Saturday, 4 April 2015

Chapter 6 - Use Of Bonding In Applique (a) decorative bonded fabric

I have been looking forward to making bonded fabric with bits. I spent some time reading Bonding and Beyond by Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn, before I started, alongside the module notes.

 
Fabric 1 - I used 'Steam A Seam' for bonding and bonding powder. The SAS is sticky so it was good to work with for this [See notes under 6.5 in next post]. I used snipped threads including metallic, glitter (2 types) and snipped fabric, on a background of synthetic shiny fabric and synthetic sheer fabric for the top layer.
 
 
Close Up
 
I was very pleased with the result. It wasn't quite how I wanted and I think I could have been a bit 'heavier' with the bits, although I was aware I would be cutting the fabric. I was quite pleased with the colours and think with practice - and spending a longer time - I could produce a nice large piece for a background.
 
Fabric 2 - I used bondaweb only for bonding. For this piece I used a plain cotton background and a printed chiffon for the top layer, and for the bits I used two colours of thread randomly dropped onto the bottom layer.
 
 
I was unsure about using the printed chiffon but it gave a nice added dimension to the piece. I felt this was quite minimal when I was bonding but again, I was pleased with the result. The bondaweb held it together well and the fabric remained fairly flexible. I will experiment with more printed chiffon in the future.
 
 
Close Up
 
Fabric 3 - For the last piece I used a synthetic silk background, with glitter and snipped metallic thread and a printed 'cobweb' fabric as the top layer, again using bondaweb and bonding glue.
 
 
With the printed cobweb fabric I wasn't very happy when I coloured it, but as with the chiffon it added a lovely shade to part of the piece. I'm finding the fabric and paper that I'm not happy with is working best when I actually use it, which is leading me to colour in a different way now. The cobweb fabric also gave an added dimension.

 
Close Up

I stopped at three pieces with the view to bonding more fabric as I need it and maybe with more purpose for particular design units. I know could bond with bits all day! I've started a new box to drop in every offcut and thread in for future bonding.


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