Wednesday, October 10, 2012

HDT

I had almost forgotten that I had made an arrangement last week to make up some bracelets for someone using their own hand dyed thread. That was until I got the box in the post yesterday and I got terribly excited not least of all because it was something fresh and new to do. The thread and request was from the lovely Jess.


It's painfully obvious that I prefer to tat in black and solid colors. The black because, well, that's just me and the solid colors partly because I've had limited success with variegated pieces selling in the shop and partly because again, I don't wear them and even though I tat to mostly to sell the result I still apply my own personal style whenever possible. That's not to say I don't think hand dyed thread is beautiful. It most certainly is and I love the sense of discovery you get when working with it. You get to learn what the thread will do, when the color changes and how best to maximize that with the design and joins. In all honesty, I have used some poorly done thread in the past with color changes that were too abrupt or just not complementary enough, but these worked up just lovely. Also I kind of love these bobbin things the thread is wound on. I got both pieces done and they're on their way home today. Of course that means I really didn't do anything else at all yesterday afternoon.

Today I really must make up some more kitty ears and if I get enough done I might just make up some bits for the shop with the HDT that is left over. The kids loved the pretty colors too, particularly the top one. I worked with that first and the transition to the other shade made me feel like summer was changing to fall in my hands, but I digress. I was trying to say that I might make up some bits for the kids too as long as their requests are reasonable...they often aren't. So here's to another great day, hopefully with more surprises and projects!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! She has some beautiful colors! Thanks for sharing! I can see why you were excited to tat with this.

** jess! ** said...

I am so happy to hear that you and the girls are enjoying the thread!
I'm so excited to see the bracelets! I know they are going to be gorgeous!

God's Kid said...

Oh my goodness those look gorgeous form the little bits showing, and I am sure they are amazing just from seeing your styles!! :)

BlondEngineer said...

The colors are so bright and cheerful. And the bobbins are EZ-bobs. I love them and they can usually be easily obtained of ebay or etsy.

Unknown said...

I really love working with variegated thread. I like seeing the color change and it keeps your eye roving around the piece.

I think I would prefer hand dyed to machine dyed because with a machine you don't get much variation in the color because it's all dyed mechanically. So in a string of lace you end up with the same color repeats over and over again.

I have some white crochet thread I've been meaning to ask a friend of mine to dye for me. She's really good at it and dyes things for her crazy quilt shop all the time...and I loathe trying to dye things. It would be fun to experiment with new thread colors.