The Scale Shack

The Scale Shack

In the buying and selling of logs, there must be someone who determines exactly what is changing hands. That person - who in the days when Port Gamble had a sawmill on the waterfront, operated out of the tiny scale shack across the parking lot from the shop.  The log scaler needed to determine the what specie of tree the logs came from and the grade and the board footage of the logs. This was, and still is an amazing process, part science and part experience and knowledge on the log scaler's part. Logs, even on the truck can be measured reasonably accurately, but an assessment of the grade and value of the logs is something that depends on years of experience on the log scalers part as well as an ethical and unbiased "best" judgement. The log scaler don't just measure logs, they determine what price is paid for a load of logs and therefore the profit of both the buyer and the seller.

In the fabric world, I imagine scaling would work something like this. The customer loads up her cart with bolts of fabric and wheels the shopping cart over to the scale counter, where an expert looks at the bolts, measures the length and thickness of the bolts and give the customer a best guess as to how many yards of fabric are in the cart, the quality of the fabric, and how much yardage the customer will lose to fabric flaws. The customer then pays the shop owner for the bolts of fabric based on the "fabric scalers" decision.

Needless to say the industry over the years has offered opportunity for greed and corruption! What do you think......instead of the oil industry in Dallas, a hit TV series with characters drawn from the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest!

More than you wanted to know probably.....but as I mentioned previously, in the days when Port Gamble had an active sawmill on the waterfront the scaling was done across from our shop. The log trucks stopped on their way to the mill site and the scalers came out of the shack and "scaled" the load. At the height of production, before 1940,  the mill was capable of producing 300,00 board feet of lumber a day......that is a lot of logs going by the shack to keep the mill operating at that capacity, since each truck at that time carried less than 3000 board feet in a load.

The "scale shack" still remains and is home to Second Spring, a business featuring a variety of handmade items. On any given Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday you can stop in and visit Mary, see what the shop has to offer, and take a look at her current project, as her hands are always busy.

You can find some interior shots of her shop and find out a little more about Mary and her business at the Life's A Gamble Blog.




 

Snowflake productivity

Snowflake productivity

When and if the snow here in the Pacific Northwest gets to be more than a few inches deep, then life slows down and all of us who have businesses that are not essential, close the doors and go home and enjoy the snow for a few days. This usually happens once in a winter, sometimes twice, and sometimes not at all, but it is infrequent enough that I still get a thrill from sitting in front of my fire and doing nothing more active than watching the snowflakes tumble in front of the window.  Some of the talented designers in our area were more productive however and used the snow days to finish their newest patterns and samples to hang in the shop.

Vicki from Cranberry Pie Designs brought us her latest embroidery wall hanging and pattern. Her drawing style is unique and reflects her sense of humor that has just a little bit of an edge, (and by the way, her hand embroidery stitches are perfect!)  "Be Yourself" is her third pattern.  And, we got a sneak peak at her drawings for her newest project, a Halloween Quilt in orange and purple. She is hoping to have the quilt and the pattern to the shop by June, in time for the Western Washington Shop Hop.

Sharon Weins actually published her Googly-Eyed Bugs quilt pattern last year, but she brought us a new wall hanging version of her pattern. This version uses brighter, more primary colors than her original quilt which is on the cover of her pattern.  The bugs (and worm) are fused and then satin stitched and the bug details are hand embroidered. I especially like the bright scrappy binding that she chose.

Snow Days

Snow Days

 

 

 

Pick us! Pick us!

Pick us! Pick us!

We are puffed up with pride and so honored to have our shop chosen as a Top Ten Quilt Shop by Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler Magazine.  It has been an exciting journey so far and I am sure you will be able to hear the signs of relief in our neighborhood as the small group of people who have known our secret since August can finally let it out! I received a phone call early one morning in August from the editor of the magazine informing us that the shop had been chosen for inclusion in the spring/summer issue. I am embarrassed to say that I was busy trying to catch up on paperwork before the shop opened when she called and identified herself as being with the magazine ( I thought she wanted to sell me an ad) so put her off and I did not call her back until mid-afternoon.

Our journey became sort of roller coasterish in very short order! I completed an interview with the magazine's story writer in early September, we prepared the shop for the magazine photo shoot which took place early in mid September and our finished quilt and pattern was due at the magazine in early November. Thanks for your patience with cords and cameras and with our lame explanations to all of you who happened to wander in the shop the couple of days that the photo crew was here!

