Komasu shibori

This was a desperate attempt to breathe a last life into my unloved wrap with the screenprint birds on it. 
I had fabrics-store's bluebonnet colored linen.  It was used for a long time as a size 6, but that size was not really working for me anymore.  I didn't realize it was the size, but thought it was just too boring.   In an effort to make the wrap more exciting, I screenprinted scissor-tailed flycatchers on it.

original birds

But they didn't really show up much when wrapping, unless I made a point of it.  I was thinking about what to do come winter and so I ended up chopping the 6 into a 2 + a piece for a warm wide-bodied pod.  Now I had 2 bird wraps and my collection was heavily skewed towards blue wraps.  The birds started cracking and peeling off, so I went ahead and stripped the wrap with two packets of Rit color remover.

stripped with one bird remaining

The screenprint did not strip off as I had hoped, but the wrap itself came out to an ugly old dishtowel color, which was nice in that it was light and totally workable for an overdye.  I left it to sit in hot water with soda ash and dawn and once it had sat until it was cooler, scrubbing at the birds with an old dishwashing brush.  Eventually the birds but one (which hadn't peeled so I thought I might leave it) looked mostly removed so I threw the wrap in for a hot scour in the washing machine and was pleasantly surprised by how the unevenness in color leftover from the strip seemed to have leveled and also how the birds were even more invisible than I expected.  I decided to go back a step and remove the last bird and rescour.  Next I dyed the wrap using a mixture of fuchsia and royal blue.

'light' purple first dip

It came out darker than I was intending, since this was just supposed to be a base layer to cover the dishtowel color.  OH well it's pretty.  Time to tie up the shibori.  I used the komasu "small squares" technique after ironing into accordion folds.  I cut two triangles from cardstock to use as templates.  One triangle was half the size of the other.  The spacing in between the big stitched triangles was one leg of the little triangle and the spacing in between the little stitched triangles was one leg of the big triangle.  I laid the templates out onto the wrap and just marked with a pencil.   To make your stitched guides, you make a long, evenly spaced running stitch in a right equilateral triangle with the hypotenuse running along the fold of the fabric.  You want to have a knot at one end of the stitching and the other end loose.   Then once all the guides are stitched in, you can start cinching up the stitching to create little pleated tufts.  Bind the tufts by wrapping tightly with thread at 2 points to get the double layered squares.  I like using kamosage knots because they are easy to undo later and quick to make in the first place.  Additionally, they have a surprisingly helpful grip if, afterwards, you reverse your binding direction at the next tuft.    The book I learned the technique from is called Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing.

pleated and stitched

stitching cinched and bound

on both ridges and valleys of pleats

I cut off one of the old hems from which the birds hadn't flown to test color during the second dip. 
I put the grey dye in the bath, but it wasn't enough grey, so I ended up adding some old royal blue I had mixed up (of unknown strength).  That was too pink still, so I added even more royal blue.  Then it got too blue, so I added fuchsia.  When I got it to my satisfaction, I added the soda ash.    After a while of swishing to make sure the dye uptook evenly, I moved on to rinse stage--letting it soak for about an hour.  Then I undid the binding with the seam-ripper (carefully) then a final rinse, then hot wash.  The rinse from the hot wash actually came out really clear the first time, which rather surprised me. 

 

total hands-on time: 18+ hours
screenprint:  3hours
chop &rehem: .5 hours
strip: 1 hour
scrub birds off: 3 hours
dye purple: 2 hours
tie in shibori: 6 hours
dye deep purple: 2 hours
untie: .5 hr
That doesn't even include all the time it was being hand rinsed, washed, scoured, or my hands being cleaned up.

I am really enjoying this wrap so far.   I think it was well worth all the time I've spent on it in all its various stages.  And as usual, I learned a TON of lessons and techniques. 

Babywearing Demo Doll

I don't know why I feel compelled to spend my time following up on design decisions made after 2 am.  Even if I did get sleep up until the point that I woke up with a swell idea and grumbling stomach.  But here I am again.  I should be knitting something warm and cozy, but I'm not.  My mind has gone into that fun realm of turning ideas into 3 dimensional reality.  Goodbye sleep, hello procrastination! 


