Spirit Cloth

Trying to Tell it

It's not the thing, it's the spirit of the thing.

How a thought rises through consciousness. That's what I was thinking a day or so ago...with all that has happened, it fell back in. Anyway there was too much coffee, probably because there was too much shitty wine.

I promised a video but I am not up to it really.  These big squares are 5". Once I start with a certain puzzle piece size, all the other elements fall into relationship with that. I talked about that here. Obviously, I could continue adding 5" squares until it was "big enough". But I've done that. 

I made the cross and stitched it to the base instead. Like a puzzle block. Maybe to see it that way.  There many ways to patch to a base. I talked about that here. As a matter of fact, what I talked about in Small Cloth can apply to large cloth, right? Just the scale is different which might require a bit of problem solving in terms of handling a larger cloth. But that is the never ending learning part.

So I made the puzzle pieces in the same way. Ironed around a template, edges glue-stitched to keep the edges in place while fiddling.  Then I stitched 9 squares (made more than 9) together to form the cross.  I glue-stitched the cross to the base cloth by sewing down the center in both directions, so the edges might flap open, allowing me to add the 4 more pieces to create the extended 9. A little awkward to work into the corners but it worked. Of course I could just applique them as well. Or draw the framework of the patch work and use the skatching (patching over a sketch) method. So you see, so many ways. I like to mix it up. Or go with what works with my mood or my energy in the moment. All the while noticing how each way has it's own feel. Sensing that.

There was some journaling.

link to audio if you see no player above

This was Monday's post but I didn't post it. I felt detached. But now, ok, there it was, an idea. Not planned bit as it happened.  Could I create a pieced back? One that would might show through the base cloth, like a shadow yet still a main part of the structure, and work with the existing pieced cross/extended nine patch? What if?

 

 

Hunker Down on the Edge #2

Like I said yesterday...

I usually take one of 2 approaches when binding an edge. Turned or ragged, but mostly binding the front openings of  simple garments is just like adding a simple seam binding to enclose and strengthen the edge.  A place that gets a lot of wear. The place where outside meets inside. With a bit of imagination, it could be decorative and functional at the same time.

The basic turned casing is the strongest and most common.

Link to video 1 if you see no player below...

A simple solution.

Link to video 2 if you see no player below.

 

So far pinned.

A little more about edges edges from another class that was not about garments...all these techiniques cross over really, you just adapt them to your own situation.

Link to video 3 if you see no player below.

Link to audio if you see no player above.

If you want a more padded edge you can add another layer of cloth  or use a thicker fabric.  Once I used a strip of old quilt with the batting still in.   OR  you can sew  one binding over another.  A lot of times that happens from repeated mending.   You see the result of that on a lot of old boro garments.  For Wind, I wanted a thin edge.  At least then.  I never finished the Kimono Shirt.  I was naming it East-West. And I had plans to weave into it. We'll see...

Have a good weekend. Blog issues will keep me busy. Hopefully next week Typepad will feel like cooperating and I can continue...I want to start a quilt. 

Can you read this ok?

hunker down diaries.april.13.2020

Dawn.  Rain, small wind.  I wonder who is watching?

?

...there might be a lot of journal here, should I do pdfs?

My voice is a bit off, audio tomorrow if the power is still up.

Just Do Something

Just sitting idle, focusing how hard it is to get started is a sure fire way not to get started. Yesterday I sat around tangled up in that. I went back to nine, which , because I have come back to it so many times, has become a circle. Imagine that. I use Nine to find a way.  I begin with a square. Probably we all have something we love. Start there. Love is a seed.

This morning I sketched this. I thought I can stitch this. One square in the middle that can be lifted up like a page. Actually I could put a few layers, like a little book in the middle. Actually this could work with paper too. Actually, that might be a great class. Cloth to Paper. I can get so easily ahead of myself by Thought Catching. That used to confuse me but not anymore. It just leaves me floating in a sea of possibility, and a sea can be like a liquid basket. Evolutionary. I miss the sea honestly. But floating helps.