Grannymar

Today the title should be Art without My Needle.

Why?  Simply because there are no needles or stitches to show today. No!  Now that is not quite correct.  I actually have needles and stitches but of a very different kind.

For most of the time while working with Spencer Spider and his cushion, I was working on a wing and a prayer.  For the first time in my life I found difficulty threading needles.  Beading needles are particularly fine.  I was succeeding by feel and pure chance, simply because I knew where the eye of the needle should be.  You can only do that for so long, and this week I have taken a rest.

Yesterday I made a couple of purchases.  One was a packet of needle threaders, something I frowned upon having in my work-box all down the years.  Now I will have to put my pride in my pocket and use the gadget, if I wish to keep sewing!

My purchases

The card with two needle threaders is there at the front and the wool and needles are for a project that I have had in my head for some time.   Hopefully if the weather behaves for another week or three I’ll sit outside and play with the wool.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

In the meantime…

Something completely different.  Despite my Post yesterday, I thought I would show you the only Floral arrangement that I am happy with doing.

Anyone for tea?

It is an arrangement in a cup and saucer.

A side view.

The wide flat cup makes the job easier.

Time for the unveiling!

It began with a challenge to make a web that included a spider.

Gathering the toys

End of Day One.  The beginning of the web.

Pencil sketch of Spencer Spider

Playing with colour

Spencer is complete

Setting the web spines on fabric

Finished cushion with Spencer Spider on the prowl!

DANGER Spider on the loose.

Well, Today I do have a spider for you but, he has not finished the web yet.

So for a progress report of the week….

Freehand sketch of spider

Fabric, lining and interlining to back the web

Placing the web spines in the fabric

A Spider being created

A finished spider

He is coming this way!

Now it is time to get back to work.

Sorry teacher!  I do not have any homework to hand in today…..

It is a work in progress!

If I manage to finish it (or even get started properly) I’ll up date at the end of the day.

UPDATE:

Did I put you off the scent?

I gathered my ingredients bits and pieces and sat down with the thinking cap.   I first thought of working on tulle pulled taut in a frame.

Tulle, threads, beads and beading wire.

Then I thought why not just use the beading wire and beads..  I set all I needed on a knee tray and went to enjoy the sunshine!

Beaded veins to provide the frame work for the web.  That is as far as I managed today since I had to go out for a couple of hours.

Hopefully this spider will have the finished article for you next week.  I suppose you want a spider as well….

I had a different project in mind for today but alas it is still unfinished - No, not the Work box, the ideas for that are still fluttering about in my head.

So today I bring you this:

A sample of white felt soaked in black ink.

Now hold the complaints and the worries about the carpet!  The sample above goes way back to the time when I was experimenting with paints and fabrics.  The bottle of ink I was using tipped by accident so I grabbed what ever I had close to hand to soak up the excess.  It ended up quite a sandwich of fabric and tissues. I needed to keep going at what I was at, so left the ‘mess’ sit and soak until I was finished.  Thankfully I had the floor well covered so there was no danger of further damage.

Layers of ink soaked felt, and paper.

Just like the swine-herd, Ho-ti, in  in A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig by Charles Lamb I learned that out of disaster great things happen. When I had finished what I set out to do, I cleared away my gear.  With the ‘mess’ left until last.  Suddenly I thought…’It is not doing any harm here, so leave it to dry in situ, and see what evolves tomorrow’!  Carefully peeling away the layers the next day I discovered wonderful colour.  The further the layers were from the ink the more fascinating the effect.  I tried this again at another time with a brown ink, and it did not work.  But then Brown is actually a mix of all the true colours plus black.  The colour brown was discovered, I am sure as the result of another Ho-ti moment!

The blue and yellow were so vibrant that I wanted to used them.

Carefully peeling the layers of man sized tissues apart I chose a couple and bonded them to fabric with Bondaweb because they were so fragile.  Next I moved to the sewing machine working with free machining and glitter thread to form waving lines along the new fabric.

Finally I chose one area to embellish with beading by hand.

The piece is now framed and the glass made it difficult for me to photograph, so go easy on me.

One angle of the piece

A closer look at the beading.

This is the angle I like.

So, some disasters are good for us!

Today found me playing catch-up after my week of fun and games down south.  No post pre set and ready for you, so now I might tempt you with a future project…..

My old well used footstool/workbox looking the worse for wear.

This old beer crate I acquired many years ago from the back yard of a country pub.  It was filthy and covered in cobwebs.  Well scoured and left in the sunshine to dry and air for a few days, I set to work on covering it.  The Irish Tweed blanket sample was used as a base cover on the box first time round.  Yes, the box has had two lives already.  First time round it had a cross stitched lid and a fitted plain covering round the base and inside.

The fabric inside the box has not faded like the outside.  The skirt this time had box pleats at the corners.

Five panels for the four sides and the base were covered and laced at the back to keep them neat.

Four castors were added to the base to help with sliding across the floor.  It was and is a very comfortable height to rest my feet on a cold winter’s night while relaxing by a real fire!

