Scissor keeps

As I finished my 3 beaded scissor fobs I chose a pair of scissors to go with each. I had, I discovered, at least 7 pair of embroidery scissors without fobs - and more importantly, without cases or keeps. The scissors with new beaded fobs needed, I thought, a case to go with the fob. For Anastasia i made a case out of the Italian felted wool coat left-over fabric.

For the black fob I chose a scrap of black silk from which I had once, I think, had a dress. For the purple Anastasia I chose a piece of cotton Bali ikat from which I still have a smocked dress.

That would, you might think, be enough to keep me going.  I was, however, by now well and truly on a mission, spurred on by the thrill of using up scraps of treasured fabric.

In the hunt for further suitable fabric I came across a set of embroidered linen serviettes I bought in 1972 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had used them throughout the 70s and 80s before wear and stains pensioned them off - but I couldn't bear to dispose of the meticulous, tiny cross-stitched embroidery.

So here was my chance. I cut the embroidered sections out and made them into both a scissor fob and a scissor keep.

I searched through the pieces of fabric I had overdyed in the Futonji class. I don't think I will ever put these to their intended use, so one piece fell to the scissor mission.

  

This lovely piece of shot silk is from a sari I bought in India in the 70s and had made into trousers and top for my daughter's wedding.

 It now houses my purple scissors



















This Paisley scissor keep with the crocheted edge I made earlier this year as an off-shoot of my teabag holder project, was enhanced by a fob with a crocheted star.

I experimented with the stiffening agent - in some using the plastic from milk cartons, as we did for those we made in Back to Basics, in others I used a variety of interfacing - from quite stiff, to felt, to much  lighter. All were successful in their own way. All the fobs were weighted with coins, some of them old, some contemporary Australian and some foreign. I do hope none of them were valuable - or if they were, that some future embroiderer one day takes them apart and benefits!

So now I have fobs and keeps for most of my embroidery scissors. I didn't expect to end up here when I decided to try Japanese beading!

Futonji Class

Barbara Mullan is offering a set of four classes at the Embroiderers' Guild of SA in Futonji - Nuno Felt, stamp and Decorate. The classes will be one month apart and result, for those who attend all of them, in the production of a long scarf. Dying and stamping are outside my experience, but I thought I'd give it a go. I can only attend the first two classes - but I figured I'd have fun and learn a bit in two classes.

The first class was Sunday last weekend. The six of us attending had a very relaxed day. After going through the sequence of steps that will be needed, and examining Barbara's example, we got to work 'discharging' our fabric samples, by applying thickened bleach, rinsing and hanging them up to dry. We then applied dye to the samples and placed them in plastic bags in the sun to 'cook'.

While they steamed away we chose designs and carved blocks that we will use next month. I went for a simple form with no fine detail while I got the hang of carving with a very sharp blade.







The bag of fabric pieces continued to steam away at home. The fabric pieces were then washed and ironed, ready for the next lesson.

Not all of them worked well, but the effects are interesting and will be more so with a bit of stitching.

Lots of fun.