Fabric Samples

This week is class we looked at fabric techniques, some which I had never done before and really wanted to try out. The first sample Is called rag rugging, this is an old technique used in the olden times to make rugs, hence the name. It is a simple but time consuming sample to do with a beautiful finish. You take a piece of hessian and and poke a strand of fabric through using a tool, you then poke the other end of the fabric strand close together. You then build it up until you are left with a covered surface. We used old strips on silk scarfs from the charity shop as well as an embroidery hoop to hold and stretch out the fabric. The outer circle was the same technique but the ends of the fabric would go on the opposite side of the hessian. I love the feel and look of this technique, the colours add to that pretty feel. Using longer strand of fabric will get you a different look, almost like tassels.  The next sample is smocking where you sew down please it certain places to create a texture. With this sample I just ironed in small pleats then added a stitch holding two pleats together. It's hard to explain but when you finished adding the stitches and pulled the fabric you were left with this diamond texture which I thought was very interesting. It's very simple but takes a bit of time. I had a friend who did this technique on a section of a dress, it looked stunning and now I know how to do it. The third sample I did was reverse appliqué and this is where you sew down several piece of fabric and then cut away to reveal the fabrics underneath. This is a technique that I knew already so it wasn't hard to do. Using the cut off bits I stitched them on top to add more dimension. Then we come to the last sample which was knitting. To some people this is a relaxing thing to do sitting in front of the telly, for me not so much. I did know what to do but it just wouldn't work for me and I was getting extra links and bits were coming off and I just got annoyed. I did create the smallest knitting sample that I probably would very achieve, I'm sure I would like it if I could actually get it going and looking less like a mess. It was interesting learning new fabric samples, someone of them would look lovely on a garment.