Snippet Dyeing with Procion - Anne Covell and Thelma Todd March meeting 2022

 Members arrived with bags full of natural materials, threads and odds and ends ready for dyeing. They were greeted by the jewel-like colours of bottles of procion dyes already  mixed and ready to use.

For ease of use smaller amounts of dye had been decanted into yogurt pots.

We were also provided with made up bottles of saline and soda water to enhance the dyes and help them penetrate the fabrics.

It was recommended that we did not use more than three colours at a time so that we did not end up with "mud".

We made little batches of fabrics and then added small amounts of our chosen colours with a dash of salt and soda water.

Immediately the dye began to penetrate the fabric and the colours began to mix with extraordinary results.

There were lots of oohs! and aahs! as a whole variety of colours began to emerge from the dyed pieces.

If you look closely you can see a whole variety of fabrics including cotton, silk, viscose,  bamboo, linen and paper. Amongst the bits and pieces you can see threads, buttons, silk rods  etc.

Once the dye had been wiped from the pot the dyed pieces were transferred to plastic bags so the dye could set for 24 hours. Members took home lots of little bags of dyed snippets to wash the next day.

The fabrics were then rinsed, washed, rinsed again and left to dry.

When dry they can be ironed and soon we are going to use them at another meeting.

It is fascinating how all the different fibres have a different take up of the dye as you can see in the picture below.

A big thank you goes to Anne and Thelma for leading this fun and useful workshop, and preparing everything for us in advance.

Everyone enjoyed the dyeing and we are all looking forward to using the snippets.

Book Wrap

 Joan has just finished her felt book wrap with a beautiful kingfisher on the front. Great care has been taken over the kingfisher to make it realistic.

It is to be a present and anyone would be pleased to receive it.

Thanks Joan.

Sample Pieces

Pictured below are two sample weaving pieces made by Sandra.

The piece on the left is woven with hand spun and dyed linen and the piece on the right is mixing colours.

Thank you Sandra

 Fran has just completed a layered and appliqued sample piece made at a workshop led by Vinny Stapley. The colours are very pretty and I love the  appliqued naturalistic shapes.

Thanks Fran for sharing your piece with us.

Requirements List for Procion Dyeing of Fabric and Threads. March Meeting

 Procion  dyed postcards

I am posting a photograph of three of Thelma's postcards made with procion dyed snippets and threads. If you look carefully you can see the different weaves of fabric used and you might like to look for embellishments that might be suitable.

Thanks Thelma

Spring Flowers - March Meeting -  Raffle

Felted Book Covers

As Saturday turned very wet in  the  afternoon, Shelagh used  the time to complete her  felt book cover. She embellished  the flowers with simple embroidery stitches and French knots to make them a feature. She has produced a beautiful book cover. 

Shelagh hopes to do more felting and thanks Sue and Paula for their help.

Thanks Shelagh

Bev has finished the first of her two book covers and she is "pretty pleased" with it.

  The pretty pastel colours are given a beautiful sheen by the inclusion of silk fibres and are then decorated with buttons and stitching.

It is a very pretty book cover. Thank you Bev and it shows that felt need not be chunky and heavy.

Sandra has just finished her  felted book cover which was inspired by the geometric Troika pottery of the 1970's.

Sandra said she really enjoyed making the felt book cover as it had been a long  time since she last made felt.

Felt Book Cover - Sue Tyldesley February 1st 2022

 Sue arrived with huge bags of multi-coloured wool tops  which we were able to use to make our felt.

To be able to make even more colours by mixing the tops both Sue and Paula had brought their carding machines for us to use. Sue gave us a demonstration on how to use them.

Sue demonstrated making pre-felts that we could apply to our main felt to make a picture or pattern.

Felt tops were teased out and laid one way on bubble wrap and then a second layer was applied going the other way. Warm water with a little soap was added and then friction was applied by rubbing and then rolling.

The main felt was made the same way.

Members who were using pre- felts cut out their patterns before starting the rolling on the main piece and made sure they were worked well into the fibres by rubbing with their fingers,

Some members made their flowers by applying felt tops on top of the base felt.

The rolling was harder than a gym workout but with some breaks in between the wool fibres started to felt together  producing the most amazing patterns, colours and mixes.

Everyone had a most enjoyable day and went home with their felts ready to rinse and dry and then make a book cover.

A big thank you to Sue for a most enjoyable and inspiring day and I know that some members who had never made felt before are now hooked!

Kendal Wall Hanging

 The colourful  wall hanging made by the Kendal group of the E,G, is now brightening a wall at Lower Holker Village hall. It makes a cheery welcome to the billiard room.