Sewing Just Before Christmas

"Merry Christmas Everyone!"

Are you busy in your studio before Christmas? I hope you have been, as I have been having so much fun there. The days have quieted down with the arrival of snow and I find myself, wanting to sew and sew some more. Below is one of my hand 'dye' painted textile cards with 'free motion' thread sketching. For my own Christmas cards I simply had photos made of the textile art and attached the photo to folded card stock.

 

I think the trick in thread sketching is to simplify. "What lines really tell the story?" In this case, I felt, that the shape of an old fashioned wooden shoeshoe was important, as well as the webbing. Notice I didn't put the webbing in the top area, or the boot harnesses, or ski poles. Did you make your own Christmas cards?

 





Sewing Gifts

Picking fun fabric and fussy cutting makes for some great potholders for gifts.

Potholders:

Okay measure twice and cut once. Obviously I didn't do that here!

 

Coordinating fabric makes two matching potholders but not they are not the same.

Lay the two layers of fabric right sides together. Mine were 8" square. Lay two layers of cotton batting on top. I stitched with a 3/8" seam to be sure to catch all layers. It probably would have been better to change to a walking foot but with attention, a regular foot works.

Preparing a Loop

 Some I added a loop to. Out of the scraps, I cut 1 1/2" strips, folded in the edges and stitched down the open side. The sewn strips were cut to 4" and inserted between the two fabric layers when sewing the perimeter.

 





A matched set because of the identical paisley background.

Leaving an opening when sewing the perimeter allows the potholder to be turned right side out. The opening was hand stitched closed and then the square was machine quilted.

 

This lovely fabric was purchased at http://crestoncard.com/

All packaged and ready for giving

From the left over scraps I cut 3/8" strips, sewed them together to form strips long enough to tie the two potholders together.

Board Game Bag:

My Scrabble Tiles Bag

 Although this top sample was sewn years ago, I wanted to show it, as the bag has been great. Three features I really like are:

1. the satiny lining as the tiles slip out easily
2. the double draw string as it is easy to close
3. the front pieces is velvet so it absorbs some of the sound as you lay down the bag.

As this bag is a gift for another Scrabble Player, I wanted to incorporate those special features. I didn't take photos as I went along, but this is what I did. I put two layers of cotton together and free motion stitched them together. I used one of my hand dyed fabrics for the outside. To see what was my inspiration for this fabric, click here.

 

 I cut a rectangle from the two sewn layers of fabric, folded it in half lengthwise and sewed up the two sides. Then I sewed a 2" seam across the bottom side seam to create shape to the bottom of the bag. The bag was then turned right side out. Next a lining was sewn using a shiny fabric but I made it a bit longer. The lining was inserted into the outer bag and turned over the top edge of the outer bag to create a casing for the drawstring.

 

After sewing the edge down all around the top, I stitched around the side seam several times in a square shape. After that the stitches of the side seam were undone to create an opening for the string to go into the casing. Strings were threaded through the casing all the way around the bag and back to the original opening. This was then done on the other side with another string. Beads were added.

To keep the lining and outer bag from separating, a few hand stitches were sewn to catch them together at the bottom near the side seam.

There it is. Of course this would make a unique bag for other board game pieces.

January is around the corner and I am looking forward to more time in the studio. What are you planning?

Quilt Show: Canmore

Quilt Show in Canmore, Alberta. Oct 17 & 18/2015.  My booth will be in the Vendor's section  and if you are in the area please stop in.

 
Mug rug / wine mat sales were so successful at the recent Nelson Quilt Show, that the lights in my studio have been on well into the evenings catching up. If you are looking for gifts that mail well these are a great option. Here are a few samples I will have at the market this weekend.

This one was influenced from my recent month of painting in Alberta.

Oh, our Creston apples are so... sweet right now!

Another Alberta influence. We painters can't resist those red farm buildings!

Mauve. I am seeing a lot of purplish fall flowers right now.

 

New since the last Canmore Quilt show I attended, I have paired a local artisan's handmade buttons, from Lavender Lampworks with my artwork to create a card and gift in one. They are such a great gift for those that sew.

