Shibori and fabric dyeing with madder

I am so fascinated by the Shibori technique that I wanted to try some more patterns.
I dyed the fabric pieces in madder/meekrap/garance. But before you can start dyeing there is a long way to go.....
First you need to clean the fabric, even used and washed fabric need to be cleaned . The fabric should be boiled in a solution of washing soda and a bit of dishwashing liquid.
The water will become brown/orange, an unbelievable dirty color!
Then the fabric need to be mordanted, to help the dye to become permanently fixed to the fibres.
For cellulose/vegetable fibres you need an other way of mordanting than for animal fibres.
I did three mordanting bath, the first with 20% of alum and 6% of soda ash. The second bath with 8 % of tannin and the third bath again in the alum solution. Between the bath the fabric need to dry and wash just before a new bath.
The color you get depends on a lot of things, the ph of your water, the amount of color you use, if you use cotton or linen or hemp, light weight or medium light weight ........
I dyed two linen scarf and some pieces for cushions or bags.

Here in France Christmas is over , we only know the first day of Christmas but I wish my Dutch readers a peaceful and 'gezellig' second day of Christmas. 

the Christmas market and some chocolates

I had a very successful market last sunday. We together sold for 1000 euro, most things were sold below 10 euro...... Tthe indigo tote that I showed you in my last post was sold five minutes after we opened the door. I also sold Jacobus and Karel.
We don't have separate stalls but everything is on large tables.

The beautiful painting of the castle at the wall is the view outside.........

Last week we also made our traditional Christmas chocolates at Lucy's house. She prepared the recipes and guided us to the delicious  result. 

To be honest....these were made by the chef herself.

Our work was not perfect at all and there was chocolate and marzipan on the floor and all over the table.

These were made by us! But we had lots of fun.

When we were ready Lucy's kitchen, looked like a battle field......

An indigo bag, a cushion, two knitted friends and a telephone case

Tomorrow is the Christmas market and I am ready.
These are the last things i made......
A Christmas cushion with a stitchery pattern that I found in the Quiltmania winternumber 2012.

An indigo bag with new and recycled jeans fabric and vintage kimono and futon fabric from Japan. I also did some sashiko stitching.

A telephone case with some sashiko stitching on vintage futon cover fabric .

And two knitted friends, Jacobus and Karel.

Weather is not bad tomorrow so wish me luck!

Quiltmania Christmas squares, I made 5 more

I made 5 more squares, so fun to do....

I am also busy finishing things for the Christmas market on sunday the 14th. I need to finish a bag, a cushion, some mittens and a knitted monkey...........

Quiltmania Christmas Squares

Do you like to start some Christmas quilt decorations? On the Quiltmania site you will find every day a pattern of a new square, with which you could make a quilt a banner or a table topper. When you make them all you will have 24 squares de 12 x 12 cm at the end. On the site you find a PDF for the pattern and a video (only in French) for the explanations.
For the moment I only have four, i changed them a bit in my own way......

I do not think i will make them all, we will see.........

Postcrossing quilt part 3

Do you remember that i told you about postcrossing? I started sending cards about one year ago and i already received more than 200 postcards from all over the world.
Sometimes in an envelope with a piece of fabric for my postcrossing quilt;
i made 5 new scrappy logcabin blocks this week.

Sometimes there is a beautiful unexpected gift in the envelope. Cvete from Bulgaria, sent me a piece of crochet made by her grandmother!

Thank you so much Cvete.

Felletin, the yarnmarket, les journées de la laine

Two weeks ago  i went to the yarnmarket in Felletin, about 80 km from where i live.
Like last year it was fabulous, so much yarn, so many beautiful creations.
There was a young lady who proposed to dye yarn or a piece of fabric with plantes. I prepared some shibori fabric and we dyed it with onion skins (oh oh, the good old days, i did the same bout 40 years ago !).
I made a cushion with the fabric.

She also showed how to make a print of a leaf on fabric, so easy, so quick and with such a beautiful result.

You need a rubber hammer, a flat stone, some fabric to lay on the stone , a leaf that contents lots a tannin, like green oak , a piece of fabric on which you want the leafprint, a small  basin with water and a teaspoon of iron sulfate(to fixe the print). Also a basin with water and soft soap.

