Light Satin supporting Goldwork.....

[Elmsley Rose]

For my new project (from a cope), I have a lovely purple shot with red slubbed silk for the purple background.

The only red I have is a satin. It's about 1/3 of the weight of the slubbed silk. I intend to pad the dragon and the cross, and there's all that purl - it'll be quite heavy. Do you think I can use the satin with perhaps a double layer of muslim, or is it better to buy in some dupion and not take chances?

[Lynette Hale]

Dear Elmsley, in the Emb Guild we always support our silk or satin backgrounds with a piece of washed calico so that you have something tough enough to take the weight of the gold & also to plunge the gold to the back & stitch down. Hope this helps?

[Maryd]

Always do mine on three layers. Silk or satin, strong calico or linen and a muslin weight. Holds the material so the stitch work is more prominently displayed, and the padding stays more fixed whilst you work.

[Grace Lister]

I always add a calico backing.  The satin probably wouldn't be strong enough to support the Goldwork.

[Susan]

For a design like this I would normally frame up on a square frame with pre-shrunk (washed) calico then add the silk background to the calico. I would probably then apply the red over the purple where it is needed and the combined layers should hold the weight.

[Carol-Anne]

Nothing much to add to the great advice already given above.  Are you going to applique the red onto the purple after you done the embroidery on it.  Will you do the same for the ivory patches.  It is a lovely design and I can't wait to see what you do with it :-)

[Elmsley Rose]

Good morning (here at least) :-)

I always back my goldwork/stumpwork in one layer of muslim. But this satin is definitely thin.

Therefore, I'm going for MaryD's answer :

"Always do mine on three layers. Silk or satin, strong calico or linen and a muslin weight. Holds the material so the stitch work is more prominently displayed, and the padding stays more fixed whilst you work."

That should scare the ground into obeying me!!! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.

 

Carol-Anne - it does look very much like all the red and white areas have been appliqued on, doesn't it. The edging of all in purl is an additional clue. That's what I intend to do. :-)

[Elmsley Rose]

Lynette and Susan

Why the pre-wash, since Goldwork won't be washed in the end?

 

MaryD - Do you think I could use 2 layers of muslim instead of one of linen/one of muslim? I only have "good linen" and the difficulty of ordering everything on-line. Perfectly possible, but why do it when I have plenty of muslim here, and also I'm trying to save my $ to buy Pearsall's threads for the project.

 

best,

 

ER

[Lynette Hale]

Hi ER, the reason you have to wash calico is that with any dampness in the atmosphere - during the winter- it tends to shrink loads more than the fabric it is supporting. The more layers you have behind your linen the more chances you have of getting distortion with all 3 fabrics pulling against one another during the stitching. One layer of washed calico is all that is needed so long as it is washed previously. Muslin is too open & not dense enough to use as a supporting fabric, or do you call calico muslin? You can buy a heavy weight calico which is what most of our Guild ladies use.

[Elmsley Rose]

Aha! Thankyou so much for telling me that!!!

 

Yes, I think we call calico muslim. It's a medium heading toward heavy-ish cotton. I think 'muslim' to the rest of the world means something much lighter and tulle-like.

[Anne Gomes]

Hey, Y'all, I thought calico is what we call muslin in the US. For us, calico is a printed mid-weight cotton, usually with a floral print. Muslin is either bleached or unbleached. It is fairly heavy if pre-shrunk and makes a good backing. So, what is it that y'all are calling each, if you don't mind me asking?

BTW, the 3 layers sound really intriguing. 

What a beautiful design. Are you using the colors in the photo? I'd love to see the set-up and progress. Anneg

[Elmsley Rose]

Hi Anne,

 I called it "muslim" but it's "muslin" (as Lynette Hale has since corrected me). That's "calico" to  Americans. I don't know what the English call it.

 

Yes - I'm using the colours in the photo!

Pearsalls' silks!

 

I'll be blogging my progress in detail at http://elmsleyrose.blogspot.com/ but I have a stumpworked butterfly that I'm just finishing, and a sunflower done in silk ribbon embroidery (for a mentally disabled friend) to do first. At the moment, I'm organising supplies and asking questions about this new piece, so I'm all ready to go when I've finished the sunflower!

[Carol-Anne]

Well, I can't speak for every Englist person :LOL: but what I call calico is an unbleached cotton, it comes in a variety of weights and may have slubs and/or variations in colour.  It very often has some kind of dressing (stiffner) in it, especially the lighter weights so for that reason alone, you may want to prewash it.  This is what I would use as a backing fabric.

 

Muslin is an open weave, gausey fabric.  No use as a backing fabric what so ever :-D