I am making a demo doll to show people about babywearing.  Since sometimes toddlers have their own opinions and don't cooperate or else don't fit in carries better suited for little bitties. 


Loads of people on TBW have made dolls by buying a plastic doll and filling it with something heavy like bbs, but I don't have that kind of resources at my beck and call.  I do, however, have a ton of fabric and am surrounded by rocks.  I even have some stuffing.  I've made a doll before.  This can't be too hard, right??


I first went and filled up a container with sand/gravel from the arroyo.  I weighed it on our bathroom scale and it came out to about 7 and a half pounds.  I know people have said that the dead weight of a doll can be a lot heavier than the real baby, so I am not going to collect 30 lbs of gravel.  But I did fill up the container twice.  I am planning on having the main portion of the weight (and also firmness) in the body of the doll, with a bit in the arms and legs so that they are easy to find while wrapping and simulate the way real arms and legs would respond to seat making and gravity.  I will add just a bit of weight to the head so the doll isn't just a fluff-brain, but I don't want to have a floppy headed newborn doll, so I will have to keep it minimal. 


I started out by stitching up little hands from the skin-toned interlock.  Then I filled them with fluff and sewed them shut at the openings.  I stitched these into the ends of the sleeves.  From another knit fabric scrap, I created a narrow tube just less long than the sleeve for the gravel-sand to go into.  I used a bit of stuffing to make a softer place where the elbow joint will be.  Then I slid the sandbags into the sleeves and surrounded by fluff to make them less like weapons.  Originally I had put the rocks in little plastic sandwich baggies and taped them shut, but it made the arms really crackly, and not so nice.  Finished off the ends of the arms so they were ready to sew onto the body. 

Next I sewed up a little packet of rocks, like an envelope or rectangular bean bag. I have it partway in the head and partway in the shoulders to give the neck stability, since I want a doll with good head control.  I made up a knit tube to the diameter of the head, bound off one end with artificial sinew, turned it right-side out, and I stuffed the top of it with fluff, then inserted the rock packet into the neck.  Around the neck, I tightly tied a few rounds of artificial sinew to hold the head/neck fabric tight to the packet.

For the body, I sewed up a tube with seat darts to create a bottom.  To it I stitched the arms.  Then I filled the body with gravel, and inserted the head/neck/shoulders into the body cavity to give the neck some stability.  I surrounded the shoulders by more rocks and a little bit of stuffing at the very end for easier sewing.  I sewed the head and body together using a ladder stitch.  

I sewed more tubes like those for the arm weights in the right proportions for some chunky thighs and feet.  I filled the legs out in the same way as the arms, only I made them more flexible at the knee so they could illustrate a nice, deep seat.    The feet were sewn at an angle using the ladder stitch so that they stay flexed, and the knees have a wee bit of bend, too.  Once the legs were filled and closed off, I stitched them on at the bottom of the onesie, so that the doll would have its feet out in front in a seated position.

I stitched on little green embroidery thread eyes and a little mouth so as to make it less creepy, added a hat to cover the gathered head, and the last thing was just to dress the doll in some old clothes, and call it a day!  

He weighs 13 lbs and is about 25" long.  And  he is a very cooperative wrappee.  I'm having fun making babywearing tutorials over at suncitybabywearing.wordpress.com

*Over a few uses, the rocks have really started to settle in the body.  Before long, I may need to add some more to fill out the shoulders again.  This may have been avoidable had I thumped the gravel-filled body on the table a few times to get all the excess spaces out, but it didn't occur to me. 

