Joint venture: Cell phone cover

A little while ago, my friend Gabi was visiting me for the weekend - and while sitting out in the garden talking, we made a colourful cover for her new cell phone together.



First, she knitted a double overlapping strip in garter stitch, with some red crochet cotton and some variegated sock yarn, decreasing the number of stitches in the end - and then I showed her how to punch the knitting with the embellisher to densify the wool and make the cover stiffer.

At this point, we both saw the face of the snake taking form - Gabi embroidered the eyes, I punched the tongue and added a strip of punched glitzy neon fabric to the back, decorating it with a black zig-zag free-motion embroidery - she sew the cover together with the sockwool and added the glasses, which she made out of a piece of wire and some button hole stitches. Finally, we found a bit of red Velcro-tape in my stash and sew it on for closure.

It was ready in no time and we had quite some fun with this joint-venture!

(German summary: Ein kleines, buntes Handytascherl, daß meine Freundin Gabi und ich beim Plaudern im Garten eigentlich so nebenbei gemeinsam gemacht haben - witzig, oder?)

Deep down the dustbin .../Fasermonster-Familie

... there once lived a fiber monster - although I never knew.

One day, it popped out of the bin and layed down under the needle foot of my embellisher.

Then it had a full service beauty surgery and became a bookmark.

Nice, huh?

(German summary: Wer hätte denn gedacht, daß sich ein Lesezeichen-Monster im Papierkorb versteckt? Ein bißchen 'Schönheitschirurgie' am Embellisher, und schon war's geschehen!)

A brooch with a face/Eine Brosche mit Gesicht

Now I've used one of my free motion machine stitched faces for a brooch - and as I was listening to a historical audiobook novel while working, I guess it was something of that feeling that influenced my hands here.

The hair is stitched with a thin organza ribbon, the background consists of fabric and wool punched with the embellisher and then embroidered on with my hand-dyed threads.

I sew on a big, coloured safety pin on the backside, as I'm going to use it for holding a shawl in place.

(German summary: Ich habe jetzt eines meiner Gesichter für eine Brosche - oder vielleicht eher Schultertuchspange - verwendet.
Beim Arbeiten habe ich gleichzeitig ein historisches Hörbuch gehört - ich glaube, daß man es auch an dem Gesicht erkennen kann ...)

The Goose Maiden/Die Gänsemagd

So this is The Goose Maiden - a small wall hanging, different fabrics, wool and ribbons punched with the embellisher, decorated with hand embroidery, beads, sequins and free motion machine embroidery.

When I visited Sara in Alicante earlier this year, she gave me a few printed faces of hers - so yes, this is one of her fabric faces which I've used for the maid. Ah, and the goose itself is actually a painted tin button - you can still get hold on some buttons like these in old Viennese haberdashery shops!

(German summary: Die Gänsemagd - ein kleines Wandbild, daß ich mit dem Embellisher gepuncht und danach mit Hand- und Maschinenstickerei, Perlen und Pailletten bestickt habe. Das gedruckte Gesicht ist von Sara - sie hat mir ein paar von ihren geschenkt - den bemalten Zinnknopf habe ich in einem Wiener Kurzwarengeschäft gefunden.)

The return of the Moosepaper Elk /Wiedersehen mit dem Zeitungselch

Before I'm starting with the assembling, I just wanted to show you how the 'Folkloristic Reindeer' and the 'Japanese Moosepaper Elk' turned out when finished (the beginning of it was here and here):






Anke at Wolle/Natur/Farben gave me some nice ideas in her comment on my last posting, Sara mentioned a quilt - and I myself feel that I would like to try some ragged piecing ... maybe combined with some embellishing - well, we will see what there will be when inspiration finally strucks me :-).

(German summary: Ich wollte nur schnell die beiden fertiggestellten Tiere zeigen, bevor ich mich ans Zusammenfügen mache ...)

A queer deer/Verfilztes Reh

And: having fun is surely the most important condition above all! Allowing yourself to be playful, curious, experimenting - without intention of achieving anything - helps a lot. I know, not every day gives birth to this kind of mood - but if you feel it coming, give it a chance to prosper.

At first, I just wanted to try punching bits of novelty yarns onto the fabric - and as I saw these awkward colours filling up the cloth, I realized it would never end up looking very natural anyway.

