Nostalgia Time

This year is the 100th birthday of what is now called Blenheim Musical Theatre.  Back in the 1970s and 80s I was part of the wardrobe department, becoming involved because I offered to weave the fabric for the 1979 performance of "Joseph."  As a weaver this was a fun challenge and an opportunity to get into the technicolour scene which I did with great glee, adding lots of glitter along the way. Tricia Burtenshaw made up the Dreamcoat with my fabric and it looked stunning on the stage with a "cartwheel" of panels as the spokes were unrolled and taken in a circle around Joseph (Greg Christensen) in the finale. Unfortunately I don't have a picture .
The garment has since had a few display outings, in particular at the Creative Fibre National Festival in Blenheim in 2012. Now in 2018 it is the 100th birthday of the "Operatic Society" (as it was called) and there are displays being held in the foyer of Blenheim's grand new ASB Theatre, one decade at a time. Now is the time for the 1970s and here are some photos, and in particular Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Stashbuster Bags (Maybe)

I know perfectly well that no "stashbuster" ever works. This time our weaving group pulled out all the accumulated yarn that had been donated or left over from something or was just in the "don't know" basket. We were challenged to take some home and make some re-useable grocery bags to replace the plastic ones that are getting a bad reputation these days. Thinking big, I took some home, augmented the pile with carpet wool from my garage and found some cotton from my earliest weaving days for a warp. Did I use it all up? Not likely! I wove six bags and all around my weaving room I have so many leftovers I don't know where to put them!!!  No, I am not going to weave more bags - not at the moment anyway.  Here are the motley results, and if it makes you think "70s" you would be right.

Just off the loom

Luckily, a sunny day for washing

After a press and a tidy up

Please note: I made no promises about if or when they would be made up!

Weaving to wear

Early this year I was given some beautiful soft grey yarn with instructions to make something for myself with it. It had no label so I'm not sure if it was all wool or whether it had some other fibre in it. I used it for a warp and chose a darker grey fine wool as a weft to weave an 8 shaft twill variation. Here is the finished fabric. Now I have to decide how to make it up into some sort of top, preferably with an element of drape. Thank you Barbara - I love it.

One possibility I am considering is to combine my woven fabric (left) with a commercially woven "pashmina" (right), lighter in colour and patterned. I'm still not sure how I would use these two fabrics together so I will put it in the "think about it" basket for now.

Ooops!

Catch up time. I can't believe it is three months since I posted on this blog.  Part of the lack of weaving posts is that for the first part of the year my weaving was all related to planning and sampling for the next Professional Weavers' Network exhibition. That is still a work in progress and will remain under wraps for now.

Instead I will post some photos of my lace. Still very much a beginner, so these pics are probably not good enough for publication, , , but it's where I am at, mistakes and all, and for now everything is practice, practice, practice.  First the fun of Christmas decorations with two different styles of "icicles."  The first, with faceted beads, is quick, easy and fun. They automatically twist into spirals.

Then there are some torchon lace spirals. I found a pattern with several variations - no instructions but with help I managed some of them. They need to be stiffened slightly and wound around a pencil. 

One of the patterns had a stitch I had not met before so it was an opportunity to learn something new - triangular ground. I  really struggled with it to start with but mastered it in the end.

Then it was time to do something I am more familiar with.

My most recent piece was a project to replace some lace on the lid of a workbox I had been given as a gift. It's a long way around! 

I will have some weaving for my next post.

Lovely Summer

30+ degrees C these days - and what do I produce?  Cosy warm alpaca scarves!
I'm not exactly crazy (I don't think) but these have been on the loom in my lounge for months because I don't like to see it empty. For two reasons it was time to finish them and get them off. One - I was sick of the sight of the same warp sitting there and not moving, and two - I need the reed that was on the loom so I can use it on my big one. - More about that at a later date if a theory I have is correct. 

 The yarn is a 100% alpaca knitting yarn which is much lighter that it looks.

Tatting a Monument - 3cm at a time

An adventurous (or crazy?) person in Belgium has had the bright idea to collect from all over the world, tatted squares, 3cm x 3 cm, which she plans to join together in order to decorate (lace bomb?) one of the monuments in Brussels. She wants 10,000 of them. Here is my contribution of 10. At first I thought I might do more but it is much harder (and more boring) than I expected. 

The aim is to draw attention to women's rights in all parts of the world and for that reason the squares need to be pink. Completion is to be in August to coincide with the annual International Lace Conference which is held in a different city in Europe every year.  I will report if or when it happens!

P.S.  I have found five more which I made earlier and mislaid. I guess I will be sending a second contribution.

Holiday Handwork

There is something very satisfying about staying home and sitting around "doing stuff" while other people are rushing around madly because it is holiday time. Here are two of my holiday projects recently finished.

 Old skills, and new. Discovered I can still hemstitch - and basic torchon ground was fun for a lace project.

 I don't suppose I needed a new tablecloth - but it's not about need. I loved the fabric and enjoyed working with it.

Who's to know the hat was last worn by Esther at her wedding in 1986? It now has a new lease of life.  Now I need a new challenge . . .