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)

 

Tessellation toy online

Recently I had to dig out some resources about tessellations and I discovered this interactive online tessellation tool
Try it out it’s a lot of fun. Quilters particularly will enjoy it.

If this toy is too complex for you this is a simpler online tool that works with a square grid, a trianglar grid and an Escher style grid.

The term tessellation is used to refer to patterns that are created by shapes that tile and cover the surface of a plane completely without leaving a gap or overlapping. Tessellations are seen throughout the history of art and architecture Tessellations frequently appeared in the art of M. C. Escher. You can browse his work online at the M.C. Escher website.

Quilters may like to look at how Marjorie Rice has investigated tiling of Pentagon shapes. The Tessellations database will keep you busy and there is Tessellations.org too! Have fun!

 

Podcasts and sewing

If you sew Burdastyle is a site well worth exploring as it has has free printable patterns, a forum, a blog and instructional material on the site.

For those who enjoying listening to a podcast while they stitch Annies Quilting Stash will interest you

On another note Jerry has finished one of his big projects for this year as he has just built a pochette which is a type of violin. Check out the story and you can hear it here too!

 

Three links

With Autumn just around the corner in Australia I am once again looking at my knitting needles and crochet hooks. These Toe up Socks look as tough they would make great house socks and it would be a really useful pattern for using up wool scraps

Also Burdastyle has open source free printable patterns. You will find the catalog here

Quilting with Janet covers quilting techniques in a series of step by step tutorials

 

Have a Cuppa

Settle down for a a cuppa as I have a few bits and pieces to write about before taking a blogging break for the season.

Take it Further challenge News
I have just updated the Take it Further challenge and the sign up period is now closed. There are a few stragglers that I am waiting on for a web addresses for. I have a number of people who have not got back to me with this question and I am now working on the assumption that people have changed their minds if I have not had a return email with their web addy to list, in 48 hours. Sorry folks I simply can’t chase you all up constantly.

At the moment the number of participants is at 273 277 I want to thank everyone who helped spread the word as this sort of number is a good starting point for a challenge. Inevitably there will be drop outs but even with these there is now a large enough number to keep a good group dynamic going and make for an interesting and successful challenge.

On the 1st of each month I will post the challenge which means the first challenge will be posted on January 1 the day I get back form my little blogging holiday.

A little self promotion
My online class Sumptuous Surfaces will run again in January commencing January 24th. You may like to treat yourself or drop some heavy hints as to a Christmas present. The last time this class was run some fantastic work was produced. You can see students work on the flickr group that was set up for students of the class. Even if you are not considering the class it is worth taking a look as there is some great stuff there. The class commences January 24th. There is further information about the class on this page and you can book this class here

A few thinks …
In response to my ideas on slow cloth and slow craft floated here and here Carol-Anne of Threads across the Web has written a very thoughtful piece about the philosophy behind Japanese embroidery and how it might relate to slow cloth in Why do we feel the need for speed?

On the same topic Debra Spincic in her post When Opportunities Arise has suggested that if the opportunity arises to teach someone and don’t dumb down the project. This is a very practical approach to the dumbing down of craft practice and one of the reasons I delight in seeing people write tutorials and post them to blogs. Even if it is as simple as a knot like this the information is invaluable for anyone who does not have the skill.

Sequana dropped me an email to point me to SusyJack which in turn was pointing to an article in the New York Times about contemporary craft titled Handmade 2.0. It’s an article well worth reading because I think many of us sense that the scope and meaning of craft activity has shifted and has been re-energised in the last few years.

Jo of No Matter Where I go I Always Meet Myself There came up with a clear definition of slow cloth in this post
” SLOW CLOTH is what it is all about, taking the time, and care to create something, with thought, with some individuality, and with a genuine interest for the process, as well as the result.”