It looked queer, somehow - and when the rhyme struck me, it was obvious that this deer needed a pair - no, two pairs, of course - of red high-heels as well ... and some lipstick ...

I positioned the lengths of yarn and the wool with a hand felting needle, then punched it once more with the embellisher. The material for the antlers is glossy, hand-dyed thread.

(German summary: Und was am allerwichtigsten ist, ist die Freude - daß man einfach Spaß hat, an dem, was man macht! Daß man sich traut, zu spielen, herumzuexperimentieren, auszuprobieren - ohne unbedingt ein Ergebnis als Ziel vor Augen zu haben ... Hier habe ich verschiedene Effektgarne erst mit der Filznadel befestigt, dann mit dem Embellisher gepuncht.)

Stitching flowers/Blumenstickerei

I've done a bit of stitching again lately - actually it's a combination of different techniques:

first, I used my embellisher to needle-felt some scraps of different novelty yarns to the pre-felted green background, then I did some embroidery on it, partly with woolen threads, partly with hand-dyed cotton ones - then I used my embellisher on it again - and finally I added a couple of fabric mini yo-yos, which I made out of fabric scraps and then sew on to the center on some of the flowers.

I'm not yet quite sure how to proceed with this - maybe I'll use it for a book cover.

(German summary: Ein kleines Werkstück mit einer Kombination verschiedener Techniken - Trockenfilzen mit dem Embellisher, Handstickerei und ein paar Mini-Rosetten, die ich mit dem Yo-yo-maker gemacht habe - der Hintergrund ist ein Stück grüner Vorfilz.)

Fragments for the New Year/Neujahrsfragmente

A new year, and some new fragments ...

The first one, an experiment with bamboo fibers on wool, found in my stash, now embellished with cotton thread in a running stitch and some metal thread for the cross couching.



Makes me think of snow and starfilled winter nights, of Santa's beard, of longhaired reindeer winter fur and of the Northern light.

The second one, another experiment, this time with bleached linen fibers on wool cloth - now embellished with a piece of blueish organza and another metal thread:



makes me think of birch tree bark and of a hidden cobweb door, to be trespassed by fairies only ...

What fragments may this year bring, which will be brought to mind?

(German summary: Zwei neue Fragmente zum neuen Jahr; mit Bambus-Fasern und etwas Stickerei, das winterliche Assoziationen bringt - das andere mit Leinen-Fasern und ein hauchdünnes Stück Organza, eine Feen-Tür vielleicht ...)

Embellished Flower Fragments/Blumenfragmente

In the beginning of last summer, I tried some natural dyeing with raspberries and blackberries, freshly picked in my garden - I filled a glass with two handful of berries, put some wool roving, handspun threads and thin cloth in, added some water and let it rest in the sun for almost a week before rinsing.

Here I've used the dyed roving for the flower heads - the background is a piece of white industrial felt, which I've embellished with some extra wool roving to get a softer and more 'natural' feeling. The threads used here are self-dyed too, but not with the berries.



Next time I will try boiling the berries (or other plants) for a stronger colour - if you visit Carolyn Saxby's blog, you'll find her wonderful easy 'recipe' for natural dyeing here.

(German summary: Diese mal gibt's zwei Fragmente mit gepunchten Blumenmotiven aus Wollvlies, das ich mit Himbeeren und Brombeeren gefärbt habe: Zwei handvoll Beeren, Wolle, feinen BW-Stoff, Fäden und Wasser in ein Glas gegeben, eine knappe Woche in die Sonne gestellt, ausgespült, fertig.

Nächstes mal werde ich aber erst einen Sud aus den Beeren kochen, wie im Rezept von Carolyn Saxby beschrieben, um eine intensivere Tönung zu erhalten.)

Another fragment - and a gadget

This is another leaf fragment - this time I've chosen a more closed form for the embellished wool and I've also pointed out the outlines with a stem stitch.

The fine nerves of the leaves were done with a normal sewing thread, in order to get them real fine.

For the background I've used the coffee-tea-walnut dye once more - I find it's being very useful for 'oldening' the fabrics a bit.