Another choice for a card and gift in one are these one of a kind textile bookmarks. They are removable from the card. Oh yea, the card can then be used for colouring too.

Quiltable hand painted squares in 3 sizes are popular for using in quilts, wall hangings and pillows. If you are looking for something specific, be sure to ask me. Maybe I can create it for you.

 

Larger quiltable panels are also available at a special market savings.

 Buttons  by Blue Moon Pottery look great with my hand dyed fabrics. I picture purses and pillows.

I will be bringing Win Din's mandala colouring book. http://windinnart.blogspot.ca/ Great for colouring and stitching pattern ideas.

 

 I have been dyeing and sewing all summer and will have a selection of the frameable textile cards. These have always been my most in demand item. 

Sat Oct 17 & Sun Oct 18,  you can find me at the Vendor's Market of the Canmore Quilt show. I hope to see you there.  If you can't make it but are looking for one of the items mentioned you can purchase them by contacting me directly at eileengidman@kootenay.com

Ice Dyeing with Shibori Folds

Ice dyed Cotton Lawn Fabric

Instructions:

• Soak light to medium weight cotton fabric in a soda ash soak (1 cup soda ash to 1 gallon of warm water) for 20 minutes
• Using gloves, squeeze out the excess liquid and lie the fabric flat on a large table. Fan fold it with about 1 inch pleats keeping it as even as possible.
• Outside on a hot day, I then placed the folded cloth on a screen. I used a length of white wire shelving you find at hardware stores with a length of tulle like fabric on top of it. This allowed the water to flow through it as the ice melted. The shelving was elevated on some plastic tubs to catch the drips

• The ice was piled on top of the fabric.
• Using a dust mask, to avoid inhaling the dust particles I sprinkled powdered fiber reactive dyes across the folds. The colours for each piece were carefully selected to create specific colour combinations.

• Everything was covered with plastic and left to sit for 24 hours.
• Then each cloth was rinsed quickly in cold water under the tap and placed in a bucket of cold water for several hours to allow excess dye to run out. After that the excess water was squeezed out and the fabric was washed in hot water using a textile detergent, then rinsed in cold water until the water was clear.
• The fabric was then pressed dry. 

You can find some of my hand dyed fabrics at Puffin Designs - Fantastic Things for Interior Design .

Peony and Lily Painted on Fabric

Hand painted 'Peony' on textile
by Eileen Gidman

 

Working with Someone Else's Vision: Creating something for someone else, usually isn't not too hard when you are giving a gift, however when you are doing commissioned work the process becomes a little more involved I find. Some artists avoid commissioned work but I find I like the challenge of it. Every time I learn something from it as I am often engaged to create something I wouldn't think of on my own. Such was the case with a recent commission of flowers to be painted onto textile.

 

The purchaser, an accomplished quilter asked for two fabric pieces with specific flowers on them that were meaningful for her. She provided me with her own photographs as noted below. She asked for the background to be a mottled medium green and a 14 X 15" size.

 

Then my work begins:

