More Playing with Wash Away Stabiliser

Working with Romeo stabiliser by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

More Romeo has now been obtained from The Thread Studio and I have continued to explore creating fabric from silk fibres. As well as buying the stabiliser I also bought a small booklet with lots of interesting ideas for using Romeo. The process I explain in this blog post was learnt from both the booklet and the videos that Dale, from the Thread Studio, generously shares online.

I am intrigued by the slight difference in thickness that I seem to feel with this purchase but it is still fun to play with. I am wondering if there are slight differences in older stock as the first piece that I found was the last section that the shop I found it in had.

I sandwiched layers of silk fibres between two layers of stabiliser and then used free motion stitching to create circles of thread all over the fibres. After covering the whole surface with small circles and adding a border of straight stitches to help add a stable edge I cut out some circles ready for some more embellishing.

Working with Romeo stabiliser 2 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The next step was to use small sections of stabiliser to continue adding stitching lines over the circular areas. I also added some of the small circles back in to the centre of the larger circles. I experimented with both rayon thread and Serafil in the bobbin and am still not sure which I prefer. Each gives a very different look to the underside of the free motion sewing.

Working with Romeo stabiliser front by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Working with Romeo stabiliser back by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

After all the stitching was done it was time to soak the stabiliser away. It is a cold water process that takes a little time to complete. I found that warm water cut down the time a little and that washing afterwards in a little warm water with detergent ensured all the stabiliser was washed away.

Working with Romeo stabiliser soaking stage by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

In the above image I have also created a flower by adding a circle cut from the large piece of work to another piece of stabiliser and then stitching the petals with a grid of lines stitched with more free motion sewing. I found that for these to be effective I need to have matching thread in the bobbin.

Silk Piece 1 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Once out of the water my first piece was a bit rough but I found that a good press with an iron helped to flatten the silk pieces. It would be personal preference as to whether this was needed depending on what was being created. The final piece of "fabric" is very soft to touch and appears to be quite delicate. I tried out the same technique three times and improved my control of free motion sewing a little more each time. By the time I was working on the third piece I also added some tiny leaf shapes in amongst my circles.

Silk Pieces 1,2&3 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

What to do with these creations became the next conundrum....

I had a shawl in my closet that I have owned for decades. It had been handprinted with leaves and ferns so I decided it could have a small make over. I added each panel to the shawl with a close zig zag stitch and then used my duckbill scissors to cut away the shawl under each section so that both sides of my silk fabric are able to be seen. I also added three of the flowers that I created with the circles cut from my silk fabric.

Silk Pieces 1,2&3 attached by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

The end result is something that I love looking at and have hanging over the back of my sewing chair so that I can glance at it when working away in my creating space. The colours are incredibly vibrant and add a little bit of sparkle to the shawl. What do you think? Below is an image of the back view. I used different coloured silk fibres for the back of each piece and a different thread in the bobbin and am still undecided about which is best to use. I guess it would also depend on the intended end point for each piece.

Silk Pieces 1,2&3 attached back view by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Have you used wash away stabiliser? What have you made? Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

52 Tags Challenge - Tags 28, 29, 30 & 31

 

Tag 28 - Woven and Wrapped Wheels by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 28 was another chance to learn a new embroidery stitch. This time the stitch was woven and wrapped circular stitches aptly labelled by Anne as Spider Wheels. Having never attempted these it was fun to have a go but I think that a different thread may have been better for the woven wheels. I  kept things simple with a piece of osnaburg that was backed with fusible stabiliser as my backing. I chose to have some fun with my silk threads by trying both a crowded, dimensional woven wheel where I added as many rows as possible around the spokes to get a raised, flower-like finish and a flat wheel. For my wrapped wheel I changed thread colour and like the finish of this one. I had marked my circle with a permanent marker so added the wrapped backstitch around the outside to hide the mark 😀.

Creating with ORTs by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 29 was a scrappy tag that Anne asked us to create using our ORT collection. For those, including me, who had no idea what on earth ORT was were given a very good explanation by Anne in her video prompt. Some web research also led to me learning that ORT can stand for Old Raggedy Threads in the stitching world while the dictionary definition states that it is a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. Having also been playing with washaway stabiliser I decided to created a "fabric" with my ORT by sandwiching it between two layers of wash away stabiliser and then using free motion machine stitching to hold it all together. My piece of ORT fabric was plenty big enough to cut out a section for creating my tag.

Tag 29 - ORT (scrappy) by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

What do you see in my tag? I added a smaller piece of ORT and created a "tree" but you may see something very different. I added a button just for another point of interest. My ORT tag ended up less scrappy than on the prompt video.

Tag 30 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 30 and the prompt was a brooch. Continuing on with my free motion stitching using my sewing machine I had a go at creating some leaves using a technique I found through The Thread Studio in Perth, WA. No hand stitching until it was time to put my brooch together and also several goes at creating the brooch background as the first one was too blue.

The second part of the challenge was to take a selfie wearing your brooch to post on social media. Balked at that one and found a better model to wear my brooch.

The leaves were created by sandwiching silk fibres between two layers of wash away stabiliser with a leaf shape drawn onto the stabiliser as a guide for both the stitching and where to place the silk fibres. I also added a blossom to my leaves and then created and oval background that also had free motion stitching on it. The tag itself has a wool fabric background with a ribbon for the brooch to attach.

Free Motion Brooch by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Expert Model by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 31 and the prompt was "GOLD". Here was the prompt for all those who love bling. I am not a great fan of gold so initially wondered if I would have things to use. A search through the stash came up with lots of buttons, a little charm and some gold cord so I was definitely able to add bling. I chose one of my hand coloured pieces of fabric for the background with a little bit of wadding underneath. I attempted on of the longest bullion knots I have ever done at the bottom of the tag using a very fine gold silk thread. It took quite a few "belly tickles" to get it to sit right and is still narrower at the ends than in the middle but was fun to try. Loved using the gold thread to stitch with and enjoyed creating this tag after my first concerns about using gold.

Tag 31 - Gold by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

It is almost Friday again and there will be a new video prompt to challenge the worldwide tag creators. Watch the videos and join in the fun. No need to worry about being late to the party - it is just a fun challenge created by Anne for all. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts, especially if you have also decided to join in.

By the way my tag got to Anne and is with all the other great tags that have been posted to her from all over the globe.