Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[Marjorie Wilser]

I really like stitch-n-tear, which might be a brand name. It acts like  
nonwoven stabilizer, but doesn't have the drag on the needle that the  
poly nonwovens have. It was designed for machine stitching, but would  
work anywhere the stitches were packed tightly (small stitching for  
beadwork?).


You can't just tear it off any way you please: it helps to hold one  
side (as in opposite sides of the stitching line) in place while  
tearing gently on the other side. This disturbs the stitching the  
least amount. The second side then pretty much lifts away.


What a stabilizer is supposed to do is prevent distortion and  
buckling. On light fabric, the tendency is to pull threads more  
tightly than the fabric alone can support, simply because the buckling  
fabric makes the stitches look too loose as they are going in. With  
stabilizer added to the equation, you can sew things on evenly and  
either leave, or remove, the stabilizer. If the fabric is thin enough,  
perhaps it's best to leave the stabilizer (in which case, stitch-n- 
tear is counterindicated) to support the beadwork.


== Marjorie Wilser

=:=:=:Three Toad Press:=:=:=

"Learn to laugh at yourself and you will never lack for amusement." --MW

http://3toad.blogspot.com/

On Dec 12, 2009, at 8:53 AM, Chris Laning wrote(in part):


On Dec 12, 2009, at 5:23 AM, landofoz wrote:

What I'm not *getting* is why it has to be stiffened at all. If  
it's an applique it's decorative and has no structural function,  
and not having a third layer of anything would make it easier to  
sew pearls on, wouldn't it?



It's often difficult to get an appliqué to lie flat and smooth while  
you're trying to sew it down. The tension on the cloth must be  
absolutely even, otherwise you end up with wrinkles or ripples. This  
is especially true for any material that's slippery, such as silk,  
and that goes double if the fabric is thin or limp and slithery.  
Stiffening, pasting, or backing the fabric used for the appliqué  
pretty much eliminates the problem. (Pins don't work nearly as well  
-- at least for me -- because they create bumpy areas.)


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Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[Chris Laning]

On Dec 12, 2009, at 5:23 AM, landofoz wrote:

What I'm not *getting* is why it has to be stiffened at all. If it's  
an applique it's decorative and has no structural function, and not  
having a third layer of anything would make it easier to sew pearls  
on, wouldn't it?



It's often difficult to get an appliqué to lie flat and smooth while  
you're trying to sew it down. The tension on the cloth must be  
absolutely even, otherwise you end up with wrinkles or ripples. This  
is especially true for any material that's slippery, such as silk, and  
that goes double if the fabric is thin or limp and slithery.  
Stiffening, pasting, or backing the fabric used for the appliqué  
pretty much eliminates the problem. (Pins don't work nearly as well --  
at least for me -- because they create bumpy areas.)


Quilt-makers doing piecework sometimes use basted-on or temporarily- 
glued-on papers to stabilize the edges of odd-shaped patches: for  
instance, the hexagons of a Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern are  
often done this way, especially in 19th-century pieces where the bits  
of cloth are difficult-to-handle fabrics such as velvets and silks. I  
would not be in the least surprised to discover more evidence that  
paper or parchment stabilizers may have been used for pieced work or  
appliqué in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as well. (We already know  
that parchment was used to stabilize the back of fabric when it was  
going to have heavy beading or metal thread on the front.)


You can find quite a lot of little tricks to solve this problem in  
modern quilt-making literature, all of which are aimed at making sure  
that the edges of the appliqué are firmly turned under along a smooth  
line and that the fabric lies flat. Synthetic iron-on interfacing is  
often used, despite the fact that it does make the appliqué  
significantly harder to stitch through. (I helped hand-quilt a quilt  
where this was done, and it was a pain in the wrist.) Dissolve-away  
stabilizers, or simply starching the pieces also work -- but in my  
experience, not as well. Ironing the appliqué pieces onto freezer  
paper (which is plastic on one side) is another trick, with the  
advantage that if someone wants to go to the trouble later, the  
backing fabric under the appliqué can be slit open and the paper  
carefully removed.


