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Manipulated fabrics - part one


Last week, I showed you the glue gel resist fabrics that I painted.  Here is the first project that I used these fabrics for: I made manipulated fabric modules that I could later assemble into a quilt top.  As you'll see in the future, I didn't end up using all of them, and I had to make more later to fill in the gaps!



1. I made several pieces with twisted tucks.  Mark along each edge and sew with a loose running stitch between the marks, right through a small tuck that you make with your fingers.  These do not have to be really precise unless you want them to be, but try to make the tucks about 1/8 inch wide.


2. Here is simply a close-up of my tucks.  It looks like I ironed them, but I didn't.  Silk habotai folds pretty well and keeps a finger crease.



3. I left all the thread ends, because I already knew that I wanted them in my finished quilt.  You can snip them off if you like.  Pin the piece down to a thin piece of batting.  The batting isn't mandatory, but it does give a nice puff to the tucks when they are twisted.



4. Stitch with a running stitch along the top and bottom edge, pressing the tucks in the same direction.  I added a small bead to each tuck.



5. Somewhere near the middle of the piece, start another line of running stitch, but this time press the tucks back in the other direction.  Depending upon the size of your piece, you can add more than one twist.

 

6. Here's what it looks like finished.  The only additional thing I did to prepare it to add to my quilt was to carefully snip the batting so that it was hidden by the edge of the fabric.




7. Here is another example, this time tucked the long way and with multiple twists added.  And after all that, I didn't end up using either of these pieces in the quilt!  Ah well, some day a project will come up that just screams for these ;-) 
 
Glue gel resist fabrics
Manipulated fabrics - part one
Manipulated fabrics - part two
Manipulated fabrics - part three

Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Comments

Robbie said…
I really like when artists show what they do with their dyed/painted fabrics. The gel resist/pleated piece certainly has inspired me to do some thinking. Can't remember the name of the 'crazy' lady who does all the tucks. From england or the UK somewhere. what a hoot and used tucks in all her work. This reminds me of what she used to do.
Cyndi L said…
Now I gotta go find out who that is!!