Boro -ing an Idea

I'm going to gloss over the awful weather, and the fact I have been laid low with some grim virus for the last 4 days. You will no doubt (if you are in dear old Blighty) be experiencing your own awful weather so let's not dwell on it.

Today I want to talk to you about adapting an ancient textile technique to embellish and totally transform a plain jacket. Long-time readers of this blog will remember a post I wrote last year about Boro, the antique Japanese working clothes repaired over and over by patching with more fabric, simply by long running stitches merging the new fabric with the old. No attempt is made to turn under hems, the fresh piece just 'melts' into the ground fabric. These old garments are much sought after - you can read about them in my post from May 23rd 2012 called Japanese Fabric Collection.

I first read about Boro from a blogger called Jude Hill (Spirit Cloth) who has gone on to present an online workshop utilising the technique to alter a garment. My blogging friend Els, from Holland (visit her lovely blog Fiberrainbow) is taking part in that workshop and has begun work on her garment - a good quality jacket she no longer wears. Els has kindly allowed me to use her photos on my post to show you.

I loved the idea from the start, and it was inspiring me to think about something I might do myself. I need a proper jacket for my Molly outfit. Currently I wear a bit of a French Tart theme with a long black cardigan .....but really could do with something warmer, and I may be changing the dress bit of the outfit as well. Something more was called for! I saw Els' jacket and was so excited! Don't you think this is going to be magnificent? This is the jacket I have....about 20 years old and counting! (and yes it does still fit!) About upper thigh length with a good swing to it.

However I have a dilemma. Should I go for the traditional Boro fabrics as Els has - and I do have some Japanese and Javanese indigo fabrics, and these fabrics on the right hand side are my own hand-dyed attempts at Shiborri; I made these years ago - I should really use them up!

 - or, bearing in mind the bright colours of my top-hat topper:

should I go for the brightly coloured African fabrics from my collection here?

Mmmmmm, think I know where I'm going with this one, don't you?

The other dilemma I have is this. Boro epitomises the ethos of the 'slow cloth movement'. All stitching is by hand. The item evolves slowly over time. This is the appeal and the wonder of slow cloth. However, I need my jacket fairly soon; I don't have time to hand stitch every small piece of cloth down into the black fabric of the jacket. So I will have to use my machine, which contravenes the slow cloth ethos totally. Well, in this case, I will have to live with that. Not for me the gradual realisation of the highly textured, lovingly hand-stitched, soft-to-the-hand garment. But I should be able to produce a wonderfully patterned jacket which should do the Mollys proud. Watch this space!

I wouldn't want you to think I have been neglecting my frugal-food-meal-planning-organisation drive, it's just that I've felt so grim the past few days that food has been the last thing on my mind -oh, after being organised, that is! But I want you to know that my new kitchen board arrived yesterday and I'm just waiting for Jim to return home as he is the only one between us with the energy to open the cardboard packaging! The worst thing about feeling so awful is that I had to cancel my melodeon workshop with John Spiers. Arrgh! Never mind, I know a few people who will be able to tell me all about it. Bye for now, I feel a Nanna Nap coming on!

HandEye Magazine

Some months ago I blogged about magazines, about the cost, and the frequency with which I buy one, seduced by the eye candy on the front, only to be disappointed by the content within. I mentioned two in particular, Mollie Makes, which I know is a favourite of many of you out there in Blogland, but which I find irritatingly lacking in substance, considering its cost. The photos are very good, plenty of colour, but the content always leaves me feeling unsatisfied. The other magazine I mentioned is Selvedge - a publication I feel is so self regarding it probably prefers to be called 'a slim volume' or something similar! Like Mollie Makes it is beautifully presented but I seldom find more than two articles  of real interest to me, and it promotes one or two favoured makers at the expense of the many other up and coming young crafts people. I burst out laughing at the V&A when I saw the price of some pin cushions and cloth dolls. Ludicrous. I asked how many had been sold and the pained expression on the assistant's face spoke volumes! For all its pretensions, Selvedge is merely an upmarket Mollie Makes, at double the price.

