And a curse be upon you if you disturb the comfortable cat. I somehow think that more costuming projects have been held up by a sleeping kitty than anything else. I ask you, can any of you toss a cat off your fabric when she looks so darned happy? I didn't think so.
Some thoughts on working with silk voile
Tis a lovely fabric thats extremely easy to tear. Just cut a 1cm nick in the fabric and rip that sucker all the way across. Tears in a perfectly straight line and you are saved the inconvenience of having to cut with scissors. Not only that, you also have a perfectly true edge for hemming. Although you could equally use the selvedge for a hem since it's not very noticeable on the fabric and has no holes in it. Yes loving silk voile on that account.
Easy to sew although lightweight so you need to change the machine technique. It requires you to apply some tension each side of the machine foot to avoid the fabric getting caught in the teeth. If you have flatlined the fabric then no such special consideration is required. You must though use a new machine needle or the threads will catch on the burr and cause pulling.
Lining the voile with my crimes-against-historical-costuming-rayon was actually a smart move in terms of volume and drape. The rayon has an extremely fluid drape so it allows the voile to do what it does best, be floaty. Yet it also has just enough body to it to provide some bulk to the petti. I like the way it falls alone but I can easily bulk it out to 1780's standards with a cotton under petti and perhaps a bumroll.
LOL! "No sewing for YOU!"
ReplyDeleteI love sik voile! And rayon isn't the worst crime against historical costuming. It is basically natural, and one of the earliest forms of 'synthetic' fibres. The very earliest melted when it got wet, which must have been very inconvenient if you got caught in a rainstorm :-P
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, kitties get first call on the fabric!