sewing — Blog — Carlyn Clark

Using up scraps

November 10, 2022

Using up scraps for zero waste sewing

postcard made of collaged foreign stamps then stitched

Stitched Postcard

September 17, 2013

Every morning as I sit down at my work table I pull up an @oblique_se. Today's seems to particularly align with my mood.

Mending while camping, using hand-dyed indigo thread available on my website

New stock added. Oversold natural indigo dyed mending thread is back in stock. This cotton covered poly thread is stronger than pure cotton and takes the indigo dye beautifully, with little specks of undyed poly peeking through for an almost sparkly effect. It's strong enough for mending jeans but thin enough for most stitching and embroidery projects. The natural indigo will fade harmoniously as you launder your jeans. If thread sales are an indication, the dog days of the pandemic are inspiring people to dig into those baskets of damaged clothes with lots of first timers giving mending a try. It's put up in short skeins so its an affordable starter thread. The indigo dye started as seeds in my dye garden. I use this thread in Arashi Shibori processes and carefully unwind it as I pull off the dyed textiles. Nothing goes to waste! I can put up longer skeins if needed, pm me

Finished a pile. Now to assemble

Individual photos of the January 2021 Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches. I've written about the processes on my blog. Link to my website is on my bio #tastembroidery #takeastitchtuesday #pintangletast #handembroidered #stitchersofinstagram #linkedchainstitch #flystitch #italianborderstitch #blanketstitch #reverseblanketbarstitch #stemstitch #portuguesestemstitch

New thread colorway added to my shop. #handdyedthreads #bluethread #mendingthread #handstitching #varigatedthread #dyedthreads #dyedbyhand #denimfriendly #mendingjeans

More thread into a vat. Blending colors for stitching on collage. #handdyedthreads #stitchedcollage #dyersofinstagram #dyedthreads #dyeart #dyework #blue #multicoloredthread

There was a run on indigo dyed thread on my website over the holidays and I'm almost out. Today I'm trying out fiber reactive dyes on a few skeins to see how that works. Takes a lot less water than indigo processing which is an ongoing concern in SoCal.