                                                                   Atis Fanm Matenwa

Had quite few comments in the same vein, and I think it was Annie who asked whether I'd read Hand Eye magazine. I hadn't, so whisked off to check it out. A few days ago my first issue arrived, and Annie, you are quite right. A very colourful, informative and interesting publication, well worth the price (cheaper than Selvedge!) And to my delight the fifth article was all about one of my favourite people - Jude Hill, who writes the excellent Spirit Cloth blog. I was totally entranced, and I have hours of enjoyable reading ahead of me. Thanks for the tip-off, Annie!

So many sumptuous photgraphs, and great writing. I also deeply admire the whole vibe of the magazine. I can do no better than the reproduce the final words in the editorial, by Keith Recker, Editor and Founder:

-  "Cratf is powerful. Craft is good. Craft is deeply human. We are eager to have you celebrate it with us."  - Keith Recker. Winter 2012

                                                                       Beading in Kenya

                                                      Embroidery in Bangaladesh

Now I do realise that there are different levels of craft, the 'getting the kids together at the kitchen table' kind, the hobbyist, the happy amateur who does a few craft fairs, sells a few items on -line, the semi-professional, and the professional. No one publication can hope to meet the needs of all these groups, but I feel that the 'bottom' end if you like are being sold short. When you consider the huge amount of advertising in these magazines, you might expect there to be better content; pages and pages of misty dreamy photographs loosely connected by  a 'theme' do not cut the mustard.

I also realise that we all, at times, splash out impulsively on a magazine as a treat to ourselves, and perhaps we aren't as discrimminating as we are when we make a considered purchase. Nevertheless, we deserve to get value for money. Hand Eye magazine certainly fits the bill.

This is a bit of a quickie post as I have been away (again!) and am now struck down by this so-called 24 hour bug, washed out, achey, and worst of all D&V. In fact I reckon I could give the Duchess of Cambridge a run for her money! (And no, I am definitely NOT pregnant!!) I have spent 4 hours gingerly sipping my way through half a glass of sparkling water. Hopefully this will result in the loss of a few pounds before Christmas!! There has to be a positive outcome, surely!!

Slow Cloth and Image Transfer

                                  My Juicer has arrived! But more of that in another post.

I hope you're all settling back down into 'Autumn Mode' - children back at school, new terms begun, holidays out of the way, yet blissfully we are not yet into counting 'shopping days til...'!

There was quite a bit of interest expressed about my fabric books in the previous post. Mostly, people wanted to know how I got the text and photographs onto the fabric. Well, I'm not a tutorial blog, and there are HEAPS of people out there better equipped to tell you how it's done, loads of books, and numerous youtube clips, so do avail yourselves of those for the real 'gen', as they say.

However I'll tell you how I did mine. First of all the Paper Bag Transfer. You've all seen those paper bags with patterns on, sometimes quite pale. Well they are printed using the final 'run-offs' of print runs, so as not to waste anything. And there is still some juice for us to make use of. Simply place the paper, print side down, on your fabric..use something fairly smooth, mine was old sheeting. Press with a hot iron, keep checking carefull to test 'done-ness'. You'll get quite a faded result, but I like it.

                                                          Just the effect I wanted.

For the other transfers I treated my fabric first with a solution called Bubble Jet Set. Use only cotton or silk, it won't work on synthetic fabrics. It comes in a 946 ml container, not cheap, but it does last, and you can re-use it, so it says. Made by an American firm, it is available to buy in the UK, probably from Art VAn Go, Cotton Patch or Rainbow Silks. Full instructions on the bottle. However, soak fabric in solution for 5 minutes, DON'T WRING, keep it flat and drip dry or blow dry.

Cut freezer papr to A4 size. Iron to fabric and cut fabric EXACTLY to size, removing any stray threads. Feed into your printer in the normal way. For this photo:

I simply laid the original onto the photocopying plate of my printer and pressed go. You can do this with any image, or a textile you want to photocopy and print onto fabric. You can also scan your images and save to your computer, to access later on. You can of course use any computer generated image or text.

For this little book I created paper versions of the pages by using rubber stamps and images /text from magazines onto A4 paper, and using this as my image to transfer. For blocks of text you either photocopy blocks of text, or type it out on your computer and simply print.If you know you are going to want to cut the text apart, then make sure you leave enough space between your lines of text. Here I've just used a block of text:

Here, however, I typed lines of text and spaced them out so I could cut them seperately.

