the awesome quilt!

So the quilt I had been working on was finished a while ago and I for some reason had been preciously guarding it. Its my first ever proper quilt. Its roughly a bit more than 2m x 2m.

It had taken me about 6 weeks just to quilt it and a few extra days do dye the fabrics, colour co-ordinate threads etc. The surface fabric is pure wool, back is silk dyed in yellow and violetish-grey and the wadding (batting) is cotton, all hand-stitched together with cotton threads. Finally, I have taken it out of the closet for some photos and here they are...

Busy May

The first market stall for Entanglewood was a learning experience as the firsts tend to be. And now I have got two more events to look forward to and keep me busy.

I will be at The Old Spitalfields market once again on the 19th May 11am till 5 pm. I am looking forward to this one as I feel better prepared now!

And you can also find Entanglewood at the Made in Clerkenwell open studios from 24th - 27th May! This will be the first event for Entanglewood of this kind and scale so I am really excited for it! 90 Designers across 2 building showing and selling unique handmade products. I would be on the 5th floor of St John street building. Do come along!
Admission is £2.50 (inc. both buildings and all 4 days)

stamp away!

This past weekend I was immersed in Stamping the Entanglewood logo on all the scarves getting ready for next week's market stall at Spitalfields. A well spent Saturday I say! I made the ink with the Logwood dye extract. And a makeshift stamp pad from an old tin of strong mints.





And also a last minute addition to the product list, I made these mini lavender cushions. Aah! The wonderful smell is still lingering in the room. Use them to scent drawers or under your pillow for a restful sleep!

The Making of an Entanglewood Scarf

I know its been some time since my last post, but I am happy to say that the time has been spent well busy especially in making new scarves. Delighted furthermore I am to say that it is a market stall that I have been focusing my energies towards the preparation for. It is on the 21st April at the Designers / Makers Market, Old Spitalfields Hall, London, E1 6EW so if you happen to be around intentionally or unintentionally do drop by for the first ever Entanglewood market stall!

I have been asked by those who have seen my work how it is that I make these botanically dyed scarves. So I have decided to show you. Perhaps you may find that process just as fascinating as I do. Recently I experimented and with much success, a different style for silk scarves than the one I was doing before. I am still looking for a appropriate name for the collection. Do let me know if you have suggestions.

The Making of a Scarf:

The materials used were onion skins, purple passion fruit skin and Annatto seeds. Annatto is derived from the seeds of the achiote trees of the tropical and subtropical regions around the would and is commonly used as food colouring.

1) First, a square piece of silk was folded, layered with the onion skins and passion fruit skins then tied it into a bundle with some string.

2) The bundle(s) the get some time in simmering water with annatto seeds.

3) Out of the hot dye water and cooling for some time. A perfect opportunity to take some photos (to distract from the impatience of really, really wanting to open them, now!). The scarf in mention is the on on the left in this photo.

4) Unstrung!

5) The unfolding!

6) ta-da! Oh the joy!

7) Then the scarf is then washed, dried, ironed and the edges finished by hand.

8) Now it's ready to wear!

And here are some others using the same process.

aah! Spring is here. the air smells different and trees have already started to bud! Now is a perfect time to start new things... and in this spirit (and also because sometimes you have just had enough of the same thing...) I recently finished a few half-done projects, like my autumn collection scarves and a quilt. I am yet to take some amazing photos of these. But in the meanwhile I am starting other new things... well attempting to at least.

These include a tried and tested onion skins scarf and the never-tried-before pin cushions, random gift pouches, a shawl-wrap...!

The versatile onion skins!

An excellent way to use scraps!

A patchwork of silk pieces being stitched on to cotton to make a shawl style wrap... really excited about this one.

The finished scarves

And of course my highlight of the month has to be receiving the much awaited mini business cards!

So much for now. Lots of stitching to do still....

website live.... woo-hoo!

Oh wow! I am so relieved and happy! After days of staring into the screen and fumbling around in the unknown world of website building and domains and URLs and the general alien IT language, I can't believe I have finally done it! At least I think I have... Check it out and let me know what you think!

www.entanglewood.co.uk

Its still a work in progress, so if you click on Facebook icon at the bottom of the page, it may take you to a random Facebook page. (Oops!) Still need to figure that one out... But otherwise, things should run smoothly. Oh and, please leave feedback, comments, anything I might have missed out in excitement or frustration. And thank you for viewing it!

Right, so whats next on the checklist...?

its all about the quilting...

In the last week of November 2011, I attended a quilting workshop with Katherine May at her lovely home. It was a perfectly lovey day of quilting and chatting and sharing stories and just the confidence booster that I needed. I had made a spontaneous quited throw for my dear friend Jasmine as a wedding gift. But hadn't got any quilting knowledge per se. I had planned another quilt and so after the workshop, felt very brave ordering the wadding. And now, two months and two holidays later, having said goodbye to my first ever quilt (which now sits happily on Jasmine's sofa), I have finally started the new quilt and as back-breaking as it is (literally!) I am mighty excited.

First ever quilt!

This first quilt is really a patchwork of my very first botanical dye experiments some worked and others didn't but they were too precious to throw away. Back then I hadn't got a cupboard to put my samples away safely so they ended up in lots of different bags. Almost a year later I started to get really concerned about moths destroying the beautiful wool as they were feasting on some other stuff. And in an eureka moment, I decided to join them together to make a bigger piece.... then add a back piece... then add a fabric in the middle... and that's how it became a quilt. ta-da!

Beginning of a new one

This one is a bit more thought through and intentional. Sort of.