Mercerisation you ask....

I get asked this question a lot. What is Mercerisation?

Mercerisation is a process in cotton production. It is a treatment done in one or 2 stages that makes a cotton thread more wonderful, smooth and nicer to work with, which is why I am a fan of mercerised cotton fabrics and threads.

Invented back in the mid 1800s by a guy by the name of John Mercer. At the time, it wasn't so popular a method, but it was improved upon in the late 1800s with the help of industrialisation by another textile manufacturer H. A Lowe.

It is a method where the cotton is placed in a bath of dilute acid and it changes the composition of the fibre making it stronger and giving it a sheen. This makes it easier to dye and print onto, and when woven, a stronger fabric that can be woven finer and at a higher thread count. Mercerised cotton generally won't shrink or the shrinkage rate is far less as as its been pre shrunk under tension during its time in the acid bath.

The second optional stage of mercerisation is running the treated thread through a 'gasser', a gas burner flame, to singe off any little left over threads. This makes your thread super smooth. This second process is not always done, but if a cotton is 'gassed' this is the process it has been run through. 'Pearl' threads are usually gassed which is another reason they are super smooth and have a beautiful sheen.

Mercerisation is usually only done on long staple cotton, which is the more expensive cotton as the threads are long and more easily spun into thread. Types of long staple cotton are Egyptian, Sea Island and Pima. So if a fabric or thread you are working with is made with any of these, it will be a better quality.

The benefits of long staple cotton and mercerisation is you will have a fabric or thread that is easier to work with, stronger, wears and lasts longer, takes dye better so more saturated colours, drapes better, cuts and sews more easily and has less lint and a smoother surface with a nicer sheen. Also, it finger presses a treat and is easier to work with if you are doing small projects or paper piecing.

Mercerisation was the norm in the past for cotton fabrics and threads, but unfortunately its not as common these days, but you can get it and it is worth it. The little bit extra you pay, will come back 10 fold with how lovely it is to work with and how much nicer the finished product will look and it will last longer. A fantastic example of a mercerised cotton fabric is Liberty Tana Lawn, and we all know how lovely that is!

A box of vintage Mercerised threads

Liberty Tana Lawn is a Mercerised cotton fabric

May Maddness....

Wow, May is going to be a busy month.

Kicking off on Saturday the 4th i'm honoured to be the guest speaker for the Colac Quilters 25th Anniversary Dinner.
On Saturday the 11th i'm trading at the Yarn and Craft Market in Brunswick. Flyer attached.
The following Saturday on the 18th you will find me at the Geelong Quilt In, details below.
Then i'm off to be the guest speaker at the Glen Waverley Quilters on the 27th.

Add to that a few big groups booked for appointments for studio showings and it's all go go go! Love it! It's so great meeting you all and sharing my stash.

The Studio will be open as usual all May and Paul and Rachel will be there to help you out.

Weekly Review Article

Hi, here is the weekly review article scanned so it can be read. I love how Sarina has captured the true sprit of the place. The photos were taken by Molly Cusack.  Enjoy.

1940's Scrap 9 patch Variation Quilt.

This is a favourite layout for a 9 patch, why, its got the graphic grid of crosses going on.
This quilt is an original 1940s quilt that has been restored by the studio for a customer. But before it goes to its new home, I have drawn it up so if you want to have a crack at one with all your scrap, here are some notes.

This vintage quilt is approx 85" x 106"

What you need to cut from your stock pile of scraps:

720 - 3" x 3" (finished 2.5") squares of as many different prints, stripes and spots for the 9 patches. Think bright.
20 - 3" x 3" squares in a red star or spot for the centres of the 9 patch units.
80 - 3" x 8" Sashings for the 9 patch units in a printed stripes.
12 - 5.5" x 5.5"(finished 5") squares in a yellow floral for the cornerstones in the main sashing.
31 - 5.5" x 18" main sashing bars in blue.
Binding in red and white 1/8th" stripe.

What makes this quilt so wonderful and wacko is the use of as many different prints you can lay your hands on. The colour scheme is bright and with a real emphasis on primary colours. Also, I like the use of the red for each centre unit and the mix of printed stripes for the sashing units. The yellow and the blue just balance it out really well. Hand quilted in the traditional Baptists Fan pattern that was really common in the 1940s, with an unbleached cotton backing and un-unstablized cotton wadding.

How I would go about putting this together...I would start by making my 80 x 9 patch units. Then sash up 4 blocks to make the 20 x 9 patch large blocks. Then assemble them with the bigger sashing. You can follow this diagram for the layout.

