Updates…

The sun is finished! And at it’s new home in Alaska.

The spiral is nearing completion. I’m taking a break & doing some little, one-two night projects-making cards & more circles for the lampshades (no photos yet).

Updates!

I updated a couple posts…

I Found a Quilted Heart and The Big Spiral.

The big spiral

I’ve got 4 circles made! The big spiral was supposed to be a record of all the TAST stitches, but I got too impatient so it turned into a sampler of stitches from Sharon Boggan’s stitch dictionary (Pintangle), Dorothy Bond’s book Crazy Quilt Stitches, Sue Spargo’s book Creative Stitches, and I’m sure I’ll refer to Carole Sample’s Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches as well.

The spiral has been in my mind for quite awhile. It started out as a seat cover, and was supposed to chronicle my life. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to turn a flat spiral into a piece of embroidery. And a short while ago, it evolved into a… ceiling hanger?? I guess that’s what I’ll call it!

So the first four circles are stitch samplers. I’m using an iPad app called Freeform to show stitch names & where they are on any particular circle. When I’m finished (if that happens!), I plan to make a little book that will somehow hang with the spiral.

You can see my prototypes here: Spiraling! After hanging one from the light fixture in my sewing room, I realized I’d have to embellish both sides of the spiral. I’m going to start doing some themed circles; not sure if they will go on the top or the bottom yet. I’ll figure that out when I put all the circles together and get ready to hang it. I’m planning to bind the edges with bias tape and slip some heavy duty fishing line inside the bias tape. If I don’t do that, the spiral will just droop. And this is the frustrating part: I can’t add the fishing line until I’m all done! And hope it works as planned.

Spiral #1

Spiral #2

Spiral #3

Spiral #4 (I need to fix that one end still)

Well, I gave up on recording the stitches! What a surprise LOL. But I’ve gotten 2 more circles done, with a third in progress. I think I’ll only make one more, then put them together and see how this crazy project drapes, and if the fishing line is going to keep the shape I want.

Here’s the last two spirals and the spiral I just started. These are all themed, while the first four are just random “I like this fabric so I’ll use it”. The fourth themed spiral is dogs.

Fabrics purchased in Ireland, 2009

Horses! Loved my ponies!

Alaska-lived there for 30-ish years.

The circles are finished and attached to each other now; there are 4 pairs. The heavy duty fishing line isn’t weighty enough to keep the spirals from drooping, so after much thought and experimenting with interfacing, I bought several second-hand, inexpensive lampshades. I cut out the circles, laminated 3 layers together with hot glue, and then realized that the circles had to be stuck together somehow, or the spiral would droop at the intersections. Yikes! So they are joined with an extra bit of lampshade, hot glued and then duct taped. And I also duct taped the edges of the lampshade spirals because eventually the sharpish edges will wear away the fabric. I think the duct tape needs to be wound completely around the lampshade circles though, to help support the layers and to protect the fabric.

Tools for finishing!

Lampshade & detritus. Surely I can do something with the detritus…

Spiral interfacing from lampshades.

TAST, week 1, 2023 Ainu stitch & TAST Design Challenge #1

I was curious about the origins of the Ainu stitch, so I did the ol’ Google search. I didn’t find out as much as I would have liked about the stitch itself, but I did find out where it comes from. There’s lots more information than what I listed below.

The Japanese Ainu are an indigenous culture in northern Japan and parts of northeastern Russia. The Hokkaido region is now where most of the Japanese Ainu live. Both groups of Ainu decorated their garments, but Sakhalin Islands Ainu (Russian) used fish skins rather than a woven material. They applied more fish skin to cover up holes left by the fins. Japanese Ainu embroidered on a fabric made of nettle or elm bark.

As new materials were introduced to the Japanese Ainu, they began using cotton and silk. The culture became “Japanised” in the late 1890’s through the 1930’s and the clothing was most often seen at tourist attractions. Interest was renewed in the 1980’s & 1990’sand several women began studying the culture and recreating traditional designs and stitches.

The stitching and making of the garments join the wearer and the artist or maker. There is a prayer inserted into the garment that protects the wearer. Motifs were created to protect the maker’s family, not just as decoration, but to shield the wearer against harm. So there is a spiritual element as well as practical use.

For more information:

• Ainu Decorative Needlework, https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/regional-traditions/east-asia/japan/ainu-decorative-needlework
• Ainu textiles: Cloth weighted with affection and prayer, https://garlandmag.com/article/ainu-textiles/
• Ainu, A Japanese community that reveres textiles, https://blog.marasim.co/ainu-a-japanese-community-that-reveres-textiles/
• Pintangle, stitch tutorial: https://pintangle.com/2021/01/22/tutorial-on-how-to-work-ainu-running-stitch/

TAST Challenge:

For my first stab at Ainu stitch, I used DMC Perle Cotton, size 5. I’d just finished cutting out and basting fabrics for my spiral, so I had a roundish piece of cotton left over. Slammed down some fabrics left over from the spiral, drew some lines to follow, and I was in business. The first circle is Pekinese stitch, then Ainu stitch, and the last stitch is blanket stitch with french knots. I think I need to add one more row, but haven’t decided on a stitch yet. And I’m not sure what I’ll do about a binding either; I think I’ll be making 2 or 3 more to go on a lampshade, so no hurry.

See the finished piece below.

Ainu Stitch:

I’m working on my spiral; this is the second round. I wanted to see how the Ainu stitch worked on a curved line, and I wanted to use 3 strands of DMC. I’m quite happy with it!

And here’s the finished circle on the lampshade. I’m hoping that five circles will fit on there.