Sunday 3 January 2010

Got Silk

My mother-in-law brought a piece of silk home from China a while back, which she intended for a skirt. At home she discovered that the fabric was pieced and therefore unsuitable for clothing; instead I got to add a new piece of fabric to my stash. MIL will be 70 soon and I though it would be nice to make her a little purse from the silk; I know she would love one.

Now it all sounds good, but there is just a little problem. The silk is sooo slippery. I have bought an iron-on stabilizer (Vlieselin) and will try a little snippet to see if it works. The other option I can think of is to fuse silk and batting together using fusible web.

Anybody who has made bags from slippery silk (successfully)? Any helpful ideas would be highly appreciated, thank you!

8 comments:

  1. Fusing the silk and batting sounds like a great idea! You're so inventive!

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  2. I don't have any ideas on how to make it work better, but that is gorgeous fabric!

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  3. The stabilizer intended for silk works wonderfully. Full control, and no fraying. You can treat it like you would any cotton patchwork fabric. Good luck, and have fun!

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  4. I also have some silk and a handbag is a great idea.

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  5. Happy New Year. I don't have any suggestions, but I am sure you will come up with a brilliant solution. So nice of you to make a silk purse with the fabric for your mother in law.

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  6. Like Miranne said, the stabilizer will help a lot. Sometimes it is still really slippery to piece with silk right sides together, so once it is stabilized, a lot of pinning will help. If it keeps slipping, then tiny dots of fabric glue in the seam allowance (use the tip of a piece of raw spaghetti to apply small dots) can help as well. Good luck - tell us what worked!

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  7. Definitely us a stabilizer for silk. It makes a world of difference. And patients works to. Good luck!! I'm sure your MIL is going to love it.

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  8. Good luck! I will be hoping for you and also hoping for photos when you complete it (because I know you'll figure out a way!)

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