Don't worry too much about how the blocks go together colour/print wise. This is a true scrap quilt so if you find you are having trouble being random, stick all your squares in a bag or bowl by your machine and do a lucky dip.  It's the randomness that makes this work. If you have cut a good mix of brights and primaries it will work in the end, trust the scraps and it will come together. Enjoy.

Up Coming Events

I am the guest speaker at the Patchworkers and Quilters Guild of Victoria on Saturday the 6th of April.
Trading from 10.30. Speaking at 1.00 (need to confirm that).
Find it at the Ivalda Masonic Centre - 40 Sailabury Avenue Ivanhoe Victoria.

Find me at the the Ballarat Fibre Forum on Sunday the 7th and Monday the 8th at the Ballarat Grammar School. Forest Street Wendourie. I will also be at the Quilt at the Winter School as well as part of the Fibre Arts Series. Between the 6th to 12th July. For more info - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fibre-Arts-Australia

Anna Williams NZ

 Heike Gerbig  

Easter Trading Hours

We are open over easter, just closed on the Sunday, we have to go off and hunt for bunnies... but don't despair we will hop back for trading on the Monday. Happy Easter everyone. 

Maths, Beats and Quilts

My partner is studying Engineering and often we have mentally taxing discussions that involve maths. I was never very good at the whole Maths thing when I was at school and it was a bit of a nuisance, but I do find now how it does in a way rule our world. Grids, roads, curves, circuits, houses, tables...it can all be put down to numbers.

I am a graphic designer. I have spent a lot of time working with grids. Not only for layout but for the design of type. Many a day has been spent thrashing out the perfect balance of height v's width and again, its all math, or the golden mean. When I started designing textiles, it was all still a grid but the maths became more important as I had to design within the constraints of the machinery or the size of the screens the fabric was being printed with. Fabric repeats have a formula...again...its numbers.

Often when I am fiddling with things when I am off in quilt play land, that little bit of luxury time when you can just fiddle and play and think about all the possibilities that the fabrics and scraps can have. Because I work with what I find, I often have other peoples blocks and cuts that I try to work that into a design.

I often go back to basics when laying something out. A simple layout of a block that uses what I have. Usually loads of squares and half square triangles. Some of the layout revolves around some pretty simple mathematical symmetry. A bit like this. All of these can be laid with HST's. Flip, turn, align, repeat.

I have a bit of a thing about repetition. Taking one simple shape and using it over and over again and building up the noise with print and colour. It's a bit like a beat, 4/4 time. I play the drums and I count the beats like I count the patterns and shapes. When I drum, I see geometric patterns in my head when I visualise what I am playing. The work of Anni Albers is like a drum beat to me, but she lashes out and does amazing fills. I look at this and I can count the pattern, you can tap it out as sound. Again, HST's! Flip, turn, align, repeat.

Anni Albers 1969 - Print.

Here are some other artists and designers from modern movements that I find inspirational.
Mondrian, his use of the primary colour scheme and the reliance of the grid, create strong bold movement and interest. There is a balance in the volume of colour and negative space.

Piet Mondrian - Boogie Woogie Broadway - 1943

Sonia Delaunay created this quilt in 1911 for her son. It led led her to a life in textiles, fashion and design. She was credited at the first woman to work with abstract expressionism. 

Sonia Delaunay -Quilt 1911.

Sonia Delauany in her studio designing textiles

Another inspirational lady from the Bauhaus is Gunta Stolzl. A weaver, the colour and composition of her works are beautiful.

Gunta Stolzl. Preliminary sketch for a tapestry.

Gunta Stolzl. Jaquard (woven) wall hanging - 5 choirs - 1928

And in isolation to all of this are the quilt makers of Gees Bend. Perhaps one of the most interesting to me as these quilts were made in isolation to what was going on. These quilts came from necessity and were made without any design training. I love these quilts, they are so free, the colours and composition so bold.

House Top - 1920s - Creola Pettway.

Annie Bendeloph - Thousand Pyramids 1930

But in all this, its still math. It's still 1, 2, 3, 4. It's taking a geometric shape, putting it on a grid and letting the form take on the pattern. It's a visual beat. and I hate it when the other half is right...yes honey, its all maths...

Castlemaine Festival

From Saturday the 15th to Sunday the 24th is the Castlemaine Festival. 

