Category: Loom weaving

Sewing my own knitting project bag

ThreadLover 2 Comments

I hope all those within the USA had a wonderful Independence day. It was a low key celebration for us. While I didn’t do any sewing the past few days, I did manage to make a small project towards the end of last week.

Knitting project bag
Knitting project bag. This fabric was handwoven by me.

See?  I made a knitting project bag for myself. Guess what? The fabric was hand woven by me on one of my looms. If you look at the top of this site, you’ll see that this fabric was included in the page header.

I must say, that this is the first sewn knitting project bag that I’ve made. It comes at the perfect time, because I need to complete a test knit (cowl) before the end of July. I’m currently spinning the second bobbin of my super soft merino,15.5 microns. I created the handwoven fabric over two years ago. Do you know what? It was the first fabric that I created that I truly loved.

Lining of my knitting bag
Lining of my knitting bag

Because I wanted the inside to be as pretty as the outside, I added a lining… see? The colors are vibrant and make me smile.

image

Here’s a closeup of the fabric that I did use. I handwove several yards of this fabric and over the past two few years I have used it in a few projects. I had a little bit left and held onto it, but decided now was the time to use the remaining fabric for the special project.

Today, I will be working on another small sewing project. It’s my gym bag. One of the side zippers broke well over a year ago and I just have not gotten around to fixing that. Yes, talk about lazy! Well, to be honest, I don’t use that bag a lot and so it hibernated. But today… I’m going to make the repairs.

image

Over the years, I’ve sewn zippers on various items. Have you? If you’re unsure of how to go about attaching a zipper or simply want to brush up on the variety of ways that you can accomplish this, why not check out the free miniclass on Craftsy?

In other news…

A few weeks ago, while I was exercising at home, our dog Bella, decided to join me.

image

Isn’t she something? She always has to be right by me. She is my shadow.

image

Of course… my daughter was right there taking our pictures.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and a fabulous week.

 

One Year One Outfit 2015

ThreadLover 2 Comments

Since I’m trying to work myself back into the sewing equation, I’ve entered a few long-term sewing challenges.

One Year One Outfit

One of the ones I decided to join was the One Year One Outfit 2015 challenge. What is that exactly? I’m glad you ask, check it out…

The Aim

In 2015, I am going to set myself a simple but challenging goal, and I hoping a few of you will join me.

Make one outfit out of fabric sourced and made locally, that uses no synthetic dyes, and is sustainably farmed. Other than sourcing this fabric I will buy no new fabrics in 2015.

Yes please! I’m all for supporting local businesses!

An Invitation

This is all an adventure, one that you are welcome to actively join in. Do you think you could find a local fibre that meets these aims? Is there a fibreshed program in your area that you could link into? Or a spinning and weaving group? Do you want to learn more about how fabric is made? Do you want to learn a new skill like natural dyeing, weaving or spinning? You can modify the goals to suit you (particularly the no new fabrics bit!) as needed as long as the intent is still there.

Challenge accepted! Fortunately, I do know a few local spinners that source their wool locally and so I’ll be all over this. It’s a shame that I don’t know how to spin (yet) however, I will be happy to support a local spinner to make my own hand woven fabric that I will make into a dress. Many thanks to Nicki for allowing me to participate. I plan on documenting the entire process, so this will be a series of post.

How I got my (weaving) groove back

ThreadLover Leave a comment

A few days ago, I mentioned I wasn’t into weaving. Even though I thought I was at the time. Funny how that works, right?

Well, I picked it up the next day and this is what I’m weaving. I knew the reason for the dislike had everything to do with the fibers that I’d chosen, but I honestly didn’t feel like sorting through a “proper” fiber and so I embroidered.

Loom Weaving_2 11.23.14
Weaving mistakes

 

Check out the above picture. Pretty awful, right? I still have a lot to learn. Look closely, my tension is all over the place. Do you see those edges? Weaving is my newest craft. In fact, I received my 32″ Kromski Rigid Heddle loom on December 16, 2013. So, it’s been almost a year.

Loom Weaving_3 11.23.14
Warping the loom: Fixing my mistakes

 

And as you can see I still make mistakes. See those knots in the above picture? This was my fix for a mistake that I’d made.  I skipped two holes, while I was warping the loom. Of course, I did not notice this until I started weaving! I noticed right away.  As I moved the shuttle back and forth I racked my brain for a quick fix. It took a while and when it finally hit me, I could have smacked myself for not thinking of it sooner.  I cut the offending yarns, thankfully they were at the end, and rethreaded them through the holes. I then used more fiber to connect the now shortened fiber and just wound the loom past that point. Problem solved!

Loom Weaving_4 11.23.14
Homemade shuttle made of cardboard

Another dilemma I experienced was the size of my shuttles. They are large. I needed something small to correspond with this fabrics width. What’s a lady to do? A quick “hack” was to make a shuttle out of cardboard! It’s definitely not permanent since constant use will make it soft.

 

Loom Weaving_1 11.23.14

I finally got into the groove and started weaving and the fabric looks much better. There’s still room to improve and that’s fine. I’m making progress, hooray!