i'm making good headway on the pleated nine patch i showed you last week. it's
here if you missed it. i have 3 more patches to do before i sew it all together and a few more bands of embroidery need to be done.
click on the images for close-ups.
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| doing the embroidery on such a narrow band of silk is a bit fiddly |
i did find a good buy on ebay for a pleater so i now have a new toy to play with...i'm loving all the experimenting with different types of cloth. i'll probably just make a sampler with all the experiments to use as a reference.
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| lots of needles to thread. moving the needles into different positions takes some patience. i should have taken a picture of the needle. it is a strange shape as it curves in the middle to fit properly into the roller. |
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| my first try was with habotai silk. the fabric is rolled on a dowel so i could feed the fabric into the roller evenly. |
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| a 56" length of silk made a 5" pleated section. this machine eats up fabric voraciously. |
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| the next 2 experiments...the cotton lawn was a bit too stiff but the organdy or nylon (not sure what it is. it was a runner with a ruffle around it) pleated like a dream. |
the cloth has to be quite fine to go through the bars and needles. anxious to put some of my hand dyed cloth through but trying to experiment a bit before doing that. the pleater didn't come with instructions so i need to find a good reference book for some help and ideas.
i acquired another piece of beautiful lace that looks like tenerriffe lace but i'm not really sure. it might be machine made. it will be perfect around the collar of the linen smock i showed you a couple of posts back. i took a small section and washed it in oxy-clean and it turned to pure white which was probably its original color. i might wash the whole piece now and then tea dye it a bit since the linen smock is a beige color.
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| the lace has crocheted balls on some of the edges. i have instructions for those so i can make a few more if i need to. |
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| here you can see the little section on top that was washed in oxy-clean. i love that stuff. |
and last night i was playing with the light and some of my free motion embroidery.
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| free motion embroidery with bits of lace stitched in...on cheesecloth |
it is September but the weather has not cooled down much. still mostly very hot days. thinking about all of you who have been dealing with a bit too much rain. hope you are all staying safe.
18 comments:
Mouth hanging open in amazement at all you learn, do, create!!! That machine really does eat up the fabric, wow! Yes to the wonders of oxi clean, as I've only recently learned :) The little crocheted balls are a kick!
The lace..free machine embroidery...with added stitches - Deanne, it's absolutely awesome!!!!
eva
Wouldn't a lampshade of FME be gorgeous! I am envious of the pleater. I made one of cardboard last summer for some shibori dyeing, but it didn't last very long and I had to do the stitching. :) The lace is gorgeous!!! Your smock is going to be so beautiful. Have a wonderful weekend. (The heat is still on here. 98 yesterday, but it is supposed to cool next week. Or, so they say.)
wow the lace came up really white....I love the little bands you have made Deanna. Will you be putting those in the group? and you already know how I feel about your ''out of this world'' smocking sampling. It's a pleasure to watch your pieces evolve as you invest time into so much investigation with everything you do.
two weeks in a row - mark your calendar please for these dates!!?
i'm running off to mom's but i just had to have a bit of eye candy before i left. saw the newest bit on flickr so i knew there'd be more treasure over here. i have pleating envy. so lovely - is it a challenge to thread the needles? it looks so other time period vintage - something that might have been first adapted around the industrial age - and the cloth also does feel like now...maybe it's all the beautiful craftsmanship - just really sings "good old days" to me. lovely visit. thank you for your hospitality.
I find very interesting your experiments with the pleating machine, but my heart today flies to the Tenerife embroidery and most of all to the FME: what a lovely, lovely piece.
love the free machine embroidery, makes a lovely lamp shade. Can see smocking on your list now with your pleater.
Oh, Deanna, it looks as if you've had so much fun this week, that pleated fabric is marvelous. Can't wait to see more of your experiments, and that lace is beautiful
this is all so absolutely amazing--and NO instruction booklet with the gadget? that boggles my mind. i love it all, but have to tell you, the free motion embroidery on cheesecloth takes my breath away!
amazed. simply amazed. and no instructions? it's all so beauty full, and the free motion embroidery? takes my breath away.
What a fascinating piece of machinery - you have a lot of experiments to come, I expect!
I bought a pleater a couple of years ago and have been afraid to take it out of the box! You buy one on ebay with no instructions and go to town with it!!! I am enrolled in a smocking class that will begin in a few weeks....seeing what you have done and well armed with classes, maybe I will take the pleater from the box!
The FME would make a beautiful lampshade or curtain. Oxi-Clean is now on my shopping list!
Deb
I had to tell you how much I enjoyed your post. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy all of your posts, but don't always reply to tell you. Just wanted you to know I still follow you whenever you post and enjoy everything you have to share.
Debi
oh this post is so lush Deanna and your free motion lace is a wonder, that does it... I am signing up for Karen's Simply Stitch 3!
Still raining here -- it's no longer enjoyable in light of all the loss & suffering.
BUT visiting here is pure pleasure -- this pleating business is fascinating and wow, it does eat up the fabric, all right. It's a whole new area for me to read and learn about from you. Thanks, Deanna! xx
the lace is gorgeous, the free motion intriguing and i WANT a pleater :)
thinking shibori here.
your playing with the cloth and light- wouldn't that be an amazing moon in the sky?
I did wonder how the pleating was done...now I see...there is a special little gadget for it .... ahhhh......
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