Tablet Weaving Update and Loom Musings

I finished another tablet weaving band! Here it is:

I took a break about halfway in, and it ended up sitting half finished for about 6 months. I guess I'm not motivated to weave in the warmer months? But as Autumn arrived (here in the Southern Hemisphere), my motivation returned, and I picked it up again. I even went to the trouble of finishing off the ends straight away. This one is long enough that I can use it as a belt. (I will model it another time. To be honest, I'm not sure I have any clothes of the style it would go with, and might not end up using it as a belt anyway.)

I was so excited that I started another band straight away, an even longer one this time. I wanted to try a different pattern, but unfortunately I had forgotten which pattern I used for the previous one, it being so long ago, and I ended up choosing the same one from my notebook! Even the colours are the same. (I've found that spare pages in my Hobonichi diary are great for recording patterns that I find online: the grid lines are perfect for tablet weaving patterns!)

I had written "Oseberg Weave" next to it, but not the source. Also, I think there was actually more than one kind of tablet-woven band found in the Oseberg burial. I should be more comprehensive with my notes in the future!

When I googled it, I remembered that I had sourced the pattern from this video on the Elewys of Finchingefeld Youtube channel. I highly recommend this channel! Not only is Elewys an expert weaver and excellent explainer, but I love her friendly and down-to-earth attitude. I hope to do more weaves from her channel in the future.

If you'd like to see some of my previous janky tablet weaving efforts, check out this blog post!



After only having done 2-and-three-quarters pieces on my 'new' loom, I'm already starting to see its limitations. (I say 'new', but I've had it for a year -- Husband helped me to make it as a sort-of birthday present, and my birthday is coming up again!) The loom is incredibly simple: it's just made up of a board (actually a shelf) with a drawer handle at each end. In theory, this isn't even the simplest set-up that's required. But it's also certainly not the most complicated, either. I very much like the idea of this kind of loom. It's only a few of the details that are off.
(Note: in the photo below, I have taken off the bobbins at the far end because I was getting towards the end of the weave. Normally the yet-to-be-used threads are wound on to them and they hang off the back end.)

Firstly, the tablets should ideally hang off the threads, not touch the base. There isn't enough of a gap between the drawer handles and the base. The big box hardware store I went to had a large range of handles, but these were the most 'gappy' ones I could find. I hoped they would be okay ... and they are ... But the tablet set I have is made of cardboard, and having them hit the base all the time is eventually going to damage them. I can always get some wooden or plastic ones later on down the track. Or buy some smaller ones, once my lil clumsy fingers are more used to weaving (they'd have to be pretty small to clear the base, though!). As you can see in the picture below, they don't tend to sit upright, but veer off to the side, leaving the weaving sort of half-twisted. It's still perfectly possible to weave that way, but not ideal. I also have a feeling that it mucks with the tension, but more on that later. The biggest issue, though, is that it's going to make more complicated patterns, well, even more complicated. In a lot of patterns you have to separate the tablets and turn some forwards and some backwards on every turn. Having them sitting all hinky is going to make that very difficult. So that's the first problem I'd like to solve.

Secondly, I sometimes have trouble with the tension. I've tried a few different things to attach the work in progress to the handles at each end, and landed on bag clips as the easiest solution. (They are absolutely not historically accurate, I know, but dang they're convenient!) The clip at the front end works fine; the only problem is that it leaves an impression in the finished piece (which you can see in the second photo from the top in this post, on the right hand side). It's a minor inconvenience that you can only see close up. The clip at the far end though, I've had some problems with. At first I tried using weights to give the band tension (a common historical solution) but found them cumbersome and annoying. I tried winding the threads around a piece of dowel -- in pictures I've seen it locks them in place -- but it didn't work for me. (The technique is shown in this blog post; photos near the bottom.) The bag clip worked better than these solutions, but it doesn't grip the threads evenly, and they tend to lose their grippiness over time. (I've ruined two clips already!) I really want to find a solution that reliably locks the threads in place and gives them a taut tension, while still being quick and easy to release for when I get to the top and need to move the finished weaving down and off the loom.