Elaine Lipson of Red Thread Studio has defined her ideas more here. Kay Susan of S’mockery has seen the debate from a different angle again here
Allison Aller has told the story of one of her slow pieces and Christine of Lady Janes Journal has also dusted off a slow cloth. Mara of Applique and Embroidery in Beijing has also made some good points. I particularly was interested in point about the loss of skills

On another note the idea of slow textile practice tied to the slow movement is part of the Whip Up philosophy look at their manifesto. To quote them “Whipup is for the slow movement, slow cooking, slow living, slow schooling, slow sundays, slowly enjoying life. By living life out of the fast lane we will hopefully notice more, learn more, enjoy our children, friends and family, enjoy our time doing the things we love.”

As you can see slow craft is not about machine versus hand or even the art craft debate but a philosophy about where your values sit. The strength of the ideals behind slow craft is that it does not set a dichotomy between this or that point of view but introduces a way of thinking about craft practice.

There is a shift in craft practice and I have been thinking about a definition of craft that addresses the highly creative DIY community. Certainly this is craft or crafting, just not craft as we think we know it. Hobby Princess in writing of this shift summarized the change “…it’d be a mistake to shrug crafters off as clueless. Below the innocent appearance they are planting the seeds of change. Without making a big deal about boycotting big brands or saving the environment, crafting changes the way we consume. It exposes us to the original ideals of William Morris: the preference of creativity, sincerity, good materials and sound workmanship over wasteful mass-production.” Related to the topic of the shift in how we think about craft practice is an article in Craft Research titled Craft 2.0

As you can see I have been poking around and thinking the notion of a slow cloth has lead me to trying to define for myself what craft practice is in the early 21st century. I hope in the New Year you can bear with me as I tease away and untangle this topic a little further as for me the slow movement also reacts our culture of consumption and consumerism and considers our environment. It is a topic I am going to give more thought to and feel free to chip in with comments or write a blog post about what you think.

Late Edit Take a look at Misa’s thoughts  on the subject of Slow Craft as she has ‘got it’ in other words understand she perfectly understands what I mean by slow craft

A few links
I have a few odd links today which I have either been meaning to post or develop into longer posts. I thought I would put them out there for your enjoyment
Once again I encountered again Freda’s Photos on Flickr. She has photographs of the most fantastic crazy quilt up. No doubt the discussion lists found it and delighted in the eye candy but I missed it and was delighted at seeing this quilt so I thought I would share it with you

While on Flickr I found this group for Button Wreaths, Trees, Balls and Flowers. Then I got stuck on this flickr group for vintage buttons and then I discovered this flickr group for button jewelry and accessories As you can see Flickr can be a huge time sink for me if I am not careful

With the New year around the corner many of us take stock and look at where our life is going and what we are doing. It’s the time of year that we set goals for the future and look back on the previous year.

While in such a mood you may like to take a look at The Life of Riley. Olive is 108 and with the help of Mike keeps a blog. This blog is not on the topic of textiles but it certainly is about life and not to be missed

If you are still feeling link deprived check out the Take it Further challenge page and the TAST page as I have updated the list there to those that are in the process of finishing or those frantically stitching to catch up, as there is a huge list of blogs there that will more than keep you busy!

Whats coming up in the new year?

I will be back in the new year with the Take it Further challenge, my usual links to resources, my have a cuppa type posts
I plan to regularly add a tutorial round up as there is some great resources being produced by bloggers.
Also I have noticed I have a good few new readers who are new to blogs and the internet. This has come to my attention during the sign ups for the Take it Further challenge. I have had to answer emails on some real basics like what a web address is and how to leave a comment on blogs, the fact that blogs change daily or weekly and even how to bookmark a site. So I will return to writing tips and tricks on how to use the technology of the web and blogging at a basic level. These will be either tutorials written by me or along the lines of my post on RSS feeds the other day. It is too easily assumed that people know this stuff and they often don’t. I do keep Mindtracks which is about this but many readers here do not follow that blog and it is possibly too technical for them.
Also next year I hope you can bear with me as I document more of my work in progress. I do actually stitch!

