Fibre Fling 2019!

Fibre Fling is next weekend, April 5-6.  I recently have had a lot going on including starting a great new job so I've been a little preoccupied.   But now I'm busy getting my items ready for the show.  See below for show details.  It's at Kitchissippi United Church which is at 630 Island Park Drive at the Queensway.  Admission is $5.  I will be there on Saturday afternoon.  I will have my hand dyed and hand printed fabrics for sale and as well as some eco print cards.  The hand dyed fabrics have been dyed using snow and ice as a resist.  The hand printed fabrics were mostly printed at my family cottage using plant materials.   I hope to see you at the show!

Ice Dyeing

Pat Hardie and I are doing a presentation at the OOTB meeting in March on snow and ice dyeing.  Last year she taught me how to do snow dyeing.   I've been doing more ice dyeing this winter because it's something I hadn't done yet.  Here are some photos of the process.

I've put some white cotton fabric in the bottom of the colander.  Then I put ice cubes on top.  I sprinkled Procion MX dye powder on top of the ice cubes.  Here you can see it melting.

And here is the finished fabric after setting and washing out the next day.  The patterns might be a little larger than with snow dyeing but I like it! Ready for use in any project.  Goes to show you it doesn't have to be winter for you to ice dye some fabric.

Piece for Summer Fibrations

I made a piece that will be in the Summer Fibrations show at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte June 22 to July 6, 2019.   It measures 8"W X 6"L and will be in the Soft Green section.    It was difficult to work on such a small scale!  I'm used to making much larger pieces.  The fabric is hand painted and printed.  I did some hand embroidery for the grasses at the bottom.  I attached it to a painted canvas.  Thanks for having a look!

Stittsville Library show

So we hung up the Stittsville  Library display on the weekend and it looks very good!  The theme this year is "Favourite Quote".  The show will be hanging up until December 31st.  Some of the items are for sale and have prices on them.   Below is an overview of the pieces on the walls.

Here's a closer look at one side.

Here's the other side. ( My piece is on the top right hand side).

Here are some photos of the display case:

Thanks for having a look!  If you can, do drop by during the month of December.  It will be up until the 31st.

Piece for Stittsville Library show

I'm organizing the Stittsville library show again this year for Out-of-the-Box.  Our group has a display at the library every year for a month.  We're hanging it up on December 1st.  The show will be there until December 31st.  I've finished my own piece for the show.  The theme was "Favourite Quote".   My quote is "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere"  by Vincent Van Gogh.  Here's a photo of my finished piece.  It measures 20-1/4 inches by 22 1/2 inches.  The eco print in the centre is one I made in the summer (see two posts ago).  I took a piece of rusted white cotton and eco printed it with sumac branches.  You can see I included wild grapes in the print.  The gold fabric in the borders is cotton that I dyed with onion skins.  Photos of the show hanging up to follow!

Sun printed tote bag

I've been wanting to post something but work and life has gotten in the way:)  Here's a tote bag I made with some of my sun printed fabric.  There's a pocket inside it and the bag is about 12 inches square (30 cm X 30 cm).  I used fusible stabilizer to create stability.  This one will be a gift for someone but I'm thinking of making more.  Thanks for having a look!

Eco printing on fabric in August

I had some time at the family cottage again at the end of August and did some eco printing.  Here are some photos taken of my process.  This post shows some printing on rusted cotton and a silk scarf which I had  pre dyed in natural indigo.

Here you can see I put some plant materials on a rusted piece of white cotton.  I used red onion skins, sumac branches, wild grapes and rose leaves from my bush at home on this one.

Here are my plant materials spread on a silk scarf I had pre dyed in natural indigo.  I used wild grapes, sumac branches and wild raspberry branches on this one. Looks promising doesn't it?!

Here are the fabrics wound around rods and put in the steamer.  I learned last year that it's better to protect your rod with a layer of cling film as well as put a layer of cling film on top of the plant materials so that when you wind up the bundle the colour doesn't bleed through to other layers.

 

Here's the cotton fabric on the washline afterwards.  I particularly like this one.  You can see the blue from the wild grapes and because one sumac branch faced up and the other faced down, the prints are different.  The fabric was folded in half, giving a double print of each.

Here's the silk scarf afterwards on the washline.  The indigo faded quite a bit but you can see the purple from the wild grapes (in the presence of vinegar) and the leaf prints.

Here's a closer look at the scarf afterwards.  I'm going to try eco printing first and dipping in indigo second and see how that works out as well.  Thanks for having a look today!