The Blue Hemp Dress: a follow up on not finishing the seams.

Yes, it works like a charm! The fraying that you see here will not increase. Hemp linin is self finishing! 5 washes and the edges bind together like soft Velcro.

To boot, the first three washes, iron while still fresh from the washing machine and the seams learns to stay open! I only need to iron if I need it to look crisp from here on. The shots of the seams above are fresh from the dryer with no ironing. The caveat is to pull the dress (hemp linen garment) from the dryer (not an overly full one to crush the garment) as soon as it stops and hang it up. Put on a hanger and Done.

Here are some shots of the zipper after

One wash after the ironing.

three washes (still damp but drying) and after the ironing.

Love it!

A Blue Hemp Dress

First off, Dresses are so much easier than coats!

I cut the dress out of a modified pattern of the coat. Yes, the same but not the same.

I bought in the ease and lengthen the bottom to become a skirt. I love the feel of the material swishing around my ankles so I made it a maxi.

I tucked up the sleeves from a gather to a tuck and it falls nicely from the shoulders.

The dress is made of 55% Hemp and 45% organic cotton so it is a keeper. As this is hemp I have taken upon myself not to finish the seams in any way as hemp has a tendency to just act like Velcro when washed a few times at the raw edges. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that whole dress doesn’t fall apart meantime. If the raw edges do begin to deteriorate I will do a Hong Kong finish. Only time will tell.

Start to finish 3hrs for the dress and 35hrs for the coat. Dresses are so much easier!

Washed Wool

Funny that http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/fabric-focus-wool/ has wool as the Fabric Focus. This is wool that I have washed – sanitized in the washing machine for about 2 hours with my hemp slippers to felt the wool. I would do this three or four times when doing some deep cleaning on rugs and slippers to get a felted wool. These materials are part of my stash of thrift store material purchases. So no great loss if I bung it up.

As the main body is plaid each peace was individually cut to match the plaid. As this is a curvaceous pattern the end matching should be close but it is too soon to tell. The wool cuts like butter and no fraying involved!

Here is my posting of this pattern last year https://austerity101.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/now-for-my-jacket

For this coat I have lengthened the pattern to knee length. The beige will be the front facing and the under front panel. It will also be used for a collar which I have to create and the under sleeves. I haven’t ironed the wool as it will undo some of the felting and I am hoping that this process will keep me dry and warm this winter.

This bright blue will be the lining. It is sand washed silk and very thick. It also is a thrift shop find of 20$ for 4 meters – plenty to line a long coat.

In between the wool and silk I will put in a cotton quilting felt to add to the warmth. Each piece will be cut to the felt – so it will take a bit before I can post the finalized garment.

Weekly Photo Challenge: THE HUE(S) OF YOU!

I’m complicated!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Saturated

Portage Park in Aug 2013.

We live in a wonderful place, let us do what we are able to keep it this way!

Cape idea 2 – from a single piece of fabric and some hemp thread!

Cape 2 from a single piece of fabric and some hemp thread.

Hemp Thread – yes Hemp! It is .2mm and I think too big for my machines so hand stitching is in order.

Recently purchased wool plaid from the thrift store was begging to be a wrap. It measured 172cm long and 155 wide.

So, I started to fold at one corner 8 inches ( I use both metric and imperial in my sewing and cooking – it comes from starting my school years in imperial measurements and having to learn metric in middle school) from the raw edge and folded to the count of 10. Secured it with some pink hemp thread As this is only a test, I hand basted the raw edge of the plaid with more pink hemp.

Then I got another Idea and it was not to pleat the left side but to bring it up in a swanky way. To complete it I did a fast chain stitch on the left side to keep the folds in place for the drape of the hood.

So this is what I now have hanging out with Daisy (yes, I named the thing that pretends to be me for these photo shoot.)

The beginnings of a cape. It is asymmetrical but has a nice look. To finish this, I need to baste the bottom hem as it is the cut side of the fabric, craft an opening for the right hand and imagine a closure for the front.

But should I take the time to finish it or rip it apart and make a skirt? Or pants, or vest? you get the idea. Feedback is always appreciated.

I have already started a new one but it is only pinned. It is a dusty rose-pink from the 80’s, a woven silk with a very nice drape. It is my next part of the little sewing no cutting capes that bellow from my fabric stash.

The Sea, Weekly Photo Challenge

Living on an Island made this an easy challenge. The sea is all around us! It is vibrant and living. Let us do all that we can to keep it that way!Fire Tug on maneuvers, Straight of Juan De Fuca, Victoria BC, Canada

Fallen Trees come with the tide.

Botanical Beach, Vancouver Island, BC

Quallium Beach Vancouver Island

Swans in the salt water Esquimalt lagoon.

The Ocean is precious, let us honor it by keeping it safe and clean!

If every one was a millionaire who would do the dishes?

Really! Who would do the dishes, pick up the trash, sew the buttons on?

An old Buddhist saying “Before enlightenment fetch wood and carry water, after enlightenment fetch wood and carry water.”

So if we are all millionaires we will still need to do the things that we need to do. Whether it is visiting family or taking out the trash, they are the things that we do.

My millionaire status remains elusive to me and in this I am not alone!

If I had a million I would resurrect my company, Gaia Industrial Arts & Manufacturing – Gaia IAM for Short. It was a simple principal to have a place for some our more marginalized citizens working making simple clothing. I and a lone investor poured $23,000.00 into the company and then the economy tanked taking my hopes for this start up with it. That and competing with cheap and cheaply made clothing was hard to follow adhering to one of the core objectives of the company by giving a living wage for the employees! So, I closed the shop and went back to completing taxes to make up for the losses. The timing of the closing was so close to tax season that I put all of the remaining product in the garage and have stumbled over it since. That was two years ago.

(Littering of blue shirts amongst the office nooks and shelves)

So with the original dyeing not holding up well in the wash of my dyed samples I am pulling the colors from the unsold stock and redoing the dyes with vinegar. The freshly dyed samples are holding up well with the fresh color. Still need to wash them with the darks or similar colors but they look good redone.

After two years of wearing a poorly dyed red cardigan (my bad!), I redid the cardigan in purple and it looks new! Hemp and organic cotton in a good weigh of cloth hold up really well and re dye beautifully.

The new blue shirts are still drying after the ironing. I tend to iron my hemp clothing wet as it helps teach the cloth. New hemp can be stiff but with wearing, washing and ironing, it dose get softer. It is better to teach the cloth when new. And by teaching I mean getting the wrinkles out.

These are just some of left over shirts that I am hoping to sell at the local Hemp & Co. Store. The purple and the dark blue are cozy hemp cotton fleece shirts.