My personal challenge for next year is to get quite a few projects done. Readers will hopefully enjoy watching me blitze my work room and weigh everything in my stash as I am going on a fiber diet next year so swing back here for what I am sure will be an amusing sight. After my weigh in I am going to set about clearing the decks, sorting out, de-cluttering, de-stash, finish projects and start new projects I have been thinking about. At the end of the year I am going to weigh everything again and see how much weight I have lost.

I hope readers will enjoy what I have planned but until then I want to wish everyone my best for the season and the new year. Thank you for returning day after day to read what I dash off here. This blog brings me great satisfaction but without readers and your constant input it would not be what it is. So here I am waving and I hope to see you in the new year as I am off on a much needed no blogging holiday.

 

Grab a Cuppa

Sit down and grab a cuppa as I have a few newsy items this morning and a bit of musing has been going on.

Firstly the Take it Further challenge is still growing as people are still signing up. It now sits at well over 200 people who have signed on. I have updated the participants list and it now is living on the Take it Further challenge information page here. It is going to be a very interesting challenge because people from all areas of textile practice are joining. There are many new blogs being started and many I had not encountered before so th elist is well worth browsing.

It’s taking me about an hour and half a day to answer emails and update the list if it gets much bigger I may have to set a sign on date and keep the numbers at that. I am not sure yet, I was going to leave it open, but I will see if things settle down in the next week or so and then decide.

I had a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday. Paula of The Beauty of Life had a small email interchange after I wrote about my charm quilt. This tale needs a little back story to fill you in. As I explained in this post I have been hoarding a scraps of fabric off old garments for 28 years with the thought of eventually making a charm quilt.

Recently Eve my daughter has become interested in quilting and I pulled out these scraps thinking she might like them. As I said in the previous post in this hoard I have scraps from my clothing, Eves clothes, from my mother, my grandmother, sisters, step mother who is is a dress maker, some of Jerry’s shirts and friends have often given me scraps that I have kept as little memento of them.

Many of the fabrics hold family stories for instance I have a scrap from the dress I was wearing when I met Jerry, the blouse I wore on our first date, from maternity dresses, clothing I made for Eve when she was a child. Some have stories of another kind as the other day I discovered a scrap from the shirt I was wearing the day John Lennon was shot. I remember looking down and seeing my shirt sleeve when I heard the news and gazing at the pattern for a while.

Anyway I decided to show this hoard to Eve thinking she might like them but she immediately talked me into me making the quilt. In my email interchange with Paula I confessed to being a good few hundred pieces short as I have done the math and need 2,700 scraps. This is after receiving a very generous hoard from Linda of Chloes Place a few weeks ago. So with Paulas gift that arrived yesterday I am over the moon as I am sure this will mean I hopefully have enough scraps.

It’s a busy time of year but apart from Paulas gift of course, I have cut all the diamonds which you can see are quite small. Eve and I have spent many hours with scraps laid out on the dining room table checking for doubles. Just as we think we have culled any duplicate we discover another!

I have also actually stitched a few. As said this will be a hand stitched charm quilt and I expect it to take some time. Not many done but a few as you can see I am working with blues at the moment. I was also asked if I will be documenting it. Yes , I will as I keep a visual journal and everything I make gets documented so this will too.

Allison Aller left a comment on the previous post about this project she said ” … I just love that this is hand-done…no downloaded designs, no long arm quilting machines…The design is a sister to the crazy quilt you are working on, too, isn’t it? The 3-D tumbling blocks, or diamonds? I think it is wonderful that you are working in two formats that are so related yet so distinct.” I love the hexagon and diamond formats for some reason I just drawn to them and I like hand stitching. I enjoy the fact that I can just pick it up stitch a bit and put it down and that in the very act of it being made of such scraps it is loaded with personal meanings.

