Saturday, June 27, 2009

Dye Experiment



This is a piece of white on white fabric that I tossed into the experimental purple bucket. I like the color, but I'm surprised that the white print stayed so white.

Putting Handles on the Dye Experiment Tote Bags





I'm making tote bags from the muslin I'm using for dye experiments. These tote bags are suitable for groceries.

Playing With Pearls




I was playing with pearls today and made a short necklace. Naturally, I needed earrings to wear with the necklace.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Battling the Serger

Why does a serger have to be such an obstreperous machine? Normally, I watch the cones to see when my thread is getting low. Just before I run out of thread, I will tie on a new cone thereby avoiding the misery of manual threading. Not this time. I was so engrossed in what I was sewing, I failed to notice the thread for the dreaded bottom looper was about to run out. I followed the diagram, I put the thread through all the thread guides, I actually managed to get the bottom looper threaded left handed (I'm right handed), and tried to serge. Thread broke. After several careful threadings and still having problems, I looked and saw that the thread wasn't between the tension disks. Ugh! Why on earth does this machine have to be so cantankerous?

Jim's Wild Socks






These are my latest dyeing experiments. I've been mixing different colored dyes in assorted proportions to see what I would get. The photo with the two socks isn't a pair... it's two different socks dyed with two different approaches to try to get a great Chinese Red. The screaming lime green was a surprise. Jim has the spiffiest socks in town.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Dyeing





I dyed yesterday. I played with the dyes I have and blended two colors together. The colors don't photograph all that well. But... here are Jim's new socks. They are made from bamboo - very soft, very durable, dyes very well. The pairs are where I played with different combinations of purple and different combinations of blue green. The brilliant orange isn't quite what I was aiming at, but I like it. Eventually, I want to dye fabric with my colors. A few hundred more experiments, and I will have great colors.