I've been shifting around sewing machines this week. So....you think. What's the big deal. You pick it up you put it somewhere else. No. I'm talking about industrial machines. They weigh a ton. They have a large solid table with a large heavy motor that is attached under the table. The head of the machine (the bit that actually sews) can be lifted out of the table. I can barely lift them, they're so heavy. I have five of them that I use for my business, well four really, cause one I had set up for machine quilting in my studio. They have sooo much more room under the arm of the machine than a domestic machine. These have about 12". I needed to swap this one for a different one that had been geared down and was a bit more controllable at slower speeds. So I had to wait until someone came to visit that could help me lift them. Where's a man with muscles when you need one?
Showing posts with label Overdyeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Overdyeing. Show all posts
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Show and Tell
This is a bit of show and tell from many years ago. I thought I might drag out some of the old photos of quilts I have made over the years and scan them. This quilt used and lot of my hand-dyeds, some that I had overprinted with leaves from the garden, and some drapery fabrics. The dark areas don't show up very well in this photo. I really should re photograph many of my quilts with the digital camera.
I've been shifting around sewing machines this week. So....you think. What's the big deal. You pick it up you put it somewhere else. No. I'm talking about industrial machines. They weigh a ton. They have a large solid table with a large heavy motor that is attached under the table. The head of the machine (the bit that actually sews) can be lifted out of the table. I can barely lift them, they're so heavy. I have five of them that I use for my business, well four really, cause one I had set up for machine quilting in my studio. They have sooo much more room under the arm of the machine than a domestic machine. These have about 12". I needed to swap this one for a different one that had been geared down and was a bit more controllable at slower speeds. So I had to wait until someone came to visit that could help me lift them. Where's a man with muscles when you need one?
I've been shifting around sewing machines this week. So....you think. What's the big deal. You pick it up you put it somewhere else. No. I'm talking about industrial machines. They weigh a ton. They have a large solid table with a large heavy motor that is attached under the table. The head of the machine (the bit that actually sews) can be lifted out of the table. I can barely lift them, they're so heavy. I have five of them that I use for my business, well four really, cause one I had set up for machine quilting in my studio. They have sooo much more room under the arm of the machine than a domestic machine. These have about 12". I needed to swap this one for a different one that had been geared down and was a bit more controllable at slower speeds. So I had to wait until someone came to visit that could help me lift them. Where's a man with muscles when you need one?
Friday, January 30, 2009
Hot Hot Fabric
Here's a few of the pieces that I tray-dyed yesterday in all that hot hot weather. Quick and easy to do and always a surprise how it turns out. Definitely too hot for ironing it so that will have to wait.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Feelin' Hot Hot Hot
It got to 44 deg C today (thats 111 deg F) . Much the same yesterday and expected to be the same tomorrow. So what do you do when your hot hot hot? Well I've been itching to do some direct dyeing for a while but that would need space to spread out fabric and that would mean working in the shed. Definately not a job to do in this heat so I contented myself with some tray dyeing. I have quite a bit of print fabric that I want to overdye. You don't see the print on the reverse side of the fabric and when it's been dyed it doesn't look any different to plain fabric. Turns something I wouldn't use into some thing useable and doesn't cost anything.
Tomorrow I'll show you how it turns out.
Tomorrow I'll show you how it turns out.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
dyeing the rejects
Even after so many years of hand dyeing fabric I still sometimes end up with pieces that don't quite look as good as I would have liked. They might be a bit pale and wishy washy or a blah colour or for what ever reason end up in the pile I mentally label 'don't think I'd use that in a million years'. I've been looking at this pile of rejects recently and thinking 'overdye'. Why waste perfectly good fabric if I can turn it into something I could see myself more likely to use. So every now and then when I get the urge I toss a bunch of them into small buckets and play. This urge came upon me at about midnight last night. 
I've just washed them out and hung them on the line but it looks as if we're about to get a storm here very soon so I might have to dash out and grab them.
I've just washed them out and hung them on the line but it looks as if we're about to get a storm here very soon so I might have to dash out and grab them.
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