CRAFTDREAMERNZ

 Mending Jeans My husband's work jeans are getting a bit worn and he's not into the distressed jeans look.  I find mending jeans too difficult with my sewing machine because it doesn't like bulky seams.   The last time I mended jeans for him I tried needle felting over the worn areas but it wasn't very successful.  They looked okay until they were washed, the amount of washing the jeans required meant the felted wool shrank considerably more and ended up a tight bobble on his jeans. This time I decided to try mending in the Japanese style.  I was doing some research on boro and sashiko stitching a while ago and got side-tracked when I came across this artist on youtube .  I love his work. Anyway, I didn't quite follow the style of boro and it is not very neat as it was all done by eye but the mends have ended up looking alright and I think they will last longer and look better. Inside First pair result I started by attaching iron on interfacing on the...

  Tie Dye These past few days I have tried out different methods of random dying. Acid Dye Harem pants dyed and drying First was a pair of silk harem pants.   These are made from raw silk, which is heavier than most silk fabrics, and are dyed with acid dyes for protein fibres.  The method used was what I call drip and splash dyeing. Red, purple and blue were applied randomly then left to dry.  Once dry they were soaked in a weak solution of purple because the natural colour of the silk is an off white.   Cellulose Dying Tee Shirts (and cammi) drying Above are four cotton tee shirts tie dyed in different methods of tying. They were died with a mix of dyes for plant based fabrics that I have had for quite a few years. While I am generally pleased with the resulting patterns I am a little disappointed with the colour intensity (may be something to do with the age of the dye). Before dying the shirts were soaked in a washing soda solution (sodium carb...

 Throughout the year I will regularly dive into my pile of works in progress (WIPs) and either complete them or re-purpose them. I had toyed with the idea of listing them in advance but that would take up precious time I could use to complete or re-purpose them. Why so many?  If I have an idea I will try it out but part way through I will either find I don't have the materials, equipment, or time needed to complete, or I get side tracked by another idea, which is most usually what happens. Hopefully this, very public, forum will give me the motivation to stay on track.  It will be interesting to see at the end of 2021 how many of my WIP's are completed, how many I add to the pile and how many resolutions I keep! 1.  Crazy Fan Quilt Fan Quilt Started about 2007 20 blocks, 30cm squares.  All blocks were constructed and fans are machine sewn on edges but fans still need hand-stitching along their tops. and other embellishments are yet to be added before backing and...