My new community site for textile folks

Waving to everyone in very excited manner this morning! For l those with very sharp eyes. Last night a little bit of text appeared in my side bar which reads “Visit stitchin fingers a new community site for stitchers.” Well for anyone who noticed great work!

I have finally got around to doing something I have meant to do for ages and that is create a stitchin/textile community site over on Ning.

For a long time I felt that the community needs a hub that can act a depot to spread news of events etc. Ning is a social software site that helps people build communities. I think may provide the service the textile folks need. Ning looks to be good place to make announcements, share news and photos hang out online etc.

I have called the network Stitchin Fingers So far I have put a forum on there, and since Ning has an RSS feed so you can subscribe and new activity will appear in your reader. It is an ideal place to act as a hub for all sorts of news and activities that the whole community can make use of. So all are welcome to use it and be as active as you choose on the site.

It is free and looks like members can have up to 100 photos. Members can load their own photos, create albums, share them etc. This feature alone would have made it ideal for any of the challenges I have run. It means people who don’t have to have a blog can join in on activities and for those that do have blogs they tell us about them there! But its more than simply that. As I say its a community site - or I see it as that and I will keeping pure self promotion at bay . People can use it to spread the word about textile related events but I don’t see it as an avenue for business to peddle their wares.

Last night I spent far too long trying to decide on a theme and I will organise some sort of image in the banner. I don’t want to spend an age designing something only to find not one is interested. Basically I will polish it the more people join and use it.

Since its free you have nothing to lose head over to Stitchin Fingers, sign up, join and leave a hello message and we can see what develops from there. Bloggers and those on lists please help spread the word because it will not work if people don’t know about it. This is a community site so lets hope it builds!

I have described it as “The group is open to all who are interested in textiles both contemporary and historical. Since many textile practices cross or inform each other all areas are welcome “
Actually I will reshape the description when figure out how to describe the group as I am sure it will shape itself!

If you are not sure what a Ning site is take a look at the fiberarts mixed media group as you can see it is for anyone who is interested in contemporary fiber arts and its a good example of what a group site can look like

This is what prompted me to finally get this network site going as Tricia of Lets Create contacted me as she is establishing a group for people who are interested in challenges. Go and check out her blog here This is the sort of news that is ideal to spread on the Stitchin Fingers site.

On another note I thought I would bring this link to Designer Bookbinders to the top as kimsarahtillyer left a comment point me to it. Designer Bookbinders was founded over fifty years ago and is a society devoted to the craft of fine bookbinding. There is some delicious eye candy in their gallery so do go and gobble some up (after you have checked out Stitchin Fingers that is)

 

Video Tutorials for Fiber Folks

There are a number of instructional tutorials on You tube I have been digging around to find them

There is a video on YouTube demonstrating how to make a Nuno Felt Purse

 

Bone combs, pointy hats and shoe lasts for felted boots

I find I am often in interesting corners of the net turning up what many people would consider obscure and strange information. This is unless you are a fiber freak of course. Now I am not a felter although I have tried it a couple of times and love to stitch on hand made felt I have never really developed the skill. That aside I discovered this tutorial on how to Make your own shoe last for felting slippers and boots in the washing machine. A reminder to all northern hemisphere readers here. I am in Australia its still winter and I live in Canberra where it’s –2 at the moment and I am having fantasies of warm feet!

While you are on Sally Pointer’s site check out the Gandalf style Pointy hats and the free patterns for historical costumers. Also if you just happen to need instructions on making a bone comb as the Vikings and Saxons did you will find them on this site.

 

Needle felted flower tutorial

I am seeing ways to embellish recycled denim bags all over the place now. I discovered this tutorial on how to make a Needle felted flower on the craftlog site. I thought some of the people who read this would find it useful.

 

How to make felted beads

How to make felted beads is just what the title says a brief tutorial written by Lili la Malice on the Sampler site.

 

Hive

Hive produces a sophisticated range of products for the the home in felt. The studio is a the collaboration between architect Mark Dyson and Graphic designer Monika Piatkowski.

Apart from admiring works such as the paris cityscape floor rug there is much the small studio based textile practitioner can learn about successful promotion from this site. The site design is clean and easily understood, the photography is excellent, and objects are presented in a visually interesting manner accompanied by descriptions. By this I mean that objects are not simply plonked in the middle of photograph but are lit well and photographed in a manner that evokes an impression of good contemporary design practice. You will not find the equivalent of a quilt hanging on a clothes line or photographed against a brick wall here. Everything about the site evokes professionalism and polish yet the text implies that the designers are approachable and have personal touch. The combination of the two I am sure feeds success.