Primary Colors

No, not the book! A red, yellow and blue scarf made from merino wool, silk sari threads, bamboo, and bombyx silk fiber. It's hard to even think about wearing a scarf now that summer has come to Texas. The best part of the heat is the scarf was dry in about 10 minutes after hanging it out on the clothesline.

Sandwiched Felt

After weeks of recuperating I am back to felting. Hooray!

This was an experiment that didn't yield the intended result. I sandwiched wool between a floral upcycled piece of organza silk and a green silk yardage from the fabric store. The floral side is heavily textured, which I like. and the green side has a much finer, tighter texture. What I didn't anticipate was how little drape the overall piece would have once completed. A smaller quantity of roving laid out in the middle might have allowed the silk to drape nicely. Aahh, tomorrow's another day, Scarlett!

When You Can't Felt, Quilt

It's been a very long week of trying not to add to my back injury. Since I can't felt, in an attempt to sit still I got out a cathedral window quilt that has been sitting in the closet for ages. It has about a zillion tiny stitches to go unless it becomes a lap robe instead of a queen size, which was my original intention. The fabrics are lovely batiks which are eye candy. It isn't technically a quilt because there is no batting, but with all of the layers of fabric it is quite heavy and doesn't need any.

Down For the Count

On Monday of this week I hurt my back. It hurts to sit, it hurts to stand, it hurts to breathe. I can't even get into my wool stash to dream! Oh well, tomorrow's another day, Scarlett.

Here are a couple of photos of my booth at The Farm Day event last weekend in Berlin, Maryland. There were sheep shearers, Appalachian cloggers with a jug band parade, weavers, spinners, blacksmiths, potters, rug hookers, pony rides, bunnies and alpacas to pet, and much more. A good time was had by all. My Mom's rug hooking group graciously allowed me to share their space, so I combined a family visit with an event. Everyone was caught a bit by surprise at how cold it was!

Upcycled Leather Belt Bag Handles

To use a leather belt for purse or tote bag handles, first assemble the tools. My favorite sources for belts are the Goodwill where they are $1.99 each, or the Genesis Thrift Shop in Dallas where they cost less than $5. I've tried lots of different kinds, and I prefer leather that is not bonded or sewn. Lots of belts are a different color on the back side. For handles I like the front and back to be the same color.

Cut the leather to length. If you don't like the holes in most belts, cut the the end off and make a shorter strap. Or punch holes the entire length of the belt to make them look intentional.

The easiest way to attach them is to use rawhide and lace it in place. The rawhide lacing makes a nice, strong junction. I would hate to have the handles fall off of something I had made.

For a rawhide lacing attachment, use a leather punch for a nice neat hole. Depending on the size of the bag, I usually either use four holes or six, but you really could lace it any way you would like. On the natural colored wool bag in the photos there are four holes in each end of the belt. Since the top of the bag is folded over, I put a slit in the top edge and sandwiched the leather in between the wool so the lacing could go through two layers of felt. It is a fairly large bag and I wanted it to have extra load bearing area. I use small scissors that have a very sharp point for poking holes in the felt. You can see the belt end peeking out of the bottom of the folded over edge in one photo.

If you don't want the lacing to show, cover it with something. On the outside of the bag I sometimes use beads threaded through the lacing. On the inside I often line the top several inches to both cover the attachment and add a contrasting color or texture.

When using belts that are woven strips of leather I poke the lacing through existing gaps instead of using a leather punch.

Felting Camel

A friend of mine raises camels and she gave me a bag full of down. I have washed it, removed the coarse outer hair, carded it and felted it into several scarves. Hopefully she will like at least one of them. All of that work makes me appreciate commercially produced fiber.

I took a spinning class last weekend at DFW Fiberfest and I've reached a few conclusions. If I lived in pre-industrial revolution times and had to raise the sheep, clean and card the wool, spin the yarn, weave the fabric, and sew the clothing we would be wearing either very few clothes or a lot of buckskin. Each task is enjoyable, but the idea of producing enough fabric to clothe a family is daunting.