Good morning, Blogland! (How many blog anymore anyways?) (How many people subscribe, then just let the email go to the spam folder?)
I’ve been in the last month or so, trying to keep the shop fuller with offerings, but that darn old “word of mouth” has meant most of my sales have been “offline” in a sense! I’m not complaining though as my naturally dyed fabrics and threads go further around the world 🙂
I have right now a listing for small “decks” of silk velvet in varied colourways. But wait, what? Silk is too difficult? NAHHHHHHH!
It *is* a slippery animal, but there are a few tricks you can use to wrangle it. I prefer hand stitching it, whether that’s piecing chunks together, or adding cut shapes as a form of applique. The simplest way to handle it is to underline/stabilize it with either a thin cotton (think lawn or fine muslin, harem cloth is too shifty), or if you prefer even more depth to your stitching, a piece of cotton flannelette. (Yes, that stuff your jammies are made of, your winter sheets, and the soft soft baby wear and diapers that Mae Junior is in.) When you stitch on this combo, the depth can get quite “crunchy” and shows more shadows and highlights because you are compressing the fabrics more—delish!
The diamond above has been backstitched then whipped, and gives you a very tactile surface, visually and haptically! You can also see the white cotton flannelette i used to back it for stabilization.
If you are piecing silk velvet, give it time 🙂 Pin, pin, pin–i use regular pins rather than silk ones but make sure yours are SHARP and fine. I use two lines of running stitch at the seams, with small as i can get stitches. Brush the right side seam line lightly with a soft toothbrush to fluff up the pile. (Note: i still stabilize for simple straight seams, it gives the weight it needs for handstitching the seams, and to prevent creases and bias distortion.)
Above pieced velvets in this moon for the background. Remember also to “open” your seams on the back (just finger press them, no ironing!!) or you will be stitching through 3 layers instead of 2, and possibly have a bulge or hard spot there.
Also pieced, a little more difficult with curves,but you can plan out and draw on the underlying layer to show the seamlines for stitching.:
Don’t plan on getting too intricate with the embroidery! Covering velvet densely (in most cases) doesn’t let the velvet work its magic, and isn”t that the point? Also, if you have to rip out stitches, be aware that there may be a visible line through the backing: sometimes you can hide it a bit with a damp toothbrush riff. If that doesn’t work, try to work in the same line with a different stitch/colour/ply, but keep it simple.
Are you champing at the bit yet? See the all five of the colourways available in the shop! Affordable, large enough pieces to play with, delicious combos!
By the way, these greens from mossy to deep moraine were created without indigo! A little dye magic in the pot with weld and logwood!
As always, i refund any extra shipping paid, whether on purchases of multiples, or a single.
And these are available too!
I have spent the last 5 months working on myself and i think Self has learned some lessons and taken them well to Heart 
FybreSpace, the shop, is here.
albedo too 
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