Seams French

It's TGIF Day; "Thank Goodness It's Finished" This little pouch, which is a prototype, certainly came with it's fair share of headaches as I learned to deal with the peculiar characteristics of hand stitching on silk, see my post of   (Feb.10, 2014) , but now that it's finished, I have forgiven it all it's obstinate idiosyncrasies and am looking forward to more projects with silk in the future. The little phone pouch, finished and set to travel. Once the boutis piece had been blocked, it was trimmed leaving a generous 1 inch seam allowance around the perimiter. Next I cut a facing piece to the identical size as the stitched piece. I opted to make the facing from the same silk fabric that I used on the pouch itself. There are 3 sections to this pouch: from right to left - the front flap closure, the middle section (or what will become the back of the pouch), and the last section, (which will be under the front flap). The middle section and the...

What a Relief! Boutis is a play of light and shadow created by first, stitching the motifs and channels of the design (created specifically for boutis), and then inserting cotton yarn through these same channels. It's with the addition of the cording that the relief is created and this is what defines and gives life to the patterns and motifs of the piece. When working boutis, the cording process is just as important and time intensive as the stitching. That being said, the little mobile phone pouch on silk that I have been working on is finally stitched and corded. Stitched and corded, the little silk phone pouch that I have been working on is ready to be assembled. Once all of the cording was completed, I soaked the piece in cold water and tacked it tautly it to a sheet of Styrofoam. This is the opportunity to square up the finished piece of boutis and ease in (or out) any irregularities. In my post of February 11/2014, "Boutis...