This piece is an experiment, based on something I read online about a year ago. At the time I thought it sounded interesting but didn't think I wanted to try it. Unfortunately I now want to play with the idea but I don't recall the site, and haven't been unable to find it again.
Best I can remember, it involves sewing pieces of plastic grass trimmer cord into the quilt, which has a wool backing. The next step is to do some immersion dyeing and then to wash the piece and dry it in the dryer so that the wool shrinks. The plastic cord, of course, will not shrink, thus creating interesting ripples...
I'm worried about going to the next step, but the quilt as it is now is not is very inspiring, so apart from hours of piecing and quilting (a great challenge, fighting the plastic cording...not to mention the three machine needles I broke), what have I got to loose?
As I said in the title of this post, fingers crossed...
I hope to be able to post about the next few stages soon.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Sounds like a fantastic experiment..Wouldn't the trimmer cord melt in the dryer? Or do you dry on low until dry. I know that stuff is sturdy but that would freak me out. Happy Valentine's to you too, love your heart. xox
ReplyDeleteI never considered it melting in a hot dryer. I certainly hope not because I think I need the heat to get the wool to shrink. Time will tell...now I'm really nervous Corrine!
DeleteThe grass trimmer, shrinking process is in the book "Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art - Color, Texture and Distortion" by C. June Barnes. Great book! I've been wanting to try this, too. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!
ReplyDeleteThat book sounds interesting Meg. Someone must have been talking about the process on a blog at some point because I know I read about it online and there was no mention of the book. I'll keep working from my best recollection of what I remember reading for now, but I think I'll have to see if I can find a copy of book...sounds like it might be a good addition to my library.
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