Thirdly (don't worry, this is the last one!), my back gets really sore when using the loom. I certainly can't have it sitting on a table horizontally, as my arms won't even reach the far end, and there's no point in having a long loom if you can't reach the far end! I tried using it at a shallowish angle (with the far end resting on a cardboard box) while sitting at my desk, but even then my back gets really sore from reaching forwards. Lately I have tried leaning it almost vertically on the edge of my desk, with the front edge resting on my lap, and that works a lot better back-wise, but dang: those sharp shelf corners really dig into my thighs! (Excuse my messy hobby room and non-period-accurate outfit, it was just a quick selfie to demonstrate!)

Okay, one more tiny thing -- I'd like a way to keep the finished part of the weaving neatly out of the way and clean.

Okay, that's all I want! I don't want to ditch my loom completely, because I'm proud that I made it myself -- and the finishing on the surface of the shelf looks cool. I would rather try and modify it to solve these problems. I have been doing some research. More on that soon!

Finished Crafts May 2021

More Tablet Weaving Bands

I took a few months off from tablet weaving, but then I became obsessed with it again. I was halfway through Band No. 3 (left) and when I took it up again, I forgot the pattern I was weaving. So one half of the band is wavy, and the other half stripey. But that's okay. It's long enough that I can make it into a bag strap, and hopefully I'll get around to that soon. Bands No. 4 and 5 (middle, right) are shorter. I was more wanting to try out different published patterns to see how they would turn out. I came across various problems while weaving, like twisting, bulging and bumping, but all of them have been explained by various Youtube videos and I feel like I'm learning more with every band.

Plushy Letters : I

A project I've been thinking about for a long time, but only started to act on recently, is to make a set of plushy letters that spell out words. For some reason I felt like knitting them instead of sewing them, which takes a lot longer but is a more portable craft. I couldn't find any patterns online that made letters as plump as I wanted, so I decided to design my own. I started with the easiest letter -- I.

Plushy Dinosaur

Last but not least -- the greatest triumph! I made this plushy dinosaur for my two-year-old friend, for her birthday. It took a very long time, and the process was filled with ups and downs, but at last at the end of March it was finally finished. I redesigned the back plates to make the shape more realistic, and also a smaller version to go along the tail. The original pattern was perfectly fine, but I just preferred the way it looks this way. Here is the pattern.

Next time I'll be looking at crafts still in progress!

I Made a Skirt : the Novel

Here is the story of my skirt. I made it myself, and it's a tale full of twists and turns, anguish and triumph.

Prologue --

Every now and then, I want to get back into sewing, but then usually nothing happens. Last year I got to the point of actually buying some fabric. (Actually, it was the year before last, now I come to look it up!) I even had plans in mind for each of the five pieces I bought, but I ended up putting them aside again.

This has been happening for enough years that I've started to recognise it as a pattern -- every Spring and Autumn (the transitional seasons: interesting?) I get really excited about fashion and sewing, and plan to make lots of garments and cute accessories. I sometimes, as in the above case, even buy supplies, because you can never have too many craft supplies, right? Then I talk myself out of it for one or all of the following reasons: it's too hard and complicated, I don't have the skills and I'd screw it up, it wouldn't look good on me, I have no occasion to wear it, or the worst, I'd never wear it because I don't want to draw attention to myself.

I'll write more about that another time, but for now, let's tell this skirt saga!

I haven't sewn in nearly 10 years, so I thought I'd ease myself into it by making something simple -- a skirt with an elastic gathered waist. I was pretty sure I could cope with a ruffle as well. My first mistake was not measuring properly. I cut out a rectangle that was supposed to be my hip measurement plus 10 cm for some ease, and sewed it into a tube. I tried it on and realised it was way too big straight away but thought, she'll be right mate, the waistline will be gathered anyway.