The Whitehorse Studio is a fantastic textile studio run by Jackie, she creates amazing knit scarves, hats and accessories and these awesome brooches out of carefully sourced vintage buckles and buttons. She also sells buttons and buckles, and trust me, they are brilliant. For the duration of the festival you can find a range of quilts, feedsack packs, quilt tops and fabrics from me in the studio as well.

The address is 90 Whitehorse Gully Road Chewton. Follow the signs from the corner of the Pyrenees Hwy and Fryers Road Chewton. Open from 10am to 5pm each day.

The Castlemaine Festival and Fringe Festival is a huge event and worth the trip up.

Busy, Busy, Busy....

It's been so busy in the studio the last week. Thank you so much to the Geelong News for featuring the studio, I have been run off my feet and add to that some design work for a new fabric range (exciting...stay tuned) and i'm flat out.

I have also been sorting out loads of quilt tops and orphan blocks from the 1800s to 1950s and more feed sacks and yardage as I'm gearing up for the Castlemaine Festival next week.  I also have my next guest speaker and trading day at the Victorian Patchwork and Quilters in Ivanhoe on Saturday the 6th of April, then rushing off to the Ballarat Fibre Forum for the 7th and 8th of April. Phew!

So, yes the studio is open this Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm this long weekend.

Dear Jane Wrap Up

What a glorious weekend it was at the AQA Dear Jane Show. It was great to meet so many of you and put faces to names and have a chat. So many new projects are being started and loads of orphan blocks are off to new homes.
The show was wonderfully run and the volunteers were fantastic, thanks lady's for all the cups of coffee, chats and giving me a hand....and to those of you I have converted into giving a bit of vintage a go...i'm warning you, it's addictive....

The people's choice award for the show went to Angela Davis from WA for her 'Liberty Jane'. Done over 12 years with collected snippets of Liberty, each with its own story, this quilt stuck a chord with me. Not only that I am a sucker for Liberty, but I am a sucker for a bit of fabric that has a history that is then placed into a new project.
Congratulations Angela, your quilt is truly beautiful and i'm so sorry my photos don't do it justice. You really need to see this one in real life to pick up on the subtle movement of colours through the Liberty prints.
Update....better photo has arrived, check the colours....Thanks Angela!

'Liberty Jane' with Angela Davis (R) and Me (L)

Angela Davis - Liberty Jane

Other highlights for me were seeing Shirley Lodingtons Mr's Billing's quilt. Shirley is a MACHINE when it comes to hand piecing and quilting and is truly inspirational! What I would call a 'Hard Core' quilter. Thanks for telling me about your quilting process, it's making me want to step up a gear.

Shirley Lodington - Mrs Billings

For all of you who stopped by and told me about projects you have started with fabrics you have collected off me, I thank you for sharing. I love knowing that my parts of my stash are off giving you such joy, especially when you find that perfect print.

Speaking of the perfect print, one of my wacky mid-century geometrics has made it into the AQA's latest project, the re-creation of the quilt found here in Australia that was made by Elizabeth Smith. Made in the late 1830's, this quilt has now been drawn up into a pattern that you can get through the AQA. The quilt is now in the collection of the NGV. To know more of the history head over here.

The Original Elizabeth Smith Quilt - Photo courtesy of www.sewmanyquiltstoolittletime.blogspot.com.au

All in all, a great show. Thank you to everyone who helped out and visited.

AQA Dear Jane Show

This coming weekend the studio will be closed (feb 9th and 10th) as I will be trading at the Australian Quilters Association Dear Jane Show. Its on from the 8th to the 10th from 10am to 4pm.

Its going to be a pretty amazing show. Dear Jane is such a feat and accomplishment, but the best bit is you can enter ones that aren't completed too. Dear Jane is like the ball breaker of all quilts if you ask me. I know that personally I would not be even mentally able to even start this one. I love to look at them and totally admire the hard work and precision that is needed to pull this quilt together, but just know I would never be able to get my head around this one. Maybe one day, when I get over my smash and grab way of putting my quilts together....

I have been busy packing scrap bags of 1800s, Turn of the Century, 1920s, 30-40s, 50s and 60-70s prints. 100 grams or about 1 yard in each of scrappy goodness. Loads of feed sacks...full unopened ones as well, vintage fat quarters and over 1000 orphan blocks, embroidered ones as well. Loads of vintage quilt goodness. Also plenty of new vintage prints on the bolt.

We look forward to seeing you.

Quilting Fit

Last year I had a car accident…well being taken out on a roundabout by someone who didn’t give way kind of accident.

It was a shock and annoying and my beloved car was banged up pretty bad, but so was I.

