Fabric, natural or synthetic

The highlight of our M.E.E. club meeting on Tuesday night was a fabric sale. Because Lucille will be leading a workshop in March on making the cushions for the trailer seating, this was a chance for people to sell off some of their extra fabric pieces and for members who don't have fabric stashes yet to pick up some suitable fabrics. Luba Barnes from Spruce Grove also joined us with her collection of bunka and trims for sale.

Due to my usual procrastination (not to mention my hoarding tendencies), I left going through my stash too late and didn't take any pieces in for sale.

You would think with a fabric stash of the size above, I would have NO need to add to it....and you'd be right!

But that didn't stop me! VBG

(l. to r.) a gift of some silk from Luba; fell in love with this piece - could see it mounted and framed for a piece of modern art; some fairy lace from Luba for trimming pillow cases; the upstairs' rooms in the Bombay House are done in white and black with red accents so I bought this piece from Carol K. to upholster the cushion on the window seat I'm planning for the desk area; and the tartan, well, I don't really have a plan for it but it spoke to me.

HINT:

For miniature purposes, natural fabrics (silk, cotton, linen and rayon) are best for their draping and pleating abilities.

At the meeting, Carol K. demonstrated how to tell if you're dealing with a natural or synthetic fabric. Apply a flame (match or lighter) quickly to the edge of the piece of fabric. Extinguish and feel the edge of the fabric where the flame was applied. If the fabric is 'natural', there will be a soft ash where the flame was applied. If it's a synthetic, the edge of the fabric will be hard where the synthetic portion of the fabric has melted.

Thanks, Carol, I did not know that.