Friday 17 December 2010

knitting

recently i have been getting creative and doing a spot of knitting...


i have learnt how to use a domestic knitting machine and been knitting cones of Shetland yarn into big sheets ready to felt for my personal project








i also did some hand knitting for Christmas...
heres zoe babes in her head warming bands I made for her :D



yummy navy wool from liberty with a pom-pom


William's christmas present
navy and grey stripy scarf


cabbage patch

at the beginning of third year term! Katherine May who i did work experience with over summer invited me to join her to help out with a work shop she was doing over the schools half term break at Dalston Gardens.

being outside in the end of October wasn't the best venue to be stitching, you would think!
but the garden, environment and atmosphere was lovely. with cups of tea brought regularly to us by a lovely lady who run the place. she had set up different workshops throughout the half term break for kids to join in for free; the following day they were pumpkin carving!




we hung bits of fabric and samples so the children and the grown ups could choose and get ideas from.
Katherine had a simple class which taught you the basics of patch work
for squares stitched together with garden inspired fabrics to create a little cabbage patch.


i helped cut up the squares and prepare the needles and threads and the basic kits needed for people to come and join in.

some of the children were very little and young, and one little girl who i sat with who was around 6 had never sewn before, because they wasn't allowed needles in school!
any ways she was a natural and was in a deep trance stitching away until she finished it, and her mum even took the materials away with her to try one her self.




after stitching the squares together Katherine then showed how you quilted it with the wadding and a back and the different stitches and patterns you can do to hold it all together.

because it was open to the public there was a lovely mix of people of all ages and some characters!

i loved working with the children and got a real enjoyment out of it seeing them walk away with something they had made and proud of.

here is mine and a little boys cabbage patch









Thursday 7 October 2010

quilt in a day

so for our new course project we have had to choose a place in London to produce work from. ive choosen Deptford flea market where i have been collecting bits furniture and fabric from curtains, cloths, tea towels, handkerchiefs, table cloths, bed lining etc to redo objects.
my first piece is this quilt.

first i cut up all the squares from these curtains i had and from the middle built out around it in strips



then i lay it down with wadding in the middle and the brown back piece of fabric

i then quilted in pink thread, with the square pattern in the middle


then i blanket stitched around the edge the pink bits or fabric to neaten it up



i couldn't stop stitching and worked straight through the night to make this quilt in less then 24 hours!

it is the perfect size to pop over your knees, ready for these wintery nights that are coming up writing my dissertation!




mission accomplished

Wednesday 6 October 2010

prick your finger



i helped out and a wonderful little haberdashery in east London called Prick Your Finger by Rachael Matthew's and Louise Harries, who both studied and CSM


the shop is like walking in to a menagerie of yarns, fitted themselves with old bits of found wood and shelf's made out of doors the shop is full of everything you need to knit, crochet, embroidery etc and make something yummy.

all the yarns they sell are UK based were most haberdasheries sell synthetic. they also hand spin their own yarn from different fleeces and make new out of recycled cottons and silks. each ball of wool you see has its own little story of how it got on its shelf.


here is some yarn i was getting ready to dye






first i made them into skeins from the bobbin then tied rag yarn around them like tie dying, ready to dip dye.


here i was combing the fleece ready to spin







knitting planks for the bench

http://podprojects.org/projects/current/a-flock-of-benches








learning how to crochet...








prick your finger has a different window display each month, when i was there they were getting ready setting up for Celia Ward, with East London textile arts. Women from many different faiths, joined together at St. Barnabas Church, to embroider alphabets and animals.



wall hanging


then with their embroidered pieces they then photograph and reproduce making decorative papers and greeting cards to sell which then goes back into the community fund.

t




the shop:












Rachael and louise are super duper girls who know exactly what they are talking about, i've picked up many tips and hints from them to help with my projects, and also met and found alot of contacts through them.