Matrix Cloth On A Hot Summer Day

Sometime in my recent past I purchased Fabricate, by Susan Wasinger, and since then it's been on my mind to try some of the projects listed. I love the project on the cover - a pretty handbag embellished with colorful wool flowers that were created from sweaters or other woolen fabrics. I definitely want to try that sometime.

But it's summer now, and the purse seems like a fall or winter or even springtime project. Right now I have hot summer sun streaming through my kitchen window, and although I love any sun at all, especially in the winter, the summer sun makes my kitchen really hot and uncomfortable to use. And I do want to use my kitchen!
So I chose a different project: "Swatch Matrix". You need lots of little swatches of fabric. Got it. Lots of thread. Got that, too. Dissolving fabric stabilizer. Had to get that.

Next, you clear space on your table (my work tables are always covered up with projects - current projects, projects to come, projects abandoned until further notice. I cleared off one table (piling projects onto a different table, of course!), set out pieces of Sulky Water Soluble Fabric Stabilizer, and started laying out triangles of fabric - I used cotton, cotton blends, & linen - pieces of decorator fabric samples, and quilting fabric given to me by friends & family or purchased at rummage sales.

Here you can see triangles of fabric, right side up, placed on pieces of Sulky.

And here are the fabric swatches all carefully placed, ready for a top layer of Sulky.

Here are the fabric pieces sandwiched between two pieces of Sulky. I sprayed water on top to make the water soluble stabilizer "melt" just enough to hold the fabric pieces securely. When the top of the matrix fabric was dry, I turned it over and spritzed the under side, making it "melt" to the fabric on that side as well. Once dry, it was ready for sewing.

Holding up the matrix cloth which is secured temporarily by Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer.

Starting to sew the piece together - I used a straight stitch & a long stitch length. At this point it feels like you're sewing through plastic wrap!

 

Examining my sewing early in the process.

Closeup of matrix cloth farther along in the sewing process

Once you have the pieces joined by machine sewing, soak this new cloth in warm water to remove the stabilizer. I rinsed this piece a couple times to get out most of the stabilizer. I didn't try to remove all of the Sulky - keeping a little of the stabilizer in the fabric helps keep it stiff later.

I lay it flat to dry most of the way, then ironed it (cotton setting) to dry it all of the way. I sewed a piece of hem facing along one side on the back of the matrix cloth, threaded a curtain rod through it, and hung it up in my sunny, hot kitchen window.

Matrix cloth installed, morning view.

This is my kitchen window, with the pretty matrix cloth letting filtered morning light through.

Matrix cloth in kitchen window, hot afternoon sun.

And here is the matrix cloth hard at work, keeping the hot summer sun from overwhelming my kitchen. I love how it lets some of the light in, keeps the kitchen feeling bright and cheerful, showers my counter tops and walls with matrix shadows.
It makes me very happy.

Art Along the Willow

On June 3rd I was at Art Along the Willow, a fundraiser art/craft fair for the Willow River OWLS Inc./Willow River State Park in Hudson, Wis. (OWLS stands for the Willow River Organization for Wildlife Learning.) It was a gorgeous, sunny, breezy day, and the setting, near the Willow River, was perfect for my natural, "green-dye" silk scarves.

Willow River State Park, in Hudson, is near the Wisconsin/Minnesota border and Interstate 94; with over 3000 acres it offers something for everyone - deep gorges, high overlooks, a large waterfall, walking trails, camping, fishing, swimming, Nordic skiing & snowshoeing in the winter, and several Young Naturalist Programs offered in the summer for children Kindergarden through Grade 5. Click here for more information on this Wisconsin state park gem: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/willowriver/

I got really nice compliments on my scarves, and sold quite a few, so I was really happy with my first time out in the art/craft show arena. My sister Mary and her husband Steve stopped by and took some pictures of the scarves in their natural setting - an art show booth! (I am so grateful that they took pictures, as I forgot my camera and really wanted to get booth pics for future shows.)

