Weavin' the dream folks, just weavin' the dream. @ 1:45 AM
I'm going to weave a dress.
Well, if everything goes according to plan and it doesn't turn out to be a dismal failure, then sure: I'll weave a dress. Otherwise I'll be mass-producing some very unattractive coin purses for the upcoming holiday season.
I decided a few weeks ago to go with this pattern. It's Retro Butterick B5605. I can't sew. I should mention that right now: I make fabric and cannot sew. I don't know how to really turn on a sewing machine, threading the needle is unnecessarily difficult, and once I manage all of that I have an incredibly hard time sewing in a straight line. I'm in the process of a muslin mock-up of the dress and I've put my chips on sewing having a steep learning curve.
I've been watching a lot of How-To-Sew videos on Youtube make it look a lot easier than it really is. Along those lines, this new found fascination with sewing has left me incredibly impressed with craft bloggers: how do these people quilt? Sew their perfectly coiffed little children charming clothes? Craft bloggers live in some idealized alternate reality where no one has to say "oh no my bobbin smells like burning".
Anyway, I am sure I'll be fine. The dress pattern is just precious and I'm sure that if all else fails I can find a nice old lady to help me.
I'm still in the planning stages as far as colors and junk go: I did order a few Procion Dyes from PRO Chem and will be playing around with Shibori as soon as they arrive and I finish weaving up a sample warp (cotton, 9" wide/28 EPI). I'm sort of playing it by ear for now since the school's studio doesn't have tencel or bamboo at the weights I'm interested in, so I'm just making the most of the cotton while I click aimlessly around WEBS for hours on end. #productive
ok as far as dyes go i only bought three colors because thats all my thirty dollar art student fee could afford me. ... but I'm going to get a few more if these aren't to my liking. Conveniently enough, both PRO Chem & WEBS are in Massachusetts so I don't really need to worry about shipping time. The dyes I chose seem a bit ugly but I figure the different dilutions/mixes will yield something worth looking at. Maybe.
Since its Shibori, too, I'll likely dye the whole fabric a pale teal and then do a more concentrated wash over it afterward.
blah blah blah, I invited boyfriend to watch me weave my sample cloth at school today. I wish I knew why my hand was on that side of the beater when this was taken, haha.
Hello there! I'm Kelsey Keefe. I am twenty-two years old and think the internet is fan-freaking-tastic. I went to school for Art (Art History & Fibers/Weaving), but if there were a degree in "looking at and critiquing cat pictures" I'd be all over that. Doctor Professor Kelsey Keefe, head of Internet Studies. That'd be me. But alas, we live in reality where I read about two hundred different blogs and have a deeply rooted affection for Mormon Mom Blogs. Oh, and I weave. I have a cat, he has his own facebook.
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Hello there! I'm Kelsey Keefe. I am twenty-two years old and think the internet is fan-freaking-tastic. I went to school for Art (Art History & Fibers/Weaving), but if there were a degree in "looking at and critiquing cat pictures" I'd be all over that. Doctor Professor Kelsey Keefe, head of Internet Studies. That'd be me. But alas, we live in reality where I read about two hundred different blogs and have a deeply rooted affection for Mormon Mom Blogs. Oh, and I weave. I have a cat, he has his own facebook.
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