Kudzu Cordage

Making twine / cordage is another thing I learned thanks to Permies.com's SKIP program. It's honestly something I never considered, but it's one of the requirements for the first level textile badge, so I gave it a go. We could choose any plant material we wanted, so, like my little basket, I chose kudzu.

I chose thick kudzu vines to work with.

The first step is to pound the vine to loosen the fibers.

After a good pounding, the vines split apart easily.

I kept splitting until I had a pile of thin strips.

This is a two-handed job, but I had to use one hand to take some pictures! I started by tying off two strands to a chair. 

Each hand twists a strand in the same direction. As the
 twist builds, the strands are twisted together in the opposite
direction. This is called the 2-ply reverse method.

It's the same as twisting fringe! I just never considered doing it with natural home-sourced material.

When one of the strands gets to the end, a new strand is added by twisting the two together. 

A little further along.

I ended up with about 20 feet. 

I was happy with how easy this was to do, and not quite as boring as I might have thought. It's a useful skill and I'm thinking I'd like to try homemade cordage for basket weaving. Some day.

© 2020 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Dabbling in Basket Weaving

One of the places I find inspiration and ideas is Permies.com. They have developed an interesting permaculture merit badge program called SKIP (Skills to Inherit Property). I'm not looking to inherit property, but the program contains a lot of good skills, and I have learned a lot from. It's free and has something like 22 badges that can be earned with increasing levels of skill. It's the textile badges in particular that I'm enjoying. One of the requirements for the first level badge is to weave a basket.

I have to confess that basket weaving never much interested me. But since this was something I needed to check off the list, I was willing to give it a try. The basket didn't have to be large (4-inches wide and 3-inches tall), but the materials had to be naturally sourced. I chose kudzu vines. because kudzu grows so readily here, 

My goats trimmed all the kudzu leaves for me.

Then I cut a bunch of young, pliable vines.

The heaviest vines were cut and tied together at their middles to create the spokes of the basket.

The smaller vines were used for weaving the bottom and sides of the basket. It was a little awkward to get started, but by pushing the spokes around, i could shape the basket. 

The weaving for my project was a simple plain weave, working the vine over one spoke and under the next. To finish the top edge, I wound the vine around each spoke, then tucked the end in and trimmed off the end of the spokes.

The finished basket met the requirements and is functional!

It's not perfect, but for a first go, I'm pleased. And yes, I will definitely be doing this again.

 Dabbling in Basket Weaving 

© Oct 2020 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Sad State of Affairs

I've taken my fiber journal temporarily offline. It seems that a weaving teacher helped herself to some of my images without asking and has been using them in her workshops. But the internet makes for a small world, doesn't it?

I've always been more than willing to share with anyone who has the courtesy to ask, but taking without asking is not just discourteous, it's disrespectful. I know it may be a surprise to many folks, but just because something is on the internet doesn't mean it's free for the taking. It has copyright protection.  Unless it is specifically stated to be public domain or has been granted a Creative Commons Copyright license, everything on the internet belongs to somebody. That means that without the explicit permission of the copyright holder, the use thereof is legally considered theft.

I'm not that hard to get ahold of. "View my complete profile" is easily visible on my right sidebar. My email address is on my profile page and I'm contacted that way regularly. It is current and still in use. Failing that, a comment on the blog seeking to ask a question could be a last measure. Just because a blog hasn't been updated in awhile doesn't mean the blog owner doesn't still get notifications and comments.

As it stands now, this teacher was given an alternate way to contact me. I'm going to wait and see if she has the integrity to do so. 

Antique Treadle Sewing Machine: Oiling

This is a companion post to "Antique Treadle Sewing Machine: Cleaning." I did the oiling after I cleaned a particular area, as it was easier to locate the oil places and do the job right then and there. For future reference I wanted the information in a separate post. The graphics below are taken from the White Rotary Sewing Machine manual number 11. It and a number of other old manuals can be downloaded for free from the ISMACS international website.

Basically, all moving parts must be oiled. Numerous holes allow for oiling the innards.

 Antique Treadle Sewing Machine: Oiling 

© Feb 2019 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Antique Treadle Sewing Machine: Cleaning

When I was a little girl, my mother told me an antique was an item over 100 years old. In later years I saw that term used much more loosely, and one antique dealer told me it meant any item being at least 50 years old. When I was hunting for a treadle sewing machine, most of them seemed to be described as "vintage." Mine is 106 years old and no matter how it's described, it works and that's the main deal!

The seller had dusted the machine and cabinet, but when I got it home I wanted to give it a good cleaning and oiling. When I gave it a thorough going-over, I found it to actually be quite clean with very little dust, cobwebs, or lint. Here's the underside of the machine the first time I tilted the head back (after I figured out how).

So whoever had the machine previously took good care of it. They did use it a lot, as evidenced by the machine's cosmetic wear.

The clear top coat finish was almost completely worn off, and the decals were quite worn as well. Also, some of the metal plating was worn off, as you can see on the needle plate. There was some pitting on some of the plated surfaces as well. Because of all that, I had to ask myself exactly how much work I wanted to put into it. Did I want to do a full restoration or just give it a good cleaning? Basically, I was looking for a functional work machine, so I opted for a thorough cleaning.

The dark places on the metal parts are grime. This is the result of oils combining with dust and dirt. The oil can be from lubrication, but even clean hands have natural oils that are transferred to things we touch. Because the decals were wearing off I was concerned about what to clean it with. So I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of videos before I got started. The best cleaner was simply sewing machine oil.

For cleaning: clear sewing machine oil, toothpicks, an old
toothbrush, and clean cotton rags. Not pictured: metal polish.

A can of 3-In-One Oil was in one of the cabinet drawers, but when I tried to squeeze some onto a cotton rag it was thick and amber colored. So I went with the sewing machine oil as recommended. It is very thin and clear ("lily white") and was much easier to work with.

The entire machine got a good wiping down with the oil. This did a great job of collecting dust and loose surface dirt. On the gunky metal parts, I let the oil sit for a bit. Then I was able to scrape the grime away with toothpicks and toothbrush.

The last step was using metal polish on the metal parts. Considering that there was some pitting and flaking of the plating I wasn't expecting like-new results. I just wanted it as clean as I could get it.

Before

After

No where near new, but much cleaner and shinier than before! Oiling next.

 Antique Treadle Sewing Machine: Cleaning 
© Feb 2019 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal