In yesterday’s post, I described 3 different traditional crafts that share one common thread, the running stitch : Kantha, Boro and Sashiko. Kantha and Boro are traditional patchwork from Ind…
Click on any quilt in the gallery, and you will be re-directed to a larger image. From here you can scroll through all the quilts in the gallery, or click on the small X in the upper left corner to…
I find the summer holidays a challenge when it comes to sewing time. I am sure I am not alone. But I do find that I can grab the odd half hour here and there of hand sewing time. Sashiko and Boro…
During my trip to QuiltCon Savannah earlier this year I attended a fascinating lecture by the wonderful Shruti Dandekar on Indian quilting, specifically Siddi and Godhadi quilts. I was especially taken by the quilts made by members of the Siddi community of Southern India. The Siddi people are descendants of African slaves brought to Goa …
Traditional Kantha Stitching holds lots of layers of fabric together to make one larger piece of useable cloth. Wise Craft Handmade
Kawandi Style Quilt Project
All my stitch work is designed in an improvisational manner, working on linen fabric with 6 stranded embroidery floss.
Sometimes when I sit down with my craft making, I think tiny mundane thoughts - small moments of life. Sometimes I think giant and big things. Sometimes I work through the idea of how I can even think what I'm doing has any relevance or importance in life - in the actual realness of the world.&n
Kawandi style quilt project. Great scrap busting project.
Traditional Kantha Stitching holds lots of layers of fabric together to make one larger piece of useable cloth. Wise Craft Handmade
Sashiko Folk Embroidery: A Japanese Art Sashiko is a form of Japanese folk embroidery using the basic running stitch to create a patterned background. The geometric patterns include straight or cur…
Floral sashiko boro purse wallet upcycled kantha pouch. Sustainable slow fashion textile art gifts. Handmade clutch purse and they can be customisable. Say it with flowers this valentines day - the difference is she'll have 'Monday' for years. Bring them home now and love them for years. Cotton inner and outer. Boho Handmade from vintage sari cotton kantha and various buttons, cloth pieces and lace. Hand stitching, messy imperfectly perfect hand stitching and machine stitching. Each one is unique and different. Measuring 21 cm ( 8.5") x 10.5cm (4.3") closed. Named "Monday" it holds three pockets, with a cord closure. And fits your phone, money, glasses and cards. Lightweight and stylish they can be used as your everyday purse, or used to carry items like tissues, facemasks, pens or sewing threads and needle. Yummy Linen® Listing is for the wallet only. The video was taken before all the hand stithing had been finished.
Kawandi Table Runner - a fun and easy way to use up fabric scraps, creating a beautiful, hand quilted project.
Earlier in the week, I started a new kawandi quilt project. I got the back all pressed up, inserted a layer of thin cotton batting and then trimmed, pressed and pinned down the pieces around my edge. I stitched maybe one row around ... and then didn't get any further. Life, generally, just got in the way of any sewing. This morning, up too early for a Sunday as I had to drop my daughter at work by 7am, I sat in my sewing room when I got back and thought I'd add a couple of rows to my kawandi... and then kept at it for a couple more hours. I turned on my audio book and enjoyed the process. I did eventually have to stop and get some jobs done around the house (blurgh) but looked into the room and saw the sun shining on my sewing table, so thought I'd sew a little bit more. I tried to film a little bit of the stitching and upload a short reel to TikTok. Anyone else on TikTok? I much prefer Instagram, but I thought I'd give it a go and try to be more active on the platform. Here's the link to the video if anyone wants to have a look. @sameliasmum Hand quilting on a sunny Sunday afternoon #quilt #quilting #kawandi #aurifilthread #sewingtiktok #quiltingtiktok #handmade #sameliasmum #bigstitchquilting #slowsewing #sewing ♬ Little Things - Tiqta In other exciting news, I've been selected as an Aurifil Artisan for 2023/2024. This will be my second year collaborating with Aurifil. I'm looking forward to seeing the upcoming list of challenges and working on the themes, in my own way. Fun!
Traditional Kantha Stitching holds lots of layers of fabric together to make one larger piece of useable cloth. Wise Craft Handmade
I have been working with intensity on my piece for Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder. I've named the one panel I'm focusing on Beginning With Time. (continued from here) The size has increased and I am glad that I can no longer touch the edges. I used borders to achieve the increase in scale but now have some design challenges and not much time left before I have to ship the panel to Newfoundland. I am loving the process. Ordered seed stitch. Accumulation. I hope that what my work communicates is the quiet joy of making and at the same time the feeling that we are each just a tiny speck. go slow....stop thinking.....look around Van Gogh
All my stitch work is designed in an improvisational manner, working on linen fabric with 6 stranded embroidery floss.