Did you know that you can re-use your teabags and coffee filters for dyeing by just drying them after drinking and then using them for dyeing later on? And that all parts of the walnut tree - hulls, nuts, nutshells, leaves, bark, root - contain 'juglon' - the dyeing content of the tree. (I've learned all this in 'Färben mit Pflanzen' by Dorit Berger - and here is another link, where you can read about the herb walnut and its medical use.)



As I'm getting back a bit more into sewing and embroidering again - and finding my eyes are growing older (unfortunately not only the eyes ;-)) - I'm happy to have found a little helper for threading the fine needles.

Even if I'm not so fond of owning a lot of gadgets for every single purpose, this is one that I've really come to cherish - it's a Japanese made (Clover) half-automatic needle threader.

You just insert your needle in the needle slot, lay your thread into another slot, press the lever, pull the needle out again - and voilà! - by magic, your needle is threaded!



It's a mechanical little thing (no batteries!) and I cannot figure out how it functions - but it works! You can however only use quite fine needles for it - on the other hand, those with a big eye I can still manage without the gadget! In Europe, the price seems to be around €15.

(German summary: Noch ein Blatt-Fragment, diesmal eine geschlossene Form mit Stielstich in den Konturen und normales Nähgarn für die feinen Blattnerven. Ich habe auch ein kleines Gerät entdeckt, daß mir das lästige Einfädeln bei sehr feinen Nähnadeln erleichtert. Und dann hab' ich noch gelernt, daß man gebrauchte Tee- und Kaffeefilter für's Färben wiederverwenden kann und daß alle Teile des Walnußbaumes braun färben!)

Fragments/Fragmente

What is our life if not a bundle of fragments - material ones, like our scraps and collections of things; non-material, like our memories, visions and longings ...

Still, fragments do not only give testimony of earlier greatness - they can also indicate the idea of what could become splendid and meaningful if pursued and attented to.

After my divorce about six weeks ago I haven't had much power to do other creative work than a bit of knitting - but now I feel it's time to get back to 'textile investigations', as I think Sara would put it.

Do you remember the 'whatiffing-project' quite some time ago?

I enjoyed that sort of experimenting with fibers and techniques a lot and would like to continue it, just changing the size and not necessarily connecting it with the embellisher, but to keep it open for all sorts of - mostly textile, of course - try-outs that strike me: fragments.



If you'd like to join in, please feel free to do so - in a similar or in a different way, whatever suits you best - it would be just marvellous to have a bit of exchange of ideas and mutual inspiration!

My concept would be to keep the material involved quite simple: using scraps and stash material, recycling paper and cardboard for the mounting, experimenting freely with whatever comes my way - and to present it at least once a week.

I chose the format of approximately 9x13 cm (3,5x5") for the fabric, or background, as I thought it to be neither too big nor too small for a sample and allowing you to mount it on a plain A6 standard card if you like (or later on even using it as an AMC or greeting card).

I found some linen and canvas scraps, and as they were far too white, I dyed them with some teabags, a used coffee filter and a couple of walnut hulls from the garden. After rinsing and drying the fabrics, I was most satisfied with their worn and 'ancient' look :-).



This first card is a leaf, not printed, but lightly embellished (dry felted) with wool roving onto the linen scrap, then finished-up with a couple of small stitches with a thin metal thread. The backing is made out of recycled cardboard (cereal boxes have the right paper weight!).

(German summary: Nach längerer Pause habe ich mich entschlossen, ein etwas abgeändertes 'Whatiffing-Projekt' zu beginnen - Fragmente, eben - kleine textile Experimente aus einfachen und schon vorhandenen Materialien, Stoffgröße ca 9x13, mit Motiven und Techniken, die mich gerade interessieren - vielleicht möchte jemand mitmachen?)

It always starts with an egg/Am Anfang war das Ei

I've been doing so much spinning and knitting lately, that I've almost forgotten about the embellisher -

though I still think this is a most remarkable tool for 'painting' with wool and fibers, instant and direct, using all kind of fibers and recycling materials ...

