Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / All blog posts / That dreaded “S” word
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January 26, 2010 by Tien Chiu

That dreaded “S” word

Yes, I’m doing samples.  In particular, I’m trying two different versions of each hem.  One will have organza in the hem (to give it a bit more body), and one will have china silk in the hem (to give it some body, but a little less stiffness than the organza).  This will also give me a chance to practice hemming, so t’ain’t all bad.  I have four scraps of fabric ready for hemming, and will take them with me to a craft group tonight.  Lots of handwork and great conversation – what’s not to love?

I am also sampling for wedding favors.  Someone suggested bookmarks to me – a brilliant idea! – and I have been playing around with edgings.  Here’s one look that I like:

bookmark made from handwoven wedding dress fabric
bookmark made from handwoven wedding dress fabric

Obviously my mitered corners suck, it needs to be longer, and I need to do some serious work on getting those bias strips even, but I like the idea, and think it looks good overall.  (The rest can be fixed with practice.)  The only question is whether I can get production to the point where I can crank out 75 of them in some finite amount of time, and also whether I have enough leftover coat fabric to make them.  I’m going to play with them (and practice my mitered corners) some more, and see what happens.

Meanwhile, I have beamed on my warp (a quick thing since it’s only 9 inches at 40 ends/inch), and will start threading tonight.

I forgot to mention earlier – for the foodies among us, I found a source for fresh bergamot, Seville orange, and other exotic citrus!  I was so excited that I ordered 12 pounds of fruit – 6 pounds of Seville oranges and 6 pounds of bergamot.  After some work over the weekend and last night, the peels are stripped, cut, and candying in sugar syrup.  Over the next couple of days I will gradually crank up the sugar levels until it’s shelf-stable at room temperature.  I LOVE candied bergamot peel dipped in chocolate (or just plain), so this is quite a treat.  I’m thrilled to have found this source.

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Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, sewing Tagged With: wedding dress

Previous post: Anatomy of a hem
Next post: Ribbon samples

Comments

  1. Mary Beth says

    January 26, 2010 at 10:48 am

    I hope you don’t mind me jumping in again: you can wash and dry the organza to make it less stiff. I prefer working with it over china silk.

  2. kathy looper says

    January 26, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Why make life more difficult than it needs to be? Bookmarks need to be flat and thin. A straight zig-zag down all edges creating a four sided short fringed bookmark would look great, be a quick project and leave your guest smiling at such a beautiful souvenir.

  3. Janet says

    January 27, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Nice idea! Another suggestion–instead of binding the bookmarks, it might be quicker to “line” the bookmark. Sew what looks like a pillow case–wrong sides together; turn it right-side-out; close up the opening left for turning. This method would leave just one face of the handwoven fabric visible.

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