November - chocked full of making stuff

But almost no sewing.

I did repair some garments and made one pair of pants using the Sewing Workshop's Plaza pants pattern. There is not much to show with pants, especially since I prefer elastic waisted pants to all others. 

This is a tried 'n' true pattern for pants. I often make them as I did here, omitting the front pleats, but keeping the front vertical seam. The front vertical seam is simply a design line without the pleat. On occasion, I have made them without the front seam at all, much like what Louise Cutting calls "one seam pants." 

I used an interesting fabric. It is 100% cotton, medium weight with pretty good drape. Due to the unusual weave, it reads brown & black on one side, and light gray on the other. 

I bought it several years ago while visiting San Francisco. I visited Bretex fabrics, still quite a fabulous old-style fabric store, though much smaller than it was decades ago. And I had to buy this cool fabric.

I kept this piece in stash quite a long time because I wanted to somehow take advantage of the two distinct sides. But the brown/black side is my favorite and a much better color for me. If I had that light gray up near my face, I would definitely look near death. So, it became much-needed brown pants.

It made up nicely and I added some patch pockets. Maybe I can get a picture of me wearing it tomorrow and I'll slip it in here. 

Meanwhile I have been making stuff:

I continue my weekly slow stitch project with k3n clothtales on YouTube. My stitch journal is quite fat now. In a few weeks, I'll finish it with the last Monday of 2024. It's been a fun serial project. I may need to come up with something similar for 2025. These are such satisfying little projects.

This is kantha-inspired

This one was made without sight by wearing a blindfold. Note the loops.

This one is inspired by Bonnie Sennott's wrinkle embrodery

This one is cloth gathering, not yet finished.

And I have been working on another Jane Dunnewold online course, this one called Print Perfection.

Like all previous online classes with Jane, it involves lots of time and lots of fun. It started mid-October and we have our final live Q&A on Dec 3.  As in her other online classes, the material is presented in multiple formats: powerpoint with voice over, video demonstration of each process, printable handouts with details, and live Q&A's. There is also an online community where all of the students may post pictures and descriptions of experiences. There is so much inspiration there!

In print perfection, we have learned how to print fabric with thickened dyes. And it has been my favorite class ever!

I have worked my way through the 6 sessions she provided but still have tons of ideas for future experimentation. And, of course, I'll want to make something with some of the pieces.

This class combined nicely with what I learned in her online class concerning dyeing fabric with procion dyes. I used those notes to overdye some of my samples that I printed.

I have a little studio set up in my garage. I could happily work out there printing fabric many hours a day. The added bonus is that, once a piece is printed, it needs to *batch* for 24 hours. Then there is the *big reveal.* I so enjoy projects like that.

Even my drop cloths have potential for making something.

So I will be sewing again soon!

Eco Printing

During Fall 2020 I've spent time trying to learn more about eco-printing. I've done a fair amount of eco dyeing but have long wanted to go deeper with the prints one can achieve from organic or natural dyes.

In the last few months, I've taken two workshops, one from the local fiber art collective, and another from India Flint in Australia. Both were remote or virtual, of course, because this is the year of staying home and avoiding germs. 

The local one was fun but not really focused on printing, at least not what I had visualized. The focus was on purchased natural dyes like marigolds, chamomile, rosebuds and annatto powder. The splotchy colors were vibrant and the results were quick on our silk handkerchiefs. 

But I had hoped for more emphasis on printing. My workshop with India Flint has really given me much to practice in this arena. I love that we are encouraged to use what is easily available, instead of ordering natural dye stuffs online. Ordering stuff online is totally fine, but I enjoy the surprise of what can happen with debris I collect in the back yard. 

Silk produces the best prints. I've had mixed results printing on cotton, or linen, or rayon, but the prints are more 2-dimentional (flat). With silk, there is depth and shimmer, as if the leaves were still attached. This is an off-white silk shantung. This dyeing process softens it a bit.

I've also learned that it helps to mordant with iron and vinegar. I usually leave the cloth soaking in the iron/vinegar bath overnight, then partially dry the item, prior to rolling it tightly around something and securing with twine or elastic.

For me the key ingredients are time, mordanting, and silk. The organic substances chosen to make the prints do matter, but I've been amazed how much the leaves all over my yard produce prints. The leaves and other yard debris used are not uniformly ready to yield lovely stains. For example, the leaves from my Japanese maple and other maples produce pretty detailed prints, but gingko does not produce anything. I understand it can be used as a resist though. Magnolia which is all over my neighborhood, also fails to provide a print. 

Time is also important. First I simmer my bundle for a couple of days, off and on. In one case, I tucked it into the freezer for more than a month after a little simmering. DH now knows that items in the freezer are not necessarily edible!

Mordanting with the iron/vinegar bath produced interesting results with a piece of silk that started out already a light brown. No prints emerged, as the mordant dyed the entire piece dark rich brown. 

Additionally I collect the skins from onions - these make lovely distinctive stains/prints. Also I occasionally buy eucalyptus in the floral section of my grocery store. It doesn't really like to grow in Atlanta as it is too damp here, but it definitely produces pretty prints and pretty colors.

Above, you can see some interesting printing from the twine used to secure the bundle tightly.

Next I'm going to work (harder) on printing on paper. These cannot simmer the way the silk does without crumbling apart, so I'm hoping I can produce something with a quick mordanting in the iron/vinegar bath, Then after rolling the leaves into the paper, I will try steaming it.

I now have enough to make something, maybe a jacket, or a top, out of these silks.

Wicking

For a long time now, I have admired sun prints, especially the botanical ones. But I always thought it required special paint, or special fabric, or special something. I have recently learned that it does not require anything special at all. How fun is that!?

Episode 1711 - Print and Paint - of Quilting Arts included a segment on this. Artist Lisa Chin demonstrated that these prints can even be accomplished by the impatient artist using an iron (no sun at all)! I did not have much luck with an iron but everything else I tried worked great.

First I soaked a piece of thrifted white cotton shirt in plain water and wrung it out. Then I placed it on the bottom of a plastic bin. I diluted some fabric paint with water and painted the color on with a wide brush. Lisa Chin says you can do this with ordinary acrylic craft paint too. Next I placed a *fresh* weed on top of it and placed it in the direct sunlight for a couple of hours, just until it was completely dry. I have lots of these fresh weeds on hand, should you need any for your project. LMK.

For comparison purposes, I wet another scrap from that thrifted shirt, painted it with diluted paint, added a couple of dried leaves I had on hand, and left it to dry under an ordinary desk lamp. That one turned out even better.

So yesterday I tried it again, this time with very ordinary objects:

And since I've long admired fern prints, I had to do one of those too. I had some buttons on hand from deconstructing the shirt so I threw them on too. I have a small collection of found objects so I added a couple of those too.

Today is a new day and I believe I'll make a few more fern prints. These are not really sun prints anymore. In fact I'll bet this just requires time so that the placed objects can wick away the paint. There's probably some chemistry lesson here.