clothing – Page 2 – Weave Story

Felting with Suzanne Higgs – Day 1

April 2, 2013/4 Comments/in felt, garments, Projects /by bschutzgruber

March ended with 2 days of felting at the Michigan Fiber Festival Symposium in Kalamazoo, MI. I did 2 workshops with Suzanne Higgs.

Day 1 – Dyeing Habotia Silk & Nuno Felting

1) We started by dyeing 5mm habotia silk with Jacquard Acid Dyes. Mine began with three dye passes using yellow, hot pink and burgundy. This came out kind of “interesting”….. and Suzanne suggested over dyeing it. Why not!! We mixed up a combination of more hot pink than I used the first time, red-orange and a touch of black. It looked like a black mess but once it was rinsed out = VERY nice!!

2) Next we laid out the silk leaving bunched up sections that will give texture.
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3) Then laid out thin layers of wool over the silk and gently rubbed using soapy water to felt the wool to the silk.
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4) I LOVED the end result = looks like tree bark!! I have just enough to make a vest.
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Making stuff in March

March 18, 2013/1 Comment/in dye, felt, garments, Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Been a busy set of weeks since my last posting!!

‘Heron’ was accepted for the AAFG show in the gallery at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill, Canton, MI. The show run March 1-26, 2013.

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March 8-10, I spent a fabulous 3 days in a dye workshop with Jane Dunnewold. Jane is a wonderful artist and teacher! Using fiber reactive MX dyes, we printed on silk, cotton, linen, and rayon fabric using stencils, thermofax screen printing, paint brushes, stamps and more!!

I spent the last day working on a parasol. Using stencil, thermofax screen printing and paint brushes on a commercial cotton umbrella blank I created ‘Butterfly Sunshade’ Parasol. Using the brushes to ‘paint’ the dyes created the textured ‘watercolor’ effect. UV block sun protection fabric treatment provides 30+ UPF.

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Over the past 2 weeks, I made 2 new garments from yardage I wove last summer. The jacket and vest (along with the dyed parasol) have been accepted for the runway at the AAFG’s annual Fiber Feast Fashion Show on April 13th.

Woven in plain weave @24epi. The warp is 5/2 spaced dyed mercerized perle cotton (‘Prairie’ from Valley Cottons) with a 1″ stripe of 5/2 black perle cotton. The weft is 10/2 perle cotton. The woven fabric reminds me of the dark chestnut coat and stripes on the hindquarters and upper legs, the Okapi of central Africa.

Woven in plain weave – @24epi. The warp is alternating stripes of thick and thin Rayon Boucle. The weft is a Mohair/wool/nylon blend.

The woven fabric reminds me of the changing colors of the fall foliage here in Michigan. The finished vest is fully lined in silk habotai.

OLG Festival Exchange bag arrived!!

December 10, 2012/1 Comment/in Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

My Festive Exchange bag arrived today!!
It was made by Brigitte Liebig a weaver from Germany – near the Swiss border.

The ‘walls’ are woven with cotton warp and handspun linen weft and the towers are woven in a shadow weave pattern to represent the very narrow spiral staircases in three of the towers. She used commercial fabric for the sky (blue) and the bottom/base (brick pattern)

Her inspiration came from a visit to Castel de Monte in South Italy. The guidebook suggested taking a photo from the ground of the inner courtyard up to the sky.

Catching up…..

December 1, 2012/0 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

October was a sad time with the death of my mother-in-law, Gertrude Margaret Marion Gruber (1927-2012).

Marge Gruber

Marge was gentle spirit and an amazing fiber person – knitting, embroidery, and sewing many of her own outfits as well an amazing Santa suit, plus so many Halloween costumes.

November was spent on the road with storytelling events and getting ready for the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Holiday sale so again… not much time to be posting. Here’s a look at the new scarves & purses. If you’re still looking for that ‘one-of-kind’ gift for the holidays…. let me know!!

At the Holiday Sale I had a blast giving a 2 hr felting demo:

If you have group that might be interested in having me come and talk about felting and fibers…. let me know!!

The final days of November were spent making a small bag for the annual ‘Festive Exchange’ with the OnLine Guild. This is something fun for our members to be part of, to show off our love of all things fibre, and especially to get to know a few more members of the guild better since we come from all around the world. This year’s theme is a Bag.

I made a bag for knitter, spinner and dyer (natural dyes) who lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Since she lives on Prince Edward Island and I’m in Michigan, the water and waves of the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes were my inspiration with different shades of blue and the froth of whitecaps. The button reminded me of a compass rose from the old nautical charts.

To make the fabric for the bag I wet felted carded wool fibers and used a variety of wool and synthetic fibers as embellishment with wool yarn representing her knitting and spinning and a bit of red to for her dye work. The bag is long enough to hold knitting needles or maybe even a drop spindle.

The bag that is coming to me is being made by a weaver (floor loom & tablet) and Kumihimo braider who lives in Germany near the Swiss border. I’ve just gotten an email letting me know that the bag is on it’s way here = I’m excited!! I’ll post a photo once it arrives.

And now December begins…..

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