Kumihimo Demo

At the Sept meeting Corienne did a hands on demo of "Kumihimo" Japanese braiding. She had prepared kits for all of us, with an octagonal cut out with slots on each side, and a set of 7 threads. The braiding was already started about a half inch, so we did not have to struggle with getting started. She gave us several handouts, and showed us how to do a braid called "Fill the Gap" I'm sure it has a traditional fancy Japanese name. She said laughingly "kids catch on quiet easy," lets see how much of a challenge it will be for us. Everyone caught on pretty easily, but I went backwards and undid the first inch she had done for me.

Corienne also had several larger forms/stands called "Marudai" which will hold many more threads and enable you to do more complicated braids. There is a book on Kumihimo, that had a lot of different techniques in it. We used multiple strands of different weight yarns, in a variety of colors. We each got several inches done by the end of the meeting, and several people said this is FUN! It can easily be done in front of a TV. She gave me 6 extra kits to take for some girls on my school bus, when we have a 20 minute break, and they all loved it too, and made anklets and bracelets overnight and wanted more yarns. It will be interesting to see what everyone does with their braids.

Members Profile - Peggy

As a child I made doll clothes for my dolls and my mother taught me to sew and to do embroidery, knitting and crochet. In my teens I made historical costumes for my dolls and enjoyed doing the research. When I began collage I was a fine arts major for two years and then got practical and went for the Teaching Education. I took painting classes along the way and enjoyed them. I began to quilt when my children were small and a few friends and I got together for quilting and cake in the 1970's and I have been quilting ever since. I have won ribbons at the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild for both traditional and original quilts and wall hangings.

In the past few years I have enjoyed the fun and expressive side of art and non-traditional quilting and quilting arts. It has opened another world to me to combine my two loves and to learn new techniques and products and paint. It has also brought me around to where I began, painting. Associations: San Diego Stitchery Guild, Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild, Basin of the Umpqua Quilt Guild, Wilbur Quilt Club, Fyber Cafe

Sept. Meeting 2012

Old Business Next month, Vera will demo, iron on vinyl and organza, screen printing, she will bring supplies. Nov. Amy will demo covered buttons for embellishments, Dec. meeting Holiday Potluck. New Business New challenge for fall, "Weaving" incorporate woven materials, fabric, yarns, fibers, natural materials, in some way into an art piece. Maximum size 18" x 18" can be smaller, some of us wanted a slightly larger area to work on than the 12 x 12. No theme, your choice. Due at the December meeting, no stress, not required, just something fun to do if you want to. Show and Tell Kay had a woven/braid/stitch around a disk or button, she has instructions for several different styles. She brought a sample made with cotton cording. She also found large foam stamps at Oriental Trading Co. these have been hard to find locally.

Pat found a new book, "Studio Space, vol II" that showed wonderful storage ideas for all the bits and pieces of embellishments we collect. She also brought her ice dyed silk scarves from the workshop at Amy's. Her Beatles piece "Yellow Submarine" was brought so it can be part of the display at the Sutherlin Library.

Sandy had photos of two delicate baby bonnets she made out of vintage linen and lace handkerchiefs, with ribbon roses. They were adorable, they came with directions for disassemble to use as something old for their weddings. Nancy is still cleaning up, will it ever end? And she brought a melty piece of rubber from a horse veterinarian from her England trip. It has lots of texture and she plans on using it for a rubbing plate.

Corienne brought her assortment of scarves from the ice dye workshop. Two were hand woven tinsel/rayon which took the dye very intensely. She went home and wove two silk scarves, one plain weave, one patterned, which she ice dyed, they were very soft and subtle colors. She had two crepe de chin silk scarves which had a different texture, and some washed out pale PDF that did not take the dye at all. We all puzzled over why the PDF did not hold the dye, it was definitely soaked in soda ash.

Peggy found a book "Image Transfer Workshop" by Darlene McElroy and Sandra Wilson, on different transfer techniques, she passed the book to Amy to read and then give a demo. Her Autumn Leaf quilt top is finished with many of her hand dyed fabrics, she is also passing it to Amy to machine quilt her magic.