Strapped to a hospital bed and not being able to move until I had the all clear I wasn't with a serious neck or spinal injury...sure, it hurt a bit, but I thought I was fine. A neck brace for a while and lots of physio... but at the time, I did all that they told me to do, but I have to say I haven’t really been the same since.

But what it really made me very aware of is how it now affects me when I work, especially when I am cutting and sewing.

It is really important to take lots of breaks, do stretches and keep strong if you want to be able to keep doing what you love long into the future.

I have found yoga to be fantastic for this but I think I need to be doing it 3 times a week with a teacher…I need the teacher, because if things start to get a bit strenuous, I tend to just put it in the too hard basket and lay on my mat for a little rest...the corpse pose (ha hah), but I do take the time out and do lots of simple poses and stretches on my own that make it easier to keep sewing during the day.

Stop for 5 minutes every 20 or so and waggle your wrists, rotate your hands, stretch those shoulders. Maybe do a yoga class. It will all keep you fit, happy and strong so you can keep making all those amazing quilts you love.

Pick 'n' Mix

One of my fondest childhood memories was being given a silver coin and going to the local Milk Bar and getting mixed lollies.
It was such a treat and so, each selection took careful consideration. Was it so many milk bottles, chico's and pineapples or did I feel like eating chocolate and want mates and bullets?
Either way, that little white paper bag was my sugar fuelled treasure and I savoured eating every single one of them.
I feel the same way about my little bits and pieces of fabric. They are all little treasures that each hold so many possibilities. As you may have worked out by now, i'm a scrap quilter. I love scrap, unfinished projects, half made quilt tops and ones that have seen better days. I love the challenge that they present. What can I do with that? Do I re-work it and find in my scrap stash fabrics that suit from the same era? Do I pile my scrap into colour schemes and make a new quilt or project? Do I restore it or just finish it off the way the original owner set about to do?

So for as long as I can remember I have been hoarding scrap. Now I have so much its time to share it. I now have giant boxes in the studio full of scrappy off cuts, blocks and pieces large and small. You can Pick 'n' Mix your own bag and its sold by weight. $15 per 100grams of 1950s to 1970s scrap. This will give you about a meter give or take depending on what sort of fabrics you select.

Yes, I did share my mixed lollies with people I liked. Well, never the 'mates', they were mine, I loved how the chewy caramel got stuck in my teeth.

New Year, New Arrivals....Back to Work!

Well it's the New Year and its time to get back in the swing of things. I did take time out over the break and did some things for me but this week its been right back to it filling orders, unpacking new shipments and my new thorn....uploading things to the online store.
Yeah Yeah Yeah I know i'm slack in that department but it will bet better soon I promise, we are sorting all that out....is that a New Years Resolution???

This year is shaping up to be a good one for the studio. We have new stockists and lots of repeat orders to fill which is always comforting. It means you are doing something well.

We also have lots of new design and consulting work coming in the door so we have decided now to open Saturday and Sunday 10 to 4pm so its easier for us to work with our clients and to take off to Melbourne and interstate if we need to mid week. We are still happy for you all to visit during the week, just give us a call to organise when you would like to come and we will make sure we can be here.

Big events as well...The Australian Quilters Association Dear Jane Exhibition in Feb and the Ballarat Fibre Forum in April to be at as well. A few Guest speaker spots and and all you wonderful quilt groups who are planning visits....the coffee machine is operational and we can cater for you as well with our super chef...the secret weapon....What better than to be amongst lovely vintage fabrics and quilts inside a heritage listed building than to have it with Scones, Jam and Cream? I know that would make me pretty cheerful.

I would like to thank you all for your wonderful support in making this studio a reality, without you all it would not be here, it would just be me and my stash! So welcome to the New Year, its going to be grand!

Shaky Bill the Alcoholic Tattooist

This image reminded me about a funny story I was told by a fellow shed dweller.
It was about a tattoo. And how it ended up being inked. The reason why it was inked was a little sketchy, but the story of how it was done was hilarious. But not sure I should divulge that on here..all names have been changed to protect the identity of the innocent...
But to cut a long story short, back in the day there was a guy and his name was Bill. Everyone else knew him as Shaky Bill. He was the only tattooist in town and he liked a drink.
People travelled a really long distance to not get inked by him, so off the lads went to other places and thats where adventures began.
Perhaps you had to be there, I had a good old laugh.

Obviously this was not inked by Shaky Bill, via http://pinterest.com/laurarogliano/ink-skin-tattoo/ Thank you Pinterest.