Ya ya ya I know Fibers and Sewing isn’t the same thing. I know, I know people. But I can’t dominate the talk board that much so everything soft gets under one roof.
What type of things do we currently have that work well for sewing?
“” for fibers?
What additional tools and resources would you like to see for sewing?
“” for fibers?
How does the space work out … what works well in CA and what doesn’t work well?
I’ll think of more after I’ve mulled it over a bit, but I definitely think we need a new solution for ironing. Ideally the ironing board would get hung back on the wall and out of the way while its not being used. In reality its in the middle of the way basically full time. I understand that part of that is a limitation with the room we have, but I think it would be so nice if we had some solution for this. I’ve considered for my own studio some sort of wall hanging solution for both space savings and ease of putting away, but really anything that ensures its out of the way when not in use would be great.
Is it in the plans for sewing, fibers and quilting to get one of the rooms for “clean” workspace where glues, paints, dyes, etc will not be allowed?
Yes (sorta), as of the brainstorming and planning that @rvalles70 started sewing will receive it’s own “clean” room where “things” won’t be allowed except for cloth. This will allow for dedicated workspace and wall space. Chris gave some brilliant insight on sewing desires. Now’s the time to just talk about dreams.
Have the digital media room become the sewing room, with space for a couple of industrial sewing machines. I’m going to be donating one and I’ll be bringing another one in four classes.
A few things…
VERY STRONGLY prefer fibers out in main large common ca room, NOT one of the smaller rooms.
People want to lump it with sewing for some reason and there’s no cross-over for the most part. In fact, we NEED room to spread out if we’re doing classes, spinning circle, fiberfrolics and such. That’s a FAR bigger need to us than super-clean work surfaces.
And our groups classes/events fit nicely around the bowling table, plus room to spread slightly. Like it used to work well when we could add another table in extension to bowling table (can’t now because of sewing tables).
We DON’T particularly need a clean area with extra clean work surfaces like sewing. Just a table to sit around or floor space to spread and just need average table cleanliness of any other ca class.
Main two things that would be nice:
a place to store the wheel and loom and yarn box lower down, so it’s less awkward for us short folks, instead of everything being on top of cabinet. Plus the fun risk of pulling wheel or loom or heavy yarn box down on your head. Yay.
a table of normal thickness that our equipment will clamp to without adapters (currently requires c-clamping a board to thicker table, then clamping equipment to that). Doesn’t have to be dedicated table, just one that is general use but stays empty mostly. To be specific, the only clampable good thickness is the one next to the shapeoko, which isn’t helpful since it is filled with stuff. All the black tables are slightly too thick, as is the bowling table. A small table like thickness of ones in lecture hall would be good.
I’ve already discussed with previous chair but hasn’t needed quite yet (very soon though, next supply order for next class project), is adding one more box to hold cones for weaving yarn. Other than that, we mostly have the storage we need.
A distant maybe is there have been times we’ve turned down a floor loom because of space. If we had the space, it’d be nice to be able to accept one next time. Lower priority though.
[edit to add]
Ok, posted stuff lower but just so it’s all in one place, maybe a set of shelves that would contain all the stuff from top of cabinets, plus added dyeing equipment
So if we want to dye or otherwise do wet things to fabric… A wet area would be nice or do we need to use printmaking area?
Have any of you been here? https://www.textilecentermn.org
It’s amazing. DMS has many of these already. We just need to have more of a social media presence. I do my part by telling complete strangers. 
And one day… a long arm.
I’d figured for dyeing, we would choose another room with non-carpet floors. It’s not like dyeing is a permanent setup, so doesn’t matter where as long as it wouldn’t be upsetting if dye spilled. Originally I’d planned dyeing for interactive (not sure with lovely new floor), but could do purple, or even workshop.
Had dye jar break in my garage once. Looks like I exploded a smurf in that corner. A lovely blue splat.
A good classroom for “wet work” will be the one the Galley is converted into. Water, a sink, and tile floors.
The current Galley will become a classroom with a tile floor, water and a sink. You can use that. I do not know whether it is OK to pour dye down the drain, though.
Re dye down drain
Actually, I got the MSDS sheets way back on the dyes I use here at home and they’re totally fine for down the drain or poured in my yard. Could technically drink, but ewww…
I will say that dyeing could more easily be done in room with sink. One reason I’ve never taught it at DMS is water logistics. Having it in a room with sink would be a game changer.
