Friday, June 24, 2016

NEW STABILIZER

Happily, I'm back to stitching again.....still having some issues with the eye post cataract surgery, but improving daily.
 While digging in the boxes of batiks my friend Helen gifted me, I came across a long 6" wide strip featuring bamboo.  Since I'm actively focusing on nature themes for the ongoing NC Arboretum exhibit I'm involved with, I dug further and paired it up with another piece.
 Recently I've read about Terial Magic, a new (or new to me) liquid stabilizer that when generously used, can render fabric into a paperlike material.
My pal Kate shared a large linen sheet with me which I ice-dyed. It was perfect for my bamboo design, BUT even with the aid of Wonder-Under (my preferred paper-backed iron on stabilizer) I suspected those nasty little frayed edges would appear during the machine applique process.  

So, I decided to try Terial Magic. Rather than creating a stiff paper-like material which one can do, I lightly sprayed the fabric and pressed until dry. It worked but not without some negatives. It's advertised NOT to leave debris on the iron or stain fabric.....both of which I experienced.  Now could that be because I was working with hand-dyed fabric?

Now back to that first picture.  Next, my concern moved to the stability of the lighter than usual weight of the center batik section.  I repeated the process on it.  Disaster.....I was VERY careful when I pressed it....but it distorted terribly, so bad in fact I had to remove the borders, recut the center, straighten the borders and start over.  As I was ripping out the stitches I noticed the off-white thread was now pink!*!*

I'm not at all sure what the heck happened, except to think the center fabric shrunk and the color ran.  Perhaps I learned a lesson.....pretreat the fabric BEFORE working with it!?!? For the most part, the raw edges of my design behaved quite well and I had very little staining with this commercial fabric. So, I need to experiment further before giving this product a thumbs up....and BTW....it's pricey. $14.95 for 24 ozs.
Oh well....onward.  Here's the start of auditioning bamboo images......check back soon for the results.

Follow these links to see what others have been working on this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts.



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8 comments:

Kathy said...

I've recently been reading about this product, too, but have yet to try it. Pricey, for sure! Would be nice if it worked well. Next time I'm in that store with the coupons I'll look for it to try it. The more experiments we do, the more we'll be able to tell if it's what we need!

Nancy said...

Hmmm... special handling for this product. Thanks for the lessons. It sounded quite promising, but dye stability may be the culprit. Yup- treat first then use is a take away on this. It will be interesting to see if the edges of the linen behave. Those look like pretty small pieces. The bamboo shape is beautiful. No matter how long we work with fiber, every project brings a new lesson or two!

Judy Warner said...

Thanks for sharing.....will watch for your continued comments and how the piece develops.

Lena Pugacheva said...

Thank you for sharing your experience. The bamboo looks promising!

Robbie said...

Glad you are doing the experimenting for us! HA Glad you are back at it!!!! Nice piece...good tips/etc.

Sherrie Spangler said...

Glad to read that your cataract surgery issues are resolving and that you're back to creating!

Yanicka said...

I am trying the crafted appliqué method and I really like the results, it might interest you? https://www.amazon.ca/Crafted-Applique-New-Possibilities-Buccella/dp/1604603984

margaret said...

this is new to me but it takes a while for things to get to the UK. Good to read the eyes are getting better, you just have to be patient!! Your creation looks very nice and has worked so well after the near disasters you had