Spirit Cloth

Old cloth

I found this in the scrap pile this morning. It is an old dobby woven silk taffeta. Too brittle to sew. But I love it. I am back to the scrap pile, and plan on adding to the threadcrumbs library, overhauling that a bit,  as well as using some of these old wovens as inspiration for some dream weaving. Supplementary weft weaving (floats are added to pattern the cloth by adding additional filling threads in between those of the base weave) is often referred to as on-loom embroidery, being quite related to counted thread embroidery in concept. I'm back to thinking about that. It's the weave thing.  

And I am reading. How about that? I am reading  a book I found in a used book store long ago... the Grammar of Textile Design, the third edition. You can find the first edition here along with other texts, for free. It is a very serious weaving book. I like it for its information and illustration but I also love it's old form. I like to just hold it.  I've been holding it for a long time. Maybe to keep it from falling apart. There is evidence that others have held it as well.  Now I am reading it.

Even if you consider yourself an expert at something, it is always interesting to get another point a view. Even a textbook is that. A point of view.

how time softens color

 

this is grandma's dress. her mom made it. probably around 1900.

the bodice has been repaired. probably not long after that.

 you don't see these much anymore.

but just look at that fade.

not sure why we go to all that much trouble to avoid it.

grandma and her mother..

a thought in the beginning of february

...tenderness is a little fragment but it is no small thing.

 

tenderness

when cloth gets very old, and fragile, it is often spoken of as "tender", meaning it tears easily. i love that.  a few more bits of grandma's quilt, holding together with a little help.

the shape of continuing

a little melting, a little freezing and look what we have here. we have lovely points and protrusions outside the studio window this morning.

 

and a pile which rises like a mountain from the worktable. i am getting ready for CWB, another small, but this time a bit larger, journey.

 

so i wandered, first in my mind, and then out in the cold for a while, and then back again, and then on paper. just to continue the story of this little print. and i tried that pattern as a stitch, not at all as easy as it seemed, it needed more spaces between the stitches than i originally thought.

 

i let the little print stay and stitched over it here and there, just for practice and just for a soft transition, and then i went out on my own, crossed into a new territory, and let it wander until i had the rhythm of it.  and i decided to call it the two-step.  because it has two parts.  because it was done in two steps, with two needles... one threaded with 3 strands and one threaded with one.  because one step is made of two tiny stitches.  because it has a simple repetition.  because it reminded me of my fist trip to texas when i designed for a mill down there.  because it was the first time i saw folks dancing the two step.  because when i tried it i was swept away by its simple rock and casual expression of affection for a simpler life.  and because with one step you start but with the second step you are well on your way and have already left a trail.   and, of course, because i like to name things.

 

and so, i need to take some time away from here for a few days.  i need to shut the studio down and move into the main part of the house for a while. it is just too cold with all the windows. and i need to prepare for class, get my head around it.  i need to pull together the whispering thing and will post a bit about that soon. the patchwork beast video series just went up for sale for those of you who asked, i will not be hosting that as a workshop this year.  i need to reconfigure my shop, since i will not be attempting to sell much this year, just here and there.  i know i hopped around here, but i am a rabbit and i hear this is my year... hey ho.

and thank you grace. an astounding image and so appropriate for my winter mood.

Rhythm (from Greek rhythmos, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry" is a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." In other words, rhythm is simply the timing of the musical sounds and silences. While rhythm most commonly applies to sound, such as music and spoken language, it may also refer to visual presentation, as "timed movement through space."- Wikipedia.