Mokume is a stitch resist type of shibori that creates a wood grain looking pattern. The technique can be worked quicker if you happen to own a smocking/pleater machine, but I find the spacing too perfect and the wood grain look isn’t as interesting. The perfectly imperfect hand stitched mokume […]

This week I wanted to show a stitch resist type of shibori. One of my favorites is ori-nui. The running stitches are worked parallel to a single fold of fabric. By varying the length of your stitches and working at different distances from the fold you can create a wide […]

This starts a series of shibori techniques with indigo. But first, I want to show you an indigo dyed cotton scarf/shawl using arashi shibori techniques. The process was shown in detail on the last blog post, but this one I used indigo dye. Ne-maki shibori is a tied and/or resist […]

I miss taking in-person classes. The interaction of learning with teachers and fellow students is hard to replace with zoom meetings. When classes were cancelled during Covid, I decided to skip the zoom learning opportunities and work thru my numerous Shibori reference books instead. My finished onion dyed silk scarf. […]

I’ve never made a hat using a hat block to shape it on. The time has come! I haven’t purchased anything for the previous 5 challenges and I wanted to keep “shopping in my stash”. So this was the Kentucky Derby Hat challenge. Supplies I used: wash away stabilizer odds […]

Two more weeks left in the recycle/repurpose journey! So far in the weekly challenges I have placed every week – 2 4th places and 2 2nd places. This week the challenge was Southwest. I was inspired by the colors of the SW United States. The soil, vegetation and terrain are […]

Last week in the Faux Fur challenge I finished in second place! Refashion Runway is a 6-week upcycle/restyle online event. I was chosen to participate in the weekly challenges. Each week there is online voting, judging and eliminations. This week’s challenge is small to large. I just love the color […]

Wow! It’s already the third week of this upcycling adventure. Both weeks 1and 2 I’ve finished in fourth place. It is a lot of fun and I love the challenge. This week was the faux fur challenge. I had made my mom this fur probably 20 years ago and she […]

The challenge this week was The 1970s. A unique feature of the indigo vat is the fabric turns green in the dye and turns blue when it is removed from the dye bath and oxidizes. Quite magical! I have grown to love handstitching. The perfectly imperfect topstitch is a detail […]

The first challenge . . . Statement Sleeves! I designed a cylindrical shrug. It’s a bog coat style without the body, just the sleeves. Every week that I am still in the competition I’ll show you the process from before to after.