Crocheting with fabric

I finally tried this yesterday. I have been holding on to this Halloween fabric (orange and black diamonds) for a few years. It was a rummage sale find. So I decided to give this a try. I am making a rag basket for Halloween and maybe to carry over for the autumn months.

The stitches are simple and easy, but it is really hard on the hands. With some investigating I have found how to get the strips together without sewing them. Cutting a slit in the ends, matching those up and flipping the other end through the slits and pulling tight. A raggedy knot but fitting for a rag basket.

Hope everyone is well, been pretty busy here in NJ dodging the rain drops and the wind. Take care, all!

Diane

Reply to
seasidestitcher
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Hi Diane,

Sounds really cute, will we see a picture?

The sun has come out up here and it's so nice. We did get two inches of rain yesterday, at least it's not snow.

Hugs,

Nora

Reply to
norabalcer

I was wondering if you got snow, Nora. I was hearing that this morningNY was getting snow, so I was thinking of you. Glad it was just rain for ya. Too early to think of shoveling! LOL

I will post a pic when done! Di

Reply to
seasidestitcher

Heh heh heh, I don't live there (NY) anymore. Shoveling snow doesn't sound like my idea of fun at all. And it cuts into my yarn time. LOL. The rag basket sounds really cute Diane. How big is it going to be and how much fabric did it take. How are you going to do the handle? Marie and the cats- inquiring minds want to know (will a small cat fit inside?)

Reply to
bienchat

Diane , were yiu crocheting or knoting thr basket? When making rag strips for weaving , i cut them so that when turned around themselves they are not more than Pencil size. When cutting rags for crochet or knitting they should not be wider or heavier than ,,, A Bias Ribbon which means less than a pencil size. Best way to work Rag basket is by Wrapping the rags around Either a rope , or a core of other rags,,, you wrap several times than wrap thwice over the core you us and the core under it , you wrap once around the double wrapping and go further ,, by using various rags you can get woinderful colors and patterns ,,, sew some beads and buttons to yjour basket and you have the most original one. mirjam

Reply to
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen

Hi Mirjam,

Actually what I did was to crochet the strips of fabric. Starting off like a round doily and doing rounds for the bottom. Then I went up, crocheting a single crochet in the back loops only. Then making a scalloped border along the top edge. It came out looking more like a bowl than a basket.

I joined the strips like I explained above. This is not a "neat " way of joining as in sewing them nicely. I tore the fabric into small strips, so there are frayed edges. It looks "old", so to speak.

The idea of beads is a great idea. I think I will try that. My DD wants me to make something for her dresser in a nice calico. I thinks beads would really look nice. Thanks.

Also, I was thinking that if I made these tall enough, I could fit the bottom of a potted house plant inside. I can make them to coordinate in my room and then wash when soiled!

I googled and found that you can wrap fabric around a rope and that seems like something else I would like to try, even my DD would be interested.

Di

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Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:

Reply to
seasidestitcher

Hallo Di , i started making baskets at a very young age, i saw people who made grass baskets and was facinated , but i could not find enough grass , or vines of bushes or branches , and thus i started to play with , papers,old nylon stockings, threads torn clothes , whatever would be plyable enough to wrap , to coil, etc... when we came to America ,Boston , with my Husband`s work, i was Lucky enough to find the PIA , that in that time was within BU.... and i joined the class of Weaving without a loom ,,,, with Barbara Shawcroft, who herself worked and studied with Ed Rossbach. She was a great Teacher and opened my mind to the possibilitis of using both my life experience with materials and incorportaing them with my feelings. In many ways she was my Fiberartistic mother, and i am forever thankful to her. Several years later we had an Imternational congress here about Fiberart and i was lucky enough to have met the Late Lilian Elliot , who also inspired and blessed us all with her loving of materials , of shaping feelings and transforming them into what she called "soul vessels". I deffinitely advise you to read some books about Basketry, it might inspire you to all the possibilities .... One can build baskets in all forms , even with several openings !!! You can do it all. "The New Basketry" , Ed Rossbach, Van Nostrand , 1976. "Free Weaving " , Myriam Gilby, Charles Scribner`s Sons, 1976 . "Weaving study Course " , Else Regenmeister, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company , 1975, { deals with weaving but has interesting 3D ideas.] "Taaniko, Maori Hand-weaving" Joyce Ronald Smith, Charles Scribner ,

1975. [ A weaving form that allows 3D easily, and is more basketry like] mirjam
Reply to
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen

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