A Little of This, A Little of That

When Beth asked if I would commit to a month of posts this year, I hesitated – what can I say that hasn’t already been covered wonderfully by so many in past months?  She thought if I did a little recap of what I have done over the years, it might make for interesting reading. 

First off, I do think of myself as a “fiber artist” – a term that means different things to different people. Wikipedia defines fiber art this way:

"Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility."

Well… I typically try for a happy balance between functional as well as decorative.  I strive to make items that are unique, but definitely useful, such as clothing and household items.  I will be talking about these during the month.

I am also someone who likes to re-use and re-purpose, as well as conserve.  If you sew, especially you quilters, you probably look at fabric scraps the way I do: “I’m sure I can find something to use this for”, and thus the fabric stash grows and grows!  I will be talking about some ways I have found to use those scraps, even going so far as to demonstrate one way I have used up my spare thread stash… the threads that are snipped from sewing projects, spool ends, etc.

I should note here that I primarily make my items for sale – I am a member of our local Artists’ Coalition, and have been part of our Artists’ Co-op gallery for over a year, so my first thought when working on something is : will this sell?  And I have developed a group of items that have become good sellers.  But if you make things for yourselves, or to give as gifts, I’m sure you can adapt some of the techniques I will be discussing here for your own projects.

So just to give you a recap of what I hope to cover this month:  a brief glimpse at a dyeing technique I learned last year, with a link to a great on-line class where I learned the technique; another fun dyeing technique I have enjoyed using for dyeing silk scarves; several ways to put a dent in our ever growing fabric and thread stashes; a couple of great links to on-line tutorials, and reviews on a couple of great books I have used for one of the techniques. And to finish out the month, some examples of a new technique I am finally learning to use to dye chiffon scarves, but it can be used on other silks, as well as cottons.

So stay tuned… I hope you enjoy this month’s posts, and would love to hear your comments or questions as we go thru these subjects!