This month's post is quite a long one, as it's been a pretty busy month on the making front, and I've continued with my quest to keep trying to use up fabrics in my stash. As mentioned in my last post, my main aim this month was to complete a woven rug in greens, creams and browns, to put in my sewing room, when I hang some new curtains in there.
I had previously made quite a lot of fabric yarn to use in this rug, but still needed another 15 metres or so of yarn to have enough to complete it, so at the beginning of the month I made the remaining yarn required. I hoped that 100 metres or so would be enough, as the rug, I estimated, would be about 1m in length and 90cm in width, which was the area provided by the clothing rack I was using to weave it on. This project was going to be a huge stash buster and as it was going to be woven, I could use up lots of fabrics that weren't particular favourites and which I couldn't imagine using for anything else.
My intention to weave the rug whilst OH and LB were away later in March, meant that I had a couple of weeks in between to fill with other sewing projects. As a consequence, I decided to make a new patchwork ironing board cover.
Just before Christmas, whilst making fabric (paper) chains, I accidentally ironed some fusible webbing onto my current ironing board cover, and whilst it didn't really prevent it from functioning as normal, I couldn't peel it off. I'd had a patchwork ironing board cover on one of my Pinterest boards for a few years, so I decided I would finally get around to making one.
My fabric choices comprised of quite a few fabrics that I have had for a long time and really like, but have kept saving them for some unknown future project. They are an interesting mix of prints, vintages and origins. I decided that it was silly to keep saving them, as I should be using them and seeing them in every day use, and this project was a good one to start using them for. The pallate is pale and mostly pastel, with a mixture of ditsy and other prints and plains, but I think the fabrics blended well.
I used a large hexie shape for the design, as hexies are my favourite shape to work with in EPP, but I've done lots of small hexie projects and wanted to try a larger design this time around. I was quite happy with how it turned out, and I didn't even really need to use much of each of my favourite fabrics for this project either.
I used the original cover to create an extra layer under the top layer, partly to make the cover a bit thicker, and partly because I didn't think I would use it for anything else and didn't want to throw it away. It worked well enough. I re-used the original string tie from the old cover too. Here's a picture of the finished cover on the ironing board:
In between doing this and starting work on my rug weaving, I also made a trivet or table mat with the seams I cut off jeans and another sewing scrap bag for the craft table from jean waistbands, belt loops and pockets. Both projects were hand sewn and used up lots of scrappage from the jeans, which was all good.
The remaining free sewing time I had left this month, I decided to continue work on one of my all-time favourite EPP quilt projects. I hadn't picked it up in probably a year or more, but I want to finish it this year. It's been a mammoth project, as it's king sized and made from 1 inch hexies. The main thing I need to do is to add navy hexies around the edges to even up them up, so that I can add wadding and backing to it and then bind it all together. It is going to take quite a lot of work still, as there are some big gaps to fill, but I'm slowly working on it in the evenings in front of the TV, so I'll get there eventually.
Here's a picture of where I'm currently at with it:
Once LB and OH went away on their travels, I got out the clothing rack that I was going to transform into a loom and cleaned and assembled it. I then started to tie the warp chords to the frame. This turned out to be a bit tricky, as it was difficult to get the warp threads and tension tight enough. I was using macrame yarn for this purpose, which was thick and strong, but even so, I struggled at first until I got into an efficient routine of tying all the tops first, cutting the chord to the correct length and then, whilst sitting on the floor, I moved along tying the bottom chords and trying to create as much tension as possible.
Another issue I faced when I got out the rack, was that it was actually taller than I'd measured previously, as I'd measured it when it was dissembled!! It could actually make a rug of approximately 125cm in length, as opposed to the 100cm I thought I was making. I was unsure if I had enough fabric yarn, although the width was slightly narrower at 75/80cm, as opposed to 90cm that I'd previously calculated. I figured I could always make it shorter or make more yarn and proceeded to go ahead as planned, with what I had made.
Once the warp chords were secured, all 46 of them, I could then proceed to start weaving. I'd created an order in which I wanted to use the different fabric yarns and tried to follow it, so that the weave wasn't too random. It took an afternoon to weave the rug. I had more than enough fabric yarn in the end and still have some left to use in another project potentially.
Here's a picture of the rug whilst it was on the loom. Once woven, my next job was to hand stitch the edges of the rug together, before tying off the strings and taking it off the frame. I then machine stitched the sides to secure them, before binding the edges.
Here's a picture of the finished rug and a more close up look at the weave:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, for a first attempt. It ended up being 115cm by 75cm. I will probably make another, possibly in blue, as I have some blue macrame cord for this purpose and lots of blue fabric to make yarn. I'm not sure when though. I need a break before embarking on another one of these. Hopefully the rug will be washable, as it is made of cotton fabric. It has been very satisfying to use up lots of my stash on this project. The only thing I did purchase was the macrame cord, which cost around £6 online, so it was a pretty frugal make.
That just about sums up my progress in terms of sewing and weaving projects this month. I'm happy with the progress I've made and several items did get completed, which is good.
After a busy month of making, now the weather is warming up, next month I am aiming to make some cushion covers for our outdoor furniture. We currently have cream coloured cushions from IKEA, which are very impractical for outdoor use and not easily washable, so I want to make covers for them that can be removed and washed.
I'm going to be making these covers using patchwork and making them with offcuts from denim jeans and other bits of denim I have. I'm hoping they'll look nice in the garden in the summer months and will be hard wearing. I'll keep you updated with my progress in next month's Monthly Makes post.
I'll also be continuing with the hexie quilt and hopefully making progress on that. I may also think up and start other projects in between, which if I do, I will post about in next month's Monthly Makes post.
I hope you've had a crafty month.
No comments:
Post a Comment