Elephant Skin Overalls

This has been the destiny of a remnant of grey cord ever since I bought it a while back.  I don't think any other fabric I have gotten has had so dedicated a purpose, or been used so completely by a project.  They fit well over a diaper but also work with undies, depending on how things are going.  The leg openings are loose so they don't constrict movement or sitting.  They are long enough to be rolled down a bit, but are turned up into bright blue LWI dyed cuffs for the time being.  The shoulder straps can be uncrossed, since they are held in place by a loop of ribbon.  The elastic at the back helps hold shirts down, and is less fiddly to dress than side buttons.  The only thing I should have added (and I always forget!) is pockets.  It might be too late for this project. 

OnBag

I made this after hearing about the idea through babywearing pages.  The idea is taken from the carrier called an onbuhimo, and the theory behind the bag is that it has flexibility of wearing positions.  So you could wear it cross-shoulder or you could tie the straps shorter and put it over one shoulder, or you could thread the straps through the rings at the bottom corners of the bag, and wear it like a backpack.  Which is a cool idea when you also have a baby strapped to you in any number of ways, but really, it seems cool to me anyway.  I love things that can be used in multiple ways.  So yeah, I actually salvaged the straps from my failed onbuhimo attempt, and the ends that were blue I dyed in charcoal grey using LWI.  The ends that had been white, I dyed in red using a dip dye technique for a solid look.  I dyed the canvas for the outer portion of the bag using the same colors, but using the “small squares” shibori technique and direct application of the dyes.  It was a real challenge to tie the canvas since it was so thick-- I used artificial sinew and it worked well.  I dyed the inner lining (which had been pale blue) with charcoal grey as well, in LWI again, so it matched the straps.  I had salvaged a magnetic snap from another bag that was ruined and getting cut up for bits and pieces anyway.  And the rest was pretty straightforward bag construction.

Toddler Vest & Fox Hat

I made up the pattern as I went along.  It came out lovely.  A bit of blocking made it look even nicer, I'll have to keep doing that, it was no harder than what I was doing with the wool diaper pants.  Hope it is comfy when it gets cooler.  I'll put up my pattern on ravelry at some point.
The hat was based on the sly fox hat pattern I found on ravelry, but I omitted the eyes and nose, and ran out of yarn on the left ear, and sorta fudged it.  Oh well.

front

back

fox hat

Clarifying Folding Technique of Green Diamonds Wrap

In photos. 

The main folds are along the red dashed lines and the black lines are secondary folds created after the initial folds.  However, the whole thing was worked left to right so only a couple of the sections were being worked on at any one time.  The dashed lines represent mountain folds and the dotted represent valley folds (as in origami). 

folding diagram

first set of primary folds

filling in some secondary folds

pinching up some secondary folds

setting up next segment of primary folds

pinching up more secondaries

it stayed better with wet fabric than this dry run

working along to create the concentric secondary folds in a V shape

another segment done

from more directly above, more scrunched up

ridges marked out

This Got Lost in the Shuffle

Back in June, I dyed this wrap and then forgot to document it.  Green was the only thing that I was really set on beforehand, and so this was an awesome excuse to mix up a bunch of greens to play around with.  I like to mix colors in egg cartons (we buy Costco quantities) for small swatches.  I ended up mixing 4 different colors of green, but the effect of the tied resist was more than I was expecting, so they didn't show up the way I envisioned.  Which is probably for the best.  

First I washed in PTD on hot, then soaked in soda ash, while I mixed up the colors.  I ended up letting it soak overnight because things came up. 

Next morning, I took out the wrap and since it is so dry here and I wasn't sure how long it would take to fold, I didn't actually wring it out.  I probably should have, but didn't realise it would be ok even if it did dry out at this stage.  

I folded it lengthwise, trying to make it as evenly done as possible, which was hard because it was windy, and I pretty much always work outside.  I folded it in half the other way, too, so that all the fringe was at the one end.  I then arranged it so it would unfold from a neat little pile as I worked on my tie-dye fold from the opposite end. 

whew.  one (lengthwise) fold done, about a million to go.

