Personal Sewing :: Side Two of the Project

 I'm making progress on the second side of my little hexagon bag project.

For this side I decided to just applique the hexagons down to my linen base in a pattern. I have more to add, but this is as far as I got yesterday afternoon while watching the NFL playoff games with my hubby.

I took a photo of the pre-made hexagons and the embroidery floss my friend gave me. I wish I had thought to take of photo of the hexagons before I started using them! They looked so pretty all laid out in rows that it took me a while to be able to use them.

If you missed my first post about this project you can view it by clicking the following link: Personal Sewing 

Personal Sewing

 Every January I like to try to make something just for me. So I started this little project. It will be a zippered bag when it grows up.

The hexagons were a gift from a friend from several years ago. She went to the big quilt show in Tokyo, in 2019 I think. She purchased these pre-made 1/2" hexagons and few small pieces of Japanese fabrics and gave them to me. I have 100 of these little hexagons and I'm finally using them! This is side one of the bag. I'm not sure what the other side will look like just yet, but I'm working on it.

I pieced the hexagons together, pulled out the papers then appliqued it to a piece of linen. There is a piece of fusible fleece on the backside of the linen. I quilted through the two layers and added some embroidery too. The colored embroidery thread was also part of the gift she brought me from Japan.

I'm just playing with no real plan, just doing what feels right in the moment.

How to Make a Basic Bowl with Rope

 I've been trying to do more video content but I don't really like to be on camera. Editing the videos is a learning experience and time consuming. I am getting better but I never thought I'd be filming and editing videos as part of my job. You just never know what skills you'll need in life!

I made a video demonstrating how to make a basic bowl with rope. It's kind of a mini class. It's not perfect, but I think you can get the idea and learn something which is more important than perfection. Because I show you a lot of things in the video it's what I would consider a long video - about 36 minutes. I show you everything though: how to start the bowl, how to change rope colors, how to tip up the bottom and make the sides of the bowl and a loop finish. I also share some tips and tricks.

The video from YouTube is embedded below:

If the video above doesn't play for you, here is the direct link to the video on the shop YouTube Channel: Rope Bowl Demonstration from Alamosa Quilt Company  If you go directly to YouTube via the link would you consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel? It would help my rankings on YouTube to get some new subscribers.

I am using two colors of rope that I sell in my shop. My favorite rope to sew with is the 3/16" diameter rope from the Mountain Thread Company. I carry several colors of it as well as the natural color in my shop. Click the following link to check out the rope sewing supplies I have in stock: Rope Sewing Supplies from Alamosa Quilt Company

Crimson Tweed is Done, Done, DONE!

 As most Sue Spargo projects are, this one took quite a while. I've been working on this for about four years. The hand quilting alone took a little over two years, but I really only got to work on it on Thursdays during the hand sewing group at my shop.

I included lots of close up shots of the finished quilt below. 

The pattern is called Crimson Tweed by Sue Spargo. The pattern book is discontinued and I have already sold my personal copy of the pattern to a customer who wanted it. An internet search might turn up a couple copies of the book from an individual who is selling their personal copy or from a shop who might have a copy or two still in their inventory, but I don't have any copies of the pattern book any more.

If you get your hands on a copy be forewarned that this pattern is from 2010. At that time Sue Spargo was not doing as much embroidery on her designs as she uses now. Most of the embroidery I did on this is my own design. There were about 10 of us at my shop who did this project together. We all took ideas from each other and shared lace, buttons, beads and other embellishments within the group.

Crimson Tweed Update

 On Thursday of last week I put the final seed stitch, which is how I hand quilted this, in my version of Crimson Tweed.

I've been working on this for quite some time! I started quilting it in October of 2022. I worked on it most Thursday afternoons at my shop during our Hand Sewing Group. Sometimes store sewing took precedent and I had to get it done instead of working on my Crimson Tweed, but I tried to not let store sewing get in the way very often.

The last step is binding, a label and a hanging sleeve. I have the binding fabric picked out and cut. The plan is to get this finished soon and ready for hanging up in my house this year during the Christmas season. 

When I do my final post on this project I'll take some close up images of it so you can see the details a bit better.

