Offgrain Twill

If you are a quilter, you can stop reading here.

Fabric is not paper. It has a weave and a direction that it wants to return to. If you need more information on this matter, this link should address the matter reasonably well. 

What they don't address is that grain will resolve itself. It will, over time, straighten out. Cut a napkin offgrain and watch it turn from a square into a rhombus in one washing. If you've ever owned a tshirt, it will twist in time.  The grain will win out. Fiber has a memory.

I will spare you my ranty thoughts about not prewashing and not graining up first. If you don't do it, you are heading for trouble. Yes, I am a ripper: I rip as little as possible at the ends to find the weft grain, and then fuss over lining it up on the cutting board. Like the first photo here (the white at the right is the selvage, and it is straight, just not ironed out all the way).

It's so... Exterminatey! And bowed. Dalek don't bow to nobody!

I have wanted to make my designs out of my fabric, partly to avoid copyright matters and partly artistic desire, so Spoonflower seemed a pricey but possible source.

Sample of header of fabric #1. Ripped on the weft to determine grain

I have had significant crocking (that's where the ink rubs off) on almost all of my cotton Spoonflower fabric. They are in the process of changing their printing tech, so this is hit and miss.  The silk and the linen hold ink well, the old kona and poplin not so much. The sateen holds ink very nicely; I would recommend this option for clothing (also not as transparent as the other cottons).  The crocking is particularly bad with dark fabrics with large solid areas. It has nothing to do with the other things in the washer, it rubs against itself in that pillowcase. The polyesters hold color brilliantly, if you like polyesters...

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

I also wanted this fabric. Really really wanted it. Dalek fabric. I was going to make myself something out of it, and then it turned into a project for someone else. And then a paid project.

I have three two yard pieces here, a horizontal striped pattern, all printed off grain (looks like the center of the yardage pulled faster, the stripe is bowed by about an inch from side to side). The troubling part is: I sent photos of the problem with the first piece, got a "Oh No! Let's fix this!" mail, and got a reprint that would be personally attended to. I got two reprints Fed'ex two day delivery today, and I didn't even need to wash them; they are printed off grain even more than the first. And then it hit me:the fabric is so heavily sized it cannot be squared up until you wash it, and then it grains up. And you know what that looks like.

To Spoonflower's credit, they have bent over backwards to try to fix this matter. I was offered a credit, which was swiftly processed. The matter has been forwarded to the R&D department, and I am sure I will hear from them. It's been nothing but sterling service (and I do this sort of thing in the offseason, so I KNOW what that means).

It would work for a random print, with nothing that had to be square. But for this, utter fail. I am guessing it's the twill; the lighter weights have been ...well, crocked but fine.

So, if you never wash your fabric, the twill is fine. Strictly for decor use only at this point.

They do sell wallpaper. And decals.

Meanwhile, I have a lot of twill. 

Patterns of my Past

While I gird my loins to finish off the hemming project today, I perused today's offerings from Lanetz Living Patterns. Links to site below.

I honestly think this is the first pattern I ever sewed  7974 Simplicity apron. I suspect the vinyl apron my spouse brought with him is another product of this pattern. I'll wager most of you have this lurking in your past; it screams Home Ec project all over it.  My mother  taught me to sew, taught me a lot of rules I have unlearned over the years. She was a Simplicity sewer, I didn't get to Vogue until my 70's prom dress. Another day for that one (I still have the pattern, I've made it a few times since then).

This made me smile.  If you are looking for the  dress made of wood (print), a pattern of the go-to patternless sundress, this would be it. 

Vogue EZ high waist dress, buttons down front, wide neckline, short sleeves/sleeveless. I didn't use a pattern, I built it from slopers and a previous dress that was hacked from a Butterick back when you were a toddler. Patch pockets on the front work pretty well, I'd raise that waist to make it less boxy,  raise the armscye and open the sleeve a little. And then it just makes itself (okay, there are buttonholes, but you don't have to run them all the way down. Cheater idea here: just close up the bottom front with top stitching, and sew buttons down the front where they follow the distances as for the opening portion of the front).

This pattern is here simply because the drawing delights me. She is so happy about her new pants her mom made her, she flies.

I have some posts I am hanging onto, I have a contentious issue on the back burner that I will deal with when I get these chiffon hems done. Right now, I got work to do.