Wash your printed fabric , each sheet seperately so nothing transfers between sheets. I have treated several pieces of fabric and stored them for ages, and it still works. If you are making something purely decorative you probably don't even need to use the solution. Have a try, experiment!

I was over at Jude Hill's lovely blog, Spirit Cloth, and remembered an ongoing project of mine. Jude is a great advocate of the Slow Cloth movement - google it, there's quite a lot of info about it. It grew out of the Slow Food Movement. Anyway, I began a few years ago collecting fabrics (any excuse) and stitching away by hand at a variety of little motifs and appliques. Who knows when it will be completed? It's a slow cloth! So here are some of the pieces waiting to be joined to their neighbours.

Its Working Title, is The Gypsy Quilt. Mostly very bright colours, cottons, silks, velvets...just a collection of lovely things and a wide variety of images and patterns. No plan in mind, it's just meandering its way along. Possibly it never will get finished, who knows!

On Saturday we are off to Ireland for a week, spot of fishing, spot of music, eating and drinking, sewing, reading, journaling, swimming, possibly a spot of walking too, you never know, but let's not be too hasty, eh? Going with good friends Mike and Lesley so double the enjoyment! Not sure I'll be able to blog from there, as am not quite up to speed with the technology..though I am getting there!

Happy Autumns to you all, and let's hope for a bit of an Indian Summer on the side!

Long To Rain Over Us..........

                                                                       Very Wet Lovage

No, not a spelling mistake, just a comment on the state of play,weatherwise, for the past 15 or so hours, and no let-up in sight. Not wishing to labour the point.........

                                                "Raindrops on Roses....tra la la...."

                                          Ladies' Mantle sparkling away prettily

Ok enough with the rain. Here's what we cheered ourselves up with on the supper front last night.

                                                 Chinese Fish Broth with Noodles

No, bear with me, it was great. I sauteed off a very thinly sliced red onion, red pointy pepper, 3 cloves garlic and a few button mushrooms. Threw in a handful of cherry tomatoes. Added a couple of hefty shakes of Chinese 5-spice. Laid a freshly caught and cleaned rainbow trout on top and covered with fish stock.  I chopped and added the usual garden herbs - parsley and lovage I think. At the last minute I thought to add a couple of anchovies in oil. When it was bubbling I broke up a good handful of spaghetti and bunged that in, then tore up the remains of the spinach from the salad drawer, lid on, slow oven. When ready to eat, I removed the trout, deboned and chunked the flesh, and served. Bloomin' good it was too!

So while we're enjoying the colour, here's what I found between the living room and my sewing room, all old stuff but bright and.....er....beautiful? Well, I thought so at the time!

My Caravan Blanket. No, we don't have a caravan.

                                       My version of Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket

                                                              My Lucy Bag

I did make leaves for the flowers on the original bag I made, but unfortunately I crocheted it in acrylic wool which s..t..r..e..t..c..h..e..d until it was HUGE enough to hold my entire wool stash; it is buried at the moment under quilts so fortunately I can't show it to you! Second time round I used cotton and it held its shape, but by the time I'd made the flowers I had had enough!

Here are some crazy patchwork bags I made back in the dark ages - I used to teach a workshop on making these - Exotic Embellishment - Not for Minimalists! was the title.

                        Notice the beads at the bottom - I called this Muggers Beware!

                                            Details from a couple of smaller bags

        I was really into making machine-wrapped cords, too. I made yards and yards of them!

 

It seems I was never off my machine in those days. Now I only use it to whizz up a few seams and binding. Oh, and a little free-machine writing and scribble embroidery. But that's only recently, and for the craft fair. Nowadays I am much more into Slow Cloth, having become entranced by the work and words of Jude Hill - check out her blog Spirit Cloth, especially her archive.

Well, folks, I really hope the colour has added a little cheer to your day, and most importantly, for those of you involved in any outdoorsy happenings for the Jubilee - I do hope this rain stops for you and you have a wonderful, DRY celebration!