Showing posts with label silk chiffon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silk chiffon. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Tunic Class- Part 3 of 3

Placing thin, 'painter's plastic'...

...between the overlapping layers, front and back.


                                                         Mid-way through felting...



                                            ...I trim around the embellishments...

                                                ...to make them more 'overt'. ;)



                                                          Fulling the garment.



                                                     The fully felted tunic back...



                                                               ...and front.



                                                     Once rinsed and dried...

                                       ...I embroider around the embellishments...



                                               ...with burgundy, boucle yarn...



                                         ...to help define my decorative elements.



                                 I still need to sew hems in the silk fabric underlayer...

                                 ...but for now, here's the (mostly) finished tunic back...  



                                                          ...and festive front



Monday, August 10, 2015

Tunic Class- Part 2 of 3

Our instructor, the brilliant Pam de Groot...

...helping one of my lovely classmates.


                                                                   Luckily... 



...Pam brought several of her beautiful tunics along...


                                                            ...for inspiration!
                                                                 


                                                 Laying out my pattern pieces...



                                                     ...and cutting the silk...



                                                   ...and nuno pre-felt to size.



                                                   Using sturdy nylon thread...
                                     

                                                ...the pre-felt embellishments...


      
                                           ...are basted to the front of my tunic.



                                                  Next time: the finished project!

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Tunic Class- Part 1 of 3

I recently took a tunic class...

...with the fabulous Pam de Groot!


                                                             Using the silk...



                                                              ...and wool...



                                      ...that I hand-dyed in the same colourway...



                                        ...I made yards and yards of nuno pre-felt.


                                                    To check our shrinkage...

                                              ...we each did a 'swatch test'. :)



                                           Lovely, faraway friends were present...

                                      ...providing laughter and encouragement...



                           ...and when our pre-felts (finally) began to come together...



                                                     ...it was pretty exciting! :)



                                     One of my pieces was made with silk chiffon...



                                                   ...and one with silk paj.




                                          Next time: my project begins to take shape!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Ice, Ice Baby- Part 2 of 2

Colorful deck plants...


                                            ...keep watch over our ice dyeing. :)



                                                After a delicious, healthy lunch...



                                             ...our silk is starting to take on color!



                                              Marsha examines her dyed silk.

                                          (Of course, mine is the orange one!) :)



                                               Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...



                                             ...our wool roving is stewing away.



                                        Overall, I'm quite pleased with our efforts...


                                             
                                                    ...especially the ice dyeing.



                                                Close-ups of the silk pongee...







                                                     ...and the silk chiffon.



                   The roving got a little felted (temperature change? manhandling?)...

                                  ...which made it a bit flyaway and hard to lay out...



                                    ...but I love having coordinating silk and wool...

                                                  ...to use for a special project!


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Ice, Ice Baby- Part 1 of 2

                                            
  My beautiful friend and 'dye guru', Marsha...



...tying off superfine merino with lengths of nylon cord.


                                            Soaking our silk chiffon and pongee...


  
                                          ...and choosing powdered dye colors...

                                                 ...from her extensive stash.



                                         Attempting 'ice dyeing' for the first time...

                        ...we layer a mesh screen, silk, cubed ice and powdered dye...

                                        ...and let them alone to 'work their magic'!



                           We chose a beautiful early summer's day for this project...


     
                                           ...and Marsha's award-winning garden... 



                                               ...provided the perfect backdrop.


                                               Here, a colorful, mosaic-tiled wall...



                        ...struggles to compete with nature's own, glorious paintbox.



                                         Next time: the results of our experiment!