Now what way will I embellish it this time?

UPDATE:  A closer look at one of the castors for WWW.  The base of the box was a little thinner than the sides.  Jack was alive when I first covered the box.  He helped me with them.  Man Strength was needed to secure them properly.  I suppose power tools make the job easier these days.

About a month ago I promised you The Gigolo Story and finally I managed to find the instructions.

click on photo to enlarge

Right you have the instructions, off you go now and work hard!

You will require:

• Fabric for body and hat
• Plain silk,cotton or taffeta fabric for the face
• lining for body
• Vilene/interfacing to line body fabric
• Flannel for needle pages
• Wool for pompoms
• Four or five ½ inch bone rings
• Embroidery cottons for the face and to blanket stitch around the edge of the body
• 1cm wide ribbon to cover seam line at neck and make a bow at front.
• 1 metre of 2½ cm ribbon for arms and legs
• Polyester toy Filling for the head
• 1 Thimble for the end of one arm
• Small safety pins for the ear rings and a for the end of one arm and both legs.
• Card to make the pattern and for making pom-poms
• Spools of thread for sewing and for the legs
• buttons for the front of the body

Home made freehand pattern for hat, face and body.  I am sure you can make a better shape for the head.

Hat = 9cm X 3·5cm (place 9cm end on fold) and add ·75cm for hems.

Face = 9cm at the widest point, 4cm at the neck and 8cm long, add all around·75cm for hems.

Body = 15cms wide and 12cms deep, I used a bowl to get the semi-circle and extended the sides. Place the straight edge on fold and add ·75cm for hems.

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For the Hat, place fabric on a fold and cut one.

For the Face, cut two.

With right sides together, join the front face to the hat followed by the head back to the hat. Press seams. Next, on wrong side sew along each face side to top of hat. Turn right side out and pack the head with filling and finally turn up hem allowance and hand stitch hem at the neck edge to hold the filling in place.  Then embroider the eyes, nose and mouth in satin stitch, with suitable colours of stranded cotton.

The faces are slightly different on Elly’s needle case and my very old well used model above.

#~#~#~#

For the body/book, place fabric on a fold and cut

• 1 in main fabric
• 1 in lining
• 1 in Vilene/interlining
• 1½ in flannel (to make three needle pages).
• Divide the 1 metre of 2½ cm ribbon in four for the arms and legs.

Start by making a three layer sandwich…

First lay down the interfacing.  On top place the outer fabric with the front side facing upward.  Next position the four ribbons carefully as shown on the paper diagram or on the finished gigelo above.  For the sewing stage the ribbons should be the filling of the sandwich with the ends placed just beyond the seam edge.  It is a good idea to fold & tack them in place, so a) they do not move in the sewing and b) can be released once the body is together.  On top lay the lining with the right side down.  Pin or tack all the layers together and machine sew just inside the seam allowance, leaving a small opening.  Secure the thread, remove the pins or tacking threads and turn the body inside out.  Finish the opening with slip stitches.  Remove the tacking stitches from the ribbons and press, then blanket stitch around the body edge.

Finish off the ends of the ribbon by turning in the raw edges and hemming, leave just enough space on the legs and one of the arms to slip a small safety pin through.  On the other arm end stitch one of the bone or plastic rings into the hem.  I almost forgot!!!

With left over scraps of fabric & lining make a little bag small enough to hold a thimble securely.  Attach it to the ring at the end of the arm.  Stitch buttons down along the front of the body.  The size and shape of the buttons will determine how many you use.  Elly’s gigolo had three glass buttons while mine has six baby buttons sewn in pairs.

Nearly there!

Now we are ready to add the pages. Fold the double page in half and insert the other one between them. Stitch across the the folded edge to enclose the third page.  Trim the edge with a pinking shears.  Fold the needle case cover in half and insert the pages as in the picture above. Machine sew through all the layers to give a strong shoulder line.

Now mark the centre point with a pin and do the same with the head.  Marching the pins hand stitch the head to the body securely, cover the join with the narrow ribbon and tie in a bow at the front.  Stitch the bone rings on for the ears and one at the centre top as a loop for hanging.  Add five or six pins each to the ears and the arm.  Feed the leg ribbons through toning spools and make sure to place the safety pin at the bottom crosswise to keep the spools in place.

Last but not least make the pompoms.  There are two versions of how to make them in this link

This is the type of pompom maker described in the video.  The three sizes interlink for safe keeping.  I have this for years.

Just like me - in the groove!

So when you have two matching pompoms stitch them to the corners of the hat and hey presto, you have your very own gigolo!

Now who is going to be the first to send me a photo of their finished masterpiece?

Cording a Roman Blind

Wisewebwoman asked last week if I could help with instructions to cord a Roman Blind.

You will need:

• Wooden heading or batten board of the required width.
• Angle irons and screws for mounting the heading board.
• Non-stretch or nylon cord for each vertical row of rings plus threading across the width and down the side.
• A screw eye for each row of cords, plus one slightly larger screw eye to take all the ends.
• A cleat to tie the blind cords to, when it is in place.

