This is why we age fabric
Jul. 7th, 2010 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chargirlgeniusI have a piece of fabric I bought almost 10 years ago. It’s beautiful stuff – 90% silk, 10% linen, creamy brocade with little gold fleurs-de-lis on it. It’s a perfect fabric for a sumptuous 14th century dress. I’ve been hanging on to it for a long time, waiting for just the right project. After a while, fabric speaks to you, and tells you what it wants to be.
The problem with figuring out what I wanted to make was that I only had five yards, it’s single direction, and only about 45 inches wide. I could squeak out a 14th century dress with short sleeves, but the gores would definitely have to go the wrong way, and I couldn’t get over that. I know I should, it’s fine, but it was a mental block. I wanted this fabric to turn into a *perfect* dress.
I pulled the fabric out at the La Belle meeting, since we were talking about spiffing stuff up. After admiring it, I decided to check the yardage. I unfolded it, and it’s more like 54” wide! WIN!
Then I started measuring length. Yard after yard I pulled out. After yard after yard. Er, I have almost EIGHT YARDS of it! Not five!
This is why we let fabric age. It GROWS!
Now, I still am left with a decision on what to make out of it. I need to find some similarly colored gold silk for the lining. A white lining makes the dark stripe of the gold show on the right side. An orange silk lining shows through the light parts and also looks striped. And now that I have EIGHT YARDS of it, I have to decide if I want to make a short sleeved 1380s gown with tippets, and have the gores all run the right way, or make a 1410s gown with floor length flap sleeves (or even something fuller), and never mind the gores.
FABRIC GROWS!
The problem with figuring out what I wanted to make was that I only had five yards, it’s single direction, and only about 45 inches wide. I could squeak out a 14th century dress with short sleeves, but the gores would definitely have to go the wrong way, and I couldn’t get over that. I know I should, it’s fine, but it was a mental block. I wanted this fabric to turn into a *perfect* dress.
I pulled the fabric out at the La Belle meeting, since we were talking about spiffing stuff up. After admiring it, I decided to check the yardage. I unfolded it, and it’s more like 54” wide! WIN!
Then I started measuring length. Yard after yard I pulled out. After yard after yard. Er, I have almost EIGHT YARDS of it! Not five!
This is why we let fabric age. It GROWS!
Now, I still am left with a decision on what to make out of it. I need to find some similarly colored gold silk for the lining. A white lining makes the dark stripe of the gold show on the right side. An orange silk lining shows through the light parts and also looks striped. And now that I have EIGHT YARDS of it, I have to decide if I want to make a short sleeved 1380s gown with tippets, and have the gores all run the right way, or make a 1410s gown with floor length flap sleeves (or even something fuller), and never mind the gores.
FABRIC GROWS!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:38 pm (UTC)FABRIC GROWS!
OoooOOooooOooohhhh....I'll have to check my silk [brocades/jacquards/damasks/whatevers] and see whether any of them have grown....
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 01:58 pm (UTC):-) And sometimes, it multiplies and you end up with pieces of fabric you never knew you had...in 5 yard increments!
The fabric sounds lovely. Pictures?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 08:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-08 02:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-08 04:01 am (UTC)::shifty eyes::
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 02:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 02:52 pm (UTC)/Eva
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 03:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:18 pm (UTC)Be careful, it could get jiggy with another fabric. Who knows what kind of blends you'd end up with....
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 04:45 pm (UTC)I wonder if talking to it (like to plants) helps any? ;-)
My precious. Loves my silks and velvets I does... *pets*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 05:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 05:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 06:24 pm (UTC)Instead of the 3 yards of a gorgeous silk taffeta I had initially, I eventually ended up with around 8 or 9 yards in total. One 5 yard length appearing in a bag with a UFO of mine!
Looking forward to seeing what you make from it. Wish I could wear a white damask but white is not my colour.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 07:20 pm (UTC)I think I have that similiar fabric. but mine is cotton, not linen. and yay on the extra fabrice find, I too have had that happen. Now I write it all down (if I can)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-07 10:05 pm (UTC)