Baby Booties

     I have been making baby booties recently.  They're super fun to make.  I like projects that take long enough, but not too long.  Thus; hats and baby booties.  I'm going to be making a lot more of the animal ones.  I'm thinking cats, bears, dogs?  I need to work on my embroidery skills but overall I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I made the kitten ones with a super soft 100% cotton flannel or fleece material.  And they both have been lined with cotton batting, so they have some shape to them and they are really really warm.  I've put an elastic band in the lining also to keep them snug.  Let me know what you think.  What do you like, what don't you like, what type of animal booties do you want to see?  

    I've also added some other items to the shop.  Baby quilts, etc... head over and check it out.

Apartment

 Hi guys!  After being moved in almost two months, our apartment is actually complete!  No more boxes!! I'm really happy with what we've done.  I really put Peter to work... he did sooooo much, shelves, shelves, and more shelves, pot racks, mounting a TV to a wall that we discovered had a chimney behind it (a nightmare!).  It definitely was not all fun, but we are both super happy and it really feels like home.  If you are friends of ours and looking at this - come visit!!!

Studio/Office.  We bought lumber and built a 10' desk and shelf.  It's so nice to finally have my stuff set up again.  I missed sewing sooo much!  It's nice to be organized.

Living Room.  Painting by Henry Scheck - Peter's grandpa.  Peter built this coffee table a while ago for our last apartment.

Living room.  Peter brought back this gigantic plant from the last movie he was working on.  I love it, and I'm going to try my best not to kill it.

Music area.  Peter put all these shelves up for our ever growing record collection.  This is where we spend a lot of our time.

Kitchen/Prep area - Peter's dad fixed up this old butcher block table that use to belong to Peter's grandparents.  It's the best.  Since we have hardly any counter space, it really comes in handy.  Peter put up the copper pot rack above - it was a nightmare to install.  He is a good husband.

World tiniest kitchen.  I've been cooking a lot, a) because I have a lot of time off, not working and all and b) because every time Peter tries to cook in here he gets super upset.

Bedroom- Our friend Laura made this painting for Peter and I for our wedding.  I'm obsessed with it!  I got these reading lamps on ebay - also fantastic!

Bedroom- There was sooo much furniture left in this apartment.  We ended up getting rid of everything except for this dresser.

 Bedroom - this seems like a nice place to sit and read a book, but Gray cat has taken over this chair.

Entryway.  Peter's grandma gave us this hand hooked bird rug.  The little bench use to be my great grandmas, it's been reupholstered.

Bathroom.  We took down the wobbly shower head and curtain holder and committed to bath.  It's the best!!  The tub even has working jets! Very relaxing.

Here is a before picture.  The bathroom is the only room we did a lot of work too.

Natural Dye

      Alright here I go.  I've been wanting to post about this natural dye process for a while.  I didn't have access to my computer for a while because of the move, also I wanted to create a couple of pieces with the textiles.  So, this is my first attempt at using natural dye.  Overall I was really satisfied.  I learned a lot about the process and would definitely tweak some things for my next natural dye process.  If you are interested in doing a natural dye yourself I would recommend Jenny Dean's Wild Color.

       I dyed wool, linen, and silk.  If I did it again, I would just do one fiber at a time, as each fiber requires different treatment.  Protein and animal based fibers such as wool and silk take in dye much more easily than plant based fibers, such as cotton or linen.  I'm going to run you through the gist of what I did below.  I was dying the silk for a very specific project I wanted to work on.  I wanted to try to create a Pojagi or Bojagi piece.  Pojagi is a Korean tradition of making a patchwork wrapping cloth.  It is usually made from silk and hand sewn.  Pieces of fabric were patch worked together because larger pieces of fabric were often unavailable.  Below is my finished silk Pojagi piece, eventually a dowel and some string will be added so that it can be hung.  If hung in front of a window it gives a great stained glass effect.

What you need:

Gloves, strainer, thermometer, large pots, alum, cream of tartar, tannic acid (tannic acid is only needed for plant based fibers. Below I have chestnut bark - this can also be made from acorns), and dye stuff - below is a bag of dried black beans

 Soak all fibers for one hour before starting.  Silk is to be soaked in cold water, but all other fibers soaked in hot water.  Prepare your dye stuff, ideally you want 1/3 pot of dye stuff to 2/3 water.  You can keep a stash of dye stuff in the freezer to keep it good.  Below I prepped about 15 avocado pits and skins.   

If your are dying linen or cotton you first need to treat your fiber with tannic acid, this helps the fiber soak up more of the dye.  Fill up a pot with enough water to soak your fibers, add 1 tbsp of tannic acid and heat to 150-180 degrees, add fiber and let soak for one hour.  Transfer fibers to a pot with 1 tbsp cream of tartar and 1 tbsp alum at at a temp of 150-180 degrees.  Let soak for 1 hour.  