Cut lengths of cords twice the length of the blind, plus its width to the side edge.

With the blind laid flat on a table, tie the cords to the appropriate bottom rings and thread vertically through the rings and up through the screw eyes.  Knot the cords together about 1inch from the outside edge of the blind, near the top outside screw eye.

Fix the angle irons to the top of the window and mount the wooden batten.

Trim the pulling cords so that they are all level at the bottom edge and knot them again*.  Fix the cleat to the window wall to hold the cords when the blind is pulled up.

Draw up the blind to form pleats.

* When I am satisfied that the top knot is in the correct position: I plait the cords down the side, it makes for a neater finish and then knot the enf of the tails.

Have you ever recorded a curtain track or pole?

Many years ago now, the pull cord on my living room curtain track broke mid-pull!  I held the pressure longer  than I should and ended up with the broken end of the cord in my hand.  There was nothing for it but to take down the curtains and the track.

With the track spread across the floor I attempted to re thread it.  I failed miserably.

I decided to visit a shop that sold curtains and tracks.  Bringing my trusty husband Jack to aid me in my quest, we went armed with a notebook and pen.  The notebook was about 2″ X 3″ and proved very useful.  Studying several poles and tracks I discovered they were all threaded in the same way.  It was time to set to work.

I drew a diagram and numbered the various points on the track mechanism, while Jack held the track steady.  I marked where the cord began and which direction it travelled all the way to the final knot.

Once home I re-drew the diagram in a more manageable size adding a little colour and direction arrows.  Then I added simple notes of each stage.

This piece of paper has been used many times since then to help when replacing pulling cord.

Remember you are looking at the back of the track in the diagram above (reverse side of the curtains).  If the tension wheel is on the opposite end of the window then reverse the order of the instructions.  The easiest way to do this is to trace the diagram onto tracing paper and work from the back of your new drawing.

In case you have trouble reading my handwriting here are the instructions:

a) Begin with a strong knot at fig 4.
b) Take the cord to the back and out over fig 2.
c) Leave a long loop to go through tension wheel.
d) Take the loose end up and over figs 1 & 2 and under Fig 3 & 4 through fig 5 and around fig 5A.
e) Next go over and around fig 6 then back under fig 5 and finally up through fig 3 to finish with a strong knot.

If the centre closing is off-line, release the cord at 5A and make the adjustments.  Remember to then lift the cord back over 5A, it holds the tension.

I keep a pair of tweezers and a fine crochet hook beside me as I work.  They are very handy to help negotiate the cord along the track.  A pair of scissors is needed to cut the cord when finished.

Much Later Update as promised.

Well, I was very busy having fun and meeting some bloggers, relations and friends.  I met somebody I have not seen since 1955!  What do you mean - you were not born then?  Recapping on the old days was fun and we plan to do it again soon.  Then I had internet problems……

So to the piece above.   It was a sample of ‘Distressed fabrics’.

Now at this stage you all know how I like to save and re-use items, this ‘Distressing’ was very stressful and distressing for me.  Even today I dislike the wrung out dishcloth look!  I iron the creases out and not into a garment.  Well it was rather restrained fun for me since I am a saver and not a destroyer by nature.  We were in the ‘distressing’ or aging stage of work.  Aged, battered and worn furniture was all the rage at the time.  Mind you, some of the timber used, hardly had time to experience sap rising even once in its lifetime!  Layers of paint were added and then sanded or scraped off in places to give the well worn look.

It is an interesting variation on the basic appliqué technique, with something a little extra added.

I used several strips of polyester silk fabric and machine stitched them to form a grid pattern to the base colour.  The stitching was a set zig-zag on the sewing machine but using a twin needle and different coloured threads in each needle.  All stitching can be hand or machine worked but must be firm in order to withstand the cutting away process.

We experimented ‘ageing’ with fabrics.

WE:

1. Boiled – to shrink
2. Bleached – to fade
3. Tore – to give rough edges
4. Burned – to distort

The burning provided several options:

• A lighted match – dangerous to fingers and chance of fabric catching fire.  This needs to be done to a single layer before superimposing the layers.
• A lighted candle – easier on the fingers but still a chance of burning the fabric.
• A gas flame – easier to control, but not for me thank you!
• A soldering iron – The method I favoured most.

You need a very steady hand when burning a pattern on to fabric.  It works best on synthetics and leaves a singed edge.  It is important to take some safety precautions.  Set the fabric on a metal surface such as a draining board or old baking sheet, work near a sink or a bowl of water and make sure the room is well ventilated, to diffuse any toxic fumes.  If using the candle, match or gas methods it is important to discover the best method of extinguishing the flames on a given fabric – in water, or by smothering them with an old oven glove.

You can see above how little I wanted - in my eyes - to destroy the fabric, some students produced an almost lacy effect.  Remember once burned the damage cannot be undone.  The part I enjoyed most was working on the edge.