Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Spot the Difference

Now, who remembers when we went on the Daylesford trip and I started making the Elephant cushion?
And I proudly posted this picture...


And very kindly nobody said anything..
Like... Ah I think there might be a little mistake there...

So lucky for me I noticed it myself when I started making up the back of the cushion and before I totally finished it...

And here is how it is supposed to look...


I must say I wasn't keen to unpick - especially as I had already done a bit of quilting on it but I am glad I did now that I see the two side by side.


Unearthed Treasures

I unearthed this little treasure whilst helping my Nana downsize - her house that is, I am not withholding cakes from her or anything nasty like that.



Isn't it a ripper!!!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Twisted Threads Bag Exhibition

Today was the first day of the Twisted Threads Bag Exhibition - of which I am one of the exhibitors.

I have 12 Bags entered and there are 103 in total or as my good friend Cheryl said 104 if you include me!

All the Bags are on display until Sunday at the Mt. Gambier Public Library.



"In the Night Garden"

This is a Scrumbled piece of work - It has taken me a long time to get this finished and I was still stitching the lining in ( for the second time as I got it all wonky the first time ) on Thursday morning. It is all crochet stretched over a plastic frame, wood handles and silk lining.



"Memories of Venice"

This is a Pokey Bolton design bag pattern that I got from one of the quilting arts gifts magazines.
It is totally reversible with a continuous handle through the grommets.
I have patched and quilted a mixture of commercial fabrics and some hand painted and stamped that were left over from my surface design project.
The lining is a white with black spotty linen that I have done some free motion quilting on.



"Read all about It"

This is my own design.

It is a very simple plain linen bag with some raw edge applique.
The handles button on and are reversible so you can have colour showing or not.
It is lined with news print fabric - hence the title,
and has a bias binding finish at the top.



"All Tied Up"

This is an Anna Maria Horner pattern from the book Seams to Me.
"I'll Have One of Everything Bag"
I have made it from Vintage Ties.
It has a black silk lining, braided handle and tassels with beads dangling from the corners.

It will go very nicely with the Tie Skirt I intend to make...



"Tapestry"

This bag is a larger version of Pokey's pattern and I have used a vintage Tapestry that I picked up at the Salvo's together with a wool skirt ( which you can't see ) that I also got at the Salvo's by chance on the same visit.
It has a silk lining that I have quilted and is adorned with silk roses that Philomena showed me how to make last week.



"Framed"

This is a Cross the Body style bag that I have based a mini quilt design from the book -
Whip Up Mini Quilts. It has a black denim back and a long adjustable handle.



"Classic Clutch"

I actually made this last year for the Mt. Gambier Show but I didn't get around to making another leather one for this exhibition which I wanted to so I put this one in at the last minute.
It is a very simple fold over design leather ones side and fabric the other with a button closure.



"Humpty Dumpty"

I made this from fusing plastic bags together including the Humpty from the fibre fill bags.
I would like to explore this technique a bit more I think.

He has a padded lining.



"Purple Hue"

I wasn't sure weather it should be 'purple hue' or 'shades of grey'

This is hand tied dyed fabric that I pieced together then folded and stitched Origami style to create this wonderful pocket rich bag.

I got the technique from Kelly Rachel and was quite taken with the idea.



"Hidden 9 Patch"

I made up this simple bag design to sell at Markets.

I enjoyed selecting fabrics and mixing them up to see what the end result was.




"Snippets Turnover"

I  absolutely adored this fabric way back when and still have a layer cake stashed away in a box deep down somewhere in the craft room!
I started out making this bag to a pattern but it wasn't really working out for me so I finished off in my own way.



"Rainbow Bright"

Again with the Anna Maria "I'll Have One of Everything Bag'
I actually made this first to check that it would work if I used my ties - upon completion I decided that yes it would and risked cutting up some of my precious tie collection.


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Basket Case

The Basket Making Workshop I attended with Philomena Hali as the tutor.

Excellent.

Good fun; everybody made such different baskets, it is soo fabulous and inspiring.

I am viewing the garden and in fact other peoples gardens more so as ours is mainly weeds with new eyes!




We turned this into...



All these beauties.


These are my two.

Both using a coiling and stitching technique and the front one is being finished off with some knot less netting which is a bit like doing a blanket stitch without the blanket to stitch into.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Workshop Extraveganza

This week Philomena Hali of Alice Springs has been teaching in the Mt. and I have been fortunate enough to attend all her workshops...

Yippee!
I love going to workshops
and they are sooo much more convenient when they are in your hometown.

Workshop # 1

On Wednesday we did a Shibori workshop.
Which is a Japanese style tie dying using stitching and some other techniques to create the resist and dyed in the Indigo vat.

the following a a few of my samples...



This is my favorite sample and also the easiest Aussie style slap dash triangle fold with rubber bands way of doing things!


This is a simple wrap the fabric diagonally around the rope then push it all up in a bunch and tie the rope method - quite good.


And this is a meandering path style that you gather the fabric in a wibbly wobbly line then wrap plastic around it tightly before dipping in the dye.

the Indigo vat was quite stinky and I think not my favorite but it was good to learn some different ways to do dying with resist techniques.

Workshop # 2

Thursday and Friday
Deconstruct - Reconstruct Sustainable Couture

or Junky Styling as I like to call it.

This is great.
I really love this sort of thing.
Creating wearables from old favorites or op shop finds.



Ok. This is a unique and very me dress is a creation from a second hand skirt and shrunken jumper that I procured from the wash one day. The jumper is the straps and males a rather good ( and warm ) neckline to the skirt which is just pulled up to chest height. Easy and I love it.


This is Philomena and Myself pleased with results.


This was a skirt that I wore to my sister's wedding just after I'd had my second son - sadly or happily it is now too big but I was loathe to part with it as it is cool and it was also very expensive. Now it is a great and extremely wearable tunic dress.
I really only pulled this up to chest height and used the strap belts that were at the waist to make overall style shoulder straps. I am stoked with this one.


This is a vintage velvet dress that I picked up second hand somewhere for $5.
It was quite a good fit but terribly unflattering.
The neckline just didn't suit or something soo...


I have sewn some random pleats darts gathers or whatever these are called into the top and suddenly it doesn't look too bad.



This is what Gill has been making for me - which was very nice of her.

It will be a wrap over top sort of apron style that ties at the back. It is made from a skirt that she got from the op shop and the binding is a old pair of my capri pants.
I think it would look great if I could wear it with a nice pair of red gingham capri pants... Oh no we cut them up to make the top!

Ha. That was me being funny!

I can feel some more Junky Styling coming on..,

I might even make something in another colour!