To fold it, I basically made zigzags that went from edge to edge and then filled in the spaces with more concentric folds.  I practiced first on paper and used markers to show how the dye would go to make sure what I imagined would happen would actually happen.  My mind is spatial enough that usually it works out, but "measure twice, cut once", ya know?

folded

Once I folded it all up, which took something like an hour straight, I trussed that sucker up like a Thanksgiving turkey.  I didn't want it misbehaving while I was trying to dye.  But this step was sorta tough, maybe it would be better to have the strings laying out beforehand, or maybe that way it would have been hard to fold, I dunno.  Tying up around the fringe was something I should have thought of beforehand.

trussed

Next it was time for the fun part!  Application of the dye.  I wanted each diamond to contrast with the next diamond over, so I tried to plan the colors accordingly, only they got mixed up in the move from the porch mixing station to the shady tree dyeing station.  I think I should have used the baster, but I couldn't find it, and I think it was last used for fertilizer and I dunno whether that would be compatible with dye.  So I used the third or 4th best thing, baby Advil syringes.  These things are soooo small, but I thought it would be better for control than nothing.   The dye pattern I used was supposed to make light and darker versions of the dye form the stripes.  That part worked out fine, but maybe sticking with 2 colors rather than 4 would have been better.  You can see in one of these photos how on the top side of the fabric turkey I used light green and on the bottom, dark green.  So then for the next diamond over, I used dark on the top and light on the bottom, and alternated in that manner all down the wrap.  I should have been more careful with the drips and drops, but my time was running out.

left-handed at arm's reach mad dyeing skills

top and bottom color difference visible on front edge

Then you just let it sit for 24 hours.  Except I didn't have the patience--I think it sat until evening.  It was really hot (and dry), though, so I don't usually see a difference in vibrancy by waiting.  Here's my super-duper-high-tech system.  I just wanted any excess dye to really drain away, but at the same time wanted to keep it covered to keep from drying out too fast.

waiting

Here it is in the rinsing out stage.  This is where I felt like I should have used more dye, and massaged it in deeper, only I didn't because I didn't want it to turn to mush.  You can see the middle here, where I did the widthwise fold, and how that made one diamond out of two halves of folded diamonds.  The fold really affected how well the dye penetrated, so you can see a distinct line through the diamond which isn't as obvious with the others since they are more separated.  You can also see where I did the different pairs of greens.  I like the really light and really dark pair best. 

rinsing

And after it was fully washed and dried and a couple days of staring at it, I was a lot happier with it.  The places that rinsing made blatantly obvious were more muted.  The white balance was particularly hard to adjust on these photos, since the fabric was a natural color, not pure white, and it's no longer in my hands to compare. 

done!

 

Stripes Tie-Dyed Wrap

I bought a length of Osnaburg a little bit back mostly because I wanted to see if it was all it was hyped up to be as a wrap.  It was a little darker in its natural color than I had imagined, so the ideas I had rattling around in my head were laid aside for now.  I wanted to use the natural color as almost part of the design, or at least to shift the colors into a range that was not so glaringly bright.  So I decided on stripes.  Originally I thought about green, blue and orange, but on doing some test stripes, I actually wanted more warm colors than cool ones.

I folded the fabric accordion-style across the length of the wrap so that when I applied color it would create stripes that ran along the rails of the wrap.  Once I had gotten some more or less regular folds, I started tying.  I was intending to use twine, but when it came right down to it, rubberbands seemed easier, especially since I had done a soda ash presoak and was folding wet, so I had gloves on anyway.

folded

rubberbanded

Then I mixed up the dyes: burgundy, deep orange, chinese red, and a purple and a blue of my own composition.  The next step was incredibly time-consuming.  I applied the dye to the stripes between the rubberbands using a syringe.   I stuck the syringe into the folds to inject the dye into the tight spaces.   Once the dyes were applied to the top half of the folded wrap, I massaged in the dyes. Then turned it over and did that whole process again on the other side.  With a now screaming toddler.  Fun.  I turned on the hose for him, even though it's a little "chilly" today.  It took about an hour and a half to do all the folding and dyeing.  After covering in plastic and setting in the sun there's a bit of a break.

dye added

About 3 hours after I left it, I came back to add more dye into folds and do more massaging.   Things were looking pretty good and I had high hopes.

