Clothesline Bowls

Judy “Tie Dye” Sall, a fellow artist and wonderful fabric dyer, encouraged me to make these clothesline bowls several years ago. Check out her blog here.

I bought the clothesline and a book,  but just didn’t get around to until I signed up for Alisa Burke’s class. She calls them rope bowls.

allbowlsI decided to use my old Elna since it has really served me well lately. The hardest part is getting started.

sewingbowl

ropecoilbowls

First I added mandalas I cut out of my mandala fabric with Golden Gel Medium. I would have used Mod Podge but couldn’t get the jar open! I wanted to see how paint would work on the clothesline and it did okay as you see on the bowl on the left. My purple bowl really needs a couple more coats to look good.

mandalabowlsThen I covered the clothesline with fabric in just the bottom. Adding the fabric takes much more time.

chocolatebasket

Here it is again showing Dave’s first tomatoes.

firsttomatoes16

For the blue bowl I dyed the clothesline before I sewed it. This is some of Dave’s garlic.

XiangarlicinbluebowlDave really liked using them to show his small harvests. I’ve promised him some larger ones.

I have really enjoyed making these. I like the dyed clothesline bowl best. I don’t really like painting them because it changes the whole feel of the bowl. Alisa draws on hers, but that didn’t work for me. It was great getting back to sewing and feeling good about it. Also, nice to check off one of those things I’ve been wanting to create for a long time.

Hope your summer is moving along nicely. If the weather cooperates, I’ll be out in my kayak tomorrow! Keep cool and have a colorful day!