Other issue was schlepping my equipment in because of lack of dedicated storage space (doesn’t need much, but ca just didn’t have ANY).
We’ve had A LOT of interest in dyeing over time.
Ok, ADD to fiber arts wishlist/storage/purchase stuff for dyeing. A couple bins and maybe $1-200 would catch it.
I didn’t think we/fibers needed anything much really, but the dyeing would be a FANTASTIC addition
Maybe a shelf unit for fibers???
Upon further pondering, for fibers, I’m wondering if we got one of those shelving units with adjustable height between shelves, we could make the lower one for heavier bins (yarn, dye equipment), next up extra tall but accessible for wheel, loom, etc, then less used but still important bins higher (weaving yarn, inkle looms,etc)
We mostly have all the tools we need and they fit in rolling cabinet, then the crap off top of cabinets and dye equipment and weaving yarn could all fit in one shelving unit
May I suggest that Create Arts store the rolling cabinets near the hallway instead of along a back wall so that they do not become captive again?
The ceiling is much lower in your new digs so the temptation to store things on top of them is less.
I love the Rolling Cabinets. I remember when we got them how much easier was to get things to a classroom and how easy it was to keep thing together and how neat things look. Easy to rearrange.
We’ve got quite a few of these series of cabinets and work tables around DMS and they seem to be holding up very well. They aren’t that expensive and have a lot of configurations.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/search/searchResults.jsp?searchTerm=seville&searchCategoryId=all&xid=hdr_search-typeahead_seville
Which dyes are you using?
Well if we are talking farfetched dreams then an embroidery machine that can do hats and other things the current machine can’t do. Magnetic hoops
I was going to suggest an embroidery machine that has bigger hoops, and upgraded software.
I’ll be bringing in my Husquvarna Topaz 50 machine and the software for a demo sometime in the near future, probably after one of Chris’ classes. The Topaz has a max hoop size of 200 x 360mm, and the software is a huge improvement over SewArt. At a cost, of course…
Re dyes I use
Prochem Washfast Acid Dyes (vinegar or citric acid for the acid)
I like them because once you mix them up, they are shelf-stable for six months (many dyes you have to use relatively soon once you mix them). The cost per pound to dye is very good on these too.
In an educational environment, having dyes that get mixed up staying stable for months could be an advantage and useful for minimizing costs and waste.
In a past life, I used these for production dyeing silk roving and selling, so I did a lot of research once upon a time on things like cost, color range, safety, required setup, etc and these came out ahead. Prochem’s Pro MX fiber reactive dyes came out well in research too. But the acid dyes fit what I needed at the time better.
Typically I’ve steam set these in an electric vegetable steamer. Hit the button, takes 45 minutes, can walk off and no babysitting. Steam setting is very gentle and doesn’t felt even very fussy delicate fibers since no agitation.
Only downside is capacity. I think I was doing around 4 ounces wool or silk a batch. There might be larger capacity steamers. To do more in a session, I used a couple steamers I ran simultaneously, or staggered running one with prepping next, etc. This methodology of multiple steamers or larger capacity if available could work fine logistically in a classroom setting. I found them at the thrift store for $7 on completely different trips (or $35ish new). Seems folks get these for gifts, never use, then eventually donate to thrift store 
Obviously, since these are acid dyes, they’re only good for protein fibers (wool, silk, camelids, etc) and nylon.
I’ll be looking into fiber reactive dyes so we can also do cellulose fibers like cotton, bamboo, and linen as well. Plus the process and heat (or lack thereof) is different. They’ll dye cellulose at room temp, protein fibers set with heat.
I’m also going to look at jacquard acid dyes since they have good rep. I don’t know about shelf stability. I know they come in liquid too, but I found in general that that mixing master dyes from powder was better cost. Well, and I’m super familiar with the prochem ones and how they act.
For the most versatility, fiber reactive dye family might be the way to go since it’ll do everything. A little more complicated, but nothing insurmountable. I’ll have to compare costs.
One-shot dyes could be an option too, but they’re markedly more expensive. But way less complicated for the trade off (don’t require auxiliaries). Personally, it’s not that hard to do the rest, so I lean towards the ones mentioned above.
Full disclosure, haven’t dyed things like cotton fabric for quilting, so if you know that part…
I’m open to ideas and input. I have a feeling we have complementary dyeing knowledge. Might be good to coordinate since we’d use a lot of common things.
What have you used?
Get a link. Tell us the cost.