I chose the wonderful Spring Umbrellas collection by Masha D'yans from Clothworks as inspiration for the quilt and they were kind enough to air freight some fabric in from the collection in time for the magazine deadline, as the collection was not actually released in the shops until the end of November. Terry Tamaki did a great job of quilting even under the pressure of knowing her quilting was going to be featured in a national publication and under some pretty tight time constraints. She is awesome! I am not sure which one of us was more relieved to have the quilt done and in the mail!

Now we wait.......we wait until March, when I get to see a proof of the magazine article and find out which pictures they chose for the magazine.  And, while we wait, we will be sharing the stories on the blog of the dozens of folks who are responsible for making sure that Quilted Strait always has smiling faces, friendly greetings, shipped packages, up to date websites, wonderful classes, great kits, eye-popping samples and a beautiful garden!  You will find out what I already know - they are all amazing!

Basket Weaving 101

Basket Weaving 101

For those of you who enjoyed Jerry's blog about the happenings in Port Gamble in the past...I have good news! Jerry has resumed the blog, I thought you might enjoy his post about the baskets at Port Gamble's Tango Zulu Imports

Life's A Gamble Blog: Basket Weaving 101: I dropped in on Tracy at Tango Zulu yesterday because I had heard something about the way that baskets are "reconstituted" after t...

Felting Wool for Applique Tutorial

Felting Wool for Applique Tutorial

We get lots of questions in the shop about felting and preparing wool fabrics to use for wool applique - I have created a little set of instructions which I hope folks will find helpful, including instructions for felting wool using a front loading washing machine. Really, you can!   A downloadable printer friendly version of the instructions are available on our website.

Felting or Fulling Wool Fabrics


Most of us have done it.....we have opened the door to the dryer and found out that our favorite wool garment will now fit a small child!  And, it wasn’t even a difficult process!   If this has happened to you, you have just had your introduction to the world of felting, or fulling, a process of shrinking the wool fibers so that the wool fibers will interlock. Wool that has been tightly felted does not ravel, making felted wool very easy to work with for appliqué projects as the edges of the wool appliqué shapes do not have to be turned under before being stitched down.

Finding a source of wool
NEW WOOL

• Some shops will carry wool on the bolt already felted or you can buy wool on the bolt and felt it yourself. The wool should be a least 80% wool - typically the other component will by nylon or polyester. For wool appliqué, a skirt weight wool is perfect. Stay away from worsted wool (you can recognize it because it feels hard and flat....like wool for a man’s suit) and washable wool - neither felt very well. You also want to avoid wool that is loosely woven as it may not shrink enough in the felting process to make a good appliqué fabric.  If you find the perfect fabric, but fear it is too loosely woven - you can felt it as much as you can, and then use Fray Block© by June Tailor on the edges  of  your appliqué shape. I like Fray Block© better than other non-fray products on the market as the results are softer, more pliable and less visible than some of the other products.

RECYCLED WOOL

• Frequently used woolen clothing items are very inexpensive at thrift stores. Chose garments that are 100% wool or are blends of 80% wool and 20% nylon or polyester. The fabric from garments with less than 80% wool content  will not felt. Like wool on the bolt, stay away from worsted wools, washable wools and clothing constructed from loosely woven fabric. Your best bets are skirts or lightweight blankets. Jackets, especially in these days of fusible interfacings, just don’t give you enough fabric for the time it takes to take them apart.
• Clothing items need to be taken apart before you can felt the wool. The thread used to sew the garment is usually not wool and will not felt and your  wool be will be stretched or misshapen if you do not remove the non-wool parts of the garments. I will occasionally purchase wool trousers if I fall in love with the fabric, but most wool pants are from worsted wool, so the clothing I usually purchase for recycling are skirts.  I usually use a pair of tight fitting surgical type gloves to handle the wool garments and work outside or in the garage as the garments can be dusty or full of lint.  I use scissors to cut off the waistband, open up the hem and cut out and discard any lining and bias tape or zippers,. Any buttons go in my button jar. I use a seam ripper to undo the seams and I end up with two or three pieces of wool, depending on how the skirt is constructed which I can now felt.

JUST A NOTE ABOUT HAND-DYED WOOL

• Hand dyed wools are available in a variety of sizes and textures. There are a number of companies, some larger, some smaller who dye wool. The wools are overdyed, which means the color as added “over” the woven pattern of the wool. Wool is dyed to create a unique color or range of colors or to create visual texture. Some hand dyed wools are dyed over solid wool and some are dyed over woven plaids or checks. The resulting wool can be fairly solid in nature or can be more mottled which will add visual interest to your appliqué piece.  Color, mottle and shading can be affected by many factors, including: water hardness and temperature, dye pigments and the wool fibers themselves. Variations in each piece of dyed wool are to be expected even using the same dye formula, but the gift is that every piece will be unique. Wool can be felted in the dyeing process, so hand-dyed wools meant for rug hooking and appliqué are already felted, you may however felt these wools a second time if you wish to tighten the weave further.

