Chapter 7 cont.

1. Using an idea from Maggie Smith, I coloured a piece of Tyvek with Pental Paintstiks and stitched it to a piece of coloured silk.  When it is heated it shrinks  as I found to my cost in Module One!

2. Whilst the heat gun was out I burned some holes in a pice of Sizeflor and pushed a cotton fabric through them.  This was easier said than done because when the second hole was filled it pulled the fabric out of the first.  The back of the Sizeflor was sprayed with 505 and each piece ironed into place as it was worked then free machined into place.

3. Silk is coloured with silk paints and quilted onto a wadding and backing fabric using straight stitch (foot on) using toning threads.

Gathering onto fusible webbing.
4 & 5. Cotton was used for both samples; it is the only fabric which creases well!

Ruching

6. Free hand using a Polyester sheer gathered onto  Cottton using an automatic pattern

7. A free hand  Gingham strip held in place with free machining

8. The old Singer pleater fits my Frister and Rossman portable and was used to work the following samples. It will pleat every stitch, every 5th stitch oand attach to a backing fabric at the same time.

9. Pleating every 5th stitch on fine cotton(above) and the same, with sections of every stitch (below)

10. Narrow strips pleated every stitch (above) and varied (below)

11. Pleating every stitch on cotton sateen and every 5th stitch on top and every 5th in opposite directions below.

12. Sheer fabirc pleated and stitched to a backing fabric.

13. And a narrow strip pleated every stitch

14. There is also a gathering foot

15. the  stitch length varies the amount gathered

16. on Cotton (above) and Silk Habutai (below)

 Pintucks

17&18. . On Cotton, straight and wavy lines.  I don't have a pintuck foot but I think the varied spacing of the lines adds interest.

19. Straight and wavy lines on Rayon crepe

20. The same on Rayon satin but it was a little too thick to get good tucks.

21. On Polyester sheer but the tucks aren't very clear in the photo.

 

 

Pleats and Tucks

 

22. Narrow rucks using the blind hemming foot and altered needle position

 
I have a really good book, "The Art of Manipulating Fabric" by Colette Wolff and tried some ideas from it.

23. Grid of tucks using the quilting foot as a guide

24. Random tucks using the quilting foot

25. Shell edged tucks using Blind Hem stitch on sheer fabric

26. Random pleats stitched on decorated fabric

 
 27. and the reverse

28. Narrow pleats stitched down in alternate directions

Holes
29. I tried Hessian for this.  The grid worked quite well and is threaded with a Ratstail cord

 30.  Free maching on Hessian, not entirely successful.  Going shopping for scrim!!

 

Chapter 7

Fabric Manipulation

Gathers
 
Regular grid on Calico with an automatic pattern added.

 
Diagonal line grid with areas stitched with white

Curved line grid with areas stitched with a varigated thread.

Rayon crepe stitched with a regular grid and overstitched with Vermicelli

Diagonal grid with free zig-zag stitching

Curved grid with whip stitch, but the bobbin tension could have been a little looser

 
Rayon satin regular grid with free stitching in a varigated 30s thread

 
Diagonal grid with varigated running stitch

Curved grid with circles of free maching using a metallic thread which I think worked well.

Polyestee sheer in a regular grid with free machining

Diagonal grid with a regular grid stitched with the foot on over it.

Curved lines with free zig-zag over the top

Grilon

Patterned cotton free machined and shrunk with iron.  This has interesting areas but is not as textured as I expected.

A regular grid on silk Habutai and shrunk in hot water giving more of the result I expected

 Diagonl grid on Rayon satin but the Grilon appears only to have shrunk in one dirction

Diagonal grid on Calico using a varigated thread but as the fabriv is quite stiff there isn't much shrinking.

 
Shirring elastic


Random spaces straight lines on Rayon satin ( thought about the Fibronacci series)  I love the effect this gives.

 Varied curved lines on Rayon crepe.

 Random rows, some at right angles and some overlapping stitched on two layers of Polyester sheer fabric and was pleased with this result.  

I have used shirring elastic before so I know that it works best on soft and fine fabrics and chose the materials for my samples with this in mind.

Texture Magic. 
 I found a reference to this in a book so thought Id give it a try.  It is stitched to the back of the fabric, the more and closer the rows the better the result, then heated with a steam iron.  I tried it on cotton and a sheer and it works really well.  It is expensive, though.

Cotton stitched with wavy and straight and lines above and a sheer below stitched with straight and diagonal lines.