Open studios - Worstead Guild of weavers, spinners and dyers

Artists and crafters around norfolk and norwich are exhibiting their work. I am a member of Worstead spinners, weavers and dyers, yesterday was the start of our open studios. We showed a large range of crafts including spinning, dying, felting, knitting, weaving (rigid heddle, table loom, inkle loom, finger sticks and peg loom), kumihimo braiding and bobbin lace. All pieces have to be hand dyed spun or woven. Here are some pictures of some of the things we had for sale.

Visit us at Dilham village hall, we will be open 26th and 31st of May as well as the 1st, 7th and 8th of June, 11am until 5pm. For more information about our open days and other open studios see the Open studios website.

Lovely fibres and yarn...

Woven and knitted items...

 

Gorgeous bobbin Lace by Sandra and kumihimo braiding by Tim...

Knitted items from hand spun yarn...

And finally Jenny demonstrating on the loom...

Kumihimo Crazy!!

Kumihimo is fantastic! Tim from Worstead weavers spinners and dyers introduced me to it. It is an ancient Japanese technique of braiding. I have used it here to make lots of bracelets, but you could also use it to make corded handles for bags or even key rings. Many people use rat tail or waxed cotton to make the basic ones, I also really loved the beaded ones. Beads direct have published some good instruction videos on you tube if you want to have a go. You basically glue the braids into the end caps on the clasps, easy. You can get different clasps like the magnetic or lobster ones. A great idea for a little gift!

Drafting knickers pattern from an old pair

I had a couple of pairs of really comfy knickers and wanted to try and replicate these. I traced around the knickers.

Pair number 1 was from sainsburys, made from two back and two front panels and an inner gusset panel. I added seam allowance to sides and gusset but not to the other edges as I was adding lace. To construct I sewed the two front panels together, then sewed the two back panels together. I then joined the front and the back and used zigzag stitch to join the gusset inside (sewing down two sides of the gusset only). I sewed lace to both leg holes, joined one side seam, added lace to the waist and finally joined the second side seam.

Pair number 2 was a pair of low rise shorts from M&S, made from one back, one front and two gusset panels. Again, I traced the pieces, added seam allowance on the edges where the lace would not be attached. To construct, I layered the inside gusset (right side up), front panel (right side down) and outside gusset (right side down), sewed all three together using the overlocker. I placed the outside gusset right sides together with the back panel and carefully placed the inside gusset to the other side of the panel (right side of inside gusset against back panel. These three layers were sewn together, then turned right side out). Lace was added to both leg holes. One side seam was joined, lace added to the top edge and the other side se am joined. I liked the gusset for this pair best as it looked neater as it is enclosed.

Here are a few I made from these patterns. The bottom pair in the first image was made from pattern number 1. The others were made from pattern number 2. One thing I learnt was that what seems like small differences in stretch of the material can make a real difference in the fit. Try and pick similar fabric to the ones you made the pattern from. I trimmed the fabric back to nearly the stitch line where I attached lace to neaten the edges. Also I made sure the gusset was made from a cotton based fabric.

The top pair in the image below is made from pattern number 2 and I used fold over elastic for the top edge.

These are my favourite (below) they are so comfy as they are made with super stretchy fabric and luxurious lace!