Sashiko Folk Embroidery: A Japanese Art Sashiko is a form of Japanese folk embroidery using the basic running stitch to create a patterned background. The geometric patterns include straight or cur…
Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It has been a spectacular fall here in Southern Ontario with a display of colour like I can't e...
What will you do with all those beautiful pieces of stitching 'process over outcome' ? Here's 10 ideas on how to turn your mindful making stitched work into a practical and useful project that makes you feel happy using it. From drawstring pouches to improv quilts these are simple ways to make somet
Creative Play Challenge No. 2 – Nature/Organic; Kawandi Style Quilt
Do you remember this little piece that I made a few years ago? I decided to try to make another one, a bit larger. For both of them I made a quilt sandwich and then quilted a grid on it. Some of th…
My little green kawandi style project is complete. With Aussie television shows restarting this week after the Christmas holiday break, I've had lots to sit and stitch along with. It was made with scraps out of my green fabric scrap basket and two different green Aurifil 12 wt cotton threads (2845 and 1147). I seem to have at least a dozen different shades of pink in my Aurifil 12wt stash, but only these two greens. After sharing my pink kawandi last week, I've had a number of people ask me about my process in making these little quilt projects. I'm certainly not an expert and I'm really not making my quilts as the siddhi people would traditionally make them. This is just my take on the process after watching what I could find on YouTube and lots of pictures on Pinterest and Instagram. I've taken a few pictures along the way while making this green quilt, which will hopefully help someone wanting to have a go at making their own. I started out by pulling out my green scrap tub. I had a bigger piece which I would use for the backing so after pressing it and trimming it so that it was rectangle-ish, I pressed the raw edges giving myself a nice wide seam allowance. I have some very fine polyester wadding/fleece which I cut to size and tucked into the seam allowance. Again, not the traditional way of making a Kawandi, but I like the extra loft (even if only slight). Next up, I chose my first fabric to add to the top. Folded a seam along the raw edge on two sides, placed it on the corner of my rectangle so that the backing and top seams were aligned, pinned and then began stitching from that corner. I marked out my stitching lines at 1/4" (again, not the traditional way) but I like to have a nice straight line to start with. The process is then quite simple, just folding and adding more pieces when arriving at a raw edge. The idea is to have all of the raw edges tucked under while adding more fabrics. When I've stitched all the way around, I continue back around (kind of like a spiral), adding more fabrics when needed or when the mood struck me. I hope this made sense and that anyone who was hesitant to start stitching up their own project, will jump right in and sew, sew, sew. The stitches don't have to be perfect or uniform to achieve great texture. I'm thinking with February being the month of "love", I'm going to dig into my red scrap tub next and see where it takes me :)
Top 10 tips for slow stitching quilts.I love slow stitching it's very relaxing. I try to include a little in everything I do
Remember that pile of rusty fabric from my last blog post????? Well, I have been using them along with some embossed metal to create collages. This first one is still a work in progress. It was my first attempt and I thought it would be a clever idea to assemble the collage on some self adhesive felt so that when I come to frame the piece, I could simply rip the backing paper away and stick it down. I have since discovered that this was not one of my best ideas as it really is quite tricky to stitch through all those layers of fabric, metal, felt, adhesive and backing paper. I will come back to it in a day or so and finish the stitching, I just need to give my sore fingers a rest for a day or so!!!! I think this one is my favourite so far, using my Poppy Heads stencil PS004 as the design for the focal point of this piece. The third and final sample is much larger than the two previous ones and involved a lot more hand stitching which I thoroughly enjoyed. I find it really quite relaxing, my only problem is knowing when to stop...I could quite easily embellished the whole piece with stitching!!! I have thoroughly enjoyed working on something totally different......in fact, watch this space....I may well be teaching projects like these next year.
slow stitching embroidery.
Closeup view of one of Carol’s favorite antique Japanese indigo boro!
Slow Stitching is sort of my favourite thing at the moment. And I thought you’d like to know why it’s so important for living a simpler more intentional life. Some mindful moments in your slow crafting journey are always worth thinking about. I have an online tutorial video course that will show you
