As the title says there’s been quite a lot of sewing but not
a lot of weaving round here
I’ve made 3 shirts for my cousin’s son in the US. He’s very tall for his age and while he wants
the cute shirts the other kids are wearing, they are just not long enough for
him. So I’ve come to the rescue with
some custom made shirts. We had a trip
to Joann’s while I was visiting to choose fabric –thought he needed to know
that shirts don’t come complete but start as flat fabric – and that it would be
nice for him to select what he wanted.
He was watching the 2006 movie ‘Cars’ while I was there and that was the
only thing he wanted on his shirt. The
fabric gods must have known I was coming, as I found the right fabric and there
was just enough to make one small shirt.
I even found little red car buttons to match.
I had a family wedding over weekend. It was on a farm and the dress code was ‘black
tie and sensible shoes’. I guessed that
meant black tie from the waist up, and choose the shoes on the day depending on
how wet it’s been. A friend brought me a
piece of silk brocade from China a few years ago and I’ve been keeping it for a
special occasion. I decided that this
was the occasion and that there was almost enough fabric to make another ‘Rosa’
jacket – the one I made for the recent Sheep Show.
There really wasn’t quite enough fabric,
The day of the wedding was cold – very cold – but vanity
overrode commonsense, and of course I wore the silk jacket. I realised after observing one of the few
comfortable guests, the man who wore his overcoat over his dinner suit all
night, that there was nothing wrong with my plan to make the silk jacket as it
can be very hot at this time of the year.
My mistake was in the reasoning that I’d made the silk jacket and it
fitted better with the dress code so I should wear it. I could have worn the nice warm woollen one
and still looked much the same if not quite as dressy. Apart from that it was a lovely wedding, the
bride looked beautiful and a good, if slightly chilly time was had by all.
There hasn’t been a lot of progress on the weaving
front. I had noticed that my right arm
was sore when I was weaving and immediately jumped to the conclusion that ‘I’ve
been weaving too much’. When I thought
about it for a while, I realised that while I was weaving the fabric for the
jacket for the Sheep Show, I was definitely doing a lot of weaving but had no
problems at all and after I finished it,
I went away and haven’t done a lot since I’ve been back. Whatever the cause, I suspect lifting the top
off the shredder at work as we had a major clean up, it’s unlikely to be too
much weaving, although I haven’t woven a lot because it hurts a bit when I do
and I’ve been careful to take lots of breaks.
The Bumberet tea towels are finally finished, in time for the Hawthorn Craft Market on Sunday. I did 3 with black weft,
I realised that the Bumberet warp has been a bit of a dog on
the loom and I’m glad to have finished it.
I wove off the last of it last night and woke up early enough this
morning to get a new warp wound on and ready to thread when I get home
tonight.
And finally to prove that it's Spring in Melbourne, here's my clematis flowering on the back deck
Helen