11:00 am flight en route to Kunming via Shanghai on Tuesday.... We're almost ready......packed, home items completed, and high anxiety...as the trip draws near.. Most of the ethnic groups are noted in the blog. I plan to use those summaries as we visit their villages and then add more specifics about my impressions about each group. Let's see how that goes. Keep tuned for the next episode.
An amazing discovery has just taken place as I sit here early in the morn checking the weather in Kunming and Jinghong.....my ipad will function on the blog website....how and why it has changed I have no idea.....what is on? Will it continue to function is the question. My previous experience when on the blog site was to receive just jabber junk. Now I am able to see and input messages.....can anybody tell me what is going on?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
DUPIONI DREAMS
DUPIONI DREAMS
A Fun Scarf
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| Dupioni in Kaleidoscope View |
Today begins a new adventure. Playing with dupioni silk (a wonderful fiber made with winding strands of two silk cocoons creating an irregular texture)is on my agenda. I want to explore the process of making a decorative scarf from bias strips of raw edged dupioni.
What's going to result? What color combinations cometogether?
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| Many Choices |
How to start...wash new fabric in a cold water after zigzagging the selvedge edges to prevent raveling. Then experiment with colors, decide on pattern, find out how an unfinished bias edge will look.
Here are the fabrics I will use.  |
| Sewing Strips of Bias on Backing |
Now the work begins..
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| View of Strips Sewed in Center |
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| A Kalideoscopic Image |
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| Light Tunnel Style |
Pattern and some ideas came from Marci Tilton, Vogue 8703.
Fun trying out this project because all the pieces on bias are unfinished edges. I'm not used to tht look but want to experiment.
Cutting 42 strips 1 1/4 x 8 "of four colors of dupioni on the bias was the first challenge. Sewing them on the center line onto a 38 inch length followed. Making a buttonhole piece for voth layers, cutting 22 1/4"strips, folding them and sewing thenm on the end, sewing body and facing together completed the scarf.
It was lots of fun to create. I enjoyed mixing the colors, remembering the buttonhold technique, and playing with the dupioni. The texture is so soft to the touch and amazingly warm.
Finishing the project I realized that the scarf matches the necklace and tea hat made earlier. What a delight to put them all together.
A question I have is how will the unfinished bias strips wear over time. If you have any ideas, do let me know.....
Until later....nomadsally
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| Completed Scarf |
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| Note Buttonhole |
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| Bias Strip Fringe |
A PASSION FOR FABRIC
Shidong China Festival
Shidong China Festival
Guizhou Textile Artist
Fabric has fascinated me ever since I was able to hold scissors. I can still feel the excitement of that first moment when I cut soft flannel into pieces for baby clothes. My early interests in fabric were boosted by a strong 4-H sewing program in my hometown,Yakima, Washington, and a mother who supported my sewing energy.
My fascination for fiber took on international dimensions when I participated in a student exchange program in Guatemala, Peace Corps service in the Chilean Andes, and cultural study grants in Pakistan, Bolivia, and Guatemala. I was impressed by the native women artisans in these areas dyeing, weaving and embroidering complex and exotic designs. As a history teacher I used ethnic clothing to provide tactile connections in order to better visualize the regions of study.
Textile collage incorporating fragments of cloth from every possible source, particularly from ethnic fabrics, characterizes my wearable creations. The intricate and beautiful fiber work of peoples from all over our planet – embroidery of the Miao and Dong People of Southwest China and Tribal Areas of the Middle East, shibori of Japan, India and China, weaving of the Maya and Andean regions, and batik from many areas – inspires me to design my own clothing to honor the works of these passionate and talented artisans.
I would never have imagined that fiber art would be such a wonderful companion in my life. It encourages me to explore the varieties of thinking and living in our dynamic world. I love to view creations of other minds and hands, past and present. The energy and thought that combine forms, colors, materials, sounds, and movements to produce painting, apparel, structures or sonatas fascinates me.
People always ask me what I do with my wearable pieces. After showing them in exhibitions and shows, I share them with family, friends, and donate them to community programs and activities for fund raising.
I appreciate the sense of freedom that art embodies to allow me to tell a story with fiber and stitching. How glorious it is to be in my studio with piles of beautiful fabric everywhere, ideas of different cultures and techniques flying through my head and a passion to explore the many possibilities of cloth and create a unique structure with my own hands. It is a joy.