Then I lost motivation and put it away for a few months. (This will turn out to be a recurring theme and is why documentation is so important!) By then I had forgotten it was way too big. I measured out some elastic for the waistband, forgetting that you need to make it a bit smaller than your waist measurement, otherwise it's too loose. I tried it on and it nearly fell off. So I unpicked the elastic and cut it shorter. I put the project aside for a while more, and by then I had forgotten that I'd already adjusted the elastic, so unpicked and re-sewed it again. The elastic was now too small!! But I had other issues...

Because the skirt itself was too big, the fabric was very bulky and made my waistline look much much bigger, as well as ruining the line of any top worn over it. I needed to reduce bulk around the waist, especially the front, so I sewed some big darts into the sides (at least I could remember how to do that, hah!). There was no need to add elastic all the way around the waist because the skirt was now much more fitted, and only needed the teensiest bit of staying-on power. So I cut a short strip of elastic (about 25cm) and just sewed it on at the centre back. Now I had a smooth area across the front.

Even though it looked totally awful and amateurish, I was determined to finish it ... after taking a couple of months off. Next thing was to add the ruffle around the bottom. I had made sure to order enough fabric for a good ruffle, so I cut the strips needed for this and sewed them into a big circle, twice the width of the skirt itself so it'd be nice and floofy. I measured the bottom hem of the ruffle all the way around (all 400+cm of it!), and folded and pressed it in place with an iron, before sewing a nice-looking hem. At least I got that right! Then I sewed it to the bottom of the skirt, and did an extra line of zig zag stitching to keep it neat.

I tried on the skirt -- and it sucked! It was longer than I'd wanted, and while the ruffle was indeed very floofy, the fabric is too heavy for that kind of treatment. The weight of it pulled down on the whole skirt, and it not only felt heavy to wear, but didn't look right either. As well, it was doing that thing where it hangs down lower in the front (do all plus size people get that problem, or is it just me?). I had forgotten that I need to adjust for that when making skirts.

I was so unsure of my own judgement that I put a poll on instagram asking for opinions: was it: too floofy, too long, both of the above, or just fine. I got about an even number of responses for all 4 options, so I had to decide for myself in the end.

I knew I had to do something because I couldn't stand it the way it was. So I cut the ruffle off, and cut about 12 cm off the bottom of the skirt. I sliced into the ruffle fabric and removed about 1/4, then sewed it back into a ring, ready to re-attach to the skirt.

To fix the low-hanging front problem, in the past I always adjusted it at the waistline, but I'd already had too many waistline issues, so I decided to try cutting the bottom edge into a curved shape along the front. Then I sewed the ruffle on again (which if you're a sewist you'll know is not the quick and easy feat that it sounds like!). I tried it on and guess what?! I had sewed the ruffle on inside-out! I didn't notice the whole time I was pinning it on, or the whole time I was sewing it! I took photos of this mistake but I was so disgusted with myself that I deleted them. Thankfully I had decided to try the skirt on BEFORE securing it with zigzag stitch, otherwise it would have been even more of a nightmare! As it was, I spent a nice Friday evening with a glass of wine and my quick-unpicker, who I decided to name Buffy to preserve my sanity a little bit.

After many tea breaks and lie-downs, I sewed the ruffle on for the THIRD time. After carefully checking it again, I did a final zigzag stitch along the ruffle seam to secure it. I was so excited at the thought that this was the final seam of this project, I can't tell you! However, the universe didn't want to release me quite yet. I ran out of bobbin thread and had to refill the bobbin. Then I ran out of upper thread and had to find a new (almost matching) thread. Then not long after installing it, the new thread snapped! I had to thread it again! All for one seam, though thankfully it won't show on the outside so no-one will notice all the stops and starts and slight colour variations.

Better, no?

Another thing I'll note: In the beginning I had tried to save time for myself by aligning the edges of the pieces up against the bound edge (selvedge) of the fabric, therefore theoretically meaning that I don't have to secure the edges with zigzag stitching or pinking shears, but it turned out to be more effort than it was worth and didn't really help at all. I had to secure it with zigzag stitch anyway and the thick selvedge edge just added bulk in most places.