Procedures

Wool Felts with three things:

• Change in temperature
• Agitation
• Alkalinity (ph of the water)

So, in order to felt wool all you need to do is provide heat and agitation in the washing machine, and add a pH changing agent (otherwise known as laundry detergent!).
Felting wool is sort of like beating egg whites. You beat and you beat and you beat, and then oops, suddenly when you were not looking your foamy egg whites are so stiff they are a sculpture in white!    It is all to easy to miss the moment when your piece of wool goes from beautifully, softly felted wool to wool that is too thick and covered with little fuzz balls.

Wool blends will stop felting at some point - usually at somewhere around 25 - 30% shrinkage. Fabrics that are 100 % wool will shrink much more - up to 50%.
Wool fabric can be felted by putting the pieces in the washing machine and adding hot water. I felt like colors together, especially if the wool is hand dyed, and I always felt white or cream wool by itself.

• TOP LOADING MACHINES: Use just enough hot water to cover the item, so in my machine,  I set it on small load as there is more agitation with less water.  Then, if you can, set the agitation level to high. Add about 1/4 the amount of detergent you would normally add.  Once the washer starts, check the fabric after 15 minutes or so, at least the first time you try the process. Remember that 100% wool will shrink more than a wool blend. Continue to agitate wool in wash cycle until it gets close to the right size or thickness you want as the wool will shrink some more when it rinses, it will shrink a little more when the fabric spins out will felt even more when you put it in the dryer.  Rinse and spin your wool.  If your spin cycle adds cold water, your wool will felt more than if it adds hot water (due to temperature change). After the wool is rinsed and spun, put it in the dryer to continue the felting process. If I think that the piece of wool I have needs a lot of felting, such as a wool that is more loosely woven, then I just let the wool go through an entire washer cycle and then I put it in the dryer to shrink even more.

• FRONT LOADING MACHINES: The common misconception is that wool fabric cannot be felted in a front loading machine. There are just a couple of things that you need to do in order to provide a couple of elements that are missing in a front loading machine - the lack of agitation and the inability to check on the progress of your felting process. Like lots of folks, I now own a front loading machine, but I can still felt my wool! I have had good success in adding an old pair of jeans (ones that I don’t care if some of the wool color comes off on the jeans) to my load of wool to provide agitation.  The first time you felt wool in your machine, set the machine on the shortest cycle possible so you can check on the felting progress fairly soon.  After all it is easy to wash the wool a second time, impossible to unfelt a piece of wool that has gone too far. I have learned subsequently, that a medium cycle, with a cold water rinse is the best for my machine (note: the hot water at our house is really hot -we have no small children and a pump that circulates hot water continuously) - and with more loosely woven tweeds or herringbone wools, I need to run the wool through the washing machine twice. Since felting is a combination of several factors including water temperature and amount of agitation, you will need to do a little experimenting with your machine to find the combination that works best for you.

• STOVETOP METHOD: If for one reason or another you can’t use a washing machine to felt your wool fabric you can boil it in a pot on the top of the stove.  Fill a pot ( I like to use a five or six quart pot), preferably one you won’t be cooking in again - half full of water and bring water to a boil. Add a couple of tablespoons of mild detergent (dish soap or laundry soap) and immerse your wool(like colors together) in the water. Keep the water boiling and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until your fabric is the thickness you desire. Lift the wool out of the pot with tongs and plunge into cold water. When wool fabric is cool enough to handle, squeeze gently and put fabric in dryer. The only caution with boiling wool is that sometimes the very hot water can cause some of the dye to bleed from the fabric and change the color of your wool........either test a small piece before felting or you can just enjoy the serendipitous nature of the process.

Winter Birds and Berries

Winter Birds and Berries

Now that we have finished undecorating (is that a word/) from the holidays we are ready to get serious about winter bird feeders at my house. The lively little birds of winter have inspired Woolyladys Birds & Berries Wall Hanging (6" x 16") which is the FREE pattern with this Limited Edition of Hand Dyed Wool.

This Limited Edition includes eight hand dyed wool colors which are not part of their Studio Standards. The background for this wall hanging is Blue Twilight, the birds and berries are cut from Downy White, Dark Charcoal, Butterscotch, Blue-Gray, Raspberry Pink, Red-Brown and Berry Red.......a perfect variety of beautiful hand dyed wools to add to your inventory.

If you are signed up for our Auto-Ship Program for our Limited Edition Collections, your Collection is already on its way to you. We have a few kits left in the shop for this sweet little project.