Last week I sat down and played a bit with different shades and sorts of whites, 'drawing' up one of my absolute favourite forms - the egg:



I used wool and fabric, laces of all kinds, yarn and thread, beads and stones - there's even a knitted part integrated, and I embroidered some words on it as well, and crocheted and sew around the edge:



(German summary: Mit dem vielen Spinnen und Stricken habe ich ja fast auf den Embellisher vergessen - dieses dolle, unmittelbare und faszinierende Werkzeug, das Materialien aller Art auf problemlose Art miteinander verbindet - hier ein Ei, meine Lieblingsform!)

Fibre sisters fabric brooch/Die Stoffschwesternbrosche

Yesterday I finished the small fabric brooch which I began to stitch at Sara's just before returning home.

It shows us two fibre sisters - and makes me smile and remember this nice week we spent together!



I found a piece of white cloth with one of Sara's b/w pencil drawings in her waste fabric scrap basket, showing two caterpillars, and I asked her if I could use it.

Eager to try out the handdyed threads, I started stitching and embellishing on it - and voilá! The fibre sisters turned up!

Proudly wearing my new brooch, I'm now working on two other fabric recycling and punching projects, of course including a lot of free embroidery, so I can use the threads :-)!



(German summary: Ich habe die Stoffbrosche fertiggemacht, die ich bei Sara begonnen habe: Grundlage war eine s/w Federzeichung von ihr, mit zwei Raupen, die ich aus der Schnipselbox gefischt habe - jetzt ist sie mit Stickereien recht verändert, und zeigt stattdessen passenderweise zwei Stoffschwestern! Und zuletzt noch eine kleine Vorschau auf das, was ich jetzt gerade mache ... auch Stoffrecyclingprojekte!)

A basket full of inspiration/Einen Korb voller Inspiration

So I'm back from my trip to Sara, filled to the brim with fresh inspiration and some new yarns and threads in my basket.

Due to the Icelandic ash clouds and the shut-down of the airport in Stockholm, Sara's Swedish guests had their flight cancelled; thus the two of us had lots of spare time to talk and exchange ideas, to work in the studio, visit the local pub and to do some shopping (at yarn shops and a textile thrift store ;-)).



First we had planned to do some dyeing, but as Sara went through her stash of already dyed threads and the weather was too windy and chilly for our purpose, she generously told me to pick a big bunch of her threads and forget about dyeing this time -
I'm overwhelmed with my treasure!



Anyway, the dyeing project is just postponed, not cancelled!

We also played around with a pincushion project, using a waste Chinese garlic basket which we stuffed with some weights, foam, wool and then embellished and embroidered.

While Sara was working on her wall hanging, I used the time for sewing two organizer rolls for my crochet hooks and knitting equipment, using fabric scraps and some of those beautiful threads:



Returning home, I find the summer to have arrived here in the South - my house and my garden are calling out loud for being attented to and there is such a lot of work to do - still my head is filled with colours and yarn and threads ...



(German summary: Da Sara's Workshop auch der Aschenwolke zum Opfer fiel, hatten wir unverhofft Zeit für andere Projekte - sie arbeitete an ihrem neuen Stück weiter, ich habe mir u.a. zwei Stoffrollen für meine Strick- und Häkelnadeln genäht, je ein Nadelkissen haben wir gemeinsam ausprobiert. Neue Wolle habe ich auch im Gepäck mit nach Hause, einen Korb voll mit wunderschönen, handgefärbten Stickgarne, die mir Sara geschenkt hat - und jede Menge neue Ideen und Inspirationen!)

Some experiments with the flower loom/Experimente mit dem Blumenwebgerät

Do you remember the cotton threads I showed you in an earlier posting? And that I tried them out as a sample on a flower loom?

As I'm very captivated by the idea of recycling and re-using, I decided to try to do some kind of garment out of it; I like the kind of sloppy and casual retro-look of these flowers and think they would be great as a loosely hanging slipover over a T-shirt for example.

(If you google on it, there are several links for buying or crafting a flower loom yourself.)



Another possibility to use the flower loom is to make some woolen flowers and then to combine them with the embellisher and felt them into the background - here I did some free machine embroidery with variegated thread on the leaves afterwards:



For this bag, I crocheted the carrying straps with handspun wool (the same as for the bag itself) and then again punched them with the embellisher to get them more sturdy and less flexible.



(German summary: Ein paar Experimente mit dem Blumenwebgerät - einmal mit den grauen Recyclingfäden für einen lockeren Pullunder, einmal mit handgesponnener Wolle für eine gepunchte Tasche.)

