"Soft Pottery" Pansy Bowl

Soft Pottery from Dyed Clothesline

A Bold New Sewing Craft

These baskets, bowls and wine totes are all made to look like hand-thrown pottery, but in reality they’re “soft to the touch.” Who would guess they are made from dyed clothesline? All of these pieces were created by Barbara Warholic who takes ordinary cotton-covered clothesline, coils it up, zigzag stitches it together and then hand dyes it to create beautiful shades of color. Barbara uses Rit dye to color her soft pottery pieces and has created a striking hand-dyed Pansy bowl for you to try. Her step-by-step tutorial is very easy to follow. So give this new “Coiled Clothesline” sewing craft a try.

Hand-Dyed Soft Pottery Pansy Bowl

By Barbara Warholic

Finished Size: 8" diameter x 5"

This beautiful Pansy Bowl is made from ordinary cotton-covered clothesline that is coiled and machine zigzagged into a simple bowl shape. Then the bowl is hand-dyed to give it beautiful shades of color and embellished with pansies made from dyed cotton batting. It's easy and so much fun!

Supplies Needed

For Dyeing

• Rit Liquid Dye: Apple Green, Golden Yellow & Violet
• 50 Ft. Cotton covered clothesline, 3/16" wide
• 4 Squares cotton quilt batting, 4" x 4"
• Measuring cup and measuring spoons
• 3 Plastic beverage cups, 12 oz.
• 1 Deep dye container, 8" diameter
• Plastic spoon for stirring dye
• Rubber gloves
• Plastic wrap
• Paper towels
• Plastic table cover

For Sewing

• White cotton thread, large spool
• Scissors
• Hand sewing needle
• Crewel embroidery needle
• Yellow crewel embroidery yarn or floss, 18" piece for pansies center
• Yellow thread
• Purple Ultra-Fine Sharpie

Sewing the Bowl

Sewing Machine Preparation: Set your sewing machine to the widest zigzag setting and a 1.75 (or slightly less) stitch length. This is important! If you use a longer stitch length, your basket will be floppy and have no stability. Fill several bobbins with white cotton thread.

1. Fold the first 1 ¼" of clothesline in half, forming a loop. Put the clothesline loop under the presser foot with the top of the loop pointing away from you. Machine zigzag down the center of the loop.
   
2. Continue to machine zigzag the clothesline into a coil. Sew several stitches then lift the presser foot. Turn your work counter-clockwise, lower the presser foot, and sew a few more stitches. Repeat this until you can freely turn and sew your work without lifting the presser foot, about eight rounds. Mark the point where you started with a straight pin.
   
3. Zigzag until the coil measures 4 1/2" in diameter.
4. Stop sewing directly across from the pin that marks the starting point. This ensures that you have complete rounds. Keep your coiled clothesline under the presser foot.
5. Raise the left edge of the coil directly up to the side of your sewing machine. This is how you transition from the bottom of the basket to the side of the basket.
   
   Continue to zigzag around the coil. Hold it securely, but not too tightly, up against the side of the sewing machine.
   
6. Zigzag until the side of the basket measures 5". Stop stitching directly across from the pin that marks the starting point.
7. Stitch back and forth several times to reinforce this spot. Cut the clothesline off with scissors.
8. Continue to zigzag once around the entire top of the basket. This will make a nice finished top edge.
   

Dyeing the Bowl & Quilt Batting Squares

• Soak the bowl and the quilt batting squares in warm water. They need to be totally saturated with water before dyeing. The water helps the dye to penetrate the fibers of the clothesline and the quilt batting.
• Cover your work surface with a plastic table cloth. Put on rubber gloves.

Dyeing Batting Apple Green (wear rubber gloves)

1. In one of the plastic cups, measure 1 Tablespoon of Apple Green liquid dye and 1/2 cup of very hot water; stir well. Note: If water is not hot enough, heat water in the microwave or in a tea kettle.
2. Remove one square of batting from the water; squeeze out excess water. Immerse batting in the dye bath. Stir the dye and the batting with a plastic spoon, making sure that the batting gets totally saturated with dye. Cover cup with plastic wrap.
3. Microwave: Line bottom of microwave with paper towels. Place wrapped cup with batting in the microwave and heat for 1 minute or until steam is created. Using a pot holder or rubber gloves,remove cup from microwave.
4. Carefully remove the batting from the dye bath (it's hot). Squeeze out the excess dye. Reserve the remaining dye. Rinse batting with cool water until water runs clear. Allow to air dry.