Dip Dyed Rope Bowls

 I did a little experiment last week. I bought some liquid Rit dye from the grocery store along with a bottle of the Rit dye Color Fix. I followed the directions on the bottles and dip dyed a sewn bowl and some loose rope.

Here is the bowl before dyeing.

I used an old bucket to set the bowl and loose rope in with the dye. Then I set them in the sun in my backyard to dry.

Here is what the bowl looks like after it dried. 

Then I made another bowl with the dip dyed loose rope.

On this bowl I tried out a different finish than I've used before. I just finished the bowl then cut a 1.5" by 3" piece of cork and folded it over the end of the rope. I made sure it was evenly folded over the edge and topstitched it down.

I'm not a big fan of dyeing fabric myself. I love the finished product but don't really enjoy the dyeing process personally. Dyeing rope is about the same, but much easier than the methods I have tried for dyeing fabric. It took about 2 hours of dyeing time, most of which was spent waiting. I would guess there was an actual 30 minutes of true work during the 2 hours. Then it took a few more hours of drying time, again, no actual work, just waiting patiently to handle my dyed stuff.

But wow, I love how both of them turned out!

If you would like to try this out and you can't get the supplies locally, I do have all of the rope, rope kits, and a rope sewing book listed for sale on my website.

Rope Sewing Supplies from Alamosa Quilt Company

More Rope Sewing

 I'm having so much fun sewing with the new rope I received in my shop!

The first thing I made with the new rope from The Mountain Thread Company was this Basket with Handles. I used the kit shown in the photos that the basket is sitting on to make it. I wanted to test out their kits. They are excellent! Each kit includes the amount of rope you need to make the project, a denim needle for your sewing machine and the instructions for the project.

Next I wanted to try out some of the colored rope from The Mountain Thread Company. This is their Spring Poppies Mix and I just made a small bowl. I didn't use a pattern. My base is about 5" and the sides are about 3" tall. Note that the color of the rope is truer in the second photo. In the second photo you can also see how the rope is made. There is no core - it's braided. It's also made in the USA, in North Carolina!

Then I wanted to see how easy it would be to use two different colors of rope in the same project and I wanted to try out the coil finish.

Next I decided to get samples made up of all the kits. Below is the Oval Organizer. To finish it off I did another coil but on the inside of the bowl instead of the outside and I attached the coil to the bowl with a button.

Then I made the set of Nesting Bowls. Note that the kit does not include the wooden bead. I had some wooden beads and wanted to try out finishing a bowl with them. So I added on to the largest size bowl.

Strictly speaking, I haven't made every set. I haven't made the Set of 5 Trinket Bowls or the Set of 3 Bowls or the Coaster Set with Basket. However, the smallest bowl in the Nesting Set is the same size as the Trinket Bowls. And the medium bowl in the Nesting Set is the same size as the bowls in the Set of 3 Bowls. I've made lots of coasters and the size bowl in the coaster set is in between the medium and large bowls from the Nesting Set.

Then I had some rope leftover from years ago when I was making rope bowls. I had it hand dyed by a friend. I made a few coasters off the roll then just decided to sew it all up into a big bowl. Mission accomplished! It is a very big bowl.

First, I really don't like this rope after sewing with the new stuff from The Mountain Thread Company. This rope is lumpy, floppy and uneven thickness. It also has a polyester core so you are limited by how you can end it. The bowl bottom is about 11.5", it's 9" tall and the diameter at the top is 18".

You can use lots of different kinds of rope to make these bowls, but the nicer the rope you start out with the nicer the finished product. If you are buying and can feel the rope, pinch it to see how squishy it is. The Mountain Thread Company rope is not squishy at all and sews up beautifully. Squishy rope makes a squishy bowl that won't hold it's shape very well.

I made a short video for how to make a coaster with rope. The video is 11 1/2 minutes long and you see me make the coaster in real time. It actually takes me about 5 minutes to make a coaster, but everything takes longer when you are explaining to folks.

I have embedded the video above but if it doesn't play for you then click this link to view it directly on YouTube: How to make rope coaster

If you are interested in getting some rope and trying this yourself, I do sell the kits and spools of rope in my physical shop and my online shop.

Rope Sewing Products from Alamosa Quilt Company

If something is out of stock, I've already ordered more but I'm having trouble keeping this stuff in stock because it's just so fun to work with!