I still don't really consider this skirt as 100% finished. I'd like to fix the darts in place with fusible webbing (I have some, just need to find it), and maybe add some lace to the bottom edge if I'm ever feeling brave enough.

There's the full saga of my Faux Patchwork Skirt, the first garment I've sewn in 10 years. It was pretty excruciating, I have to admit, but I have a feeling it's somehow broken a barrier and enabled me to think about what else I can make in the future. I ordered some more fabric this morning from a new-to-me shop and I'll report when it arrives!

It was extremely windy when I took these photos, so the skirt looks uneven, but it's actually just being buffeted by gale force winds. =D

Mostly for my own reference, but in case anyone is interested, here are the specs:

Fabric: quilting weight cotton ; Michael Miller "Indian Summer"
Length: 2.5 metres
Bought from: Kawaii Modes 4 U (purchased in 2018 - no longer available)
Cost: $42.15 (I'm glad I didn't remember how much it cost, or else I would have been much more upset and precious about this project than I already was!)
Pattern: n/a

First Sewing Project in Years: Face Mask

For some reason I've had a strong urge to sew recently, after literally years of umming and aahing and putting it off. Occasionally I'd buy fabric but not use it; I'd just stash it. I know why I was procrastinating -- I'd lost the manual to my sewing machine and was worried I'd forgotten how to use it (re-threading the bobbin is the trickiest part). Worse than that, I was worried that my 25-year-old machine no longer worked!

With all of that on my mind, I have no idea where the strong urge to sew came from, but I got out my machine and gave it ago. I'm happy to report that the machine still works, and I made up my own 'manual' by sketching the bobbin and how the thread is arranged in situ. In fact, it seems to work even better now than it used to. Perhaps it's the patience of age which makes me run the machine slower than I used to?

I found a half-finished project from a few years ago. It was a pouch but I couldn't remember exactly how I was going to make it. When I saw this Face Mask pattern from The Stitching Scientist online, I thought it would be a good easy project to practice with. Not to mention current.

I went through my smallish stash of scraps until I found a piece of fabric large enough:

I thanked my past self for washing them years ago, though they did need ironing. Thankfully I also found some nice elastic in my findings stash. I cut out the pieces according to the pattern. I made the side bindings 1cm wider than the original, because I wasn't quite sure how that part worked, and I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

After sewing the front and back, and gathering the side pleats:

After inserting the elastic and sewing on the binding:

I'm really glad I have my pinking shears. They make it so easy to prevent fabric from fraying without having to muck around with double seams, etc. I got pretty confused about how the binding is finished off, and I think I fudged it a bit, but it still looks okay, I think: (Actually, I neatened it up a bit more after taking this photo.)

The finished product! Can you see me smiling at you?

It's a little loose around the nose, but a dart or shirring would fix that. Or use a shaped version, many patterns for which can be found online. And remember -- this type of cloth mask doesn't protect you from catching a virus.

Then I asked Husband if he would like one, and he said yes, and even offered up a spare Star Wars pillowcase that he had to make it from.

I matched it with some blue fabric I had on hand, which I think is left over from a sheet that I made into a skirt (maaaany years ago). I followed the same process but forgot to insert the elastic! Thankfully I realised straight away and was able to fix it without too much fuss.

Finished!

He looks awesome, huh!
I've already started work on my next project -- a skirt. Updates soon!

My June, and Life & Health Update

In June I've been enjoying the colder weather, as I wrote about more in my Hello Winter blog post. In this post I want to talk about some more personal things. Some long-time readers might know that I have Ulcerative Colitis (I even wrote a zine about it a couple of years ago!). In late May I developed some new health problems, quite suddenly. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in my knee. I was almost unable to walk. I managed to make it to a doctor and to my chiropractor with Husband's help, but I was given conflicting information about it. The most likely diagnosis is arthritis, which is a secondary complication of Ulcerative Colitis. It began to improve very slowly, but has relapsed several times. I can only stand for a few minutes, I can't walk very far and between that and a Colitis flare-up, I haven't been able to work. At the moment, I don't know if I'll get better, or if this is how my life will be now.

