Silk lap scarf or wrap

A Christmas wish to all for joy, laughter, forgiveness, acceptance, tolerance, laughter, warm embraces and many many moments of riotous giggling. hold close those you love and always but always look for the magic 

My gift to you all for Christmas is from an article that was printed 2 years ago. Its a big project that requires patience and many many stitches with great rewards 

Materials 

• 1.5 m of a hand dyed silk lap ( keep in mind silk laps  can be stretched in width or length or layered )
• Just google mulberry silk lap and you will find them both dyed and undyed.

http://www.thethreadstudio.com/catalogue/fibre/fibre1.htm

https://www.etsy.com/market/silk_lap?

           A smile and patience

• Machine embroidery threads .I prefer rayon threads have beautiful colour and lustre and in my opinion feel softer on the finished garment compared to polyester but this is your preference. Silk threads are perfect but not very economical given the amount of stitching. 
• A sewing machine that you can perform free motion embroidery and  loves a workout.
• Closed toe machine embroidery foot.
• 4 m of water soluble vilene web or equivalent such as Aqua mesh, Aqua magic Floriani Wet, Sulky fabric solvy. My preference is for the vilene it is opaque you can use the plastic water soluble if you wish.
• http://www.embroiderysource.com.au/web-store/backing/soluble-backings-and-films/es-wsv-30×30-mac-rinse.html
• 2m of stick sided water soluble fabric or the amount required for your project I use Esi- Stick N’rinse.An equivalent is sticky Fabric Solvy.

http://www.embroiderysource.com.au/web-store/backing/soluble-backings-and-films/esi-stick-n-rinse.html 

• Size 80 tops stitch or universal needle
• Wool wash or equivalent 
  

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A silk lap is exquisite, lustrous and light as a feather. It is a blanket of silk fibre that is soft to touch and creates a sensuous drape.The mulberry silk laps I use are hand dyes in stunning colours 

Silk laps are a byproduct of the carding process used on silk fibres to produce silk tops for spinning into yarn. The laps have much more texture than the tops but are similar in staple and length. An industrial drum carder is used to  card the silk fibers into silk sliver. When the carder is all matted up ( a bit like a hair brush )at the days end the lap is peeled form the drum in a flat sheet. Silk laps are typified by there super long staple. it makes them strong easy tp stretch and divide.They can be stretched to nearly 4 times their size if you have a little help from a friend.

When you first purchase your silk lap, drape it around your neck and enjoy the moment of luxury feel the softness of the fiber and enjoy the colour and lustre.Then unwrap it form your necking start to create your wearable art wrap /scarf.

Techniques

For my scarves/wraps I generally stick circle shapes, but any type of stitching design such a grid or zig zag can be used. Whichever stitch design you decide to use your stitches must all interconnect.

the-whole-lap

1 First, split the silk lap into a fine layer’The thickness of the layer is dependent on the look desired for your Wrap, A very  fine layer will be more like a spider Web; a thick layer can almost have the appearance of felting. Experiment with some small practice pieces to find the weight you like.

Placing the split lap on Water soluble fabric.

Make a silk wrap sandwich: Lay your split silk lap layer on a piece of water-soluble ‘ fabric which is cut a little wider and longer than the lap to provide room for creating lace work edges and ends later

Completed first layer

You have survived the first marathon of stitching and in the next step you will cut out some of your stitched fabric. Mark your design cut out area and stitch around the outside edge of the area to be cut several times to give it stability. 

marking the cut out areas

Stitching around the edgeof the marked cutout area

Cut out this the marked spaces 

Finished cutting out lacework areas

Using the sticky soluble sandwich in a small circle of fabric into your cut out area .The sticky soluble will form a sandwich being on the top and bottom and fabric trapped between.

These areas are then stitched in to create a lace  make sure all your stitches interconnect with each other and the edges of the cut out .

Outline all your  cut out edges in small circles to stop fraying .

Inserting a circle of silk onto sticky  backed and another piece of sticky back on top

shows second cicular design

Now your second marathon you will need to do a second layer of stitching over the entire scarf /wrap including the edges to create a lace work edge with an organic shape.

lace edging

final layer

To add a little more colour this was an after thought I have cut some more holes and introduced new shapes and colours with the lace work 

extra lace holes

 Extra lace holes

You can also consider using the extra holes fabric as 3d affect on your wrap/scarf but remember to use stitches to seal their edges.

Now for the magic into the water it goes, I love this bit, its so exciting. It make take several washes in a wool wash detergent and a fabric softener before all the sticky soluble is washed out.

before the magic

Then ta da you have it all yours 

Teaching events for next year I would love to see you there 

http://threadsandtangles.com.au/shop/classes/michelle-mischkulnig-of-chelle-textiles-19th-20th-may-2018/

http://threadsandtangles.com.au/shop/classes/michelle-mischkulnig-of-chelle-textiles-25th-26th-august-2018-copy/

http://www.textileartworkshopsonline.com/michelle-mischkulnig-2018/