With "first show jitters" out of the way, I feel more ready to plan for more shows this summer and fall. More news on which shows I'll be doing to come shortly!

Booth at Art Along the Willow

Fabric & Pearl Flowers To Embellish Couture Wedding Dress

Here's what happened: Last fall my niece Stephanie became engaged to be married to a lovely young man (Thomas), and we the family members were delighted! A wedding date was set, and my sister Mary got busy - reserving a space for the ceremony and celebration, designing the dress...

Yes, my sister and my nieces are designing the wedding dress. I've seen sketches of it, and wow, it is going to be beautiful - very couture!  I'm making fabric & pearl flowers to embellish this gorgeous, silk dupioni only-one-of-its-kind-ever-in-the-world wedding dress.

These are some of the sample flowers I made last weekend for Stephanie to consider (to the right of this post).

Silk Scarves Spring Collection Now Listed on Etsy!

It's official! I now have ten new silk scarves, in fresh, pretty springtime colors, listed on my Etsy shop page (jennifoofanne). I hope you hop on over to the shop and check them out!

I really love these new colors - up to this point I'd been getting drab or very subtle colors with my dye process, but with a little tweaking of my "green-dye" method, I have colors that reflect the airy hope and fresh optimism of Spring.

Yay! I hope you love them, too!

Oh, and watch for more springtime silks and bojagi window panels to be listed here and on my Etsy page in the near future!

Voila! Pretty "Silk Scarves Spring Collection" Unveiled!

My silks have been "green-dyed", their curing time is up, and I am ready to unveil the results!

I am really pleased with the colors I've gotten from this dye batch. I used mostly carnations and roses for these silks, changing each scarf's specific amounts of plant material and mordants slightly in their separate dyebaths, with fantastic results!

Just look at the range of colors! They are so pretty, I want to keep them all for myself, but I'm planning to list them on my Etsy shop this weekend (jennifoofanne). They're a limited edition collection; each one is unique and cannot be duplicated. I use a "green-dye" process, using plant materials without any harsh chemical dyes or mordants. The result is a gorgeous silk scarf with a subtle tie-dye look, and because I don't use harsh chemicals in the dye process, these silks are gentle on your skin.

This is going to be a short-term sale, so pick out the scarf you love the most and put it in your shopping cart quick! Before it's gone forever!

Before you compost that...

Once upon a springtime, a few years back, when the soil in my garden was warm and workable, I planted a lovely bed of mesclun lettuces. And as the soil in my garden was very good, the mesclun sprouted and grew and produced many tasty greens. In fact, I had a surplus of delicious greens, and some of these had the misfortune of being picked by myself, only to languish at the bottom of my refrigerator in the produce drawer, where they became very mushy and sad.

The very sad lettuces still had some green to them however, and as I had taken a "Garden Scarves" workshop and had learned exciting things about produce gone bad and all the good that's still in it, I did not mourn their mushiness. I had a plan!  Dye silk with plant materials using a "green dye" method! This was the perfect opportunity.

And lo, I was delighted with the results! The lettuces successfully transferred their life essence to the silk fibers, resulting in a lovely, delicate pale green silk scarf. Without harsh chemical mordants. Without harming me or my environment. And colorfast, mind you.

The mushy lettuces, being spent from their labors, were tendered to my compost bin. Some time later the compost was added to my garden. And some time after that, when the soil was warm and workable, I planted a lovely bed of mesclun lettuces.

That's the story of how I got started "green-dyeing" silks. Since then I look at every plant I come across with an eye toward the dye it might give me. It's great fun gathering materials together to dye another batch of silks, and it's always exciting to see the results a month or more later. (This is a slow cloth method!) The results are unique, unpredictable, and fabulous! I plan to showcase my green-dyed silks on this blog. I hope that you, dear reader, will be fascinated, entertained, and amazed, just as I am, with the results.

Welcome!