A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

My first week with stitch shibori


Hello, my name is Eke Krug and today it's my turn to show the results of the first week Shibori with the straight lines.

 First I will introduce myself. 
 I am a Dutch woman, but live in Norway since more than five years.  It is very nice to live here, the silence, no stress and to be inspired by Norway's beautiful nature. Last month we moved to another house in another area, and now at last I have my own working room. I hope to spent a lot of time in that!

Since several years now, I work a lot with fabric, making jewelry with it and I started quilting and dyeing.
I am always busy making things and enjoy especially to experiment with new techniques and materials. 



When I read on this blog that the idea was to inspire people with new techniques every day of the month, during a year, I thought that was a great idea and hoped that I could join that, one way, or the other. 
So when Nienke Smit announced the shibori month, I wrote her and asked if I could be in, and here I am.

The first week of this October month, as you already know, we work with straight lines. My choice is a linen blend fabric to work with, 55% linen and 45% cotton. A fabric that I only know from dyeing. The only stich shibori I did before was on silk and didn't have very good results. I started to stitch with buttonhole thread, it seemed a good idea, because of the strength and the color was different from my fabric. For the dyeing I use Procion MX, in different assemblies.
For this series I used turquoise and onyx, in three different combinations, 70/30, 50/50 and 30/70%.


 The first lines, on paper.


The first stitches.


 Before dyeing.


 And after dyeing.








The colors are not so good as the real ones, but they give a good impression. 

There were to problems on my way. 
The first was, that the thread I used was too thick to get it nicely through the fabric. Because I used a linen blend it wasn't to bad, but the next time I will change the thread. 
The second problem was the knotting with this buttonhole thread. It was difficult and as you can see in the examples, not all the knots were good ones. 
But in the end I am happy with the reults and I look forward to the second week, with curved lines, starting tomorrow with Nienke Smit.

 my blog: ekeskleurdesign



9 comments:

  1. Great to see your results, this is a real journey into stitch shibori!

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  2. It's so interesting how just changing the fabric content or thread can make such a difference.

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  3. The one with the intersecting triangles made me think of a maze. This is something I would like to try, as soon as I do fifty other things!

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  4. Lucky you to live in Norway...I visited it in 1978 and loved it....

    Nice results with the shibori..I like the light blue one with the alternating lines that look like waves!!

    I have used the same nylon upholstery thread on every fabric I used...from the thick linen to fine silk. This thread flattens so it can go through quite a small-eyed needle. I used it double to make tying knots easier...

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  5. I did a workshop with Janice Gunner. She recommends a thread used for making teddy bears. I think sometimes used for upholstery, too. Bonded 40's, I think.
    Sandy in the UK
    Over here you can get it from Empress Mills

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  6. Very interesting. Love the colors you used. Your results are wonderful. I can do things like this, but I never know what to do with them next! LOL

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  7. What will you do with your samples now?
    eileengidman.blogspot.com I paint on fabric with dyes as well as watercolor painting.

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  8. I enjoyed your results especially as they were all created with the same colors in different concentrations.
    Sheila

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  9. Thanks for all your reactions. I consider other thread, thank you for the advice you gave.
    And I suppose it will be a quilt at the end. All the blocs are 25 x 25 cm, so that must be no problem. My sewing machine is, because it is not working longer. But we will manage that.

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