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21 responses to “a sleeve of a homely shirt”

  1. Susan Avatar

    grace, I like those tiny blue lines so much. tiny secret handwriting. several paragraphs worth it looks like…

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  2. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    some of them are gone already..
    i wish the cut threads could have stayed…they were really
    interesting, like morse code somehow.
    will put another pic up later…this sleevecloth is wanting a
    lot of attention.

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  3. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    grace–its just beautiful
    did you stitch the dark lines or were they part of the shirt ?
    who knew when you picked up that sort of uptight shirt at the thrift store that it would become a main character in your story–

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  4. Wendy Avatar

    beautiful Grace; what about those beautiful blue lines? Did you draw them?

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  5. jude hill Avatar

    that is an oxford weave, looks like the dark threads are woven double.a common men’s shirting cloth.
    i see a face again. a mask.

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  6. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    oh —-there is such a face–can’t believe i didn’t see it—!!!

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  7. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    this morning, in comment on Anabella’s cloth in CWB
    “let it be is the point of this class. does it hold
    together as cloth? can it be used like cloth? did you
    help make that happen?” quote. Jude Hill
    and yes. somewhere in my mind, like a zillion other
    things, i had the information on some index card as
    in a card catalogue at an old fashioned library:
    oxford cloth
    ok. so oxford cloth. and yes, there are two dark threads
    woven as weft. i love this cloth because i can SEE
    how it was woven so easily…under over under over
    ad infinitum until time to put the button down collar on.
    but now it is
    soft. and someone sees a face.
    a second person does too.
    hmmmm.
    jude…i hesitate to comment on the Mother Ship about
    your dilemma because i really can’t tell what the
    dilemma is…as in
    what exactly IS the question?
    but
    the questions that rise up here are my own…do i make
    what is beautiful to me? does that reign? do i make
    something practical? should that reign? can you
    SIT on beauty?
    should you?
    if you have a ton of everything you need, what then,
    would be a
    rag
    to you?

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  8. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    judyk~ no..i stitched them. a single thread embroidery
    floss strand, back stitched, a little sloppy.
    and you are Right. it IS becoming a main character in
    my story.
    thanks for keeping track of me…helps me.

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  9. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Wendy/Gracie
    nope. thread.

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  10. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i didn’t either. am trying to be
    practical

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  11. Herm Avatar
    Herm

    for some reason I also see the face! the close up of the fabric looks so soft and love the fringes, it would be easy to stitch.

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  12. jude hill Avatar

    the mothership has sprung a leak.

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  13. Deb G Avatar

    I like your questions Grace…. I like beautiful and useful. 🙂 Bet you would have guessed that.

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  14. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    can we plug the hole with rags?

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  15. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    soft soft soft and another reason to NOT PUT OFF the
    growing of Indigo this spring. i think this cloth
    would just soak it up.

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  16. jude hill Avatar

    that would be swell.

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  17. SandraG. Avatar
    SandraG.

    Hi Grace: love the weaving of your piece. I’ve been working on a little background-type weaving and I guess I’m not,ummmm, relaxed enough to just let the weaving/cloth tell me which way to go, I end up doing the “traditional” over-under-over-under, but yours loooks sooo relaxed and beautiful : ) sorry, I’m rambling on here : ) can you tell me what Kantha stitching is ?? I’ve heard it here and on some other stitching blogs, I guess I can loook it up but just saw it on your post and had to ask. growing indigo, now that sounds wonderful – hope you write about your growing journey here : )
    Blessings, Sandra in AZ

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  18. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    yes. i have learned that about you and it makes me
    happy to be able to say that.
    there is an expression here that i have come to like
    so much…
    people say ” i know you. i know you already” and
    they say it in a very loving way….
    so yes. i would have guessed. cause i know you already.

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  19. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    sandra…kantha is an ancient stitch, but how i have
    learned to use it is over spaces… a straight stitch
    a space a straight stitch a space. if you do that over
    and over, there comes to be a textured kind of wavey
    ness. it thickens the cloth amazingly. i’ll try to
    take a close up tomorrow. i spent the late day/eve doing
    kantha. i love love love it.
    i got the seeds from a woman in the NW for the indigo.
    soon i will hopefully get the new and improved more
    practical version of the greenhouse together. should
    get the seeds in by late Feb early march. i will for
    sure be telling that story here.
    and Blessings to you. Thank you for the ones you send
    this way ~

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  20. Linda Avatar

    grace
    i am late for work, but just saw this and have to say.. i love practical and things usually have to have a purpose and this class and jude are teaching me to let go of that. I hang all my little pieces in the window and just let them be. so new to me. i love this sleeve and love how it is ragged on the edges. i also am glad to know you on this blog..
    jude.. i have boxes and boxes of rags from weaving rag rugs. i could make a huge plug in your hole. wish that is all it would take..

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