Fabric Weaving

 Devora gave a Lunch and Shmooze demonstration of fabric and/or paper weaving yesterday.

And it got the creative juices flowing.

She demonstrated a weaving she was doing, using a practice piece from another workshop as the warp (vertical lines).  I got to thinking about some duppioni silk pieces I had snow dyed several years ago.  I never did anything with them because the colours weren't as vibrant as I had anticipated.

I pulled out the snow-dyed pieces, backed them with iron on lightweight interfacing (the ironing didn't totally adhere...), cut them into 1/2" strips and wove away.

This is the finished product:

I will add, when my cellphone recharges, photos of similar whole pieces before cutting up.

Now what to do with it?

Fabric Flowers

Full disclosure:  I did not invent this method of fabric flowers.  I saw it on youtube.

I may demonstrate live at our upcoming Lunch and Shmooze but my hands shake, sometimes to the point of distraction so I will do a photo description and if my hands cooperate, a live one.

First things first:  fabric.

I have done this with silk (leftover from silk ties without interfacing), polyester blends, and cotton.  I have not tried denim or heavier weight fabrics.

I work with freezer paper, making my template(s) using a paper or styrofoam cup.

I cut a piece of freezer paper big enough to make 5 top rim circles and one bottom circle piece. Since freezer paper can be used multiple times, if you have pieces left over from other projects, you can cut the templates from them.  The templates don't have to be in a row or a square.

Iron the freezer paper, shiny side down onto the back of the fabric.

Cut out around the fabric with the template, leaving the freezer paper adhered until you're ready to sew.  Set the smaller circle aside.

Remove the freezer paper, one piece at a time (don't throw out the freezer paper - it can be reused up to ten times before it loses its "stick").  Fold the circle in half, front side of the fabric to the front.  Then fold again.  You should have a quarter circle (the "quarter").  Put a pin in it so it doesn't reopen.  Repeat four more times.  

Don't worry if the unfinished edges don't exactly meet - they will not be visible at the end.

Thread a needle with a thread long enough to sew a running stitch through the rounded edge of the quarters connecting the quarters.  The running stitch should be an 1/8" to a 1/4" from the edge, being sure to go through all four layers., all the way around. 

Pull the two ends of the thread to gather the squares as tight as possible and tie the ends together.

Take your remaining circle, with freezer paper removed, and sew a running stitch all the way around.  Put your button on the wrong side of the fabric, pull the thread to gather around the button and tie the thread ends.  Sew the button circle on top of the flower.

Or you could just omit the final circle and attach the button as is directly to the flower.

 The finished flower

n

Fuller disclosure - my hands were shaking so much that I couldn't gather the stitches properly, but you get the idea, I hope.  I may have to rethink the intended project...