Dyeing the Bowl Apple Green

1. To the reserved Apple Green dye, add 1/2 cup of very hot water; stir well. Adding water to the dye makes the shade of the dye lighter. Heat in the microwave for 45 seconds.
2. Pour the dye into a deep container with an 8" diameter. Set the bowl that has been soaking in water, upright into the dye. Allow the bowl to sit in the dye for 5 – 10 minutes. Because the basket was soaked in water, the Apple Green dye will begin to "migrate" upward.
   
   If it's not migrating, spoon the dye onto the lower portion of the bowl. Then swirl the dye that is on the inside of the bowl around so that the inside gets saturated with dye too.
3. Take the bowl out of the dye. Turn it upside down on paper towels. Spoon some dye around the rim of the bowl bottom and allow the Apple Green dye to run down the sides in several places. This will add visual interest to your bowl. Set the bowl aside upside down on a paper towel. This will allow the dye to continue to migrate toward the top of the bowl.

Dyeing Batting & Bowl Golden Yellow Dye (wear rubber gloves)

1. In another plastic cup, measure 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of Golden Yellow liquid dye with 1 cup of very hot water; stir well.
2. Remove second square of batting; squeeze out excess water. Dye batting following steps 2 – 4 for dyeing batting Apple Green.
3. Using the remaining Golden Yellow dye, reheat dye in the microwave on high for 45 seconds.
4. Pour the dye into the deep container. Set the bowl upside down into the Golden Yellow dye solution. Allow the bowl to remain in the dye bath for five minutes. The Golden Yellow dye should begin to migrate upward and blend with the Apple Green. If necessary, spoon the yellow dye onto the sides of the basket.
5. Remove the bowl from the dye and check the inside of it. If there are bare spots, spoon dye around the inside of the bowl. The inside of the bowl should look as good as the outside.
6. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and seal the edges. Place it on paper towels in the microwave. Microwave the basket on high for 2 minutes.
7. Remove the bowl from the microwave. Set on paper towels to dry. It is not necessary to rinse the excess dye from the bowl since it will only be used for decorative purposes. Before discarding the dye, check the basket to be sure there are no bare spots. Touch-up if needed.

Dyeing Batting Violet (wear rubber gloves)

1. In the third plastic cup, measure 1 Tablespoon of Violet liquid dye with 1/2 cup of very hot water; stir well.
2. Remove third square of batting; squeeze out excess water. Dye batting following steps 2 – 4 for dyeing batting Apple Green.
3. To the remaining Violet dye bath, add 1/2 cup of very hot water; stir well. This will lighten the Violet color. Heat in the microwave on high for 45 seconds.
4. Remove fourth square of batting; squeeze out squeeze water. Dye batting following steps 2 – 4 for dyeing batting Apple Green. This results in two quilt batting squares in two different shades of Violet.
5. Allow the quilt batting squares to air dry.

Making the Pansies

There are 3 pansies, 1 bud, and 2 leaves. Use these patterns to cut out petals and leaves from the quilt batting.

• Pattern A: Cut 2 from the dark Violet; cut 1 from the light Violet.
  
• Pattern B: Cut 5 from the Golden Yellow; cut 2 from the light Violet.
  
• Pattern C: Cut 2 from the Golden Yellow.
  
• Pattern D: Cut 1 from the Apple Green
  
• Pattern E: Cut 2 from the Apple Green
  
• Pattern F: Cut 1 from the light Violet
  

Assembling the Pansies

Make 1 two-toned Violet colored pansy, and 2 Golden Yellow and Violet pansies (refer to the finished photograph).

1. Hand sew the pansies pieces together with thread in the order shown:
   
2. Using 1 strand of bright yellow crewel yarn or 3 strands of yellow embroidery floss, make 3 French knots in the center of each pansy.
3. Make 3 pansies and hand sew them to the basket as shown in the picture. Use the purple Sharpie to add detail to your pansies.
4. Using pattern E, fashion two leaves. Scallop the edges with scissors for a realistic look. Hand sew the leaves to the basket as shown in the photograph.

To Make the Pansy Bud

1. Take one piece B and roll it in your fingers.
2. Wrap piece F around it, fashioning it into a bud.
3. Secure it together with a few hand stitches.
4. Take piece D and snip the upper edge with scissors as shown:
   
5. Wrap piece D around the end of the bud. You may have to trim some of piece D away. Secure it with a few stitches then hand sew the bud to the bowl. Your bowl is finished!