1. New dyes and soda ash solutions are mixed
2. Mercerized cotton fabric is soda ash soaked and air dried 
3. The composition of the images are considered and adjusted as need. I felt the peony sketch required the full peony to be showing, so that was added in
4. The images are sketched on the fabric using a black thickened dye that I applied using a squeeze bottle with a very fine metal nib on it. (I purchase them at the Dharma Trading Co). The fabric is then placed in plastic overnight at a warm temperature. Temperature is a big consideration when setting the dyes.
5. The colours are mixed and painted on. I generally start with the darkest colours first. This is where one of my challenges came. I had never before worked such fine detail as would be required for the peony petals. Painting with thickened dyes requires that the dyes have to be a bit thick in order to not have the dye just bleed everywhere and because of that thickening, it does not brush easily into small areas. What to do??? Well I was very careful with the mixing of the thickener into the dye. Not too thick and not too thin and I used a very small brush.
6. Unlike the photo where the flower and leaves were lighter than the background, I knew I would have to adjust things in order to have the background a mottled medium green as requested. For there to be contrast, the leaves were painted with some very dark coloured dyes. Darks are the most difficult to achieve when painting with thickened dyes and you must put your colours much darker than they will be in the final product. I have learnt that the dark green must look black when you apply it. The darks of the lily were also a challenge to consider. The photo didn't show much change in the dark burgundy colour but I wanted give the impression of the lily petals bending over so I varied the colour slightly to show highlights.
7. Painting the fine dots as the petal turned to white on the lily was fun, being sure to make the pattern irregular. Can you see there is a fine white line on the edge of the petals where they overlap each other? More fine brush work was required there.
8. It was a big session of painting both pieces at the same time but this was done to ensure the colours in the two pieces were cohesive.
9. Before covering them in plastic, I let the pieces air dry just a little as the darks were especially saturated having had two or three layers applied. I didn't want the colours to run into each other when covered. However moisture is needed to complete the process of the dye molecules adhering to the fabric so timing was everything.
10. After 24 hours, well actually 22 hours in this case, I quickly rinsed each piece under the cold water tap. Both fabric pieces were placed separately in it's own bucket of cold water to allow any un adhered dye molecules to rinse out overnight.
11. The next day the pieces were washed in hot water with a textile detergent and rinsed until the water was clear.
12. As the pieces were not large, I pressed them until they were dry. This is an anxious part of the process for me as I am never sure until this point if I will be happy with the set of the dyes.
13. I know the night after I painted these pieces, I dreamt of the darks all washing out. Fortunately they did not and the resulting colours were just as I planned.

 I couldn't be more pleased with the results on the petals of the peony.  The detail showed and the darks of the leaves are just what I wanted.

Hand painted lily on textile.
by Eileen Gidman

 The depth of colour on the lily makes me so happy. The customer's words were "They are beautiful. I love them" That response makes a commissioned piece all worthwhile. 

I am so looking forward to seeing what the customer (quilter) does with these pieces which are to become gifts for Christmas.

It looks like I have some time in my schedule in November, so email me at egidman@kootenay.com if you would like me to create something for you.

I am busy preparing for a very special Sept. Check back for more information about where I will be painting for a month!

Tutorial: Painting with Dyes - Greens!

Painting with Dyes: All About Green

 

This quilt block I painted with dyes is inspired by the Japanese Garden in our Millennium Park in Creston, BC. The garden was designed by Gary Smith. Note the lantern in the foreground. 

 Painting with dyes is not like painting in watercolours nor oils or acrylics. Unless you are painting with the dyes very wet, it is difficult to blend two colours together so how do you have different shades of green within one painting? Painting with a light, medium and dark green is what works best for me when I am trying to depict form in shapes, such as a tree, when painting on textile. The following is my own typical method.

Here you can see I have drawn out 9 pictures that will be eventually cut up into 8" for quilters to purchase. It is easier to work with them in a larger piece than precutting them. I sketch the images using a thickened black dye in a bottle with a nib. I leave this fabric to cure overnight in plastic. The little bit of green showing has been added the second day.

 

Painting the Greens:

Step one: Mix a dark green using thickened dyes. I like to use lemon yellow, turquoise blue and lots of black to mix the darkest green. Then I proceed to paint all the dark green areas. I imagine a light source and paint the shadows on the opposite sides of the shapes as you can note in the tree below.

 



 

Here most of the dark greens have been added. I use a sponge to add the darks in the grassy areas.

 

 The medium green is mixed with a lot of yellow and a bit of blue.

 

 

The green that is a medium value (darkness), has been painted all over the nine blocks next to the darkest of the greens. Be sure to leave areas for the highlights.

 For the lightest shade of green, I add the clear sodium alginate that is used for thickening the dyes to the yellow with a small amount of blue.

Here is the mix. A bit of urea water was added to thin the light green for painting and sponging.

 The completed 9 squares with the lightest green

 A close up of the three shades of green painted on the evergreen tree and the three shades sponged on the birch tree.

 

When I paint a lot of one colour, I often add just a little of it's complement to 'ease the eye' thus you can see a little red sponged in with the green.  I find it more comfortable to look at. Do you?

 

 The completed piece ready for putting in plastic to batch/cure overnight before rinsing.