Having said that, I've been trying to stay positive and do what I can. I can still cook, do dishes, etc, as long as there's a chair nearby to rest my knee. I've been making art, crafting and even writing a couple of stories, which I might share soon.


What I've been painting ...
Here are some paintings in progress, and finished. I like giving the paint-by-numbers an ironic message. I have at least 10 more stashed away to do.

What I've been crocheting ...
It's been a lot of fun making these little plushy monsters. I'm currently onto my fourth. I love choosing the colours, and designing the faces.

What I've been reading ...
As one of my 101 Things in 1,001 Days items, I've been continuing on with The Lord of the Rings, and nearly finished the first book. The Fellowship have just left Lothlórien and said farewell to Galadriel and the other elves. I have been deliberately trying to imagine everything independently, not just fall back on what places and people looked like in the movies. Sometimes it can be quite difficult, even though I haven't seen the movies for about 5 years. Am I the only one who worries about that?

What I've been playing ...
I've started playing The Blockheads again. From what I understand, it's like a 2D version of Minecraft (though I've never played Minecraft). I'm working towards the ultimate pinnacle of the game -- the creation of a jetpack! so my Blockhead can fly through the sky rather than having to put up with riding donkeys. So undignified.

Bonus Kitty Picture ...

101 Things in 1,001 Days : Year 1 Update

I can't believe it's been one year since I started my second 101 Things in 1,001 Days challenge already. It feels as though I've done more than I did at the one-year point the first time I did the challenge, but I can't really be sure. I've completed 11 items -- that's ten percent. I guess it's not too bad. Here are a few highlights:


DONE!
✦ read Ulysses by James Joyce - this book is considered to be one of the hardest to read in the English language, and I can see why. It's so beautiful and complex that I couldn't even attempt to review it. I would never have read it if it weren't for the Reading Ulysses with Conner Habib course. The course is run once a year to coincide with Bloomsday, which (actually coincidentally) is next week, on the 16th of June.
UPDATE: The course is now available year-round!

✦ finish making a blanket - yes, it's true, I have several blankets in progress, one of which I started when I was 14, and until a few months ago, had never actually finished one. If you read this blog at all, you'll recognise it as the one I made for my first solo art exhibition. I cherish it not only for the art in it, but the craft in it.

✦ get another tattoo - as with my other tattoos, I decided to get one design at first, but then changed my mind in the end. I got a candle in remembrance of all the forgotten people, all the people who have had violence done against them, who should be here but aren't. I chose a rose, poppy and peony for the flowers. The artist told me she usually does one flower showing from the back as her signature style, and I agreed to that. It only took 3 hours, and, I have to confess, it hardly hurt at all.

✦ watch 50 new movies - I finished this one very early, thanks to Netflix. I guess I'll increase it again next time, assuming we still have Netflix then!

IN PROGRESS!
✦ do nanowrimo - but isn't NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November? Yes, it is. But I still haven't finished my story, so I consider it to be 'In Progress'. I'm pleased to say that I'm up to the final editing stage though. After those few final tweaks, all that remains is formatting it (after figuring out how it needs to be formatted), creating a cover image, and then uploading it to some self-publishing site (after I choose which one/s). I can't say when it'll be done, but I'll be sure to let you know when it is.

✦ go to 15 exhibitions - It seems I'll finish this point early, too. I've been to 12 so far, big and small, from paintings to jewellery. It's been very inspiring! I want to make it a regular occurrence, if I can. I saw an original Frida Kahlo! A Yayoi Kusama! And so much more.

✦ go to 30 new restaurants - since Husband and I started having regular lunches with our foodie friend, this point has been easy to work towards. I/We have been to 25 so far, from Korean to Colombian.

✦ donate 101 items (new) - I recently replaced a point I no longer wanted to do with this one. So far I have donated 15 items. 11 of them were books I gave to the Melbourne Central Little Library. I bought a box of 25 random children's books from an op shop for a bit of light reading, so there will be plenty more to donate soon.