Some more sashiko

I wanted a break from my Mellerstain Parrots, so, instead of choosing one of the WIPs from my list, or one of the kits from my list, I dug in my drawer and found something else completely!

I bought this little Sashiko panel at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate back in November.  Having finished it by the start of March must be some kind of record for me!  I bought it from the Japan Crafts stall, you can buy it here.  As I had Sashiko thread and needles at home, I just bought the panel.  I think mum bought a kit of one of the other designs, I'm sure I'll come across it when I get round to sorting out more of her stash.  

Anyway, it only took a few evenings.

I took a photo before I began of the pre-printed fabric, but it disappeared from my phone.  As the lines were marked in white, I had to be careful to cover them completely, but I still found stitching it very leisurely using the technique of loading my needle with several stitches before pulling through.

My stitches are far from perfect, but I'm happy with it.  Now just to decide what to do with it - probably a cushion.

Sashiko with a difference

A couple of weeks ago I spent a Saturday at a workshop by the Living Threads Group.  It was a little sad as, of course, mum was supposed to be there with me.  The class was Sashiko with a difference - Hitomezashi.

Hitomezashi is similar to Sashiko, however where Sashiko is done by scooping several stitches onto a needle, Hitomezashi has each stitch stab-stitched individually.  

Using some squares of calico that I found amongst mum's stash and perle 5 cotton, I ironed a square of interfacing on the back (sorry, didn't think to take a photo).  To do this method, you usually need to mark out a grid on the rear, however the tutor, Gilli Theoritoff, had some smocking dots available for purchase. These were great.  You just iron them on the back and the dots are there ready for stitching.

The first example, above, shows 4 different patterns, each building on the last.  Starting with the simple running stitch, then forming them into crosses, then adding stitches diagonally.  I chose to use coloured threads rather than sticking to the standard blue/white combo.

I had a go at two different patterns above, one with single diagonal lines, the second with double lines.  I really like this pattern.  It's such a meditative embroidery method and the samples worked up pretty quickly.

The pattern above involves whipping some of the stitches.  The tutor had loads of examples and also had a copy of The Sashiko Sourcebook which has more examples.

I'm not sure what I'll do with these samples, though I think I have one more square prepared with the smocking dots.  I may make them into pouches.  As always with Living Threads workshops, the workshop was well taught and good fun.  I'll have to look out for more now I don't have mum on workshop-watch any more.

  (here is a tutorial by Sake Puppets if you're interested in this stitching method)

The T-shirt who dreamed of becoming a bag

Another post about a morning spent at Debbie Bryan, we're becoming regulars!  This was a free event.  We were asked to bring along an old t-shirt to be converted into a simple shopping bag.  I don't actually have any old t-shirts so mum brought some of dad's with her.  I picked a black one with a hash tag pin-tuck stitched into it.

The black, raised lines were already on the t-shirt.  We were let loose with fabric paint, stamps, pens, embroidery threads, lace motifs and ribbons.  I went for some Perle cotton 5 and added 3 lines of sashiko stitching in 3 different shades.

We then cut the arms off the t-shirt, and the neck band and some people sewed theirs up in class.  I didn't as we only had 2 hours and it took me that long to do the stitching (yes, I was gossiping when I should have been working!).  I did it at home on my machine as I thought that would be much more sturdy for carrying around shopping than doing it by hand.

For some reason this outdoor picture has come out a funny colour!  Also, you can't really see much here - I didn't think to take a photo of it acting as a bag, so you'll just have to either believe me or call me a liar!

This is mum's:

She was in the process of embroidering little birdies and adding some bits of lace and ribbon.  She was going to finish it at home, but I haven't checked up on her...

February Round Up 1

Before I begin, I asked a couple of posts ago if you ever go back to a blog post you've commented on to see if the blogger has replied to you in the comments.  The overwhelming response was "no, never".  Ladies who do reply to comments in their own comments - maybe you could consider replying by email instead as I fear no-one is ever seeing your replies and people think they're just being ignored.

