Lockdown Sewing Projects

Hi there! It has been a while since I last posted here... hope everyone is doing well.

So far 2020 has been a pretty strange & unmotivated year... Since lockdown began, I decided to devote my free time to finish some sewing project that have been on the making + work on a handmade capsule wardrobe. I wanted to share with you the things I made, so here we go!

Historical Projects

Those of you who follo me on Instagram probably know that I’ve been working on a Demelza (Poldark) inspired 18th century costume. I just finished it, so here are some snap shots that I took (there will be a separate post for this costume once I take proper pictures of it).

Here is the jacket, which was completely hand-stitched:

And here is the embroidered petticoat (it still needs an ironing though 😆).

Capsule Handmade Summer Wardrobe

Another projects that I have been working on is sewing a minimalist handmade wardrobe.

Since I always try to find ways to turn my daily lifestyle more sustainable, I though this can be a fun and interesting challenge.

For this project, I picked breathable fabric made from natural fibres- such as linen and cotton.

This is a simple sundress that I made out of printed cotton lawn, it is my favourite me-made garment in my closet so far!

From the fabric leftovers, I made this shirt:

Here are some tops I sewed out of linen fabric from Fabricstore.com

Some other garments that I sewed; a 50’s inspired skirt, a t-shirt and a tank I made out of beautiful mustard linen from Wonderlinen:

The last thing I have to share with you is a tank I made out of Japanese cotton leftovers that I had in stash.

Hope you enjoyed reading! I have some upcoming posts in the making, including some illustration related stuff & a glimpse into the process of making my 18th century ensemble. Goodbye for now!

Don’t forget to follow @romilindenberg on Instagram for daily updates!

Dyeing Diary - part 1, dyeing with onion skins

Hi everyone, hope you are having a wonderful week! During the past week, I have been experimenting with natural dyes.

I dyed a Cotton fabric into a lovely shade of earthy pink using onion skins. It was my first experiment with natural dyes, so I decided to use onion skins which are simple and easy to work with.

It turned out great, and I wanted to share the process with you!

I started by bathing the fabric in a soy-milk mordant. I mixed 0.5 litres of soy milk with 2 litres of tap water and let the fabric soak the mordant overnight. I dried the fabric and repeated this stage once more.

I read that onion skins dye can be used without mordant; however, I wanted to be sure that the colour won’t fade and therefore decided to mordant my fabric anyway...

When my fabric was ready, I peeled the red onions (you can also use white onions which create a yellow dye). This stage involved lost of tears and was the least fun thing in this dyeing adventure (;

After peeling what seemed like an endless amount of onions, I started preparing the dye bath.

I filled a large pot with water and put all of the onion skins inside. I then placed it on the stove, brought it to boil and cooked it on a low fire for 1 hour.

I let the onion skins sit in the water overnight; in this way, the water soaked all of the colour from the onions- a thing that led to a more vibrant dye.

I then strained the water from the onion skins. After that, my dye was ready to use!

I put the cotton fabric inside the pot and simmered it for about an hour. Again, I let It sit in the pot overnight to make it soak all of the colour from the dye bath.

I took the fabric out of the pot and placed it in a tub filled with warm water. I washed it and changed the water a few times since some of the dye bled and tinted the water.

The last thing was to machine wash the fabric on a gentle circle and hang it to dry.

And that’s it! My fabric turned out to be in a beautiful peachy pink shade. It has a lovely earthy tone that reminds me of flowers and nature!

Hope you enjoyed this dyeing process.

Next time, I plan to dye with madder root, which produces a lovely shade of rusty red. I guess it is going to take some time until I can dye with madder because the madder I ordered is currently stuck in India (it cannot be shipped due to the bloody Coronavirus... yay!).

Anyway, see you in the next post and hopefully in the next dyeing adventure!

The Journey of Creating a Watercolor Collage

Hi there! During the past week I have been working on some fox-themed collages and decided to share with you the process of making them.

These collages are fun and simple to make, they can be a great indoor activity to do these days for both creative kids and adults.

I'm really excited to share this tutorial with you, so let's get to work!

To make this collage you will need:

-blank paper + thick watercolour paper

- paint brushes (I use thin watercolor brushes)

-paint- you can use either watercolours or gouache

-colorful papers / old newspapers

- sparkles

- scissors + utility knife

- Mod-Podge glue

- dried flowers (optional)

1. For the first step, you will need to grab a small sheet of watercolour paper, some paint, paintbrushes and a glass of water. Then you can start by painting a small animal of your choice on the watercolour paper.

I decided to paint a red fox, which is one of my favourite animals! I used Winsor & Newton watercolours, I find that they are the most vibrant from all of the brands I have tried.

painting the animal using watercolors

2. After painting my fox, I cut it out using a utility knife. You want to be very careful while cutting the animal out, so you don't accidentally cut pieces from the painting itself.

cutting my fox out...

this little friend is ready for the next step!

3. The next step is to paint the moon behind the fox.for this step, you will need some more watercolour paper (you can use the leftovers from the paper you used on step 1). I painted a large light blue stain using watercolours, but you can paint any shape you like, just be creative!

4. I then mark a circle on the painted area using a round glass as my guide. I cut the circle out.

cutting my circle

5. I add a layer of sparkles to my moon (this is my favourite step!); I used Martha Stewart sparkling translucent acrylic paint for this step.

Adding sparkles!

6. Now you will want to rip some small pieces of colourful paper sheets/newspaper pages, which will be the background of the collage. I like to use used paper and old book pages; it's a great way to recycle papers that otherwise will be thrown away.

7. When all of the pieces are cut out, you can place them on a blank paper which will be the base of your collage. I recommend using a thick paper as a base since it will have to consist a large amount of glue later on...

Take your time, you can play with placing the pieces around until you like the way it looks.

all of the elements are ready

8. When you are happy with the way your collage looks, you can start sticking the paper scraps in place using Mod-Podge glue. Apply a thin layer of glue to the area where you want to stick your pieces, place them on the wet surface and apply another layer of glue over them.

Now is the time to add the dried flowers, leaves or any other decoration.

Note: don't apply Mod-Podge over the watercolour elements, this will smear the paint and may ruin your painting. You can attach the watercolour pieces by using a stronger type of glue such as E-6000 glue or hot-glue.

this is what I use to glue the elements with

And that's it! Your collage is ready and now you just have to wait until it is dried.

I really like making these collages! I love exploring combinations of different textures and materials.

Hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and that you learned something new! For the creative folks among you who decided to try it- you are welcome to share your collages with me, I will love to see them; just tag me (@romilindenberg) in your post!

Feel free to ask questions in the comments below.

This collage will soon be available for purchase through my Etsy shop with lots of other new illustrations, for pre-order and commissions you can contact:

Romi.lindenberg@gmail.com

#arttutorial #art #folkcreative #welivetocreate