Crazy for Crazy
I made a new naked block in ruby red. Most of the fabric comes from remnants of evening gowns. A friend who is a seamstress and specializes in party frocks gave me a bag of scrap fabric. Red seems to be a popular colour, or are they all from party dresses for Christmas?
The dark red fabric with machine embroidery at the top is a swatch used by a traveling salesman from Switzerland selling fabric in Africa many years ago. Through the generosity of the salesman's granddaughter it came into my possession.
In my previous WIPW report I showed the kumihimo braid I am making. Several readers said this kind of braid making is confusing. With the pictures below I am trying to explain how it is worked.
What comes out of the hole in the centre of the disc is this braid!
It is not a complicated technique, but if you work quickly your head might spin with the constant turning of the disc and the swinging of the bobbins.
Your red block is beautiful Queenie.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a story about the red fabric from the traveling salesman from Switzerland in Africa, wow. Did I get that right?
Your disk makes a lovely braid.
You did!
DeleteIt will be difficult to embellish this as the various pieces have pattern on them already.
Lovely reds. Thanks for the braid instructions. I've done French knitting but you just use one kind of thread with that.
ReplyDeleteUsing the foam rubber disc is far easier than doing 'real' kumihimo braiding on a wooden floor 'stool'.
DeleteYour block is looking good - now I'm keen to see what embellishment you choose!
ReplyDeleteThat is going to be difficult. There are already so many details in the fabric, I will have to think carefully how to make the embellishment stand out.
DeleteLove the warmth of the rich red tones and the Tent stitching on the grid.
ReplyDeleteI've made kumihimo braids and found once I had the placement worked out it became quicker to do and then automatic. Depending on the length I needed, I added a small weight to the beginning of the cord.
Red is a fine colour and the fabric rich in many ways. I think I will have to use structure and height to add contrast to the overly rich fabric.
DeleteYes, adding a weight is good when the braid is light and flimsy.
Oops! My error. Not Tent stitch but Cross and Half Cross.
ReplyDeleteI didn't do the diagonal Tent stitch but worked in horizontal rows, so I SHOULD have called it Continental Stitch.
DeleteI was going to say gold embellishments for the block, but there's already so much gold there. Kumihimo technique looks magical!! (Iam searching for the emoji with eyes popping out..)
ReplyDeleteYES, most of the seam treatments and embroideries are done in GOLD!
DeleteYour ruby red block is fabulous!
ReplyDeleteIt is slowly turning into a gilded block with lots of gold embellishments.
Deletelove your red block. Eager to see the embellishments. lovely braid.
ReplyDeleteAll crazy quilts need lots of embellishments and this ruby red block will also be laden with gold!
DeleteYou are getting so many things done! Kumihimo braid, the easily spotted awareness embroidery stitch and the gorgeous ruby red block. It looks like some of those pieces could have come from Chinese dresses though maybe I get the impression from all the red and gold.
ReplyDeleteNo, not even one piece is from a Chinese dress. The red and gold brocade on the left is reversible and the golden fabric with red details will be good for a golden block if I ever make one. Now I am adding more and more embroideries in gold and metallic so the red is getting slightly more golden.
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