Episode 6: Read My Skirt - Part 1

This ensemble began with words, muslin fabric, and tee juice pens. Words from my journals. Many years ago, I learned to write these snippets, with amazing guidance during a few retreats with Susan Wooldridge, and IG @susan.wooldridge and www.susanwooldridge.com. 

The skirt is draped, using leftover scraps of muslin fabric. Prior to the actual draping, I began by writing on these scraps of fabric. So I had a large stack of muslin with written words at the ready. I have studied draping from many teachers over the years. But last year the light went on during a retreat with Christine Mayer @mayer.intothelight. She is now teaching on-line if you are ever interested in learning the art of draping. 

The tee-juice pens are a Jacquard Product, many online art stores carry them. Directions are included with the pens on how to heat set. I was introduced to these pens during retreats and workshops with www.dianeericson.com. They come in several colors and three sizes. I used black on this piece. And as you can see, the handwriting varies in size and shape. 

A helpful hint when writing on fabric is to iron freezer paper onto the back of the fabric. The shinny side towards the back of fabric, NOT towards your hot/dry iron. This will stabilize the fabric, giving you a firm backing. Then the freezer paper simply pulls away when you are finished writing. Test first! Again, make sure the shinny side of the freezer paper is against the wrong side of your fabric before you iron. 

In this first video, I was still playing with what the top would become. As I mentioned, this is truly the process of how I create. You will see in the next videos what happens! Did I end up using that black twill ribbon? I do enjoy the process, almost as much as the finished piece.

Click the image below to start the video.