A Slow Cloth

I recently came across a new blog Red Thread Studio written by Elaine Lipson who talks about the idea of a slow cloth. For this project, the philosophy of the slow movement I definitely embrace. A slow cloth is a bit like slow travel and slow food as slow cloth is a return, out of choice, to a process that I can emotionally connect to.

I do not mean that quilts made on sewing machine are not meaningful, just that in this case for this particular project making it by hand feels right.

I have been thinking much about this notion of slowing down in order to have quality rather than quantity in life. The idea of a slow cloth made me think that  perhaps we need a slow craft movement too. A philosophy that celebrates the hand made and dare I say it the craft process. Not projects that are marketed and sold as a thrown together weekend quick recreational activity but objects that are made with care and with the expectation that we have a relationship to them in other words they have meaning.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against using things like sewing machines to produce items just questioning  the quick thrown together projects that often look more as if they are made to be consumed ie used once or twice and then thrown out rather than valued for a lifetime.

At the risk of sounding totally idealistic do you think we need a craft philosophy that celebrates the hand crafted object made with care and meaning without regard to time. What do you think? Mull it over, go away think about it slowly … come back and leave a comment I would love to hear what you think.

 

Who has used MistyFuse?

Sue Bleiweiss has posted a challenge on a No reverse applique technique using fusible web to applique complex shapes such as lettering. Sue uses a product called Mistyfuse which I have never seen available in Australia.

The only product I have ever used is Thermo Web Heat n Bond lite which although the product says it is ideal for sewing and quilting. However it still leaves the fabric feeling a little stiff which when it comes to hand sewing, annoys me. The firm foundation is great for machine embroidery and although it is possible to hand embroider through it for me it is not pleasant to work. Put simply, I prefer to do needle turned applique rather than use it. However for very small or particularly complex shapes you will need a product like this. For instance, I used this technique with Heat n Bond Lite for the negative shape in the brown section of this fabric postcard and for the Sax player and the jesters hat on this block. I could not have done these so neatly by hand. So these were stitched with gritted teeth!

Mistyfuse also claims to have run aging studies on their product. A study into the effects of adhesives such as fusible battings, interfacings, and basting sprays has been produced by the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska. It is available under the long title of The Effects of Light Exposure and Heat-Aging on Selected Quilting Products Containing Adhesives. The study carried out light and heat aging tests on many of the commercial products such as Stitch Witchery, Wonder-under, HeatnBond - which is the product I have been using. This report is well worth reading for anyone who uses any of these products but to return to my main train of thought I am very attracted to trying MistyFuse out because of their claims as to Mistyfuse being stable under UV light over long periods of time.
The Mistyfuse site does not say they will ship internationally. I have dropped them an email to find out. [update: they have replied saying they do ship internationally] I assume I can order it online from the site but does anyone in Australia know of a supplier of Mistyfuse here? Also has anyone tried both products and if so, how do they compare when it comes to the feel of the fabric when it is in your hand? I would love to know and may just have to buy some of the stuff to find out. I am sure others would too, so leave a comment if you have any information about these two products.

 

Free patterns to adapt for needlework and quilting

Chantal Pare has created a number of free stained glass designs which are ideal to adapt for applique or embroidery. The patterns are free to use for personal purposes but not for commercial use. The list is quite large and in it there are some very nice designs on the site which is also added to regularly.

Chantal’s site also house a design tutorial of on how to create a design from a photograph which is worth reading as this technique is also useful to needleworkers as the finished design can be easily adapted to stitching.

 

A Charm Quilt

Settle back for a cuppa as I have a few threads of a story to weave together. Mid Year Eve (my daughter) purchased her first sewing machine and became interested in quilting. She rang me up asking if I had any quilters cottons. I felt a failure as Mum, when I said I didn’t really as all my fabrics are suitable for crazy quilting. Out of all my bits I could only scavenge a hand full of cottons which were posted to New Zealand for her use.

