Karen Ruane

a bag for Helen, brief show and tell

Hi everyone. I have had a busy weekend so the bridal bag remains un damp stretched....oh the shame!! I am hoping you will forgive me as I try to make amends with a very short video show and tell..............

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loops

the wedding bag. progress 2

over sized toggles

 

 

 

 I have been playing with fastenings over in simply stitch and the result? These oversized toggles. I love them. I adore them. I want to make more of them. I don't think I will use them on the final piece but I do think it's OK just to have them, to own them, to take them out and gaze every so often before putting them away again.

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coming together

pleated muslin and embroidered silk continued......

loops

 

This is how I have been spending my evenings this week. I am adding loops to the wedding bag for Helen, loops which will hold the covered cords that will draw her bag closed. Making this bag has been ''testing''' in many ways. I have never made anything like this before and the construction, the ''how'',  the ''what goes where'' in terms of seams and lining appears to me to be more complicated than it should. By that I mean I have a hard time getting my head round it all. My brain doesn't want to compute things like construction, measurements, pattern related information. I can embellish cloth until the cows come home but set me a project that requires more than minimal construction and I'm challenged to say the least. It's a good thing I don't know when I am beaten. 

I have ''dogged determination'', I will stare this bag down. I will persevere. It is after all an inanimate object. It is pliable. It will bend to my will. It had better.

 

dogged  

   
If you describe someone's actions as dogged, you mean that they are determined to continue with something even if it becomes difficult or dangerous.

 

 

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loops and a corner

it's still about the loops....

abc loops

this morning.....

 

 

 

This is what was on my table first thing today. I was gathering bits to make a video for simply stitch and also had just removed a piece of embroidery from the damp stretching board. You can also see my latest ''favourite thing''. It's a sewing gauge, you wouldn't believe, (trust me on this one), you wouldn't believe how excited I am about that little thing. I have had it for a year, bought purely because I liked the packaging, yes, honest. I started using it last week and now I can't let it out of my site. It is so useful that I am amazed I didn't buy one before. Now, if something is still for longer than a nanosecond it gets measured. So that's my house today....a video being made in stages and everything in site getting measured.

Thanks so much for all the responses to my question yesterday. You are there after all. Well I knew you were there but something is amiss with my stat meter. I can't fix it. I will have to live with it until they fix it. If you see them will you tell them? Thank you.

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continuing from yesterday

cross stitch.....

I'm not slacking I promise

the wedding bag 3

 

 

I'm wondering if this looks any different to you?  Perhaps it doesn't but I have added more in the form of French knots and web stitches. The surface embellishment is almost complete on this, the outer part of the bag. I will embroider on the lining too, just a little around the top edge.

You may be able to see two rows of running stitch in these pictures. They are marks for the channel which will house the cords. I have plans for those that I will start work on later today.

I think there is something wrong with my blog feed???? Do you subscribe by e mail??? If you do can you tell me are you getting those mails??? In the last two days according to my site meter I have been talking to myself....that can't be true as I have comments which are the only way I have of knowing that you have been at the moment. I tried to fix it but suspect it isn't a fault at my end. Any other bloggers out there experiencing this? It's a mystery and my brain hurts so I am ignoring it as far as I can......trying not to feel lonely.....

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Special. (progress)

the wedding bag. progress 2

continuing from yesterday

These pictures take yesterdays theme a little further. This is progress that I have made with the ''simply stitch 2'' group. The hooks and eyes haven't found a home in this yet, in the actual piece of work. Yesterdays pleating with the added metal was a sample. There is some way still to go with this, my body bag. You will hear me refer to this quite a lot in the future. The body bag is essentially a human sized pocket....body bag. Work on this will definitely carry on through simply stitch 3 but hopefully not beyond that. 

I am making progress on the wedding bag too and hope to have that damp stretched and beautiful for you tomorrow. I am definitely on a deadline with that but have plans for more surface embroidery....and then some more....I can't stop.

(and I now have a pashmina, (an overrated shawl) and wedding shoes..........happy days.)

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pleated muslin and embroidered silk

pleating

joining sections

 

 

I have been joining sections in very different ways. There are four pieces here, two separate, finished pieces of work. One piece has silk and pleating joined with hooks and eyes the other is two pieces of embroidered silk joined with stab stitch and bullion knots. The hook and eye piece is a sample, testing options for when the main bag is finished and will require fastenings. I am also drawn to zips for that so a final decision hasn't been made yet....and then again I also have a hankering for buttons so who knows what's going to happen. I change my mind a lot. Have you guessed that yet? They don't know whether they are coming or going over in ''simply stitch'' as my mind gets changed over there on an hourly basis!! 

I'm going out in a minute, there's a surprise. She who never leaves the house except to go to the shed is leaving the house to go into town. A proper big place they tell me with shops and cafes and people!!! I am going on a pashmina hunt which will hopefully mark the end of the trauma which is commonly known as  ''shopping for wedding clothing''.

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hooks and eyes and doodle doo

master sheet...

table....

 

 

 

 

It's been a very busy weekend....of the best kind. Following yesterdays pleating bonanza and other assorted things that were happening my table looks like this today. I did manage a little leisurely sewing late last night too, a small panel for the body bag was finished and damp stretched....

Actually, my damp stretching board is working overtime at the moment. I have another piece ready to go on this afternoon and hopefully by bedtime I can remove that one and put another one on there. 

In the midst of all this creativity I also managed to fit in a mini meltdown, wedding related but hey....at least I know I can multi task. It goes something like this.....pleat, stitch, meltdown, coffee, more stitch, another thirty second meltdown, more coffee, stitch, bed.

So how was your Saturday?

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more surface embroidery for the sample cloth

damp stretched and waiting

pleating

 

 

 

 

There is a lot going on here today with cloth, with mulsin. I am pressing, pin tucking and pleating. These things usually happen unseen, in the background but are essential to the pieces I am working on at the moment.

I have huge plans for the pleated cloth and am itching to get going with those later today. I am beyond excitement.

My Saturday will be completely consumed by this work so I can't linger.....I must go and play some more. Have a wonderful day whatever you are doing.

 

 

 

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pleated muslin and embroidered silk continued......

cutwork, bullion knots, box pleats and French pins

wrapped....

 

 

 

 

I'm late, delay after delay. I was delayed at the supermarket and then my husband needed emergency dental treatment....all I can say is that it's like emergency ward 10 here at times and it's a good thing I'm fighting fit and ready for anything, yes, anything.

But never mind I'm here now. I've been titivating another piece of silk for my ''sample cloth body bag''. This one has islands of fabric, (I'm trying to do a romantic description here so don't laugh) it has scattered flowers and fragile lace outlines along with tiny, delicate bridges of wrapped threads.....how did I do?

All I can say is I adore this work, each section already finished and those in progress. I am desperate for this to be finished but only so I can enjoy having it, owning it, touching it...When it is finished it may have a zip, then again it may have hooks and eyes, or maybe buttons. I haven't decided yet but that is why I get so much pleasure from the creative process......considering and making choices about exciting and wonderful things.