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Look Around You Textile Explorations
I was asked, a couple of years ago, why modern patchwork was so wedded to flat printed and plain cotton fabrics, and no other of the myriad types of textures and fibres. And, on thinking about it, I realised that this was partly because the range of patterned and printed and dyed and woven cotton fabrics is many thousands of times greater and more interesting than it was in my early sewing days, and also because many of these fabrics have a reputation, not always undeserved, for being “difficult” to work with. Well, this may be true, but nothing beats the sheen of silk, the soft weight of linen, or the cosiness of wool… On the other hand, for beginners, the choice and ease of modern cotton fabrics is entrancing... I have made a page to talk about working with these different fabrics, with hints and examples, and I hope you will be tempted to explore some different textures.
Oakshott Fabrics stripey woven silks				Silk. I am terrifically fond of silk... Pleasures of Silk - it has a sheen and a shimmer, its's precious, it catches the light. It takes dye beautifully, and you can dye silk with Procion (fibre reactive) dyes, acid dyes, natural dyes, indigo and rust. Aitchbee's free FPP block pattern for her Charleston silk miniature is HERE Problems of silk (and solutions) - it can be very soft - use an interfacing, work on a foundation, or starch madly Not all silks are washable (I use a lot of silk taffeta from Oakshott Fabrics, click to see the page and purchase - I find these are lovely to work with and wash just fine. It requires a new cutter blade or good scissors, small new sewing-machine needles and good quality cotton thread for piecing Fine silks can be hard to hand-sew... Heavier silks (noil, raw silk, slubby weaves, dupion) are lovely to hand-stitch. It can be inclined to bleed colour (test!) It might be expensive... It's messy - little fibres everywhere - use a lint roller! And, if you love the "shot" effect of silk, but can't cope with the fabric, follow this link to the Oakshott Fabrics webpage for a cotton fabric which cannot be better!
Sarah Hibbert made this lovely linen piece, now hanging in my dining room...				Linen Pleasures of Linen - the texture and handle and surface are delicious, and very variable. It tends to come in woven patterns and plains of an enormous variety of weights. It washes well and presses beautifully and the finer linens are a pleasure to sew It dyes beautifully, with Procion (fibre reactive) dyes, natural dyes, rust, and indigo Problems of linen - it can crease (not a problem so much if quilted) Be aware that many "linen" fabrics are a mix - with cotton is fine, with synthetics can be troublesome It's heavier than cotton and can be a looser weave - do not skimp on your seam-allowances
Indigo-dyed wool pieces drying on the line - old blanket which makes the most delightful background for hand-stitching				Wool Pleasures of Wool - it's warm and cosy, and tends to subtlety of colour It handles nicely when made up It comes in a huge variety of weights and textures It's really nice to hand-stitch It dyes well with acid dyes, rust, and natural dyes I have generally found that wool fabrics are dye-fast Problems of wool - it tends to fray, as with linen, watch your seam allowances It can be difficult to press - seams may need to be pressed open and a damp cloth will help a lot It can be very expensive (but charity shops are a great source of wool garments to recycle) It's heavy - you may prefer to make any wool quilt with a backing but no batting, or to tie or hand-quilt with big stitches It needs careful washing or it can shrink and "felt" - there again, hot-washing elderly wool jumpers will provide a source of delightful hand-work pieces
Delightful denim quilt from The Spruce Quilts (click the pic)				Denim Pleasures of Denim - the subtle shades of blue are wonderful, and much good work has been seen in recent years made from recycled denim. It's cheap, as damaged jeans are easy to find and provide a lot of fabric Problems of denim - it's heavy, and you need to press seams open and watch the joins Don't think of using new denim, it's not fun; recycled, please It's not really a good candidate for dyeing, and if you don't like blue...
My Velvet-and-furnishing-fabric Mega-hexagons, in progress...				Velvet and Corduroy and Velveteen (Pile Fabrics) Pleasures of Pile Fabrics - texture, texture, richness, subtlety and depth of colour, did I say texture? Lots of different kinds - heavy cotton furnishing velvets, fine soft velveteens, Jumbo corduroy, needlecords... They can be dyed according to fibre content - I would almost always prefer cotton pile fabrics... I have had the best results with these and the heavier textured furnishing-type fabrics by making BIG hexagons (see image for my ongoing lap quilt) Problems of Pile Fabrics - not easy to work with, and almost every seam will need to be tacked before machining if you want to match the blocks They can be very heavy, seams need to be generous and pressed open. Steam may be required. The stretchy crushed-velvets of your youth are NOT for patchwork, unless you are a huge masochist
Liberty, silk, and cotton brooches, free-pieced and FPP (some not quite finished) - so nice to make tiny things with finer fabrics Kits soon for some of these...				Fine Fabrics - Liberty Lawn, Double Gauze, Organdies and Organzas Pleasures of Fine Fabrics - Liberty Lawns will be familiar - if you want to do fine English Paper Piecing these are lovely. I like to mix these with silks and Oakshott cottons for tiny projects. Different weights are not very noticeable when the quilt top is layered, so I mix these with regular cotton fabrics quite a lot All fine fabrics seem to dye well with Procion (fibre reactive) dyes, natural dyes, rust and indigo Problems of fine fabrics - they can be soft - starch may be helpful. Double gauzes are delightful, but tend to come only in "baby" prints Organdies (cotton ) and organzas (silk) are transparent - this may or may not be a problem, and they do dye really beautifully...
My hand-dyed textile art packs have a variety of weights and fabrics, with threads - click to view				Other Fabrics - Oh, well, where to start... Pleasures of assorted Other Fabrics - they can be nostalgic (quilts made from baby clothes, tee-shirts, wedding-dresses and the like) They can be cheap and/or free - the world is full of leftover textiles for the bother of picking them up There is no other way of adding serious "bling" to your pieces... Problems of Other Fabrics - you really need to investigate the fibre content before you work with odd fabrics - Testing instructions HERE Not all will wear well - do you really want to laboriously piece polycotton, then watch it pill and shrivel? Synthetics are notoriously hard to press, most will melt if disturbed by a hot iron Stretchy fabrics are horrible - use an iron-on interfacing before cutting fabrics and an overlocker if you have one to tame them Weights can vary hugely and many synthetic fabrics suffer from "dimensional instability", this is, they wibble and waver madly They can be very hard to cut and always require a clean blade or good scissors Can you tell I don't like synthetics much? Apart from rust, most "other fabrics" cannot easily be dyed - you can use fabric paints on most types of fabrics, of course
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