using what we have

the shiiiinneeee, its so prettyyy!!!

tyyy!

I'm sorry, I'm going to infodump about them because I love them! the shine is because I use silk thread!

I'll try to illustrate this this because it's hard to explain, but ngl my photo taking is a bit sporadic so these are all from different projects!

so this is the base of them. a strip of card (if using as a thimble: measure around the middle of your middle finger) with a strip of BIAS CUT woven fabric wrapped around it.

then you need (a) padding and (b) to mark out a (usually even) number of segments. I'm doing 16ths at the moment, but 8 is probably the most common.

I've done a bunch of experimenting different ways of doing both of these, unsure on the best yet tbh! traditionally (a) is silk fibre

the first stitches, basically match up the lines in zigzag patterns. you can get an incredible amount of pattern out of sewing little zigzags. mine and all of these below are silk, but I've also used all sorts of thread, and even used 8/2 bamboo for a bracelet once

look at them.....

the colour..the geometry..

back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore

so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!

this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together

and then in the end you put it together like this!!

and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy

Omg i never posted them. yay okay so this is Lovelace the rat (they/them) and they’re my latest creation. I made the pattern myself and hand sewed them out of an old sweater i bought at the thrift store. They’re fully posable with jointed limbs and they’re about 20 inches tall. open the cut for the free pattern!!

Let me introduce you to my beautiful beloved mill ends on Colourmart.

somehow two pounds of mulberry silk mill end yarn just fell into my cart.

Let me introduce you to my beautiful beloved mill ends on Colourmart.

Is there even such a thing as too many—cross-stitch patterns?

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

“Bets, u know I’m a 15th degree blackbelt of buying shit on the internet”

cotton and Silk thread; https://redrockthreads.com/

Linen thread and wool fabric; https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com/ (they’ve got wool stuffs and worsted wool fabric for $15 a yard! I just got three yards of navy worsted wool I’m making a constellation winter skirt from)

More linen thread and wool; https://wmboothdraper.com/ (just ordered wool broadcloth to make a coat)

Silk fabric (THE best place to get silk lining fabrics and raw silk fabric):https://www.dharmatrading.com/

A varying assortment of wool and silk and cotton and even some leather, use coupon code  spring2020 for 50% off your full order, worked yesterday when I bought some stuff there; https://metrotextilesnyc.com/

The Linen Lab has a variety of weaves, weights, and colors available

I hate synthetic fibers and it’s difficult to find natural-fiber clothes that are made of cotton if you’re not looking for t-shirts.

It’s. It’s really really hard to find denim jeans that aren’t at least 5% spandex. It’s hard to find cotton shirts. It’s hard to find socks or underwear that aren’t poly-blends. Vests? Blazer? Sweater? Hahahaha. Oh, and many clothing websites won’t let you filter by fabric material, or at least won’t let you filter by “ONLY show me stuff that’s 100% cotton, or at least has no polyester.” (If you search amazon and try to filter for cotton, you will get clothes that have “cotton-like feel” in their descriptions.) (Don’t get me started on looking for silk.)

I need to dig out my sewing machine (or get a new one; it’s been buried in the Misc Whatever pile long enough that there’s a chance something’s been damaged) because I am 5'2" and I can never find off-the-rack clothes that fit right.

aaaand now that you’ve got places to get good fabric, you need something to make with it:

This database holds a ton of useful materials for embroidery! many different types of stitches in various difficulties, all incredibly useful!

i brought in a bunch of my books from childhood, and we started having one-on-one reading lessons with the littles. then i went out and bought about fifty more books secondhand. first step was covering the pictures so the kids couldnt guess what the words said and had to actually TRY reading them first. second step was making a list of new words for each kid so we could learn about those words, what they meant, and if the kids were old enough, some of the etymology behind them (because if you can recognize latin root words, it's easier to make connections for pronunciation later on eg. unicorn -> universe).

the kids HATED this. reading was previously the easiest class and now it was really, really hard. but reading class had also previously been the most boring class; their books were ten pictures with a single sentence on the opposite page. we got through it by taking turns reading books the kids picked out from my collection- they would read one sentence or paragraph, then i would read the whole page complete with funny voices, then it would be their turn again, etc. it turns out that if kids are motivated to hear the rest of a good story or a lot of information about a topic they love, they're more willing to struggle.

the kids improved so rapidly that i honestly almost cried a few times from how proud i was. one little girl (kindergarten aged) went from being unable to sound out the whole alphabet to reading goodnight moon by herself in two months :'>

all this, though, was NOT my job. my job was to keep the kids on task during their online schooling and prevent them from killing each other or starving. i am not a teacher. the school system was failing these kids to the degree that outside individual reading lessons were necessary, and school systems across the US are still doing this!

if this backwards way of teaching reading keeps up, then in the future it is going to create more issues, not only those kids but all of us. if you are in the US, i would encourage any adult to look into their local public school district. some school districts have curricula that can be accessed through their website. if what you find concerns you, then it's time to head to a school board meeting and bring it up.

it might feel weird or uncomfortable, but i assure you, you are as a much of a member of the community as anyone else. it is not weird to care about the community and the school district.

this is a problem that is already affecting all of us and it's only going to grow with time. but there are things we can all do regardless of our status as a parent, childcare worker, or teacher.

(p.s. i think sometimes these things are assumed to be the fault of a teacher, but it is almost always a school board issue. teacher's don't typically get to decide on the curriculum)

Crab bag! Made entirely of scraps and leftover pieces

The body piece was about an inch too long so it's not centred like I wanted it to be, but close enough

i am scouring the internet like the victorians scoured and destroyed all trace of joy and color from stolen relics for the LOST NAME OF THE ANCIENT PROCESS of textile-creation akin to knitting/crocheting/nålebinding that at least one academic/crafter used to recreate the leggings on this Glorious Motherfucker:

Archer statue from the Temple of Aphaia (ca. 480 BC) next to a reconstruction of its original paint job:

The leggings and sleeves would have created using a method called SPRANG which predates knitting and is over 3,000 years old. What's even sexier is modern artisans managed to recreate the entire outfit using the original method!

Mmm-HMM, love me a shapely thigh in harlequin hosiery. Put👏men👏in👏clingy-ass👏clothing👏again👏👏👏

Unfortunately english sources are hard to find, partly because Google's a shithole, but also because this textile project comes from a German museum, in Germany, where people tend to speak (and publish) in German. That said, the original link is to a short-but-sweet article I would have had no problem finding in 30 seconds a mere few years ago. fortunately i have clever beautiful insane people following me, but alas not everyone has such luxury. thanks to everyone in the notes who shoved themselves down this rabbithole with me!

I would like to make another version of this small photo slide walkthrough: ko-fi.com/s/f66f8a8890 --- that I can offer digitally for free & dono on ko-fi and then pair with a punk zine version for in-person/mail. Is there a digital download medium or project you would be interested in seeing a illustration or photo guide of? I have a starter stitch selection here : https://ko-fi.com/s/4c7893c34 Some ideas include a stitch or two like this fern: firesidetextiles.tumblr.com/post/63100084875082137. Could do a sewing pattern, or a new embroidery design for diy like a new tree or this spider web: https://ko-fi.com/s/e94e368d33. Or a project walk-through like this embroidery thread unicorn hair: firesidetextiles.tumblr.com/post/186827105045.