Working with Sheers: Report from 21 July

Ten members met up on Sunday to explore the delights of working with sheer fabrics. I gave a short demo of using the soldering iron, then everyone either tried out their own ideas or continued working on pieces from earlier meetings. Here are a few examples by:

Julie

Helen

Lis

3D from Lis

Leah

Liz

Taster for next Sunday's meeting

I've been experimenting with using a soldering iron with fine nylon organzas for next week's meeting and having great fun. So I thought I'd share photos of a couple of pieces to give you a flavour of what can be done.

First, here is a Journal Quilt I've made using the soldering iron to cut and join pieces of fabric.

And here is a sample of mark-making using nylon organza and felt.

Other techniques, including some which don't use a soldering iron, will be demonstrated at the meeting. See you there!

July meeting - Working with sheers

At the next meeting on 21 July I will be demonstrating a few techniques using sheer fabrics. Here is one of my samples.

Some techniques will combine layers of sheers with stitching and others (as above) will make use of heat tools. If you wish to try these techniques you will need to bring:

Background fabrics, such as felt, velvet or another fabric to provide a reasonably firm base. This could be something 'ugly' that can 'improved' using layers of sheers.

Sheer fabrics. I'll mainly be using nylon organzas, but you may wish to bring other fine fabrics, including laminated images like those Leah was demonstrating at the last meeting.

Either sewing machine or hand stitching equipment and suitable threads.

If you have one, a hot air tool and/or soldering iron, plus a heatproof surface. A metal ruler may also be useful. Don't worry if you don't have these as you will still be able to try the techniques if you wish.

If you plan to use heat tools, be aware that these will melt synthetic fabrics, such as nylon, polyester and acrylic, but have less effect on natural fibres, such as cotton, silk or viscose. So it's best to use the latter for stitching, but the fabrics can be from either group.

Alternatively, you can bring your own work to do.

As usual, please let Leah know if you are coming to the meeting and don't forget something for lunch!