I'll get to the decision later... I am trying to figure out how to get more text into the dresses, beyond the lovely collars. I planned to make text emblems that wound be sewn on the bias panels. In the first photo you see several techniques. I have embroidered an emblem on some crisp silk organza using both rayon and polyester thread, indigo dyed it, sewed it to some scrap Osnaberg that had had one trip to the Indigo vat. I embroidered directly on the Osnaberg with rayon thread ( un successfully...the stabilizer chosen was not enough.) I applied a water base gutta resist. Dipped the whole thing in Indigo again. There were issues with the dye take up of the rayon due to lingering starch from the stabilizer in both instances of embroidery. The silk got way too dark in relation to the cotton. The resist was interesting. My goal is to apply text without seriously affecting the flow of the bias skirt panels. In the second photo you see 2 kinds of silk used to make emblems: a soft organza on the left and a crisp organza on the right. I was careful to embroider them with rayon backgrounds and polyester text over 2 layers of water soluble stabilizer. I embroidered directly on the cotton. I assembled, being careful to sew with cotton thread. I dipped once in the Indigo vat. Dried the test, applied gutta again, dried it again and then wet it again for a final trip to the Indigo vat. I am not entirely happy with what I learned. The crisp organza takes the dye much more intensely. The soft organza also shows a color shift and some messiness. The direct embroidery is the best by far. It, too, has some issues, though. In all of these tests I used water soluble Vilene stabilizer. It is rather hard to get all of it washed out of the stitching. The remaining starch acts as a partial resist, giving a mottled appearance to the swirl. Well, dang! THE RELUCTANT DECISION:
I will embroider directly on the garment ( or garment piece before assembly), risking snarls and loss rates ( up to 50% loss rate!), using tear away stabilizer, risking affecting the flow of the skirt...all before dipping in the Indigo. BYW I bought another bolt of cloth so I can live with the loss rate if I have to. A DECISION YET TO BE MADE: Whether or not to activate the skirt with the resist. I will NOT do text with the resist...it is much too loose compared to the embroidery. But maybe squiggles and swirls. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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WEARING MY AGEI have received a grant from the Jerome Foundation to work on a project that I have called "Wearing My Age." Archives
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