Stitch Journal Entries for May

 The first week of May Kathryn introduced us to a new book called The Pocket, A Hidden History of Women's Lives by Barbara Burman and Arianne Fennetaux. Women's dresses didn't have pockets in previous centuries - and don't often have them even now. To remedy that they made pockets that could be tied on, most often under their skirts. There were slits in the skirts that allowed access to the pocket but were hidden in the folds of the fabric.  Kathryn's reading inspired her to prompt us to make pockets of our own. A few ladies have made full size versions but most of us made little ones to fit into our journals.

There was some concern that women could spread revolutionary pamphlets without detection by secreting them in their pockets.

The following week Kathryn took inspiration from the Japanese practice of kintsugi. Cracks in pottery are repaired with lacquer dusted with gold or silver or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

On week three Kathryn gave us the opportunity to take a ride on her magic carpet to whatever secluded place would best rest our souls. Food and other comforts would be provided magically but we could only take 8 items with which to stitch and they had to fit into a theoretical pouch no bigger than about 6" x 6."

This was particularly fun for me. I even had fabric scraps  (and thread) leftover at the end of my stay.

The next week was meant to be a boro inspired entry in our journals, another Japanese technique. I couldn't bring myself to do the challenge as presented. Mine turned out to be a way to preserve some precious scraps of feed sack fabrics.

This week I felt a bit more brave and created another piece, much more in line with Kathryn's goals for week 21 of the stitch journal project. The idea was to sew small scraps together to create a new piece of cloth. This technique is used to preserve jackets and other textiles to give them longer usefulness.

Both sides of the worked piece can be presentable. I don't consider this work finished; there's room for more stitching.

 

And finally, for the last week of May we were to make "comfort cloth" inspired by the blankies little children often carry around. Kathryn was able to use a piece of one of her father's handkerchiefs and a bit from a pair of his pajamas over a piece of wool suiting. I used flannel and a piece of one of the hankies leftover from the bag I made last month. I did a bit of needle weaving and then freestyle blanket stitches. Blanket stitches for a replica of a blanket, get it? 

There have been other slow stitch projects that I've just realized I haven't yet shared here. I must do something about that...

Scrap Happy in May

 I received a request for some new potholders recently. I wasn't sure what I would do for this Scrap Happy Day until I realized I could make those potholders out of scraps, nothing but scraps. 😁

They're not fancy but they should be functional. I began by using scrap 1.5" wide strips (which I routinely cut as I'm processing scrap fabrics) to work Courthouse Steps style around a 2.5" square.

The blue and yellow color scheme was suggested by the future recipients. I tend to take things pretty literally as you can see. 

I used batting scraps inside the potholders, two layers in each one. Even the backing for the four potholders came from a single remnant of fabric - an obvious remnant purchased somewhere along the way and never put to use until now. 

So that's my entry for Scrap Happy Day this month. Short and sweet!

Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. Any type of scrap qualifies. It's a great way to repurpose things that might otherwise be tossed into overflowing landfills or to keep mounting scraps under control. If you'd like to play along you can leave a comment on either Kate or Gun's blogs. 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

April Entries in My Stitch Journal

We began April in the weekly stitch journal project with Kathryn of k3n.clothtales using multiple layers of cloth to honor the moon. Kathryn cut a primitive wolf shape to use as a silhouette for the final layer on her moon. I couldn't resist using a large-ish charm I had on hand. 😉

The following week was the week of the solar eclipse. Even though k3n is in France and the eclipse occurred over the United States she suggested this representation of the event.

 I understand that some folks who were in the path of the eclipse but not in the zone of totality created a representation of their partial eclipse. This piece was also an opportunity to practice stacked running stitches and split stitch. 

Having done the stars (last month), the moon, and the sun Kathryn figured it was time to honor the planet on which we live. This prompt occurred just prior to Earth Day too, making it that much more appropriate.

The brown and green strips represent the roughly 30% of the globe that has land mass and the blue strips convey the 70% covered by oceans. I added a bit of crinkled seam binding for the foam of the waves on the beach and rick rack to help indicate the movement of the waves through the water. 

Kathryn threw us a plot twist for the last week of April. We were to pick a printed fabric that we could embellish or enhance with thread and stitches...

And then mount it in our journals with the back of the work showing instead of the front. 😁

One of her goals is to help us break free from the idea that the back of our work needs to be as neat as the front, thus causing extra stress and less enjoyment of the process.

Kathryn and others made journals in which to mount their work each week. I was reluctant to make something that might end up being too small before the end of the year so I purchased an 8" x 6" sketchbook similar to this one:

 

We're only a third of the way through the year and I had to remove the coil binding. I chose to replace it with 3" binder rings. 

I figure they should give me enough room for the rest of the year. I can do something prettier in the end if I feel the need. The rings make it a bit awkward to lay flat on a desk top at the moment but I can remove one page to stitch my piece onto if I want and then put it back in the book. I may very well end up using a box to store this in rather than trying to put it on a shelf like a regular book!