Thursday, November 6, 2014

- Day 1: Starting a woven cloth pillow

I took a deep breath and started to tear my dyed cotton sheet into strips for a pillow. It was a radical departure for me: I didn't measure anything.

Instead, I loosely wrapped some harem cloth around the pillow base to get a rough idea of size, then laid ten lightly pressed strips of dyed cloth in a random pattern along its length.

Using Jude Hill's cloth-to-cloth weaving technique, more strips of cloth were woven across the width of the harem cloth. After pinning down the ends, I took a quick picture ...


then basted everything down around the edges. Here's a second shot, taken in lamplight ...


Since this is my first second try at cloth weaving (the first was the Sew/Sow Peace flag), I may regret starting with a 22x38 inch piece, but so far so good.

Stay tuned ...

- Extra, extra read all about it: Local quilter and natural dyer in the Statesman

I was delighted to read about an up-and-coming quilter and natural dyer in the Austin American Statesman this morning
... and while you can't get the full content online, the next best thing is to go to Maura Grace Ambrose's Folk Fibers website or check out her blog in the KINDRED SPIRITS links to the right.