Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Something completely different

It was my granddaughter's 4th birthday this week and I decided I wanted to make her a dress. I'm not sure how it will fit but I will find out later today. :-)
This was the pattern
And this is what I made
 
It is like a double dress as I made the lining with the "opposite" material, but it can only be worn one way.
 
I glued some applications on with special sheeting that you cut just a bit larger than the application and iron it on with paper on top and the access is left on the paper. Worked a treat.
The pattern was bow ties at the back but I put a zip in and one button.
Now, will she like it? And will it fit? Well, it is pink, she loves pinks and purples.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Young Designers

Today I went to the Friends Day of The Textile Museum in Tilburg.
Once a year all the Friends are invited for a special day.
This year, like last year, they had 4 young designers who graduated at the Eindhoven Design Academy presenting themselves. It was very inspiring.

First was Michelle Baggerman. When she looked at her growing stash of plastic shopping bags she began to look into a way to re-use them. Also she looked at what happened to these shopping bags, ending in waste fills and recycling units. But she discovered that even the recycling was very damaging to the environment. So, her mission is to find a way to re-use these bags. We all seem to keep quite a few and have a stash growing. Anyway, she started to cut the bags into strips and spin with a spindle into a thread. These threads were very strong so she was able to make a warp with them and wove a cloth from 20 shopping bags from one big supermarket. By spinning the strip the loud advertisements on the bags were no longer visible, she ended up with a pale coloured cloth. By using the same brand bags she was able to create a uniform cloth. The spun yarn was very thin as the plastic was stretching a lot.
She had quite a variety of coloured yarns on show by using different bags. She is still very much into researching how she could use this into a larger scale project as it is all very time consuming by hand.

The second was Borre Akkersdijk. Now, he really inspired me. He intended to go into interior design but he said he always ends up into fashion. He has been researching a way to weave or knit a cloth that is not only layered but could be made up into clothing. By designing it so, that it can be made up ready for cutting without needing a pattern. The pattern is woven or knit in. I think he will go a long way. He had my vote. (after all 4 presentations we could cast our vote who should get the Friends price of €1000.) Do have a look at his website.

After a short brake we had number three Anique Noordman. Her graduation project was A tuft of hair. She has been looking into ways of designing carpets inspired by hair treatment in African culture. Some very interesting results were on show.

Last was Niek Pulles. This again was so inspiring. He used film for his graduation project to show his fabrics, what an idea. He makes prints onto lycra. By using screen print, the result is never the same. But he has also been lasering or burning the fabric. I'm sure sport and dance will be interested in his ideas for fabric.

The €1000 price went to Michelle. I think her idea was the safest idea, the others needed more courage to vote for.
All in all an enjoyable afternoon. For next year's Friends Day they will invite more young designers. I think it is a great idea.

The Museum has a Textile Lab. Here designers, artists and students can use 7 different techniques to develop ideas they have. Some projects can be realised in the Lab but bigger projects will go onto industry to be realised after first being developed in the Lab. It is a great way to interact but also to generate an income for the Museum.

Current exhibition was of 3 project developed at the Lab. Enjoyable and interesting.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Colour and Magic

Yesterday I went for a walk with a friend here.
It drizzled but under the huge trees we kept mostly dry.
We had lunch here, a delicious fresh asparagus salad. Thanks Yolande! Outside De Serre we found these poppies
So much colour
 
 
 
and the feel of magic
 
 
 
 even found this

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Zoo time

Today I took my granddaughter to the Zoo
We had a great day out, the weather was just right for this activity.
Long time since I had been to a Zoo and I did enjoy this one and so did she.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Another day out

After visiting De Haar, we had another outing, this time to the seaside as he had not been there before.
We went to the same place as I took his sister towards the end of  March.
At the end of the day we went out eating pancakes in a very special place.
He is back home now and  his sister is staying here again this week.
The weather has been lovely but yesterday we had our first very welcome rain again since a while. The garden is very dry.

Due to nice weather and all these visits, no textile news as yet.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Joyful day

Today we went to visit this place
They do special guide tours for children, we had a most enjoyable afternoon together.