Unlike many crazy quilters who discover this form of quilting via quilting, I came to crazy quilting via embroidery. It was the surface embellishment of these textiles that attracted me. I had made a few regular quilts but did not see myself as a quilter. So as I built my stash it was of fancy fabrics not quilters cottons. Anyway this year Eve went on to make a scrap quilt from recycled clothes scavenged in thrift shops.
Eve is home for Christmas and the sewing machine has been on the dining room table for the past two weeks as clothes and costumes are being made and there has been lots of talk about quilting! In our conversation I told her how I have been hoarding a snip of fabric approximately a 3 to 4 inch square, off garments for 28 years. These have been hoarded with the thought of eventually making a real charm quilt. I have scraps from my clothing, Eves clothes, I have clothing scraps from my mother, my grandmother, sisters and even some of Jerry’s shirts. My step mother is a dress maker and I have scraps from her and friends have often given me scraps that I have kept as little memento of them.

I have had these 3 inch scraps gathering for years. Last week I showed them to Eve and started to tell the stories behind the fabric. I have a scrap of the dress I was wearing when I met Jerry, of the blouse I wore on our first date, of maternity dresses, of the nightdress I wore in hospital when I had Eve, of her toddlers clothing as a child as at the time I made her clothes and in the hot West Australian summers she had horrid heat rashes if I dressed in anything other than cotton, of her first real party frock, and the dress she wore on her first day at school, of her graduation dress and so it goes on. As the stories built I realised that our whole family history was tangled up in these little bits of fabric, stories of friends and even sewing projects like library book bags, and scraps from gifts. They are not all cotton but they can be used in a ‘real’ scrap charm quilt. Eve became very enthused that I start on this charm quilt.

Some readers may be aware Australia had a federal election yesterday and today we have a new Prime Minister. Last night I was doing something I very rarely do. I was watching TV. I watched the coverage from the National Tally Room as the votes were counted. I thought if I was going to make this I may as well tie the start of this project to an historical event. It adds to the story of the quilt and makes it easier to remember when it was started. Above are the pieces I worked last night. I should have worked on red squares rather than blue as I am happy with the result but these were what I had to hand.

I have chosen a very traditional pattern and will be stitching by hand. The image above gives you some idea of the size of each piece. They are small. The piece of fabric you see is also from the dress I was wearing when I met Jerry. I hope to have every fabric different and it is not all quilters cottons, as that is my story.

I am not making it for Eve but I know when I am no longer here she will value it. So a new era for Australia and new project started for me. Lets hope its done by the next election!

 

Have you ever thought of …

Gerry Krueger has embroidered her Biography on a Jacket quotes and text describe her love of needlework and gardening. (Thanks for link goes to Pat of Gatherings ) People have journalled on garments before take a look at these journal skirts

Of course these types of jackets which I wrote about here, are a type of biography as they record places visited.

Also it s now quite common to make quilts, crazy quilts, journal quilts and journal fabric postcards which are either autobiographical in nature. or are a journal. Samplers often display family trees or are made to mark main events such as births, marriages and deaths. I have not seen any autobiographical samplers however or samplers kept as a journal. I always date my samplers and once when I was doing so I recorded something of that moment. I was watching the news and simply added this to the bottom of my sampler.

You could argue that the work of Tilleke Schwarz are all autobiographical samples. Many artists work with autobiographical material but can’t for the moment think of others.

Has anyone else seen any autobiographical samplers? I am also wondering if anyone has made or kept a journal or created an autobiographical piece on other formats such as bags, jackets. Have you ever seen journals and life stories told on unusual fabric formats (other than quilts, fabric postcards, and fabric journals) and thought Gosh that could be fun? If so what format? What attracted you to it? What would put you off working your story on a garment? Would you use text? Would you stitch or print? Would you work a sampler? If not why not? What would attract you to the idea? Just pondering here and wondering about the possibilities… Leave a comment I would love to know what people think