An appropriate title for early December, don’t you think? We may be having unusually warm weather, but the flowers have definitely packed up for the winter!
Last time I worked with the Kanzashi folding, I said I wanted to try some different fabrics. So today I pulled a variety and cut squares.
There’s denim, a tricot scarf, felt, home dec canvas, and a linen (or linen-type). Some of the felt was Kunin and some a cheap acrylic. I started with a cooler setting on the iron and turned up the heat as I changed fabrics, so I started with the felt and ended with the denim.
An unexpected benefit of starting with felt (after all, that’s why I’m calling this Serendipity!) was that working with the other fabrics was much easier by comparison!
I made three sizes of petals in the felt, thinking perhaps I could make a poinsettia style flower, but the felt is so bulky that it wasn’t a practical option. The middle size came out the best, although it took quite a bit of fiddling to get there! In fact, the felt was a lot of work and took extra stitching to hold together. It does pair up nicely with lighter weight fabrics, though.
The scarf fabric created a completely different style of petal. It was possible to do the extra folds quite easily, but you can see that it doesn’t have a lot of shape. It does make a nice flower, though, just in a different category.
The linen was my favorite for handling and folding. It was easy to fold, staying in place without springing apart on me, and plumped up to make nice pleated petals. It almost made me think I’m getting the hang of this Kanzashi stuff! But, then there was the denim . . . . .
I had quite a time keeping these petals together and getting my little needle through the layers. It might have been easier if I hadn’t chosen such a heavy weight denim! I have to admit, though, this makes a very nice, crisp rounded petal! I just need to look for a lighter weight if I do this again!
So, there’s today’s bouquet. I think this is about all I want to do from this particular book. For now, anyway. I’ve learned the basic folding techniques, and have an idea of what fabrics are easiest to work with as well as what makes the prettiest flower – not necessarily the same thing!
Next week, I’ll pick another book. It’s time to make different kinds of flowers, I think. See you then.
1 comment:
I like working with felt, but those flowers are NOT something I would try! All that folding. I agree with you - much better with linen.
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