Here’s my palette for my next machine-embroidered piece of fiber art:

That’s so yummy I think I could eat it with a spoon   I’ve got sari silk ends, raw mohair, carded mohair (from a farm just down the road from me) silk caps and silk roving.

I love the different textures and hands that you get from using different types of fibers in one piece.  The silk acts differently from the mohair, which has a different shine than the raw mohair does… and then there’s the sari silk…

Next time you’re planning a piece of fiber art, try something different that you haven’t tried before.  You might be surprised at the results you get

image: C Findlay-Harder

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inspirational fibers

I did simple free-motion machine embroidery outlining the butterflies.  I used rayon embroidery thread, which I love using for projects like this because of the sheen.

If I had more time, I would get more detailed with embroidering the butterfly wings – but I don’t

I’ll show you what I’m using the embroidered fabric on tomorrow!

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part 2 of rubber stamps and embroidery

I washed the silk today, on gentle, on cold, in my washing machine.  It’s not something I’d recommend (if only because the fabric manufacturers don’t recommend it!)  But I spent my early twenties working in a fabric store and that’s left me with a mild allergy to fabric sizing.  It’s pretty mild, I start sneezing and can get a rash if I’m not careful… I just didn’t want to spend my wedding day sneezing and scratching

I also hung the silk to dry outside, I didn’t want to risk the dryer!

Actually, my clothesline was gorgeous today – in addition to the ten yards of silk, I also had four yards of silver/grey taffeta for my skirt muslin (remember what I said about testing patterns?)   I also washed these fabrics:

That’s the fabric for my bridesmaid’s shawls – it looked so pretty out on the line that I wished I had some to keep for myself

Once a fabric hound, always a fabric hound

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it’s been a fun day

And this blouse:

Number “C” I should say

Out of this fabric:

Ivory silk dupioni… yummy, yummy, yummy!

For my wedding, which is less than a month away.  I’ve got a really quiet week so I can get it all done!

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want to see what I’m working on this week?

The next step is to fold the point up and press.  Place the fabric under a weight to cool for a couple of minutes.  It helps to set the crease and makes your life easier!

This step is kind of tricky to explain – open up the last fold you made and fold the top layer of fabric up towards the top of the “wing”.  The bottom of the fold should end at the crease from the last step.  Repeat the same fold: it should look like this inside:

Sorry about the blurry photo – somethings are hard to photograph with one hand

Did you remember to press the butterfly with lots of steam & the let it cool under a weight?  Good!

Take the top layer of fabric and fold it down along the small triangle in front.  Repeat.  This forms the lower wings of the butterfly.  Press, steam etc – you should know the drill by now

Iron the butterfly using lots of steam and then pinch the center together.  I’ve pinned it to my ironing board to cool & let the shape set.

I’ll show you the final shaping using thread & we’ll do some embellishment in the next post.

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back to the silk butterflies

I’m getting married this summer and instead of using fresh flowers, I got the bright idea to make corsages & boutonnieres out of fabric. I’m using paper butterflies to decorate, but didn’t really want to use paper to make the corsages. I decided to try out duppioni silk – it’s light, has a crisp hand and looks gorgeous!

Just a reminder – all images are copyright and cannot be reproduced or copied.

Here’s part one of the tutorial:

I’ve ironed a crisp, heavy-weight non-woven fusible interfacing to the back of the silk & then cut it into an exact 4″ square. I recommend using a gridded mat & Olfa cutter to get the measurements perfect.

At this stage you can run a thin bead of glue or fray-check around the edges. You can also wait and do a decorative edge later.

Now fold the diagonal edges together, wrong sides in, and press well. Make sure to match the points.

Open the fabric up and fold the opposite corners together. The first fold line should be down the center of the triangle. Press, using lots of steam.

Open the triangle up and fold the square in half to make a rectangle, wrong sides together. Press.

Open up the fabric again, and fold the square right sides together to make a rectangle. Press. You should now have a square of fabric with creases like this:

Fold the square to make a rectangle again (wrong sides together) but also fold the diagonal creases in, to make a triangle shape like this:

Press well and place a weight on the fabric to cool. You can also find Noreen’s instructions on making the butterflies here. We’ll finish the butterfly in the next post.

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using fabric to make origami

Here’s photos of the four finished cards – like all my work posted here, these are copyrighted & cannot be copied for sale or donation without my express written permission.

I used watercolor paper to make the cards, but you can also use commercially available blank card sets too.  I think my favorite is the blue & brown card with the ribbon

Don’t backstitch to finish off the ends, just pull the threads through to the wrong side & tie them off.  Remember to change your needle after this – think about what paper does to good scissors!

I eyeballed all the measurements for the silk & where I placed it on the card.   I’d recommend using a gridded quilting ruler to get everything square., if you prefer.

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monogrammed stationary part 2

I decided that they would be perfect to use as my background for the embroidered cards. I ironed on a heavy-weight fusible interfacing (not necessary, but it’s sooo much easier this way!) and trimmed them down into little rectagles using my pinking shears:

I’m using brown, green & blue for my wedding colors

I decided to play around and used a few different ways of machine stitching to make the monograms. I started off with doing free-motion embroidery, using plain sewing machine thread on two of them. I then switched to using a normal zig-zag stitch. I highly recommend making a few swatches to make sure you have the stitch length & density right before you start on the silk!

Tomorrow, we’ll stitch them on to cards.

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making your own monogrammed stationary

I was flipping through a wedding magazine last night and came across a unique thank-you card from Tiger & Jones.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an online image of the card, but it was a simple cream-colored card with a square swatch of vintage linen fabric on it.  They had embroidered a monogram using silk-thread onto the fabric and machine-stitched the whole thing onto the card.

That got my creative juices flowing….

I’ve come up a with few designs of my own for the next post – after all, how can I call myself a craftsperson if I don’t make my own stationary for my wedding? 

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great idea for stationary

image: © C Findlay-Harder

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machine fusion fabric part 6