My first forays into natural dyeing began with the vibrant blue dye of indigo. Indigo is the name given to the dye that comes from plants (of which there are many species) containing the indican compound that produces an incredible blue dye. Used throughout Asia, South America & Africa, indigo has a rich and vibrant…
How to Make Organic Indigo Vat Tutorial
American artist Sheila Hicks creates whirlwinds of technicoloured thread, knotting, weaving, twisting and spinning dyed, natural yarns such as wool, linen and silk into richly tactile, all-consuming installations. Since the 1950s, Hicks has been producing woven sculptures of all shapes and sizes, pushing and pulling at the boundaries between art and textiles in order to…
Makes just over 500ml From April onwards, India becomes a mango-lover’s paradise, as Mumbai’s Crawford Market bustles with lorries laden with Kesar, Badami and Alphonso mangoes brought in from all corners of the subcontinent. Huge wicker baskets overflow with pale yellow orbs, carried into the large indoor market atop sellers’ heads. Inside the market, workers…
Icelandic textile designer and artist Ýr Jóhannsdóttir has recently been making waves in the realms of fashion and textiles for her whimsical, colourful and fabulously eccentric garments, all produced under the label Yrurari. Knitting is the backbone of her practice, but her response to the craft is far from traditional, ranging from upcycling old jumpers…
There are only a few days left until the end of winter, which means you can already officially prepare your wardrobe for spring. As a mom, I care about what my children will wear. I don’t like retail shopping, it’s hard to find something that I might really like, instead, I prefer to buy online,…
My Bernina Matic 910 and I have been creating for last seven years together. The range of materials she sews well is delightful. She is an excellent all-round machine. She can handle several layers of heavyweight denim and cotton canvas. She also handles lightweight fabrics and knits well. So far, she and I have made…
Eerie, enigmatic silence circulates through the art of Swiss Symbolist Arnold Bocklin, conveying brooding places hovering between the waking and dreaming worlds. Bocklin predominantly painted the rough and tumble of the wilderness with a hazy light, punctuated by vivid, inky passages of darkness in shades of blue and dark purple like SWEET GRAPE. This colour…
London based artist Daisy May Collingridge’s eccentric, intricately layered ‘squishy sculptures’ break down the boundaries between fashion, costume and art in the most playful and humorous ways. She works with soft jersey, hand-dyed into delicate flesh tones to mime the delicate, shifting hues of human skin. These are stitched together in layer upon layer…
I was chatting with a sewing friend not too long ago (hi Gabby :)) about what we did before we discovered garment sewing and it occurred to me that I’ve always been crafting! Often, I hear other sewists reminisce about their childhood and how they learned how to sew from their family members – their…
Serves 6–8 I have fond memories of cooking kedgeree at St John Bread and Wine. An Anglo-Indian dish of boiled rice, eggs and smoked haddock tumbled together. The aromas of steaming basmati rice subtly spiked with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and of haddock fillets poaching in a milky bath tinted orange from saffron all created…
Hot, wild pinks like RED TRAVIATA were part of British contemporary painter Howard Hodgkin’s vocabulary for decades. He swept passages of daring pink across his huge paintings – and even onto the surrounding frames – in large, gestural strokes, nestling them in amongst an unlikely array of ultramarine blues, acid greens or deep ochre yellows….
Double gauze and I have a love-hate relationship. I love to wear it, hate to sew it, and I just can’t quit it. I find most of my issues with trying to navigate the notoriously lovely cloud-like wrinkled texture when choosing a size to cut, pressing, interfacing, deciding to prewash or not, buttonhole disasters etc. And this is where…
Today of all days, my biggest act of love is self-love. And self-love today is clearing away a situation and feelings that have been holding me back for years. My therapist always insisted that letting go is best done either through boxing or writing, today, I choose the latter. As an immigrant divorcee, I reluctantly but in…
Continuing on from Five Useful Pleats and Folding Techniques, Three Useful Hem Techniques, How To Sew Your Most Essential Four Pockets and How To Sew Your Most Essential Four Collars article, here are five useful ways you can fasten your trousers, skirts and dresses with. Simply click on the links below to either go straight to the hem…
British painter and printmaker Gillian Ayres took the 20th century British art world by storm, creating wild and energised abstract paintings with all colours of the rainbow. Blue was one of her favourites, particularly grey-tinged shades of blue like BLUESTONE, for their ability to convey the illusion of sky or water sweeping through her vast…
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