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V1510 progress, dyeing with purple basil, and other stuff

Updates!

1. I'm making slow progress on view A of V1510. Slow because Harley the cat is still sick (his cancer is progressing, unfortunately), and this keeps happening:

Me: Hey Harley, want to go work on the dress?
Harley: I have a better idea. How about I curl up on your chest and go to sleep?

This...
...or this?
I like the dress so far, though. (I'm doing the tunic version, but it's long enough to be a dress on me.) And how did I not know that Sandra Betzina's instructions are fantastic?

2. I'm totally drooling over Dries van Noten spring 2017, especially this coat:


I need this! Where can I find a giant floral print?

3. I dyed some fabric with purple basil. Did some cotton (including an overdye on a tansy/iron mix I wasn't crazy about), and then threw some wool and silk into the exhaust dyebath. I simmered each batch for several hours, then let it sit for 1 or 2 days.

Result: two totally different colors. Plants, you are so weird.

Purple basil, you smell SO GOOD

Soaking cotton
Final results

Left: Cotton, definitely purple. The bottom is the overdyed Alabama Chanin fabric. I might redye the cotton on the top to try and get a deeper color.
Right: Wool and silk in bright yellow bordering on chartreuse. WHAT.

4. We went to the Big E last weekend — New England's epic multi-state fair. It's so big that it takes two full days to see everything. My favorite building (well, aside from Vermont) is the New England Center, which has the the competition quilts, fiber projects and crafts. Some of my favorites this year:

RIP, Cecil
The Death Star quilt was really amazing up close.
A knitted electric guitar!
Hi, Amelia.
I had a fun conversation there with a woman who was hand-quilting some pieces from her brother-in-law's mother's (?) stash -- mostly pieces from the '40s and '50s. (I didn't get a picture; wish I would have asked.)

We were chatting about hand-sewing, and she said, "You know, those embroidery machines do a fabulous job, but why should the machine have all the fun?" My thoughts exactly.

Also, we saw someone making silk from cocoons — ! She had a little crockpot set up, and walked us through the process from beginning to end. She also had a shawl that she'd spun, dyed, and knitted herself. I really should have taken photos.

On Sunday, we went to one of my favorite fabric stores, Osgood Textile in West Springfield. I love Osgood -- it's enormous and I always find something interesting there.



When it's home dec, but you absolutely, positively must make a dress out of it.
That's about it for now. Time to go check on the cat!

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Comments

  1. ClaudiaOctober 3, 2016 at 8:19 AM

    Sorry to hear about Harley. I'm sure your lap has healing properties.
    As for the floral print fabric for your Dries piece, have you considered designing your own fabric for it? There are a number of options out there, Spoonflower is the one that comes to mind. Just a thought.
    I love hand-quilting. My partner and I got to go to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, and the pieces we loved the most were hand-quilted.

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    Replies
    1. TracyOctober 20, 2016 at 12:41 PM

      Thank you! Spoonflower is a great idea. If that fabric existed on a bolt somewhere right now, I'd totally buy it.

      I'll have to put the National Quilt Museum on my list. Love hand-quilting!

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