My love of fabric stimulates me to continue exploring new lands and techniques. My husband and I are currently getting ready to travel to southern regions of Yunnan Province, bordering Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. There I hope to visit villages of the Dai, Hani, Jinuo, Yi, Aini, Lisu, Zhuang and Miao peoples. Hopefully, my blog at nomadsally on blogspot will share our adventures.
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Fabric has fascinated me ever since I was able to hold scissors. I can still feel the excitement of that first moment when I cut soft flannel into pieces for baby clothes. My early interests in fabric were boosted by a strong 4-H sewing program in my hometown,Yakima, Washington, and a mother who supported my sewing energy.
My fascination for fiber took on international dimensions when I participated in a student exchange program in Guatemala, Peace Corps service in the Chilean Andes, and cultural study grants in Pakistan, Bolivia, and Guatemala. I was impressed by the native women artisans in these areas dyeing, weaving and embroidering complex and exotic designs. As a history teacher I used ethnic clothing to provide tactile connections in order to better visualize the regions of study.
Textile collage incorporating fragments of cloth from every possible source, particularly from ethnic fabrics, characterizes my wearable creations. The intricate and beautiful fiber work of peoples from all over our planet – embroidery of the Miao and Dong People of Southwest China and Tribal Areas of the Middle East, shibori of Japan, India and China, weaving of the Maya and Andean regions, and batik from many areas – inspires me to design my own clothing to honor the works of these passionate and talented artisans.
I would never have imagined that fiber art would be such a wonderful companion in my life. It encourages me to explore the varieties of thinking and living in our dynamic world. I love to view creations of other minds and hands, past and present. The energy and thought that combine forms, colors, materials, sounds, and movements to produce painting, apparel, structures or sonatas fascinates me.
People always ask me what I do with my wearable pieces. After showing them in exhibitions and shows, I share them with family, friends, and donate them to community programs and activities for fund raising.
I appreciate the sense of freedom that art embodies to allow me to tell a story with fiber and stitching. How glorious it is to be in my studio with piles of beautiful fabric everywhere, ideas of different cultures and techniques flying through my head and a passion to explore the many possibilities of cloth and create a unique structure with my own hands. It is a joy.
My love of fabric stimulates me to continue exploring new lands and techniques. My husband and I are currently getting ready to travel to southern regions of Yunnan Province, bordering Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. There I hope to visit villages of the Dai, Hani, Jinuo, Yi, Aini, Lisu, Zhuang and Miao peoples. Hopefully, my blog at nomadsally on blogspot will share our adventures.
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| Yi Jacket Sleeve |
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| Yi Jacket |
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| My Akha Hat |
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| Guatemalan Zigzag |
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| Plastique - From Plastic Bags |
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| Shibori III |
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| Winter Flowers |
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| Miao |
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| Gram Black's Stash |
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| Sally's Shibori |
PLASTIQUE -- A VEST
Plastique
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| Rajasthan Plastic Bags |
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| Chinese Caligraphy |
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| Treasures from Cairo |
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| Arabic and English on Egyptian Bag |
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| Design Element Bag from Ashland, Oregon |
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| Great Turban |
For many years I have been saving unique colorful plastic bags.
I love these bags because they are full of great memories of our journeys to our favorite places.
My Egyptian bags always remind me of our years living in Cairo. The Ashland, Oregon fabric shop bag is covered with brilliant colored dots and stripes. And the unique calligraphy on the Chinese bags fascinates me.
I just couldn’t put them in the recycle bin. They hold value for me. Thus, they are carefully packed, almost spilling out of my favorite handcrafted Mexican sewing studio basket. Some day I’ll find a use for them.
One day that some day did arrive! Yakima Allied Arts announced a special juried art show…Trash to Treasures. This was the call that my bags were waiting for. I don’t think of my bags as items of trash. But, due to the way we produce them and use them in most parts of the world, they become trash and ruin landscapes, resources, and lives. My goal for the project was to create another purpose for my humble bags and let their beauty shine. I knew it would be a wearable piece.
I went to my basket of treasured bags and found those with the most unique designs and colors. Sorting through and touching my delightful collection inspired visions of many potential creations: a jacket, hat, purse, large shopping bag, or a vest… What would I make?
Process, technique, materials.
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