hiatus

will be back in two weeks. until then be good, be well.



neki desu

exploring boundaries out of the comfort zone

about a week ago conversing with Jean she asked how i warped. upon learning that i warped front to back she said that she had learned back to front and added that it was soo easy. she immediately offered to send me instructions which i gladly accepted.

i learned to warp with a book, the 70's all time hit in the weaving world, cay garrett's warping all by yourself.   i was glad on all counts i did. because of the nature of weavers here if i had waited for someone to help me i'd still be threading that first warp. then at school what was taught was the swedish method in which you had to roughly thread the reed, beam, do some sort of maneuver to transfer the cross and some other steps. i thought that highly inneficient and cumbersome. why do something that you'll have to undo later on and re do correctly? so i kept warping front to back until yesterday.

jean's instructions were to the point, no verbiage nor excessively adjectival, and followed through easily.

i took my time straightening wool kinks, but  in spite of that it went smoothly. i noticed her method is a mirror image of the garret's method and that gave me some sort of silly confidence. i did not feel like a maiden warper, rather a second marriage warper!








i rigged a raddle to the castle of the loom having seen that at cally booker's and it works very well. i could ask for the raddle teeth to be higher, but you get the drift.

the weather is conductive to blanket weaving and  i have a lap blanket project. the draft is in the last stages but must likely will end like this, a hybrid of m's and o's. pleased that i'm clearing  so much of my stash !
threading will have to wait 2 weeks  until i'm back from my hiatus. in the meantime i can ding with the tie up.









neki desu
 

keeping the warmth

staying cosy inside the house stitching .

the weekend was cold, cold, cold and  i, like the beasts, only ventured outside for food.

this is a detail of the work.i think i got carried away and o.ded. don't you think there's too much happening?
there's the wire knit, and a linen knit sample, kantha stitching, some machine stitching and buttonhole lace-kind of.
the lutradur substrate is painted and stamped.




general view here. you can see i'm pretty much addicted to ps. actions so i really don't need an i phone .
on to warping now.

neki desu

the beauty of textiles

this is what i call a fashion statement ;-) enjoy.
have a good weekend!



neki desu

it worked!

not the best sewing i've ever done, i was not even concerned with the process. and  the toile's not even finished; no hems no zipper, no waistband.  i wanted to see the fit,  the product, the results. here it is from a size 10 to a size 12! the system works and i can fit in the pattern again. 

 here is one more link, this time for altering pant patterns in troublesome spots.

those well treasured vogue patterns of mine are coming back into use!

neki desu

the sewing pattern mines

and so i went down to the sewing pattern mines searching for my beloved geoffrey beene 2031 vogue pattern . there are lots of places that trade with discontinued sewing patterns some of them actually quite good, others give you the shivers. one thing to applaud is the ingenuity in setting such a business. who would know vogue  patterns would be so coveted amid the burda reign.

i still don't understand why vogue discontinued the career patterns. those 80's and 90's vogues are absolutely gorgeously drafted, timeless and elegant. no flounces ! the pattern in question is from the late 80's , but the shape is very contemporary, sort of julian roberts  avant la lettre.

found the pattern in size 6-8-10 which is the one i have-i'll never be that size again.. sigh! and located a size 12 -14-16 which unfortunately had been sold. as a result,  i was  with the possibility  of testing some newly acquired skills; those of pattern grading.

as a precaution i had collected information available on line here and luckily for me because it's extremely cold i didn't mind the sweating. after copying the pattern on to paper i started charting the measurements  to then slice the pattern according to the new size. just out of sheer luck i ,the frugal textilian, had saved an old bed sheet which has become handy in making the toile.

i had never in all my sewing years made a toile because i was size 10 *without hesitation*, no alterations except maybe skirt length sometimes. and since i had to alter and make a toile going all the way sounded exciting so i edited the pattern at the waist and will be working on a skirt instead of the whole dress..i feel  so very st laurent because he never cut any garment without making a toile first.

the dress will come in its due time because i love it. but i'll keep trying to locate the pattern in my size and at a decent price. only if i do not succeed i will attempt perfecting my newly acquired pattern grading skills ;-)

how did  the saying go? necessity is what???

neki desu

beyond words

this stitching arrived at the end of last week and let me speechless. blandina and i were partners in the aix en provence adventure and have become good friends ever since.we often communicate and text when there are important news to share  and so we've become very  close in a short time.

i still look at the piece not really knowing what to say, the feelings it provokes being so intense. out of shyness i won't discuss the message she wrote but i can tell you it's one of the most beautiful things i have been told.

i am surrounded by beauty and pleasure.

neki desu