Gail Coleman of Gail’s Yarnworks, led us in a workshop making crocheted necklaces.
Her samples included pieces that were both crocheted and felted.
This spectacular vest showed just some of the wild directions you can take this technique!
We worked intently to make our own creations.
Toni Burton got off to a good start with this richly textured and colorful beginning.
Due to a series of snowstorms that left the roads dangerously snowy and icy, the February meeting was cancelled.
Inspired by the wonderful items we saw at the vintage fashion show that Seattle Children’s Hospital put on for us at our November 2018 meeting, we dived into our closets and brought in items of handwork from our personal collections.
Valerie Day brought these stunning christening gowns that have been used in her family for generations.
Astrid Bear brought hand embroidered items made by her mother, her grandmother, and her great-great aunt.
Toni Burton brought garments and hats worn by her mother.
Christine Stewart brought the silk velvet wedding dress her mother designed and made.
And for Show and Tell, Gail Parris shared these quilted portraits of her mother that she made.
We enjoyed connecting with our family histories and heritage through these textiles and garments.
We had our traditional December Plaid Llama sale, where both things we no longer need in our fiber studios are offered to others for theirs, as well as lovely new items made by us are for sale.
Laura Neff brought a fabulous selection of hand towels and scarves that she wove, which were snapped up quickly.
Shirley Pauls brought an outstanding selection of jewelry, mostly pieces she made, but also a few that she purchased on her travels.
Then we enjoyed a sumptuous and festive holiday potluck luncheon. Not shown, the tables with mimosas and desserts!
*****
Update
We note with sadness that member Judy Littlefield passed away in early January. She was able to attend the December meeting, and we all enjoyed seeing her, knowing that she was very ill, but not knowing that her remaining time was so short. She was wearing a beautiful blue knitted shawl, a project that Judy had bought the materials for herself but didn’t have the energy to do. Christine Stewart offered to make it, and she delighted in the warm and softness of it, warming her like a hug.
She’s wearing it in this picture, which this writer chose to crop tightly in the original post above, feeling (perhaps incorrectly) that Judy might not have wanted to see her picture with “chemo hair” on our blog. But we honor her bright spirit and share her face with you now. Her joy at being among friends that day is something we treasure. Rest in peace, Judy.
We enjoyed a fabulous fashion show of historic garments from the collection of Seattle Children’s Hospital! Their Vintage Fashion Collection is a wonderful survey of mostly women’s garments, going back into the 19th century.
This dress not only had spectacular beading at the neckline and pockets, but also matching shoes!
A very glamourous evening look of silver and blue brocade.
Many garments had astonishing details of beading and fringe.
This exquisite cotton lawn dress featured tucks, embroidery, and inserted lace.
Thank you to the volunteers who collect, preserve, and model these remarkable clothes! It was wonderful to have the chance to see these garments up close and personal. The very modest fees they charge for their programs go directly to the uncompensated care program at Seattle Children’s.
Linda Malan gave a talk about card weaving and also demonstrated this fascinating and ancient technique.
Card weaving, also called tablet weaving, goes back to at least the Iron Age in Europe, around the 8th century BCE.
It can be used to make beautiful and complex bands of woven material that are very strong due to the twined weave structure. Above are some examples of Linda’s work.
The bands are typically no wider than about 2-3 inches, but they can be sewn together to make a wider fabric. They can be used as belts, cords, straps, or decorative trim.
Here Linda is showing how it’s done. Smooth yarn is warped through the cardboard cards, four threads per card. Historic cards were made from bone, wood, ivory, leather, metal, etc. As the cards are turned forward or backward, a pattern can be created and woven in. Note the small shuttle in her right hand, which carries the weft yarn.
You can see the beginning of the woven pattern here. By turning the individual cards in different directions according to the graphed design, the lighter or darker warp threads are on the surface of the band.
Yuna Krause taught us how to make cute and sturdy dish scrubbers from a special fuzzy Korean yarn.
They are crocheted from the fuzzy yarn and a strong base yarn.
Some of her samples — aren’t they cute?
Allison Harding lad us in a mini-workshop on felting with silk hankies and merino wool.
Here are some examples of the scarves she makes using this technique. The silk hankies form the outer layer of a sandwich of fibers. Wool is in the middle.
Bits of glittery Angelina fiber can also be included.
Allison brought a variety of colors of wool and silk hankies to choose from.
The wool center layers are laid down in thin pieces, over the bottom layer of silk hankie. Bubble wrap forms the base of the felting bundle.
Once the layers are done, the fibers are wetted and then rolled to felt them together. Lots of rolling!
Additional hand rubbing is needed to get the final finishing done.
Here are our finished samples.
Plus we had lots of cool Show and Tell! Weaving, quilting, locker hooking, knitting, crocheting, and other cool stuff.
Judy Irish did an amazing presentation of her quilts and also did a demonstration of her technique for weaving commercially woven fabric to create a unique background for further quilt applique.
Judy combines a variety of materials to get the effects she wants.
Judy loves to add dimensional elements to her quilts.
The background of this piece (a detail of larger quilt) shows her woven background technique.
To make a woven background, first put a fusible backing on your fabrics. Then cut one of the fabric along the length of your finished piece, using a rotary blade to create a smooth cut. Cut random lines for an interesting background.
Then cut the other fabric along the width-wise orientation.
Weave the strips of fabric together, keeping them in their original alignment.
Once the strips of fabric are firmly woven together, fuse them to make a stable background fabric.
Show and Tell — a lovely nuno felted scarf!
Show & Tell — A small quilted and embroidered piece in progress, by Gail Parris.
Show & Tell: Woven chenille scarf by Astrid Bear, woven baby blanket, and woven pillow cover, and a knitted sweater by Christine Stewart.
Our talented member Lonetta Avelar taught us basic scratchboard technique.
This technique uses a sharp tool (we used needles held in repurposed mechanical pencils) to make scratch marks on a special black medium — white board painted with black ink. The scratch marks reveal the white underneath.
The lower board shows some practice doodles. The upper board shows the outlines of the image, transferred to the scratchboard with chalk. We were working from this dramatic bird photo that Lonetta took.
And working very hard! It’s a slow and exacting technique.
Here are all of our pieces.
