Creating Twine--A Saturday Workshop

Small fabric twine basket sample

At the end of January, I taught a Saturday Workshop though the Clark County Quilters guild in the morning and I took a workshop in the afternoon. Saturday Workshops are an activity where the members teach other members. I already wrote a post about the workshop that I taught. This post is about the creating twine workshop that I took.

Previously, I had watched YouTube videos about this process; but, hadn't had success trying to do it! Our teacher, Bev, led us through the process. Her process was a little different from the video link that I provided. The end result looks the same.

She also taught us how to cut a bunch of strips quickly on the bias. I hope that when I get to that point, I'll be able to cut the strips! For the class, I brought leftover three quarter inch to one and one half inch strips that were leftover from past projects. Cutting makes my neck ache and makes my hands/arms numb.  I chose not to cut strips in class!

Small rug mug sample

The reason that I want to cut bias strips was because the strips won't fray when cut on the bias. My plan is to make a fabric necklace. Bev showed us how to twist the strips together and how to add a fabric. It is easier to stagger adding fabrics; but, it isn't impossible if you need to add several fabrics at one time.

Bev brought a number of samples that she had made with fabric twine. She said that she had twisted the twine while she watched TV with her husband in the evenings.

View of the inside of the bowl sample

She also brought samples of twine made with various fabrics and various widths of fabric strips. She had made a twine out of polyester fabrics. She also shared a sample that she had made with yarn as one of the fibers that she had twisted. Bev shared that she had picked up the yarn at an estate sale because it caught her eye. I liked the twine sample in which she used some of that "found" fiber in the twine!

Necklace

I especially liked the fiber necklace that she had made out of three quarter inch cotton fabric strips. I plan to keep my eye out for the large metal D shaped hardware that she had used in her necklace. She said she didn't remember where she had found it; but, that it had been hanging out in her studio for a long time.

At the end of the three hour workshop, I had created a tiny ball of twine. I think it would be fun to make a bowl out of my twine; but, I need a lot more twine to make the size that I'd like!

The workshop was at the end of January, I haven't worked on the twine since then. Instead, I've been quilting my daughter's "Leaves" quilt. I entered it in the guild quilt show which is in April. I sure thought that I would have finished it by now; but, I haven't!

My tiny ball of fabric twine

I've put my other projects on hold and I am making slow progress. I quilted too long one day and my wrists hurt so much that I had to take a break for a few days.

I plan to be more mindful of the amount of quilting time I spend per day on that project so that I don't have long breaks! From time to time, I will take a break and work on the Bonnie Hunter Frolic mystery quilt. I needed a new swimsuit so I made a couple of them. I'll post about the suit next time!

Quilting posts may be few until I finish that "Leaves" project!