Friday, January 8, 2010

Construction assistance, please

Bead embroidery newbie here: I've chosen two fabric colors to start my first BJP page. And, no, I haven't decided what size yet ;-) The darker color will have an irregular edge overlapping the light color. Should I seam it? use a fusing product? leave it and cover it with beads? The completed piece will most likely be encrusted, unless I change my mind ... again.

Will two layers of fabric and interleaving paper be too heavy to bead through? Thanks for any experience you can share with me.
Posted by Beady Zoo at 1:32 PM
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6 comments:

Lois2037 said...

You don't say what kind of fabric you're using, but 2 layers + interleaving paper should work okay if you're using cotton. Personally, I would sew the fabric pieces together, but I think there are easy-sew fusing products out there, and that might work better if you have an irregular edge that you want to show.

January 8, 2010 at 2:12 PM
Beady Zoo said...

Thanks, Lois. Yes, the fabric is cotton; finely woven quilting-weight cotton.

January 8, 2010 at 2:16 PM
kaiteM said...

Be careful if you decide to use a fusible as some of the older ones are difficult to bead through. And if you do decide to bead encrust it, then it doesn't really matter what colour it is underneath because mostly it won't show if your beads are dense enough.
Make a small sampler and just test it out, nothing like a bit of trial and error to see what you really want to do. Have fun tho! K.

January 8, 2010 at 3:46 PM
Robin said...

I did this on all 12 of my pieces last year, sometimes using 3 or even 4 fabrics (cotton or silk, quilting weight). For most of them, I just over-lapped the fabrics on my paper backing and basted (small running stitch) along the edge where one fabric overlaps another through both fabrics and paper. Then I beaded as if it were a whole cloth. You can see a clear example of this here. To answer your question, specifically, you can easily bead through two (even 3) layers of fabric and interleaving paper! It's great fun to layer fabrics!

Robin A.

January 9, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Robin said...

I forgot to mention... fusing can be a disaster... It's always sticky and difficult to sew through... No need for it!

January 9, 2010 at 12:32 PM
Beady Zoo said...

Thanks Kaite. I'm going to try a small sample with just the fabrics and paper. I also need to make sure my beading idea will work.

Robin, thank you for the link to your 2008 September and October pages. It is really helpful to see the process / progress. And I followed a link to the 2008 May piece which has even more irregular-shaped fabric pieces, which is along the lines I'm considering. Now, to choose a size ... ;-)

January 9, 2010 at 1:23 PM

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