This week I researched, did some form development, & made lots of "ugly" samples.
Started making by continuing the last idea of making a glove. But my confidence was broken by myself as I realized it is not quite a feasible approach. I created a few gloves with the new and old I had acquired hoping I will get better at making it. The main problem I faced was that- the shibori texture does not hold in thick fabric whatsoever but it is anyways hard to sew thin slippery fabrics like tulle and satin with a machine so even harder for me by hand. Thus, I had to scrape that idea.
I got a few new fabrics that would suit well for the shibori texture and match with the fabrics I had bought previously. I also bought some usable interfacing. I tried it on a piece of satin and it worked quite well. It did give much strength to the fabric but certainly helped in maintaining the structure. In the picture the right half has interfacing and the left does not.
The final outcome was two pieces that I really loved. These are not the final designs but quite close to what it would look like.
The first one is a blue bracelet made of georgette layered with tulle on top. I quite like that the colour of both fabrics is the same but the difference in their textures combined with the shibori adds a really nice dimension. The fabrics are not sewed to each other but stay stuck together due to shibori. I just sewed on the seam edge to make it a complete piece which I will be replacing with the button mechanism I created last week. I might stay with the same colours or change it if I can create a better combination. I will also make it a little larger such that it cover about 50% more surface area of the wrist than it currently covers.
The next piece is made of three different fabrics, satin(burgundy), georgette (baby pink) and peach skin (dark green). At first I made it with just the georgette which was painted on with the beet dye but it is an extremely light and weak material on its own so I sewed the other two pieces along either edge and I really love this colour combination. I peach skin was shibori-ed with coins and the other two with a combination of marbles and beads. I feel the georgette is a beautiful colour but looks clumsy. I did not get a chance to combine the shibori with interfering yet, so maybe it will solve this problem if not I will skip this fabric. I also need to find a place for the buttons.
With pieces so organic I know I cannot sketch out or go in with a firm idea of what the final creation would be. I am embracing the process and see where the texture takes me. I do have a general idea and have set boundaries for the fabric to flow. SO let's begin making!