OT word of the day

american cloth

This term is used in the United Kingdom to describe a waterproof
fabric produced by glazing the surface of an oiled cotton cloth. Used
for household applications, bookbindings, and inexpensive upholstery,
it has now been mostly replaced by polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coated
fabrics.

--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

Boutis

A wholecloth quilting type from France, best known is that from
Provencal where it is thought to have originated.
It is quite different from standard quilting, though it is somewhat
similar to trapunto.
Two pieces of fabric are put together, and the design is traced on
top.
Then the quilting stitches are placed over the lines. Sometimes
outline stitching is done instead of the standard running stitch in
order to add depth to the work. After the stitching is complete
stuffing or cording is added. Stuffing is added in the traditional
trapunto fashion, seperating the threads in the weave of the fabric
and poking it in. Cording is done by threading the cord, usually
cotton or wool yarn, into a needle, and slipping the needle into the
area to be corded, and bringing it up again a little away. The yarn
is then cut, and the ends left while more yarn is inserted. When the
section has been stuffed completely, the ends of the yarn are poked
back through the fabric into the stuffed area. When useing yarn like
this it may be inserted side by side to cover a broader area, or
confined to narrow channels. A multitude of narrow corded channels in
the backgound of the pattern are typical in boutis design.
There is no broad area of wadding (or batting) in boutis, the only
stuffing is that within the confines of the patterned areas.
Boutis is always reversible, thus similar quality and weave fabric is
used on both sides unlike traditional trapunto wherein the backing
fabric is often a coarser looser weave. Though silk has seen much use
in boutis, fabrics like batiste are more commonly used.

As it is so time consuming the technique is traditionally used for
trousseau, wedding, and baby items primarily, though not exclusively.
In Provencal one of the traditional parts of the baby's christening
outfit is a petasson, a small boutis used to wrap the infant.


--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

Orlon

Trade name the first acrylic fiber. Discovered in 1941 while a
scientist for DuPont was attempting to improve rayon, it went into
commercial production in 1950. Noted for soft hand, absorbency,
chemical and sunlight resistance, and warmth without weight. It is
shrink resistant, and a fairly strong fiber. It blends very well with
other fibres, and is commonly used in yarns and knitted clothing as
well as an assortment of garment fabrics.
--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

New York Hem
Superhem

A method of altering the hemline on jeans, trousers in general,
skirts, and etc. Useful for preserving an ornamented, or otherwise
difficult visible hem.

The fabric is simply cuffed up wrong side out, until the sewing line
of the original hem is at the correct length for re-hemming minus the
amount of length in the original hem. A new line of stitching is
placed immediately below the original hem. The cuff of fabric is then
usually trimmed away before being pressed under, and then the hem is
topstitched just above the new stitch line. Some places that do
alterations serge the raw edge in addition to or instead of
topstitching.

Illustrated minus the topstitching he

http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38


--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

Kapok

Fiber harvested from kapok trees in Aisia and Indonesia. The fiber is
the fluff surrounding the seeds in their pods.
It is consiidered to be a superior fiber for stuffings, and has been
used extensively in water safety equipment, life preservers and so
forth.
Sometimes called "silk cotton" or java cotton, it is lusterous, soft,
quite resilient, water resistant, quick drying, and extremely buoyant.
It is also naturally hypoallergenic, resistant to rot, and oderless.
It gets its buoyancy and some of it's softness from the fact that it
is a tube. Each fiber is hollow, with air sealed inside of it. It
can support over thirty times its own weight in water, and will only
lose about 10% of its buoyancy after a month of soaking.
It is eight times lighter in weight than cotton, and because it is
pretty much a bunch of little tubes full of air it makes an excellent
insulator. It has been favorably compared to down as a stuffing for
pillows, matteresses, and parkas. A quick seach shows the parkas are
harder to come by, at least labled as kapok filled.
While it is pretty sturdy stuff as a loose fiber, it does not hold up
to spinning well, so it is sold strictly as a stuffing material.
--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

Addenda:

The kapok tree has a largeish range. It is a rainforest native and
found throughout the rainforests of Central and South America, as well
as in the Caribbean Islands and the African rainforests. It is not
harvested on a large scale there though. Large scale commercial
harvesting is primarily in southeast aisa and Indonesia.

