Purse Backgrounds

I'm still working on the gallery purses, and I told you that I'd post details, so here's the first installment of the details. The details will include embellishment and construction techniques.

Let's start with the background fabric. When I do "art" clothing or accessories, I usually start by creating the background fabric and picking out embellishments that I think might work with the project. For this post, we'll take a look at the backgrounds for two more purses.

First, the background fabric for a purse I'm calling "The Silver Lining". Yes, it has a silver lining - you'll see that in another post. The fabric is a silver pinstripe denim. This first picture is a collection of stuff that I'm going to use for embellishing. I know it looks like it belongs at the the junkyard, but it really is useful. All the items (old baby gate, wire cooling rack, wooden rosette, tin ceiling panel) have texture, which can be transferred to the fabric via rubbing with a Shiva oil paintstick (it's in the foreground on the fabric - it's like a big crayon). I ended up using the wooden rosette and the baby gate, you'll see the result in the next picture.

Remember doing rubbings in elementary art? Same thing - stick the item to be rubbed under the fabric and rub with the paintstick. Simple. The fabric must dry for at least 48 hours - it is real oil paint and must be cured. The paint then needs to be heat set either in a very hot dryer or by ironing the fabric on the wrong side at the hottest setting it can handle. Protect your ironing board with paper towels to absorb any excess oil! Here's the fabric, hanging to dry for a few days:
The second purse will have background fabric that is what I call a reverse applique collage. This is the same technique I used to make the pink borders on the pink side of Waiting for Spring. Here I've layered a taffeta, a spakle tulle and a cotton. I've had to satin stitch the wavy lines, as the cotton would fray if I just straight stitched like I did with all the tulle in the other project. Here's a picture of the layers and satin stitching:

I then cut out certain sections, some through both layers, some through one only, exposing certain fabric layers. I don't plan which ones get one or two layers removed - I just start cutting and move throughout the piece removing what I think needs to be removed. I suppose that if you're a real planner you could plan how the colors get removed to make a picture or something. but I do enough detailed planning in my life - this is one time where I let go.

Both backgrounds are now ready for the second layer - embellishments under a layer of tulle. That will be the next post!

I've got BWOF 05/07 #113 cut out, and it's ready to go for tomorrow. As usual, I'm planning *how* I'm going to make it, and I'm stuck! My first instinct is to use french seams - this is an unlined blouse. Another part of me says, "You just bought a serger, use it! This is a good project for it!" Ugh. I was afraid of this. So, do I do french seams or use the serger? This blouse will probably be worn two summers, and then we'll see if it's still in style, so I'm not sure if it's a serger candidate . . . What do you think?

Parting Shot: My husband built a fire pit in the backyard a couple of years ago and we have a fire permit. This is the first fire of the summer - the children are hoping that I can find the marshmallows that are some where in the kitchen cupboards!