Review of Patterntrace Swedish Tracing Paper

Posted on Aug 28, 2019 by The Proof Angel

I like the look of this stuff. Tracing paper on a roll, which stays flat when unrolled (which has to be a plus if it is true), and is strong enough to sew together to check the pattern works.

My bet is that it isn’t strong enough to allow you to unpick the stitching, so you would have to trace it again to use on your fabric.

But if you want to test the pattern, this would be a lot easier and cheaper than using any form of fabric for that first stage.

I will be giving it a try at some point. When I have a moment…

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Birds at the Festival of Quilts 2019

Posted on Aug 26, 2019 by The Proof Angel

Today’s collection of pictures from the Festival of Quilts 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, is about birds.

Those who follow this blog regularly will not be surprised to see several peacocks here. Well, I can’t help it if other people find them inspiring as well, can I?

And just look at the range of colours in the border of this one on the left. Isn’t that fab?

The dragon caught my eye for two reasons. Firstly, his “breath” is an unusual use of hexagons. And then, just look at how the body is made up. Random scraps to make up the body, with only a very general attempt to follow the shapes. Some carefully shaped black lines give shape to the tail, while the other plain black pieces give shape to the rest of it. Very clever

The pastel birds are very clever as well.

One other in this group needs singling out. I especially like this one. The same image is used with different combinations of the same colour palette, giving surprisingly different effects. But look at that quilting, with the colour of thread used for each feather’s thread being slightly different:

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Quilting taking centre stage at the Festival of Quilts 2019

Posted on Aug 23, 2019 by The Proof Angel

An awful lot is written about patchwork, but sometimes the quilting is the most important part of the design.

These pictures from the Festival of Quilts 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham show what a difference it can make.

The quilt on the left has a peacock that is almost entirely made of quilting.

Then there is the idea of having a multicoloured piece of fabric and quilting a variety of patterns over it:

The next example has some basic patchwork, but the quilting in different coloured threads pays little attention to the patterns made by the fabrics:

Then finally, here are some more that were dominated by their quilting. The cream one was awarded “Highly Commended” in its class. I overheard someone saying “If you have to put in that much work to get Highly Commended, what is the point?”

Which seems a little harsh…

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Disappearing nine patch with a difference

Posted on Aug 21, 2019 by The Proof Angel

Have you tried dissappearing nine patch quilt blocks? The basic idea is you make a nine patch block by sewing squares of fabric into three rows of three squares each, so there are nine squares in your square block (hence the name).

Then, instead of sewing the block to other blocks, borders, etc, you cut it up, move the pieces around, and sew them back together in a different order. This is an easy way to produce a much more complicated pattern.

The picture in this post shows the idea. It is the back of my not quite quilted yet dragon quilt. I cut out fairly large squares of fabric, and after sewing groups of noine together, I cut the block in half in both directions. You can see from the picture that it produced different squares and rectangles in a pattern that would be a bit fiddly to sew.

So that is the easy version. This post shows the possibilities of cutting your nine patch diagonally.

I’m not sure I am brave enough to do that. All those bias cuts would stretch quite easily. I could get into a right mess with that…

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Useful books

Posted on Aug 14, 2019 by The Proof Angel

Now here is a good idea for a website. Interview a series of people who really know their subject, and ask them about their 5 favourite books on a subject.

Except couldn’t really find anything arty or crafty on the menus. But I knew that couldn’t be right, because I found it via an Andrew Graham-Dixon tweet. So I did a bit of digging and found some interesting lists.

But be warned, there are some expensive books on there. I had a look at one about Elizabethian embroidery which turned out to cost £250.

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Maps at the Festival of Quilts 2019

Posted on Aug 12, 2019 by The Proof Angel

I think this has to be my favourite quilt tjhat I’ve seen for a long time.

Yes, it really is a map of the world made out of log cabin patchwork.

And the map of the London Underground, with all that intricate quilting has to be a close second.

