shannon: July 2010 Archives
If you're like me, you have a lot of fabric scraps. Scraps you just can't part with. In trying to use my favorite scraps to their fullest potential, I have the idea of using them, with other elements, as mounted art.
Cedar Canyon Textiles makes great products that can help transform fabric into a work of art. Shiva Paintstiks, for example, are oil paints in the form of a stick. They have properties in them that allow them dry - and they're great for fabric! These Paintstiks come in a wide variety of colors, color sets and iridescent colors as well. Rubbing plates and stencils are available as well.
Because these oil Paintstiks have drying properties, they form a film around the uncovered areas... so you have to get rid of the dry, film coating before you can paint with them. I colored on a scrap page, and even peeled it with a knife to get to the usable product. This was kind of disappointing because I don't like wasting the product. My first attempt was to color ON the fabric, with the Cedar Canyon Birch Leaves stencil underneath - for a rubbing effect. This gives the fabric more of a blended, abstract look. I can see the benefits and potential of this technique. I lightly colored the fabric just enough so that the paint would blend and the outlines would show up better. This was easy, quick and clean-up was a breeze!
In my second attempt, I placed the stencil OVER the fabric and colored over. This was not as easy as I thought. My attempts at coloring over the stencil were frustrating at first. The paint would get on the underside of the stencil and affect the clean lines of the leaf shapes. I applied to the pigment with a brush. The brush helped even out the paint, however without force, the paint is not very spreadable. I love the bold, clean lines of this technique, but it was rather frustrating to achieve.
Moving forward in my projects, I would love to know if y'all have any suggestions, tips or techniques in using Shiva Paintstiks!
Recently featured in the new August/September issue of Sew News Magazine, Colette patterns are a breath of fresh air in patterns. Upon receiving them here at Fabric.com, I bought 4! They are exquisite. The designs, by Sarai Mitnick, are classic and modern all at the same time. The edgy styling and vintage inspired looks immediately caught my attention.
The Macaron Dress is the first Colette Pattern I have made so far (like I said, I got a few). The instructions are simple and easy to follow. Instead of having a giant sheet folded 8 times to fit in a small pattern package, these instructions are in the form of a book. How easy! You always know what order to put pieces together. There is even a blank section in the back so that you can make notes about your project. However, there is an assumption that a certain skill level is required. For example: the instructions do not explain or diagram how to put in an invisible zipper; it simply instructs you to put the zipper in.
Preferring sleeveless, I opted out of the short sleeves for this particular dress. When my bodice was half complete, I simply used tailor's chalk to draw the sleeve that I wanted, and then made bias strips to bind the sleeve openenings. For the skirt pleating, I left the pleats open instead of stitching them closed right below the waistline. Another option I considered is to gather the skirt, instead of pleating.
As far as measurements are concerned, the fit of this garment is great! As standard practice, I rounded up for my size because of in-between measurements. However during the construction of the dress I realized that I actually could have rounded-down for this pattern. I used 3 fabrics from Timeless Treasures "Botanica" quilting cotton collection. The pieces of this Macaron Dress Pattern allow for creativity of mixing and matching fabrics, and a quilting collection is great because you can find coordinating prints and colors. Here are some quilting cotton collections I suggest for this dress: Michael Miller's Emmaline and Benartex Brooklyn Heights.
