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Furoshiki/Wrapping Cloths
One 16"x16" wrapping cloth each week. Some are entirely hand-sewn, some entirely machine sewn. They have no batting as they need to be drapable, but they are lined. I have tried to use very light cottons and light rayons for the lining, but also tried to keep the front side of the cloth as light as possible too, so no fusibles, no interfacing.
I like projects that have me doing things on some kind of rapid deadline. But in 2009, I have an exhibit in May for which I have a lot of work to get done. I figured out the problem was that they were all big, complex pieces and at some point, when I pretty much understood where they were going, I would get less enthusiastic and want to start something new. So I'd start another big, complex piece. And then one day I found myself with 6 unfinished big, complex pieces.
My solution: finish the 6 big, complex pieces one at a time and ALSO allow myself to do a new, small piece of something else every week. I settled on furoshiki, which are a Japanese textile tradition: cloths used to wrap gifts/objects. So far, I have almost finished two of those big complex pieces, and I've made 6 furoshiki, each one 16 inches on a side. 2/16/09.
#1. 2-inch pinked circles, free cut, hand sewn to background cloth, slightly overlapping.
#2. Same method as #1, but using only a single color and arranging the circles in a circle rather than on the diagonal.
#3. Same method as #1 but using two colors and using 3-strand embroidery thread to sew them on.
#4. 3"x1.5" rectangles arranged on a mottled peach background. Hand-sewn to the background.
#5. 1.5" batik strips woven loosely over a rayon batik background. Silver metallic yarn machine couched on each edge of the strips.
#6. 1/2" strips eve more loosely woven over a beige cotton with black dots. The strips are machine sewn to the background and then covered with a nylon chiffon scarf that is brown with a blue wave pattern printed on it. Then I sewed small metallic gold zig-zag lines down the center of all the strips, on top of the chiffon.
#7. Cotton cross-stitch (reds,yellows, oranges) on cotton checked background.
#8. Striped handkerchief linen, with mending patches at odd angles. finished edges, front and back.
#10. Sheer layering: one layer of tulle, a scattering of silk pieces of various colors and shapes, silver threads, and a final layer of nylon chiffon, with a machine lace frame.
#11. Pieced pinwheels out of scrap cloth; more in the style of the Korean Pajoggi.
#12. Fish stamped on linen, foiled, and 'netted' together with twine. As seen in a book on Japanese package design (How to Wrap Five Eggs).
#13, 4-patch, inthe Korean pajoggi style.
#14. Vintage doily with tiny mend, plus hand-embroidered motifs in the background matching those on the doily.
#15. Stamped, foiled fish with couched yarn seaweed and appliqued sheers.
#16. Hand-dyed cotton backgrounds with cotton yo-yo flowers floating, attached with fancy metal buttons in the centers of each.
#17. Various beige buttons with embroidered roads between them on a sun-print background.
#18. Bound-buttonholes with four pressed plastic vintage buttons in the blue buttonholes.
#19. Haiku-inspired with a 5-7-5 design. Hand-dyed triangles on a linen background with machine stitching.
#20. Pin-tucks in two directions on organdy over a plaid background.
#21. Haiku #2. Three eggs in a 5-7-5 array.
#22. 12 hand-made buttonholes (perle cotton) with 5 strangely green vintage plastic buttons. (commercial batik background)
#23. Haiku #3. Three rectangles cut in 5,7, and 5 parts, arranged.
#24. Haiku #4. Hard to arrange semi-circles circularly in a 5-7-5 array, but this manages it.
#25. Background is bleach-discharge with a lace resist; center is handmade lace with beads; borders are hand-dyed cotton.
26. Haiku #5. Hand-dyed background, with 5-7-5 satin-striped rectangles (jacket lining) arrayed in the appropriate manner.
27. Haiku #6. Hand-dyed background, three silver nylon ribbons strips, purple and blue violet circles with, respectively gold and silver foil centers, in a 5-7-5 arrangments.
28. Hand-dyed linen napkin in background; flower petals cut from rust-dyed cotton; overlaid with orange nylon chiffon.
29. Haiku #7. 5-11-5 red bars arranged on the diagonal against stripes.
30. Shibori-dyed cotton; four flowers with quilted and beaded centers.
31. Ikebana #1: yo-yo's as flowers with artificial leaves plus an odd flower of sheers.
32. Ikebana #2: origami flowers with beaded centers.
Everything got finished by Dec. 22, 2009.
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