Embroidery on a t-shirt

I don't have an embroidery blog per se. So I guess I'll put my new t-shirt project here. I'm about half way done I think. That is unless I decide to do the back too, which will take more time. I think I may have a little surprise there on the back just so people will go, "Oooh look there is something on the back too".

Making New Fabric From Tiny Bits

I've been wanting to try to make some fabrics from bits and bobs of scraps and lace and ribbons all fused together. So at the fabric store I described water soluble fabric and they had some behind the counter. So here are some photos of my first experimental piece of fabric. You sandwich the bits between two pieces of the clear disolvable fabric, pin carefully, then zigzag stitch it all around trying to secure it all. Then you wash away the plastic stuff. Here are some photos. It was still wet when I took them.

Small Weaving

I've been trying to figure out some weaving on a square loom I got that was originally sold to make potholders with stretchy fabric loops. After I did this part I added some tassels and hung it on a dowel. I'm not quite finished with it. I want to add some seashells or driftwood or something to it next.

Male Navajo Weavers

Male Navajo Weavers: http://www.miaclab.org/exhibits/maleweavers/weavers.html Poor research has stated that only women in the Navajo culture were weavers, but this site features some of the male weavers and states there have always been male weavers.

Farmyard Embroidery Sampler

Lately I've been obsessed with cross-stitch embroidery. I think I have ten projects going at once. I think it's because I'm inherently sloppy and cross-stitch is so precise and organized. It goes in the total opposite direction of my personality. It's challenging, it's frustrating, it's tedius, and it's way so satisfying when something comes out right. My favorite piece right now is a sampler with farm animals, letters, and flowers. I just added a deep red heart to it. I like that I don't have a predetermined outcome. I'm not sure what I will put where next. That keeps the project exciting for me. Like a murder mystery! What will I do next, and where will I do it? What color will I use? I'm using various reference materials, but I'm very proud of the pink piggy because I made that up as I went along right out of my head. I love working on tan aida cloth. The light colors look so good against it. I always thought mid-range backgrounds were the best, because then you can add shadows and highlights. I'm using 2 strangs of DMC embroidery floss on each 'x'. I got some new colors at the store on Wed. so now I can finish some of the animals I already started.

Weaving on a Board Loom

As I scour the web trying to figure out why my weaving isn't going so well, I came across this cool weaving blog and when I have time I'm going to go back and read more of it.

I'm using my new loom from the Threadbanger tutorial only the sides are pulling in something awful and I'm trying to find the cure for that. Anyone have a hint? I'm weaving too tight, but when I try to do it looser it doesn't look right either. I'm using yarn instead of fabric so maybe that is the problem. Or maybe my longwise yarn is too loose.

I am enjoying it even with the mistakes though so I will keep at it.

I like primitive crafts and rustic weaving. I know those of you will computer generated weaving gizmos are probably scoffing at me, but this loom will fit in well with my paleoplanet.net group who like to do things in a primitive way. It's crude, but that's part of the charm.