Reading Time: 3 minutesCarding waste – I nearly threw it on the compost heap. I’d been spinning some hand-dyed fleece and was left with the shorter fibres. The little matted blobs and generally unhelpful stuff that was making spinning frustrating. I didn’t quite know what to do with it, but kept it for a while and hovered over […]
Craft Skills
Warp-weighted Loom Weaving: Ancient Ways of Making Cloth
Reading Time: 6 minutesThe journey from flax crop in the field to finished linen cloth (even before washing and bleaching) has many steps. The transformation from a retted sheath of flax, from the field to flax fibres ready for warp-weighted loom weaving is remarkable. We start with scratchy and straw-like and end with floppy and silky. It takes […]
Warp-weighted Linen Weaving and Flax Processing
Reading Time: 4 minutesIn recent months I’ve been growing flax as part of a work-related project, and having successfully raised our first crop, I’m now having to learn how to process it to produce the flax fibre from which we can produce linen cloth (and linen rope). If you are interested in the project, see my update on […]
Five Thrifty Ways to Make Curtains
Reading Time: 3 minutesCurtains finish a room, as well as having obvious practical advantages for keeping drafts out and closing you off from the outside world. But, you need to be thrifty if you want plush curtains for a reasonable price. I’ve been thinking through ways of making mine on a budget. Following my large patchwork curtain experiment […]
A Foray into Hand Sewn Furnishings and Home Decor
Reading Time: 5 minutesLately I’ve been focused on hand sewn home furnishings and decor. At the moment, that means curtains, and even cross-stitch, embroidery and patchwork. It grew out of a need for curtains. The house renovation project that my partner, Andy, and I have been working away at for months now is, dare I say it, nearing […]
Colour Run Conundrum
Reading Time: 3 minutesI’ve had a near brush with disaster recently, finding myself in a colour run conundrum.. I’d decided to unravel a knitted sleeve that I was unhappy with, straighten out the yarn by dampening in water, then knit it back up again. When I dropped it in some water I noticed, horror or horrors……colour run! The […]
