Canaan Flowers Breakthrough

Weaving Cloth for Coats

From an admirer:

"I loved your woven jacket.  It seems so magical to have some yarn, weave it and then make a jacket.

Your creations are like a caterpiller that turns into a beautiful butterfly.  

I never could have imagined the yarn in anything but a sweater or scarf or something knitted or crocheted."

Long ago I wove this art piece.
I think I was telling myself I would like to weave cloth for coats ... or jackets. 

Olympic Weaving

The shuttle was my bobsled, the race was to the end of the warp!

During the Olympics, I set up a warp called Canaan Flowers from Marguerite Davison's weaving book. Because I am a novice to weaving, I chose this pattern as a stretch because it called for five treadles, something I had never done before. Following the charts as accurately as possible, it ended up that the raised part of the design emerged on the underside, like sliding blind.  Because my yarns were not high in contrast, keeping track of the pattern sequence was a bit of a challenge, like the skeleton sledders who have to have the curves memorized and in muscle memory, or the giant slalom skiers peering through the fog trying not to miss the giant slalom gates. My eyes blurred, struggling to make out the boundaries. I sometimes had to remove several rows to get back on track. By the time I arrived at the finish line of the warp, I'd figured out how to reorganize the treadlings to get the design on top. The sun shone! However this no longer mattered much, because the last length was mostly tabby.  Color and proportion became my new moguls.

"Flowers of Canaan" pattern just off the loom

close up - some "Rebecca's Tweed" yarn in the weft

BLOCKING: the white is a handspun by me BFL and Shropshire wool blend
the brown and green warp is a wonderful vintage cotton 

the shawl on the left was blocked, the one on the right was steamed

Jean Lilly

This is woven in the Jean Lilly pattern on the warp
and color variation stripes using only two yarns -
 buit it looks like more!

the dress to go with the jacket - or not!

Threads Magazine Memory

This Blast from the Past
was fun to find online

Threads 9

February / March 1987 TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES The Poetry of Sleeves by Rebecca Lanxner Nebesar A Flourishing Art: China by Gail Rossi A...at Old Patterns: available for $3

Some Winter Sewing

Oh Hi! 

Illustration from
The  Moon in the Morning: A Fairytale with a New Twist

Working on the bagged mitered corner

Singer High Speed Industrial
great for whipping out heavy velvet drapes

Child's Red Shaker Cape

I recently created this cape.  A similar short cape hangs in the children's retiring room in the Brick Dwelling at Hancock Shaker Village (photo below taken by a student lizzie at HSV on a field trip). I have been wanting to make a similar one and was keeping my eye out for a good piece of red wool.  This is a medium weight Italian twill I found from fashionfabrics.com. I washed it on the gentle setting with Woolite and warm water, then dried it on low heat until not quite dry. It fluffed up and gained a more handwoven look, but did not shrink at all. What a fabric! I made the pattern, sewed it up, and it is now for sale in the gift shop at Hancock Shaker Village.

photos by lizzie: note red cape 

   see her blog: http://wanderingwrites.com/tag/hancock-shaker-village/

close up

front view

back view

Shaker inspiration

My other Italian wool cloak for sale in the HSV Gift Shop

Canaan New York, Town Hall, Dorothy Cloak

Canaan Town Hall

as seen from the Park
March 2012

Modeling Shaker style
Dorothy Cloak
 on consignment
Gift Shop
Hancock Shaker Village

Authentic 60's Caftan

A neighbor some years ago was not well. I kept her company and
helped her out. We had an interest in sewing and needlecrafts in common.
To thank me, and also glad to find
someone who would value the work,
she gave me a few unfinished projects that she no longer could finish.
Now I have a little time and I am cleaning out
the cluttering piles in my workroom.
I found this authentic 60's Family Circle Magazine craft kit.
She had completed the embroidery and beading
but never cut out al the pieces or sewed it.

Now it is done!

Beads, Nuts and Knitting

Becky Beads
The Yellow one sold at Spencertown

This sold at Spencertown Academy

I have been fairly busy of late getting jewelry ready for the Handmade Holiday sale at the Spencertown Academy

Knitting

My gossamer shawl - I have written more details on my Ravelry page:

 Black Walnuts

 I spent from 1 pm to 7 pm with few breaks
(ha ha no pun intended).
First I pre-cracked the nuts
using the vise in the cellar workshop
then had to use
the wire cutters to pry the meats out.
Milos joined me at about 5:30
so that we could finish up and eat dinner.
We had 2 and a half gallons
of the nuts in hard shells to do,
and ended up with approx. 4 mason jars
of nut meats.
I roasted the meats for 15 minute at 265 degrees
 before packing (smelled wonderful!).
 Note bottom of photo the perfect half:
this happened only three times during the effort.
 Mostly the pieces broke up.

Grandmother of the Groom

Camp Onaway Historic Costumes

I have recently created four replica outfits for Camp Onaway. Below are the reference photographs from Camp Onaway archives followed by my creations. The effort is to help celebrate Camp Onaway's Centennial.

1914 Chapel Uniform

1914 Activity Uniform

1932 Uniform

1950's Chapel Uniforms