring fabric, not with coming up with something that will be permanent and for sale. 

This one is inks on the fabric, resting on a towel that has been used before. Maybe it will be useful in the future, given its absorbance of colours. 

I don't quite know what I am trying to achieve - in terms of a sample. So I will play around, find out some things and then see if I can come up with a piece of fabric that will inspire me to do some interesting embroidery. 

Warmer Weather

 As I was sitting in the lovely sunshine, working diligently on my latest blackwork piece (an actual piece, not a sampler) I noticed some movement outside the window. 

Instant reaction was to be very alert. What is that??

Then I saw the legs - phew. 

Around here we have notices in the parks that warn that the snake season is from October to March but we have noticed over recent years that they are out and about from September to April these days. I think I will not need to be as vigilant these days since our dog has died. But our exercise regime is currently to be out of the house for an hour a day, no more than 5km from home, so we are going to lots of parks that I probably wouldn't go to without Penny. There are so many people out in the parks that the snakes are probably hiding a lot more - I hope so. 

Penny died at the beginning of this pandemic, it is her 6 month anniversary. Life has changed drastically. We still miss her but we are grateful that she hasn't been old and ill during this difficult period. 

She would have been barking madly at the lizard today. She would have been keeping the rats out of our garden too. Rumour has it that the rats have migrated from the city to the suburbs, looking for cafes but are finding our veggie gardens instead. Perhaps our next dog, if we ever get one, will have to be a terrier. 

New design

 After struggling to come up with a design I liked, using the fabrics I have at home (still no going to the shops), I came up with a new baby quilt. 

It is using some fabric I must have had for decades. I think it was supposed to be border fabric but they would have been rather large borders. So maybe it wasn't border fabric. Doesn't matter, really. I have made it into blocks on a quilt. 

The baby was born today! 

Thank goodness for the internet.

 Thank goodness for generous people who show you how to do things too. 

I have spent HOURS trying to do a mitred corner for a sample for the Blackwork course I am doing. We were given notes, we had to practise using paper but I just could not get my head around it today (and yesterday!). 

I eventually found a good link that made it clearer with images. If we were in normal times I would have attended classes and been shown in person. But I have only had notes so far. So the internet has been a Godsend. 

However, I have tried it again, using paper, and am still a bit bamboozled. Sometimes I can do it, sometimes I can't. 

So I think that, if given the choice, I will NEVER do a mitred corner for blackwork. 

Our teacher finally called me and talked me through her process. Success: I have the corner done but as I didn't want to waste fabric if I got it wrong again, I didn't have a big enough piece to do all corners. However, I did try using the sewing machine zigzag stitch on the edge instead of hand sewing it. I think I would use a less regular stitch if I did it again so that the sewing isn't all along one thread which might pull off too easily. 

And I used the sample to try the hemstitch, one direction with the thread pulled out and one without. This really is a sampler!