I ended up taking it all inside after the sun went behind the mountains, and I'm glad I did because we got the first rain in months overnight.   I put it in the garage since it's warm and babyproof.  Then in the morning, I moved on top of the dryer while I did laundry for some more warmth.  If I'd done this last week the temps would have been vastly different!  At 24 hours along, I decided it was as thoroughly done as it was gonna be, and it's not getting any warmer.  I also was starting to worry about the dyes creeping into each others' territory and turning too muddy.  So into the washer to rinse it went!  I considered setting it out in the rain, but decided that without constant checking it might bleed all over itself.  A few hot washes later and it looked like this:

warm stripes

It's So Hot You Could Fry a Crayon Out There!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Onbuhimo

Onbuhimo is a style of baby carrier that seems to have its roots in Japanese traditional babywearing.  It's alot like the more commonly used Mei Tai but instead of having a waistband strap it has 2 rings or loops of fabric, which you thread the shoulder straps through.  I've been off the Ergo lately because I want to have F riding up high on my shoulders as it causes fewer back problems that way, and he can see better.  This carrier has the added advantage of not having a waistband, which I find nice.  
I knocked out this version in just a few hours (after loads of research), and it really came out much better than I expected.  I used a couple of old pillowcases for the decorative panels and there is a hidden inner layer of duck canvas to which the straps and rings are attached.  The curve part at the top seemed like a better idea than it felt like while I was sewing, but it could have been worse.  There are definitely things I'd improve, mostly in my construction techniques to streamline the process, but I'm satisfied with its safety, functionality, and looks...at least from a distance.   The straps were grad dyed linen, but only a couple of inches wide.  Apparently wider is better.  The rings are size medium, too big and too far from the panel corners, thus creeping up my sides awkwardly.  The body panel itself was actually pretty good.  

...

Well... I have since taken apart the onbu, since the straps were too thin and diggy, the body panel was not very knee-to-knee, and I needed the too-big-for-this-project rings to put to better babywearing use.  Plus I found directions for how to tie mei tai waist straps into loops to use the MT as an onbu, so I figured I should just make a mei tai.  So I did.  See the previous post.  

Here's a shot of it during the onbu's maiden voyage:

onbu

Mei Tai

Before I get started, I feel I should put in a disclaimer.  First, please only use this for personal use.  I deliberately did not include a scaled photo or pattern so that you have to figure out your own pattern/measurements.  That way it will fit you and your baby perfectly.  Secondly, if you use this recap to make a baby carrier, use common sense.  You are responsible for the safety of your child and you are the best gauge of your sewing skills.  Make sure you are using the right materials, techniques, etc to reduce risks.  Overengineer where your baby's safety is concerned.  Test along the way!  Once you sew on the straps, give them as hard a pull as you can.  You want to find out now if they will hold weight, not once you're carrying a baby.  If there's something you are in doubt about, search  for answers/ask me before moving on!  Jan Andrea's site is incredibly valuable: http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/index.html  

For this mei tai I used the onbuhimo I made a few months ago as a basic pattern, modifying it where I felt necessary.  If you don't have a carrier whose body shape/size you like, you'll want to wrap your baby on your back or front, making sure you get a good seat.  Using a soft tape measure, measure between the knees curving along the baby's bottom at the lowest point.  Also measure from the bottom rail (or where your seat is really tucked under, between the baby and you) to the height you'd like the carrier to go up to.  (I'm planning on adding the waist straps at an angle, so the carrier will be tied "apron style" which means you tie the waist with the carrier hanging down like you would an apron, and then when you bring it up over baby's back it creates a nice unpoppable seat by definition.  The other waist tie style is like that used for the Ergo.  Anyway, it's something to take into account when measuring.)  I can tell from my explanation that some diagrams would be nice here.  To give you a rough idea: I have a really tall, long-torsoed toddler and my numbers were knee-to-knee: 19" and height 21".  And you can always add a bit extra for seam allowance.  The advantage to doing the canvas inner layer for me was, in part that I don't mind cutting that up and having to chuck it and start over if it was totally wrong.  So for your pattern use something cheap like newspaper or muslin if this step daunts you.  But then make the actual inner layer out of something sturdy.  I strongly recommend using an inner layer of canvas (aka duck cloth), even if your two outer layers of fabric are strong, and it is absolutely requisite if your outer decorative fabrics are not too sturdy.  While I would use a single layer of medium weight linen fabric to wrap a baby in a rucksack carry, that is a fabric with no stitching compromising its strength.  So here I have used 2 layers of medium weight linen plus a canvas inner layer.  And of course you want your straps to be of good quality sturdy fabric, too.