Jana was very proud of the silk shawl she dyed, she used only "Better Black" Procion dye on it, and it came out a shimmery plum, with touches of turquoise, with long fringe. Her piece of silk scarf came out similar with touches of bronze dye also. She is working on her Beatles challenge "I am the Walrus" we look forward to seeing it.

Vera surprised us with a Beatles challenge "Penny Lane" what a fun cheerful piece with copper pennies her husband Wayne abused, she glued them on with a hot glue gun. She also had a silk scarf to show off, and she was wearing a woven ribbon/fiber scarf in autumn oranges and rusts.

Meredith is so enamored with ice dyeing she did more, trying to recreate one of the scarves Amy made that she likes so much, not even close. The colors were completely different. She also finished a Beatles piece, a 3-D fabric wood frame, hid several lame hearts, with a lock and key. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" The stitching on the wood texture was realistic, and the metal embellishments added a lot to the design.

Amy brought her assortment of cotton scraps which she ice dyed, many were the same color way in pinks and peach, her cheese cloth came out very soft peachy, and her silk hankies and silk cap were rich colors, but had a lot of white areas where the soda ash had not soaked through the fibers. It was a very good meeting, with lots of exciting work by our talented artists. Corienne did a demo of "Kumihimo" Japanese braiding, which I will do a separate post on.

More Fun with Ice

Since two of our members were not able to come to the dye workshop, and wanted to try the ice dyeing, we planned another dye day Amy's. Pat ordered some silk scarves, Corienne brought some woven silk scarves that she made and some yarns, and Jana had bought black dye and a silk shawl.

We first soaked the fabric in soda ash, after putting our initials on anything that wasn't unique. We spent time tucking fabric into baskets and folding it up, and placing it on wire and plastic racks. Jana especially had fun with all the fringe on her shawl. We piled on ice and sprinkled dye powder all over it. Choosing colors was a tough choice, what color to put with which other color of dye. Then the wait.... do NOT disturb for 24 hours...let the ice melt and the dye flow through the fabric. Every one came back the next morning, and we spent time rinsing out each piece and seeing what each other had done.

Everything was luscious and rich colors, Corienne thought she used too much dye powder, Amy thought she used too little, and Pat's silk was a mix of wonderful colors. Jana's silk shawl was a deep purple with blue/green highlights from the black dye, her other pieces of fabric with the black were a deep color also. Amy did a few silk hankies, and they came out a fuzzy mess, but a rich purple, a bronze and a pink/red, what to do with them?

We all had a great time, with lots of stuff for show and tell next meeting. Our little gray furry visitor almost ended up purple as he would not keep out of the strawberry baskets with the silk hankies.

August 2012 Meeting

What a fun meeting we had, lots of show and tell from our dyeing workshop! Old Business We received a Thank You note from the league of Women Voters for our participation in the Garden Tour. We decided if they ask us next year to participate again, we would be happy to, as long as there is shade. Corienne brought her bag of weaving thrums for us to go through, and we had a big ball of Pendleton wool trim from Maureen, to take snips off of. We double checked everyone's phone and email for the membership list. Bring your Beatles challenges to the Sept. meeting, Peggy and Kay will take them up to the Sutherlin Library for display. New Business We discussed the possibly of a fall retreat at the coast, and decided to post pone it for Spring Break, everyone seamed to have more time then. I will look into the dates and info. Sept. meeting - Corienne will give a demo on "Kumihimo" Japanese Braiding, she will provide supplies. Oct. meeting - Vera will demo the iron on vinyl/silk screening process. Show and Tell We got on with the show and tell portion of our meeting, everyone was anxious to see how all the dyeing turned out. We discussed if the heat of the day, or the size of the ice cubes made a difference on the patterning. Meredith said "NO" she had tried it on very hot days and with different size cubes. Everyone who used the "Millsoft" conditioner on the silk, loved the way it made the fabric soft and conditioned it after the harsh chemicals of dyeing.

