Explorations Episode 7: Have to Admit it's Getting Better

Explorations Episode 7:  Have to Admit it's Getting Better

I have to admit it's getting better.

My first attempts to create an undulating band of sea foam from a piece of silk fabric instead resulted in the creation of a piece of silk with all the grace and pliability of a plastic shower curtain.

So in a spirit of continual effort and improvement, I tried again.  The creation I'm attempting to bring into being is for a pretty significant goal:  an exhibit that will hang in the New England Quilting Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts.  So it's worth getting right.

 And I'm keeping on keeping on.

For my second effort, I used a product called Fabric Magic to create the undulating band of foam. First I painted the foam colors onto heavy silk charmeuse.

 I put the fabric magic, which feels pretty silky itself, under this piece of painted silk.  I layered a piece of quilt batting in between the two.  Then I stitched vertical rows of stitching all along the outlines of the silk, sewing the silk, the quilt batting, and the fabric magic together.  Once those rows were sewn, I held a steam iron gently over the piece of painted silk.  And this is what I got:

The Fabric Magic shrunk the silk down around the lines I had sewn. This looks much closer to the band of foam than the monstrosity I created the first time: 

So I think I'll stick to this Fabric Magic stuff, because it created undulations much closer to those in the photo.

Now here's what I'll do differently next time:

• Sew more irregularly spaced rows into the fabric:  some close together, some farther apart, and not always consistently parallel
• Leave a good part of the piece of silk unsewn, and flat, on the left side, to show the flat place in the foam, and to give me room to embellish it with beads etc.
• Vary the color in the foam a little more. Make it much brighter than the sand ripples across which it's crossing
• Find a lovely way, shape, and thread color to show the little foam bubbles in the troughs of the sand ripples
• Try to create the band of foam yet again, in the same way, but using one of the other lightweight silks I got for this purpose, such as silk gauze.  Just to see.

Despite the need for all these improvements, I can see that my efforts are nevertheless yielding better results.

I have to admit it's getting better.