Shibori has long fascinated me and now I think I’m even more enthralled after a thoroughly wonderful day learning about it.
Who knew from a vat of gunky black looking sludge that frankly smelt a little gross.
This could happen.
and this
and so many more shades and patterns of wonderful inky hues.
Pepa and Karen from Shibori were great in breaking down the system. How to pleat and bind and most importantly how to embrace the unpredictability, that the most beautiful results often came when least expected.
It was so fun and just what I was hoping for. I wanted a day where I could learn the techniques, experiment, end up with some useable fabric pieces and then go away with a head exploding with ideas of what to do next. It truly was inspiring.
Being able to share all that with the Sydney Spoolettes was a blast. As a group we are brought together by our love of sewing but even in the few short months we have been a group real friendships have formed and the camaraderie is empowering as we all make our way in the world.
For anyone considering doing the workshop I saw GO FOR IT! you will not regret it. My top tips would be
– take extra fabric of varying lengths, widths and textures
– pre wash all your fabric
– pre iron all of your fabric
– have an idea of what you want to achieve, the enthusiasm is infectious and a little overwhelming. Being able to keep yourself on track will mean you get out what you want from it
– embrace the unpredictable and go outside your own boundries
For more images you can pop over to my flickr page (I’ve been trying all afternoon to get my flickr to work, it won’t, so I added the photos here as a gallery instead), Maria from Veloswer has some stunning images on her flickr and I am sure there will be more images coming up soon.
I have quite a bit of fabric that I dyed during class, am sifting through it all and planning what to make so expect more Shibori goodness soon.
Lastly thank you to the Spoolettes who attended it was wonderful to see you all, huge welcome to the newcomers too. Thanks to Mel for organising lunch at the pub and huge huge thank you to Pepa and Karen for sharing your knowledge with us.