I've had a lot of trouble making appliqué look good, and I used to be  
a quilter, so that while there is of course great value in doing  
things the period way, personally I tend to shamelessly make use of  
non-period techniques that I learned from other quilters or from my  
graphic-arts profession. (Spray-on light-tack adhesive, for instance,  
is exceedingly helpful for basting, and in my experience it washes out  
pretty well. And I've been able to test a lot of white and colored  
marking pens/pencils to find ones that are easy to use, make a sharp  
line and wash out completely. If you don't mind using modern  
techniques, these can save a lot of headaches.)




OChris Laning  - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com




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Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[landofoz]

You can buy 100% silk "paper" or "felt" (it's neither, really), or make it 
yourself (it's not hard).


What I'm not *getting* is why it has to be stiffened at all. If it's an 
applique it's decorative and has no structural function, and not having a 
third layer of anything would make it easier to sew pearls on, wouldn't it?


Denise B 


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Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[Sharon Collier]

I made a caul with trim sewn on. It was silk, which was too thin. I lined it
with a middle weight linen and it looks great. And it was easy to sew on the
trim.

-Original Message-
From: h-costume-boun...@indra.com [mailto:h-costume-boun...@indra.com] On
Behalf Of Alexandria Doyle
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:26 AM
To: Historical Costume
Subject: Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en
agent]

This is one of those projects that I want to as plausably correct to the
period as I possibly can.

The inspiration :
<http://www.lib-art.com/imgpainting/0/1/8710-portrait-of-a-young-woman-lucas
-the-elder-cranach.jpg>

With what I've already spent on materials, I don't want to go with a cheap
and quick  alternative if spending a few more minutes preparing my own
"buckram" will get me closer to what the original may have been.  That's my
goal here...

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 1:09 PM,   wrote:
> How about the cheap, light-weight buckram (sometimes found at Hancock
Fabrics)? It's "fabric stiffened with glue" so if you're willing to ignore
the content of the glue and fabric, it's sort of period.
>
>
>
> Claudine
>
>> 
>
>> From: Alexandria Doyle
>> To: Historical Costume
>> Sent: Fri, December 11, 2009 7:08:08 AM
>> Subject: [h-cost] stiffen agent
>>
>> Does anyone have have suggestions of anything else that could have 
>> been used early to mid 16th century Germany as a stiffening agent and 
>> /or base fabric for this kind of project?
>>
>> thanks
>> alex
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
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>> h-costume@mail.indra.com
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>
> ___
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--
So much to do and so little attention span to get it done with.
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Re: [h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[Alexandria Doyle]

This is one of those projects that I want to as plausably correct to
the period as I possibly can.

The inspiration :


With what I've already spent on materials, I don't want to go with a
cheap and quick  alternative if spending a few more minutes preparing
my own "buckram" will get me closer to what the original may have
been.  That's my goal here...

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 1:09 PM,   wrote:
> How about the cheap, light-weight buckram (sometimes found at Hancock 
> Fabrics)? It's "fabric stiffened with glue" so if you're willing to ignore 
> the content of the glue and fabric, it's sort of period.
>
>
>
> Claudine
>
>> 
>
>> From: Alexandria Doyle
>> To: Historical Costume
>> Sent: Fri, December 11, 2009 7:08:08 AM
>> Subject: [h-cost] stiffen agent
>>
>> Does anyone have have suggestions of anything else that could have
>> been used early to mid 16th century Germany as a stiffening agent and
>> /or base fabric for this kind of project?
>>
>> thanks
>> alex
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> h-costume mailing list
>> h-costume@mail.indra.com
>> http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
>
> ___
> h-costume mailing list
> h-costume@mail.indra.com
> http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
>



-- 
So much to do and so little attention span to get it done with…
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[h-cost] stabilizer/facing material [was:Re: s-t-i-f-f-en agent]

[cw15147-hcost00]

How about the cheap, light-weight buckram (sometimes found at Hancock Fabrics)? 
It's "fabric stiffened with glue" so if you're willing to ignore the content of 
the glue and fabric, it's sort of period.



Claudine

> 

> From: Alexandria Doyle 
> To: Historical Costume 
> Sent: Fri, December 11, 2009 7:08:08 AM
> Subject: [h-cost] stiffen agent
> 
> Does anyone have have suggestions of anything else that could have
> been used early to mid 16th century Germany as a stiffening agent and
> /or base fabric for this kind of project?
> 
> thanks
> alex
> 
> 
>   
> ___
> h-costume mailing list
> h-costume@mail.indra.com
> http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume

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