First flat stone on the floor, that old fabric, leaf and above the leaf, the fabric for printing. .With the hammer you hammer on the fabric and after some minutes you see the print of the leaf. Then you put the fabric for some minutes in the iron sulfate to fix it, after that you wash it in a basin with soft soap and ready you are. 

Felletin is a village in the department of the Creuse, their cake is the Creusois made with hazelnuts,

there was an enormous creusois to give a small piece to the visitors. Here you find a  recipe of a Creusois 

Paris, some addresses of Japanese shops

Last wednesday I was in Paris for a one-day-visit. I visited some Japanese shops. (I think I am in my Japanese period........)
Since maybe already 30 years I collect japanese teacups. I bought two small ones at IKAT, 36 rue François Miron in the Marais.

I also visited YODOYA, 6-8 rue St Gilles, I bought a mascot of a cat, so cute and they say that the cat brings luck.....

This shop is cram-full with small things, hairclips, key holders, origami work, buttons.....In the corner the owner is sewing with japanese fabric.

In the neighbourhood of the Sacré Coeur, I found a, for me, new asiatic shop, TAI TAI, 15 rue André Del Sarte.

Lots of small things like the other shops, but also some very special things the owner brought himself from Japan and China.

LIke these handstencilled indigo fabric, he is cutting a small piece for me.

There were beautiful jackets/kimono's in indigo and I loved this folded skirt. I took the photo for the owl cushion and you can see the skirt in front .

The owner talked so enthusiastic about his trips to Asia, i will surely go back in january to see what is new ........

If you never were in Rue St Anne, you really need to go there once. Almost everything in this street is Japanese, restaurants, shops even a bakery, at number 16, where i bought this delicious matcha muffin.

AKI, at number 11 is one of the best restaurants in the street, you can eat okonomiyaki, a kind of japanese pizza. It is rather difficult to find.

Another shop in this street is DISCOVER JAPAN, at number 12, they sell bags, Japanese slippers and the high quality,comfortably cloths from the brand EVAM EVA.

If you are looking for a kimono, go to KIMONOYA, rue du Pont Louis Philippe, not far from the Notre Dame.

At last I went to the Quartier Latin to visit JHIN, 5 rue de Condé. I bought some fabric.....

And as usual I went to Keatsu, 8 rue du Roule, près du Pont Neuf, to buy some scraps.....

I think I go back to paris in january for another day of shopping.

How I love Japanese fabric

I bought lots of small and large pieces of used, vintage kimono fabric from Japan. I bought them on Etsy and Ebay, and a friend from Australie sent me an envelope with lots of pieces....
The dark blue indigo is beautiful, often not faded at all, they were dyed in the manuel way .
Most of the pieces are with Kasuri patterns, a special way of weaving.
Some information about Kasuri weaving:

The making of kasuri is a painstaking, laborious process–a cultural and economic tradition that stands as a stark contrast to fast, disposable fashion. Below, a few facts about this Japanese wonder fabric:

   • Rather than dyeing and printing a piece of fabric, making kasuri requires tie-dyeing the yarn first, then weaving the various colors into a pattern. As a result of this process, there is a soft, subtle blurring of the patterns on the finished fabric. Because the patterns are woven rather than printed, the design of the fabric is also visible on the reverse side.

   • From designing motifs to applying the finishing touches, this high-quality textile goes through more than 30 different stages before it is completed. Each individual process requires skills and experience specific to that step.

   • It takes about two months to complete a single roll of kasuri (40-cm wide, 12-m long), which yields only enough fabric for one adult-size kimono.

(source http://www.shopethica.com/features/what-is-kasuri)

(source Wikipedia)

I am going to make a bed quilt with the fabric in my favorite quilt block: the scrappy logcabin. I tried several other patterns but finally have chosen the block that is one of my favorite.

I already made 10 blocks, they are 19 x 19 cm.

It is such a pleasure to make them, i choose the fabric hap hasard..........

The pictures are quite dark, it was raining all morning ,fall arrived !