Monday 4 May 2009

Almost there...

finished rag bag

A suitable title for a Star Wars Day post, but it also refers to my progress on the DIY Weaving Club Rag Bag project. The buscrafting bit is done, and the basic bag is complete, but I still need to do a lining. Will I ever get around to that?

The weaving was a good craft for the bus. Bits of learning:


  • it's easier to get the shuttle through if there's not too much yarn wound on it, this is more important as the weaving reaches the top and there's  less play in the warp

  • near the top of the weaving, basically the bit that goes up over the comb, using the chip fork to lift individual warps and then shove the weft thread underneath was much easier than trying to put the chip fork through a shed

  • weave up to the top as much as possible- I left too much of a gap and ended up filling it after taking the loops off the comb (I suppose if I had used a really thick string or length of fabric, it would have worked alright without in-filling)

  • people are nervous of sticks waving around

  • string falls out of upturned carrier bags



Now that the weaving is complete, I'm going to try something different: drawing a comic book. I'm tired of thinking that I can't draw well enough to do the style of comic I'd like to. It discourages me from drawing at all. So, I'm going to take my sketch book on the bus, and just have a bash at it. The idea is that there's no way to draw neatly on a bus that's jostling its way through rush hour traffic, therefore the pressure to draw neatly disappears! I'll be lucky to have anything recognizable at the end of the journey, but anything I do will be better than just feeling bad about not being able to draw how I want to.

And I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the fabric crafting that I've built up. Joyce at the Embroiderers Guild was advising finishing one thing before starting another. Awfully good advice.



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