Still crazy ... doing malfatto

I found this wonderful unplugged version of "Still crazy" with an aged but still irresistable Paul Simon on YouTube and I think I have to share it with you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bkXgxb66E&feature=related

Doing this and that, just playing, having fun ... Maybe I have to realize that those imperfect things are mine.



I've made two booklets to send to my cyber friends, Paula and Elizabeth - go check their blogs, they're both very good at what they're doing and have grown to be very dear and special to me!

(The booklets are punched with wool, yarn, fabrics on wool fabric, using the embellisher.)



I've found out there is a word for those imperfect, self-crafted things: "malfatto" - actually, it's Italian for "badly made", but it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be bad or ugly - just a bit rough, often made out of recycling materials and with a bit of vintage charm.

(By the way, I've discovered a very nice Finnish book with lots of pictures and ideas regarding stylish recycling of old things, written by Liisa Hellemaa-Hautamäki and Marjo Koivumäki. The German title is: "Aus alten Sachen Schönes machen" - unfortunately, I don't think it's been translated to English yet.)

It's not so easy to find or figure out minor projects which can be realized with a small amount of (handspun) yarn, but these are two bags - the left one is actually a cover protecting my GPS, the right a normal one - which I've crocheted lately:



(German summary: Die beiden Notizbücher sind mit dem Embellisher gepuncht, Wolle/Fasern/Stoff auf Wollstoff, die kleinen Taschen aus handgesponnener Wolle gehäkelt. Das Buch von den beiden Finninen kann ich wirklich sehr empfehlen - und natürlich auch die Blogs meiner Freundinnen!)

All shades of grey/Graubunte Fäden

A friend asked me if I wanted some threads, which had been left behind by a lodger who had moved on. "Threads? Yeah, sure," I said.

Well, here they are, and I'm now trying to figure out what to do with them.

Straight threads, entangled threads, wound threads, all different shades of grey. A metaphor for life.



Among the threads there were three rope-like items - neat threads wound around thick strands of other threads - and I started with them, sewing them together like for a bowl, trivet, mat ...



I also tried out the threads on my daughter's flower loom (when googling about flower looms, I learned that this is a revival tool from the '70:s - didn't know that!).

I like the flowers best when they're a bit sloppy and not too neat - and this seems to be the perfect stuff for that look! I could imagine how great a waist-coat or a belt would be with these flowers - maybe with a felted center to it as well ...

What I enjoy about these threads is that there are several matching shades and that there is such a lot of material! This gives me the opportunity to play and experiment with them, considering punching the whole entangled batt with the embellisher as a 'filling embroidery' to the fabric background ...

Thinking of seaweed, drift wood, a harbour fence, a coral reef ...

Sea shore and maritime motifs are definitely connected to my summer feelings. The blue and greyish shades of the threads - in combination with different white fibers - maybe with some natural found objects like sea shells and drift wood - would most certainly make a good arrangement.

I think I would like to work on that.

(German summary: Ich habe einen ganzen Haufen Baumwollfäden in verschiedenen Grautönen bekommen - und überlege, was ich damit machen könnte. Ein paar dicke, umwickelte Stränge waren schon dabei - die hab' ich gleich zusammengenäht. Mit dem "Blumengerät" (Prym) meiner Tochter probierte ich einige 'schlampigen' Blumen aus - da eignen sich die verworrenen Fäden sehr gut - und ich könnte mir diese als ärmellose Weste oder auch als Gürtel gut vorstellen ... Zuletzt noch ein paar Experimente mit dem Embellisher - in maritimer Richtung. Eine Kombination mit weißen Fasern und einigen Naturfundstücken würde sicher ein recht nettes Bild ergeben!)

A felted hair ribbon - and some embroidery books/Gefilztes Haarband und Bücher

This is a felted hair ribbon which I really needed to do, as my old, red one almost was falling apart from everyday's wear.

I used strips of a green, woolen sweater and punched it with some prefelt, yarn, threads and fabric and finally sew on a couple of beads.

