ANOTHER LITTLE BISCUIT

Australian Eco/Fiber Artist India Flint calls these Biscornu 

which I believe is French

 and translates to biscuit.

I learned to make them in one of her delightful on-line classes.

BTW,

her newest online course starts Feb.1 and I believe you can still enroll

here. 

I love making them and teaching others to do the same.

They are a great way to use up scraps of fabric and special threads.

This one was made from a few eco-dyed pieces I had in my stash.

The fabrics were a bit too plain for me so I added a little embroidery.

And then my favorite last step is to pick out a button for each side.

I believe the one in the top photo is wood 

and the one here is the back side of an abalone button.

Every time I stick a needle or pin in it,

I smile.

They are just so cute.

SPIRIT CLOTH INSPIRED

If you haven't had a chance to enroll in any Jude Hill stitch classes,

I really recommend Patchwork Beasts.

Jude of whirled wide Spirit Cloth fame is listed to the right under Artist's I Follow.

Love all her classes,

most of which I've taken over the years,

but it's her beasts faces that are so fun to play with.

Her drawings and watercolors of their faces in her on-line class are whimsical

and offer a lot of ideas to choose from.

I believe this is my 2nd attempt.

My first one can be seen here.

Jude is a wonderful teacher and I've learned so very much from her,

and her blog still continues to inspire and delight everyday.

So thank you Jude!

In our Tues. Nite Fiber Arts class,

we did a bunch of eco-dyeing about  year and a half ago.

Above are the pieces drying out.

We experimented with lots flowers, leaves, fruits & vegies for their dye properties.

After the pieces were opened, washed and ironed it was time to learn a few embroidery stitches along with needle turn applique.

Dang, 

this close up really shows my very messy embroidery.

Whoops!

Anyways...

We only used thin white and off white perle cotton threads to embroider with

which we had placed inside our bundled fabrics so they too absorbed the dyes.

Kinds of fabrics were thrifted linens, cottons and silk.

Each of us choose something different to fill our applique opening with.

I wanted to try another beast face.

Using Jude's famous invisible tacking stitch,

the face was attached to a contrasting piece of dyed cotton. 

I like to thrift really soft, 

old white bed sheets that have been washed many times.

Makes it much more easy to slide the needle thru.

Knowing I wanted to log cabin around the beast,

 here experimenting with several pieces of dyed, torn strips.

Then more stitching to secure/quilt over top,

a few vintage buttons and a twig complete the beast.

Oh,

in one of Jude's first classes I took,

she demoed how to easily fray the edges of the fabrics for a very cool edge.

I love the texture it adds.

A super fun project.

BAGSTORIES

Towards the end of last school year 

I signed up for my first online workshop with superstar eco-dyer India Flint.

It was called Bagstories and we were hand stitching a Bento type bag (Japanese)

that India calls a Wanderbeutel.

She had us pull together and use an assortment of odds and ends from our fabric stashes.

I used the pieces below;

Eco-Bundled, Shibori w/ Rust, & Solar Printed.

Part One was to cut 50 squares of fabric, 

that I cut to 3" by 3".

If I ever make another bag I will go bigger to 4" by 4". 

Part Two was to sew them together into little pillows.

Then Part Three was to sew each pillow closed

and if you wanted to add some embroidery stitching.

Part Four,

 to arrange them in a certain pleasing pattern

and then to sew them all together.

I also added buttons to give mine a bit of a snazzy spark.

Some close=ups.

And tah-dah!

The finished bag!

Part Five was to sew it together like a Bento Bag,

which was super tricky and a secret not to be revealed!

Ha!

Other side.

And Part Six was to add a shoulder strap out of fabric.

But I wanted something different then the others in the class,

so I pulled out all my eco-bundling strings I had saved,

choose the ones that had the flavor of the squares and crocheted 2 straps,

tying them together into a top knot.

I also used the string to wrap around two "D" shaped metal rings,

then sewed the straps to the rings.

  To connect the whole enchilada I sewed the rings onto the corners of the bag.

The closure was the trickiest part.

It was optional but I did it because I wanted my bag to stay closed.

So again back to the strings where I messed around 

and figured out how to crochet two triangles

 that I sewed into the "V" shaped openings in the middle of both sides.

But there was a revolting development.

The bag wouldn't close right and looked funny so back to the drawing board,

and 3 triangles later I had a closure that actually looked good and worked.

And the perfect antique button finished it off.

Except,

one more problemo,

It wouldn't sit right.

So I found some plastic needlepoint stuff,

cut it to fit into the bottom just right,

then surrounded it with the most beautiful piece of silk eco-printed fabric 

from my friend and fellow fiber artist extraordinaire Michelle Hoffee.

And there it was, 

finally finished almost 7-8 months later.

I know,

I'm really slow.

All the other Bagsters have made at least 3 to my 1 but I'm just thrilled I even finished one.

YES!!!