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:41:14 GMT, (NightMist)
wrote:

Kapok

Fiber harvested from kapok trees in Aisia and Indonesia. The fiber is
the fluff surrounding the seeds in their pods.
It is consiidered to be a superior fiber for stuffings, and has been
used extensively in water safety equipment, life preservers and so
forth.
Sometimes called "silk cotton" or java cotton, it is lusterous, soft,
quite resilient, water resistant, quick drying, and extremely buoyant.
It is also naturally hypoallergenic, resistant to rot, and oderless.
It gets its buoyancy and some of it's softness from the fact that it
is a tube. Each fiber is hollow, with air sealed inside of it. It
can support over thirty times its own weight in water, and will only
lose about 10% of its buoyancy after a month of soaking.
It is eight times lighter in weight than cotton, and because it is
pretty much a bunch of little tubes full of air it makes an excellent
insulator. It has been favorably compared to down as a stuffing for
pillows, matteresses, and parkas. A quick seach shows the parkas are
harder to come by, at least labled as kapok filled.
While it is pretty sturdy stuff as a loose fiber, it does not hold up
to spinning well, so it is sold strictly as a stuffing material.
--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

Hari Kuyo
Festival of the Broken Sewing Needle
Shrine of the Broken Sewing Needle

In Japan both Buddhism and Shinto are intertwined within the culture.
This gives rise to the recognition of the spirt imbued in all objects.
Tools are honored for their own beauty and the partnership they have
with the craftsperson. A master craftsperson carries with themself a
certain reverence for the tools of their craft. They are not merely
objects that are used to make a living, but friends that aid in the
craft reliably on a daily basis.

So of course tailors and kimono makers in Japan hold their needles in
high regard.

There are specific shrines for broken sewing needles in most areas
where the textile industry is prominent in Japan. In Wakayama
province they are found in every village.

February 8 in specific is the Festival of Broken Sewing Needles.
On this day kimono makers, tailers and housewives take the day off
from their usual chores to organize their sewing boxes and carry their
broken, bent, or rusted needles and pins to the shrine. There the
needles are placed on a bed of soft tofu in honor of their service.
Mostly observed by women, often they put their troubles into the
needles and pins and ask the gods to take them away. Usually they also
pray for help in improving themselves in their craft.
--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.

I Love this idea! Might be something we ought to start for the large
collection of worn-out SM needles, currently residing in a very old
plastic film container. Now that I will never buy another roll of
film, I might need to go over to tofu as a needle disposal system.
Roberta in D

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:45:20 GMT, (NightMist)
wrote:

Hari Kuyo
Festival of the Broken Sewing Needle
Shrine of the Broken Sewing Needle

In Japan both Buddhism and Shinto are intertwined within the culture.
This gives rise to the recognition of the spirt imbued in all objects.
Tools are honored for their own beauty and the partnership they have
with the craftsperson. A master craftsperson carries with themself a
certain reverence for the tools of their craft. They are not merely
objects that are used to make a living, but friends that aid in the
craft reliably on a daily basis.

So of course tailors and kimono makers in Japan hold their needles in
high regard.

There are specific shrines for broken sewing needles in most areas
where the textile industry is prominent in Japan. In Wakayama
province they are found in every village.

February 8 in specific is the Festival of Broken Sewing Needles.
On this day kimono makers, tailers and housewives take the day off
from their usual chores to organize their sewing boxes and carry their
broken, bent, or rusted needles and pins to the shrine. There the
needles are placed on a bed of soft tofu in honor of their service.
Mostly observed by women, often they put their troubles into the
needles and pins and ask the gods to take them away. Usually they also
pray for help in improving themselves in their craft.

In article ,
Roberta Roberta@Home wrote:

I Love this idea! Might be something we ought to start for the large
collection of worn-out SM needles, currently residing in a very old
plastic film container. Now that I will never buy another roll of
film, I might need to go over to tofu as a needle disposal system.
Roberta in D

I love it, too! Lacking film containers, I now use prescription medicine
bottles. The advantage to those is the child-proof caps -- which I only
use when I'm ready to dispose of the whole shebang, as who knows whether
I'd ever get the lid off again?


On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:45:20 GMT, (NightMist)
wrote:

Hari Kuyo
Festival of the Broken Sewing Needle
Shrine of the Broken Sewing Needle

In Japan both Buddhism and Shinto are intertwined within the culture.
This gives rise to the recognition of the spirt imbued in all objects.
Tools are honored for their own beauty and the partnership they have
with the craftsperson. A master craftsperson carries with themself a
certain reverence for the tools of their craft. They are not merely
objects that are used to make a living, but friends that aid in the
craft reliably on a daily basis.

So of course tailors and kimono makers in Japan hold their needles in
high regard.

There are specific shrines for broken sewing needles in most areas
where the textile industry is prominent in Japan. In Wakayama
province they are found in every village.

February 8 in specific is the Festival of Broken Sewing Needles.
On this day kimono makers, tailers and housewives take the day off
from their usual chores to organize their sewing boxes and carry their
broken, bent, or rusted needles and pins to the shrine. There the
needles are placed on a bed of soft tofu in honor of their service.
Mostly observed by women, often they put their troubles into the
needles and pins and ask the gods to take them away. Usually they also
pray for help in improving themselves in their craft.




--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sw.foster1 (at) gmail (dot) com (remove/change the obvious)
http://www.sandymike.net

Plush

A variety of velvet wherein the pile is much longer.
Traditionally a fabric was not called plush unless the pile was at
least an inch long. These days it is applied to fabrics with a
shorter pile, especially when they are synthetic or synthetic blends.
--

Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.