I've have entered myself in so many challenges that a round up post would be very long and rambling.  I've split my challenges up into related groups instead.  First up is Needlequest and Year of Samplers

The quest for the month was the design focus of Japan.  I chose to try my hand at some more Sashiko.  To be honest, I wasn't going to join in this month as I didn't have any inspiration, then the Year of Samplers was announced - March was to be Sashiko, perfect!  I invested in some Sashiko cloth, threads and needles, downloaded some patterns from about.com and got to work...

It's not looking good is it?  I think the main problem was the size, I printed the patterns off with 8 to a sheet, so this is only about 8cm high.

It was definitely too small.  I printed off the patterns again, 2 to a page this time... much better!

This was the next pattern I attempted.  It's not perfect, not by a long shot, but I started to get into a rhythm and my stitches became more regular as I worked.

Here is the first pattern next to the second.  See the difference!  No wonder I was struggling.  I mentioned that I'd bought some specific Sashiko supplies, they weren't expensive so I thought I should give them a go.

The top needle is a normal, regular embroidery needle.  I know they have names and sizes, but I'm not great with all that, it's just a normal size needle!  The other two are Sashiko needles.  They are so long so you can load up the stitches.  Sashiko isn't worked in a hoop, but in hand which was tricky at first for this frame-loving embroiderer.  The needles are also much thicker which frustrated me at first, but I soon got used to it.  I used the shorter one for the tiny piece and swapped to the longer one for the rest.

This is Sashiko thread, it's called Olympus and appears to actually come from Japan.  Under that label, the two ends are knotted together, you have to undo them, but then can't get the skein back in the wrapper, hence the massive tangled mess!

Here's a quick comparison.  The far left is 1 strand of embroidery floss.  next is all 6 strands, the Sashiko is the middle thread then there's Perle 5 and Perle 8.  It seems to be made of cotton and is very soft, but pretty strong.  It's non-divisible.

I enjoyed stitching so much, I completed 6 squares.  I'm not sure what this will be, perhaps a cushion cover, unless I can think of something else.

I was trying to stitch logically and work in long areas to maximise the loading of the needle.  It was quite a challenge at times and I'd find I'd missed a couple of stitches in the middle of a stitched area.

The dark blue was the first one of this set I stitched, followed by this red one.  I perhaps should have practiced more with straight patterns before moving onto one with curves, but I actually enjoyed stitching the red one above most.

These were the last two I stitched and the best examples of how my stitching became more regular.  I'm certainly no pro, but they do look better than my first attempts.  This photo is upside down!

I was trying to keep the back as neat as possible so there were no shadows from trailing threads on the front.  This is probably the neatest back of a piece of embroidery I've ever done.]

I am pleased I got this finished (though not made up) by the end of the month as I still haven't finished January's Needlequest piece and I suspect March's theme (goldwork) won't neatly tie up with the Year of Samplers (don't know what it is yet) and I don't want too many new WIPs!

UR Priceless blog hop

Today is my day on the UR Priceless blog hop, hosted by the lovely Katherine.  We were to make a coin purse using a pattern provided by Madame Samm.  I was right up to the wire on this one.  The pattern pieces were cut out a long time ago, most of the sewing had been done, but I still had to attach the frame.  I managed it though and made not 5 purses, not 8, but 8 and a half.  Oh yes.

The first 5 are made with sew-on frames, as instructed as part of the hop rules.  I couldn't find a single 3" sew-in frame in Britain, not one.  I ended up getting mine from Hong Kong, a pack of 5 mixed coloured frames with ball clasps, and one silver one with heart clasps.

Do you remember this?  I showed you the sashiko a week or so ago. Well here it is all sewn up!  I sashiko'd in white perle cotton on green linen and used the same perle cotton to add the frame.

My stitching isn't perhaps the best, but it works.  The corners were a NIGHTMARE to get in place.  No amount of prodding and poking could get them to stay!

This one is lined with a white cotton fabric with flowers on it.  Taking pictures of the inside of the purses was incredibly difficult!

Number two came about when I decided to mix and match the pieces cut out for the beaded purse (we haven't got to that one yet!).  I used the two side panels and added the check to the front and back.  I thought it might be a good idea to add some buttons.  This one isn't actually as wonky as it looks, it's jus the way it was sitting.

Lined with purple cotton that looks a bit like satin in these photos.

Number three is a fussy cut version.  I wanted to use this Little Red Riding Hood linen I'd been hoarding for a long time.  The front and back feature Little Red...

And the side has her name. All topped off with a silver frame attached with the most frustrating red perle cotton known to man.  Most of my perles are a brand called Rubi, they were fine.  This one was an emergency purchase from Hobbycraft and is Anchor.  I hate that damn stuff.  It snapped about 4 times during the sewing of this frame so I had to keep starting again.

I used the Sugar and Spice red fabric that I won in a recent giveaway as a lining.

Number 4 is also fussy cut. I had this novelty FQ in my stash - I'm really not sure why I bought it.  Sewing themed - good.  Goats - ??

I fussy cut a different part for each motif.  The frame is stitched on with pink perle cotton to match part of the colour scheme of the fabric.

I love these tape measures!

I was quite lucky the motifs were the right size to fit my panels.

This is lined with a red polka dot found in my stash.

Number 5 is made with babushka printed linen and features the same hair-tearing-out Anchor perle cotton... I hate that stuff!  Originally I made this one as a single-fabric alternative.  The original purse by Madame Samm has different fabrics for the front/back and sides (as in my button one above).  Whilst thinking of variations, I decided to do one with the fabric the same all round - I actually ended up doing a lot of those!

I used the same Sugar and Spice print in this one.

This one's the half!  As you can see the pouch is sewn up - denim from my hubby's old jeans, a blue and cream linen for the side panels, some Kate Spain inside and featuring one of my felt flowers.  I just simply ran out of time sewing the frame on.  I'll show you in a later blog post when it's done.

Now we move on to the final 3.  These are made with glue in frames.  I bought these when I first joined the hop just in case I couldn't get hold of the sew in frames.  I know they're breaking the rules, but I'm sure Katherine won't mind me showing them.  I must apologise at this point for the photos.  The sew-in pictures were taken on Saturday morning, these were taken on Saturday about 3pm when we'd already lost the light!  Unfortunately, I knew it was the only chance I'd get for photos, so you'll have to put up with them! I'm updating the photos!

Remember the beading I showed you?  This is what I did with it.  I added little seed beads to this Michael Miller print.  The front and back are both beaded and I managed not to break any beads when sewing it up!

The sides are the check fabric as seen in the button purse above.  I didn't update this photos I forgot to take a replacement.

It's lined with a bright blue cotton.  I know it doesn't look bright blue, but believe me, it's just the photos.

Number 7 is appliquéd.  I used a purple spotty print for the front and back (yep, that's purple!) and appliquéd a cupcake to the front.  I wanted to machine appliqué it because I'm lazy, but I used that horrible Heat N Bond and didn't dare subject my needle to it.  I hand appliquéd instead and added some beads for sprinkles and a purple cherry.

The idea for the cupcake came from the side panel fabric.

This one is lined with a purple and white stripe.  I don't know who made this fabric, I've had the little bundle for a long time.  Just a note about gluing in the frames - it's a bloody nightmare!  Is it worse than sewing them in?  I'm not sure, I just know I got glue EVERYWHERE.

Now we're on to the disasters.  This ladies and gentlemen is number 8.  It looks like it needs a good press, doesn't it?  That's probably because this is the lining.  I glued the frame on back to front and had to turn it inside out!

THIS should have been the outside.  I'm not sure I like it like this. 

This baby would have been number 10 but I made a fundamental mistake.  I sewed the outer and the lining, then realised I'd forgotten the fusible fleece.  I added it to the sewn outer.  Not a good idea.  See those crease marks?  They're permanent.  I abandoned this one!

So, if I've whetted your appetite for purse sewing, the purse pattern available to buy here.

Now it's time to go and visit my fellow hoppers, there's a chance to win a prize with each comment you leave! Click the button at the top to see the prizes and the full line up.

Day 2 - Nov.6th

The Crafter's Apprentice (c'est moi!)Jane's Fabric and Quilts
Rosemary B
Why-Knot-Kwilt
Random Thoughts..do or "di"
Mary T.
Supermom No Cape
Lily Pad Quilting
.Quiltscapes.
Stitch, Stitch, Stitch
Rose Creations
The Treehouse
Gracie Oliver Arts
Quilting Prolifically
Stekje
Grammie Q's