Woven Wonders

woven fabric 1
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

A few weeks ago, Karen (my partner in Chickadee Friends) and I went to an astounding exhibit of woven glass art pieces. Examples of the woven glass can be seen here. The artists are named Markow and Norris. Anyway, this exhibit was so wonderful, neither of us can get it out of our head.

Fast forward to Christmas, and I get an electric rotary cutting machine, which cuts strips galore with no muscle power needed from me. So tonight I cut a ton of strips from fabric in an assortment of rainbow colors, and wove them together to make a new fabric. Before I did my weaving, I pinned some parchment onto a board, and then layered some Mistyfuse fusible web, then pinned my white strips vertically. I wove my colored strips in, pinned the ends, and then ironed the whole thing to my Mistyfuse. I plan to cut this up and use it on some pieces I am doing for an art swap.

I want to play with different textures with this method too.

Organized for Inspiration

shelf view 2
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

Our house is quite small, so I do not have a dedicated studio. I carve little work areas out where I can. For sewing, I recently started using the vanity area in our bedroom. It has a nice desk sized work surface. My problem, though, was storage. I had all kinds of bits and pieces, often in the box or envelope they arrived in, shoved under the desk, or pushed to the side on top of the desk.

This arrangement was incredibly frustrating! If I would sew on anything bigger than about 8x10 inches, the fabric would catch things and drag them onto the floor. Also, it is hard to let your materials inspire you from inside a priority mail flat rate box.

So I went to IKEA one day last week, and bought some shelves to mount on the wall, and some jars and boxes to put my supplies into. Today, my fabulous husband hung the shelves for me (not easy- just behind that wall is our medicine cabinet in the bathroom!). Then I spent the early evening putting my supplies on the shelves.

My favorite things are the jars of fabric scraps- some plain, some already outfitted with fusible web. I had these scraps laying on the desk before, and I was forever having to pick them up off the floor. NOw they sit so nicely in their jar and inspire me!