Kay surprised us all by showing us the dyed paper towels that were used for clean up. They were as pretty as the fabrics. Her green silk scarf was shimmery, and the orange/red was an intense color. She and Meredith had several pieces of marbled fabric that they liked, tho frustrated with the process. Meredith learned it takes two people to lay down the fabric for marbling or you get hesitation marks on the print. Meredith's two scarves were rich blends of earthy colors of green and rust, made by tucking the silk in plastic strawberry baskets for the patterning. One of the fabrics was a Habotai silk, the other was Charmuese.

She also showed us her yardage of red/yellow ice dyed fabric with a "sun" look to it and explained how it was twisted/folded to get the pattern. Her Beatles challenge is almost done. Vera had no show and tell, but her silk scarves are for sale at the "Touch Stone Gallery" in Yachats on the Oregon coast. She has silk charmuese, crepe de chine, and "Devore" burn out scarves. Thank you Vera for all the hard work you do so we can have our workshop at your place! Pat displayed a baby quilt made with purple and pink Bali batiks, for her grandchild. She is hand quilting, with large stitch pearl cotton in front of the TV, and says "it is a way to endure football!"

Nancy had three silk scarves in similar colors, of deep rich blues/teals/fuschia, and her two yards of jacquard yardage that she dyed with two shades of black. The black separated and "haloed" into rich dark purples with green and mauve patterning. She intends to make a garment with it. Corinne was unable to come to the workshop, but she has been doing crock pot dyeing of some white hand spun and commercial wools. She intends to make woven yardage to make some men's vests, as they keep trying on the women's vests at the shows she goes to. Jana's 3 silk scarves are also similar shades, she used the "Bronze" dye, and got blends of peach, coral, bronze "fall" colors. As part of an online spinning challenge called the "tour de fleece" she spent time spinning everyday during the "Tour de Fance" then as a knitting challenge she finished knitting a beautiful shawl during the London Olympics. This combined into a beautiful coppery rust colored shawl with a lace knit edge.

Peggy's silk scarves were an assortment of colors, she wondered about ironing the crinkle silk jacquard, and we discussed hemming the torn edge scarves. She and Gracie had dyed matching scarves together, and she was disappointed Gracie couldn't be at the meeting to compare the results. Her two pieces of tray dyed fabric came out tricolor like she wanted, a very nice blend of colors.

Amy shared her discharge fabrics that she made when Peggy came over for a play day, large stencils were used and Jacquard's Decolourant. Some of the fabrics had Shiva paint sticks stenciled over the discharge. One of the fabrics was made into a whole cloth quilted wall hanging with an asymmetrical border.

Her many scarves were an assortment of colors, several purple and fuchsia, two multicolor that Meredith couldn't keep her hands off of, they went with what she was wearing. She displayed her ice dyed cotton fabrics that she had played with before the workshop to see how old (really old-35 yrs) dye worked. It worked out just fine, they had been very well sealed. Meredith said some of her dyes were 17 years old, and were still working fine. Amy's assortment of marbled fabrics from the workshop, another trial day, and a third day with Peggy, came out with various success, although it was all very frustrating. After much trial and error, the paint was still not acting properly and no consistent results were achieved. After watering down paints, and using dispersant, they decided to try one more batch of thicker goop, to see if that might be the problem. Stay tuned for results.

Amy also ice dyed a rayon dress that Meredith had given her (thank you!) she used various shades of blue, emerald green and chartreuse, and put lemon yellow over the whole thing, to achieve a green color. It was darker at the hem, and lighter on top, for her niece who loves green. We all had so much fun, that the two ladies who missed out, want to try it too, so a few of us will get together at the end of the month to play again with the ice dyeing at Amy's house. Everything came out absolutely beautiful, we learned a good lesson about "letting go" as you can't control much of the out come, the finished fabric is all a surprise. We all agreed it is worth doing again, and was simple enough to do on our own, our confidence is growing, I look back on our first dye workshop 5 years ago and can really see the learning we have done. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures as much as we enjoyed making everything.