 While your fibers are being treated with the alum start your dye pot.  In a new pot add enough water for your fibers, add your dye stuff.  Below are my avocado pits (I needed way more than pictured that's why my results are so pale.  Lets dye stuff heat up also between 150- 180 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionaly

Once you get a nice dark color, strain out the dye stuff with a slotted spoon or strainer and transfer fiber from alum pot to dye pot.  Let heat for one hour or until desired color.  I took my fibers out after an hour, next time I would probably heat them for an hour, remove them from heat and let soak overnight.  This would have give them a richer, darker color.  Below is the hibiscus dye.

Rinse (animal and plant based) fibers in hot water well.  Hang outside to dry

 It is important not to shock the fibers, that's why when pre soaking animal and plant based (such as wool, linen, cotton) you soak them in hot water and then transfer them into a pot of hot water, they are always going from hot, to hot, to hot.  Silk is a little different.  Silk is pretreated in cold water for one hour.  In a mug add 1 1/2 tbsp alum and 1 1/2 tbsp cream of tartar add hot water and stir to dissolve.  Add this to cold water bucket and let the fiber soak over night.  Prepare the dye stuff the same as you would to the other fibers 1/3 dye stuff 2/3 water heat at 150-180 degrees for an hour or so.  Strain out the dye stuff and remove the bucket from heat.  Once the dye cools down (this takes about 5 hours or so) take out silk fiber and dump the alum mix, place silk back in bucket and pour in enough dye to cover fabric.  Let sit overnight.  Below is hibiscus dye.

Dryed dyed silk fabric.  From left to right: Hibiscus, avocado skin, turmeric, black bean

Pillow case with naturally dyed linen, and wool

                                                                                

Pot holder!

New Hats

Hi!
I've been a knitting machine.  I put up 5 new hats in the shop ... and they might be favorite yet.  I ordered yarn from my favorite company in Toronto - Americo.  They have the BEST yarn... it's expensive, but it's worth it.  I am in the process of setting up my mini studio in my new apartment.  I should finish by the end of the week -then I will be able to do more work on my sewing machine.  Hopefully I can add some new blankets in a couple of weeks.

Etsy Shop Update

Hi guys...
Long time no type.  I seem to only post when big things are happening, and well... big things have happened.  I got married, moved to Brooklyn, and reopened my Etsy Shop.  I am hoping that this move, and change in jobs will allow for more time creating/blogging.  I hate to keep saying I'm starting this blog up again, only to post once and let it fall wayside.  But I am going to make a whole hearted attempt at dedicating more time to posting.  Our apartment and my studio are still in shambles, so it might be a slow start, but none the less it feels great to be back.  I will be posting soon about this past summers natural dye experiments and some up coming projects.  But anywhoo it's late, so I am off to bed.  I will leave you with some images of my recent knits, items in the shop.

Good bye Brother, Hello Singer

     My first sewing experience was about 5 years ago when I went to visit my great friend in Ithaca.  She signed us up for a community sewing class.  We made tote bags.  There are embarrassing photos of us somewhere, holding up our hideous totes.  The class consisted of the two of us, and our teachers (the 60 year old future versions of us).  Anyways something clicked.  Not to say I was good, I think I may have been terrible.  But as soon as we got back to my friend's apartment I went online and bought the cheapest sewing machine possible.... my brother.  This machine cost about $60 including shipping, it was the greatest machine.  Sure we had our moments.  There were times when I screamed, "It's garbage!!", and my boyfriend would come in and budge a few things here or there and it would be good as new.  But that game got old.   

Old Brother

    My machine was screaming for retirement.  So I am letting her go, and in return bought her Great Aunt on eBay.  A machine that is a good 50 years older than her, but was built to last.  I bought a Singer RFJ8-8, it was made sometime in the late 50s early 60s in Canada.  I was a bit nervous having a 40 lb machine mailed to me from a random on eBay... but this guy packed it for serious.  I've never seen anything like it, newspaper, boxes within boxes, foam, air bags, the whole deal.  The carrying case is in pristine condition which also helps.  I'll keep you updated on Grandma Singer I haven't made anything with her yet, as I just received her today.  Check back.

New Singer

Blanket

I've started making blankets.  Who would have known it would be so easy.  It took about a week to complete.  I work about 2 hours a day on it.  I've already started another one that is in the same pattern as below but in different colors.  I think I might start up my etsy account again.  I feel like I always want to start it up just as it's about to get warm.  And most of the things I create are for winter.  Oh well.  Anyways, if anyone is out there... let me know what color combos you think might make a good blanket.