They were both on display at the Festival of Quilts 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

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Bright quilts at the Festival of Quilts 2019

Posted on Aug 8, 2019 by The Proof Angel

Well, after some dithering about whether it was really worth the long drive, last week I went to the Festival of Quilts 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

It has taken me nearly a week to sort out the pictures, but now I have got them organised, I have decided to do a series of posts with groups of the pictures, so they are easier to manage.

This first post covers quilts with bright colours, split into a few collages. As you might expect, the pictures are of variable standard, as I had to dodge round the other visitors and get the best shot I could.

The first group shows the different effects you can achieve with a similar palette on a dark background:

A couple that I would have included in the dark collage need to be kept separate, so you can see the details:

Next, here is a collection of similar colours on a pale background:

And finally for today, some all over patterns:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tapestry maps

Posted on Jul 30, 2019 by The Proof Angel

I love this picture. I like the subtle vegetable colours, and the little towns and villages.

I also love that it is a tapestry.

Yes, someone has woven it.

And this map of Oxfordshire isn’t the only one, either. Read more about it here.

I particularly like the part where they say “the library managed to acquire the biggest surviving chunk of Gloucestershire…”

Chunk. That is obviously a technical term.

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Fringeless weaving

Posted on Jul 25, 2019 by The Proof Angel

In the last year or so, I’ve got into tapestry weaving. I’ve always been put off weaving by the space and money taken up by the loom.

But if you are doing something small, you can get away with a basic frame.

Most of these involve wrapping the warp thread round the top and bottom of the frame to keep it in place. This means that either the weaving has a fringe at both ends, or there is a lot of darning in to do.

Or so I thought, but then I found an online class for fringeless weaving. You wind your weft round a jig, then attach it to the loom using an auxiliary weft.

This is my jig. I reckon I can use it for three sizes. Small, medium, and large. I’ve joined the pipes together using plumbing fittings, and then cut through the pipe to allow the jig to be removed once the warp is on the loom. The parts of the jig are held in place by dowelling inside the pipes, which stop them from moving from side to side. The tension of the warp holds it together in the other direction. The warp is help in place by an auxiliary warp, which can be reused in the next tapestry.

Once you have the auxiliary weft in place, you need to adjust the tension before you start weaving. My usual loom doesn’t have this facility, but I found a nice simple one online. There is a slight delay in implementing this plan, because as you can see, it came ready warped.

So now I’m trying another experiment on that warp. Waste not want not. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode. But don’t hold your breath…

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Granny squares, but not as my Nan knew them

Posted on Jul 18, 2019 by The Proof Angel

I learned to crochet when I was very little. My Nan started me off, as for some reason Mum couldn’t crochet. Nan died when I was 6, so after that, I learned from books.

I haven’t done any crochet for ages, but at the Knitting and Stitching show at Harrogate in November, I was tempted to buy a kit for a throw from Janie Crow.

It was partly the colours, but also the interpretation of the pattern. I made a traditional granny square blanket when I was a kid, but this is more sophisticated. It involves complications like changing the size of the hook, and doubles and half trebles as well as trebles.

Found I was making slow progress. There is a different colour every round, slight changes in the pattern, and the occasional change of hook. Reading the pattern carefully all the time was the problem. So I started doing it in stages, doing each round of the 16 octagons, 9 squares, 12 half triangles, and 4 quarter triangles, to avoid messing about.

I’ve been taking pictures as I went along, so here is a collage of the work as it progressed, and finished in situ. I think it is interesting how the volume of yarn in the basket.

Oh, and because I wasn’t bothered about the finished size, I didn’t check the tension. The octagons are supposed to be 29cm across. Mine are more like 23cm. So I’ve added an extra row down one side.

And I got bored with doing rows of double crochet round the edge, so I finished it with some shells.

Now, rather than adding the leftovers to the stash, I’m going to see if I can make something useful from them. I do like those colours!

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