Season's Greetings!

Limpets part 3 - more 3D forms

As promised, I’ve gone on to make limpet-inspired 3D… objects… made in the round instead of flat then seamed.

 

So it’s straight into free machining. If you machine stitch madly, round and round in a not-quite circular pattern, a flexible fabric should distort into a 3D cone.  

Yes! Well, not too bad… this first one’s rust felt, just free machined round and round from the centre in shaded rayon 30 Alcazar thread, then cut out.

And here’s a colony of them, domed FME on creamy felt. I like the extra colour-mixing of the coloured bobbin thread coming through, the bands would be too solid otherwise. Hmm, this is one to come back to…

So, how about the same method on dissolvable fabric? I give you – limpets made entirely of thread! It’s domed FME (as above) worked on Solufleece. I tried it first in a hoop, but couldn’t get a steep cone – that’s the big shallow one. Holding the fabric without a hoop worked better, but ouch, it’s tough on the fingers holding so tight. I used shiny off-white rayon 30 threads.

I really like these limpets, but they’re quite hard work - the stitching needs to be dense, to get the doming effect and to link the stitches without any structural support, so they turn out very stiff and difficult to decorate.

I also had a quick go at hand stitching 3D limpet cones – by partially gathering circles as you would for shibori. Trickier than it looks, and not a lot of fun.

Finally, I thought I’d try a couple of techniques from Jean Draper’s book, “Stitch and Structure”.

Coiling. Here I tried wrapping and coiling a cord to form  a shell shape. It’s sort of like making a coiled clay pot – only slower and trickier, IMHO. I used thick nylon cord and Coats Anchor multicolour pearl cotton thread. Quite tough on the fingers, and difficult to deal with the cord ends at the start and finish even after I melted/sealed them with a soldering iron. But the result’s quite cute… as long as you don’t look inside 😉

Buttonhole stitch - worked round and round a real limpet shell, starting at the top and increasing to match its shape (so why did it end up so steep?), in Crofter DK knitting yarn. A stiffer yarn might give a better result, but would be harder to stitch.

What else could I do? Well it’d be easy to crochet a cone, but not very interesting… knitting likewise. Felting might work, especially at a large scale… bigger forms generally might be worth exploring, as vessels perhaps.

But for now I’m moving on. Next time – surface designs or patterns inspired by multiple limpet shells.

Humbug!

Christmas... a time to brighten up the darkest days of winter with twinkly lights and thoughtful gifts, sumptuous feasts and cards to old friends.

But sometimes it all gets a bit too much... commercialisation, pressure, hard work, waste... Around now I tend to have a "bah, humbug!" phase.

So here's a little seasonal offering - my own design for a crocheted humbug. Make alternative (tongue in cheek?) decorations, or something to fling at grumpy people. Perhaps taking a break to create a silly humbug will bring back the simple childish pleasure, help you keep sane... or make a point to those around you.

Most importantly - have fun!

 Crochet Humbug

designed by Anne Honeyman, aka chocolatefrog, www.annehoneyman.co.uk

Alternative Christmas decoration!

• hang on the tree
• free standing ornament
• or make a whole garland

Other ideas:

• bean bags (for catch or juggling)
• keyring or bag charm
• Earrings

You will need 

Small quantities of white and black yarn, thickness depending on size of humbug, and a crochet hook to match:

Mini, e.g. for garlands or keyrings (about 4cm): no. 10 crochet cotton, 1.5 hook

Medium, e.g. for tree decoration (about 5-6cm): 4ply cotton, 2.5 hook

Large, e.g. for free standing ornament or bean bag (about 9cm): D.K. or Aran wool, 4.0 hook

You will also need a little toy stuffing.

Abbreviations
ch = chain    ss = slip st    dc = double crochet

To make
Using white, work 15 ch

Round 1
Skip 1st ch, 1 dc in next 13 ch, 3 dc in last ch. Now work back along the bottom loops of the foundation ch: 1 dc in next 12 ch, 2 dc in final ch (30 dc). Ss in 1st dc to join.

Round 2
1ch, 1dc in each dc, ss in 1st dc to join.

Rounds 3 and 4
As Round 2

Rounds 5 and 6
Change to black, work as round 2

Rounds 7 to 10
White, as round 2

Repeat rounds 5 to 10 once more, so you have 3 wide white bands separated by two narrow black bands.

Fasten off leaving  long tail for sewing up.

To complete
You will now have a little square pouch. Put a pin in the top edge at each side/fold. Bring the pins together to make the humbug shape. Stitch closed in this shape, stuffing carefully before closing the gap completely.  Add a hanging loop if you want, perhaps a length of crochet chain. 

Limpets part 2

 

Now, I’ve had a good play with broken limpets but what can I do with whole shells?

I thought about adding decorative bands or toppings, but… well, they wouldn’t be integrated in any way, just superficial. And there’s so little space, not much scope anyway. So, no. Even I draw the line at making limpet party hats!

 

Starting by exploring the surface texture, I covered a shell with aluminium foil, smoothing it well into the ridged pattern. Black acrylic paint was worked into all the texture and then rubbed off so it just remained in the crevices. Not textile, but quite effective.

Next, to investigate the shape, I covered a limpet with soluble paper, wetting it to make a pulp I could press into the texture. When dry I cut and peeled it off, and turned it inside out to see the textured side. A rubbing of Goldfinger paste brought out the pattern.   

Limpet shells aren’t round – they’re wonky cones. Now I’ve got a useful template, so let’s move on from using actual shells to recreating them. Well, not necessarily ones that’d blend in on the sea shore – I want to have fun with the basic cone shape in different colours and patterns.

Sticking with paper for a while… simple hand embroidery plus needle perforations on Somerset paper.

… and then I liked the perforation effect so much I did some more on dyed and waxed paper (the things you hoard from City & Guild days!). I ran the unthreaded Bernina around it, scratched lines with a needle, and used a Japanese screw punch. The waxing emphasises the marks, going pale around holes. 

 On to fabric, still worked flat then joined to form a cone, some gentle hand embroidery on felt (stabilised with Vilene) The purple one is detached chain, French knots and straight stitches in stranded cotton. The blue one is free cross stitch in a fine, shaded pearl cotton.

 

OK, bring on the Bernina! At last… back to free machining. Fine Lutradur (30) in a hoop, embroidered with subtle bands of off-white straight and zigzag/satin stitch. I used a soldering iron to burn out the shapes and seal the edges before hand stitching the seams to make them 3D. I love that the fabric is almost invisible, and the shells are so delicate.            

 

A couple of jazzier ones next, hard to believe there’s still white Lutradur under the colourful free machine embroidery. I could zap it away with a heat gun, but then I’d have to make sure the stitching interlinked; this way it can be more delicate and free.

But now I’ve thought of the heat gun… A quick one with random green and orange FME on green Kunin felt, zapped to make it lacy then seamed to make a cone.

Right, enough construction – for my next trick, it’s 3D limpet (-ish things!) without seams. Hopefully…