These are some embroidery books I bought in Sweden -



with various aspects of embroidery -

the second picture f.e. is out of the book "Tenntrådsbroderier" ('Tin thread embroidery') by Mona Callenberg, which is a North Scandinavian/Sami technique where spun tin thread is plaited and embroidered on reindeer leather, mostly for jewelry, but also on purses, bags and clothing.

What I find to be quite amusing is the third picture, out of "Med egna stygn" by Lena Lundgren, which shows the traditional wool work, here used with illustrations from childrens' books and comics. This is a modern book on embroidery, inspiring the reader to do all sorts of own experiments with thread on unconventional materials.

The first picture, out of "Yllebroderier" by Ingrid Eggimann-Jonsson, is wool work on wool felt, this one showing mainly corner motifs to build up a composition. The book is filled with colourful photos and sketches on floral and folkloristic Swedish wool work, all designed by the author.

And the last picture is out of the book "Sömmar & stygn" by Anita Gunnars, a very clear and fresh stitch collection, here showing an old Swedish stitch from the early 19th century called "Anundsjösöm".



I'm still a bit stuck in everyday matters at the moment and therefore not so productive on textiles right now - have a look at Paula's blog: she describes exactly what I mean - I just wanted to say that I still very much enjoy your hanging around and commenting!

(German summary: Ein mit dem Embellisher gefilztes Haarband - Wolle, Garne, Stoff auf Strickstoff gepuncht - und einige Stickbücher, die ich aus Schweden mitgebracht habe - meist Wollstickerei, aber auch eines über Zinnstickerei, eine alte nordskandinavische/lappländische Technik, wo der gesponnene Zinnfaden kunstvoll geflochten und danach auf Rentierleder aufgenäht/gestickt wird. Das dritte Bild zeigt Kinderbuchillustrationen/Comics in herkömmlicher Wollstickereitechnik, nett, oder? - Und obwohl ich im Moment für textiles Arbeiten nur schwer Zeit und Muße finde, schätze ich meine kleine Leserschaft sehr ...)

Rhapsody in Blue - Whatiffing 121-126

These blue samples mainly consist of wool and yarn, some of them punched to a base like silk fabric or organza:

121 - wool punched on printed silk fabric

122 - wool and yarn punched on organza

123 - wool fibers

124 - wool and yarn punched on an organza ribbon

125 - wool on organza

126 - yarn and wool

And then I just have to show you this:

Spring is on its way - at last ...!

Embellishing a book cover - and some recycling experiments

This is a book cover I made yesterday for a friend - it's basically made out of wool fleece and yarn ends punched on organza, then embellished with doodles in free machine embroidery. The lining consists of a red, middle weight acrylic felt, like used for place mats.

I inserted a normal A5 blank book, which can of course be changed when used up.

The edges of the cover were left uncut and so uneven as they came with the punching - I then adjusted the lining to it with a free motion stitch and cut the lining borders accordingly.

Today I spent the morning on some recycling experiments:

This one is a sample where I have woven in random scraps found on my working table (different kinds of fabric, yarn, wool, threads ...) in a weave of red wool yarn - and then punched it (from both sides) with the embellisher.

As I cut the edges clean, I realized that the cut-offs would make interesting stripes for other projects ...

The second one is a sample consisting of two thin layers of white wool fleece with tiny scraps of fabric inbetween - almost transparent, yet the colours shining through.

This could make an interesting background for embroidery, I thought - and it would also be thin enough to be further punched onto another background ...



The third one are actually two variations on a recycling spinning experiment (using my drop spindle, of course!):

- one single thread spun with orange&pink roving combined with small scraps of other colours of fleece and thread -

- and one using black wool fleece for the base, adding scraps of wool, threads, yarn and even tiny pieces of fabric, all found on my working table (yes, it's quite clean now ;-).

Finally, I plied the black yarn with a rayon silk thread in order to stabilize it and also for finding out how this opposite twisting would influence the look of it (I'm not so experienced with spinning yet ...).

For those of you wanting to try out drop spinning, there are some tutorials on YouTube, this one for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXTWgMeMgI&feature=PlayList&p=DF33272B3994910C&playnext=1&index=13

I also found a small one-woman-company in the U.S. selling a quill supported hand spindle called "Spindolyn", which looks quite clever and interesting - this is the link: http://www.knittinganyway.com/

Does anyone of you have experience with this?<