how to measure: click for larger image

After obtaining my measurements, I laid the onbu out on the canvas layer, and this time I decided not to add a seam allowance for this layer, since it adds unnecessary bulk when sewing and then topstitching.  I traced out my new idea, only halfway around, and folded the fabric along the center line (vertically) to cut through both layers more symmetrically.  I then wrapped the baby again and held up the canvas to make sure the size was more or less correct.  I then traced the pattern onto the pretty fabrics, adding in a generous seam allowance.  Next I cut strips of linen to become straps.  The dimensions are all up to your preference and body type.  I wanted mine wide to distribute weight better and long to allow more tying options, you can always cut down later.

onbu laid out on canvas fabric

canvas folded in half and cut

Next I hemmed then pleated the strap fabric to fit into the width of the strap spaces on the canvas.  I pinned them within an inch of their lives using those nice long quilters' pins.  Tacked them down.  Here's where safety again rears its complicated head.  You have to use either X box tack method or bar tacking.  I started out by using X boxes because that's what I'm more familiar with, but noticed when I pulled the straps that they were coming unpleated and looked stressed.  So I threw down a bar tack, too.  I liked it better, it's really easy and pretty.  You won't see it, but pretty is always pretty.  It also seemed to keep the pleats more in place.  I did the rest of the straps with both these methods for consistency's sake, praying it wasn't like the heinous act of using both seatbelts and LATCH.  Another pull and they seemed much sturdier and stabler. 

pleated straps pinned down

pleated straps with X boxes and bar tacking

Next I laid out my outer fabrics in sewing order.  Put the two outer fabrics right sides together and  then set the canvas on top.  I pinned them together to keep them from misbehaving while I sew the next step.  Tucked all the straps in...piled them up on top of the canvas so they aren't hanging in the way of the edge of the canvas.  Rolling up each strap and using rubber bands to secure it is a clever idea that I did not come up with.  

pin those layer together

pile the straps out of the way

Now I did a simple running stitch long the edge of the canvas, only catching the 2 outer fabrics and not catching the canvas or straps.  Or I could have used a pencil and traced the canvas exactly at the edge onto the top of these 2 pieces and I could have skipped the whole pinning and trying to sew carefully thing.  Hindsight is 20/20.  I made sure to leave a space at each strap location so I could feed them through later.  I took the canvas and straps out of the way--throw it on the floor, I mean really out of the way-- and turn the 2 outer pieces right side out.  Re-oriented my brain and stuffed the inner layer in between these layers like you are putting a pillow into a pillowcase.  Threaded the straps through their corresponding holes.   It's funny how the hardest things to describe by words, the things that would most benefit by having a picture to go along with, are often also the hardest things to get pictures of.

The next step is to tuck in the seam allowance where it is peeking out at the strap base and stitch them down.  This is non-weightbearing so I like to stitch by hand to get it really neat.  I think the stitch I use is called the ladder stitch.  I did this for all the strap holes.  It should be looking really good now.  The last thing is just to topstitch all the way around the edge, I use the presser foot as my guide, which will keep the inner layer from getting all twisted and impart strength to the carrier.  I went around a second time with the topstitching just to make it look a little nicer.  

topstitch using presser foot as spacing guide

I don't have a finished/action shot yet.  But I love the combination of comfort, ease, versatility!