Wednesday, July 20, 2005
The Pennet String
These have been such busy days, it's hard to find time to post. I thought I would show you what we have been creating for The River Theater.
As always there is a small budget and when you have a small budget you have to have a large imagination. How can you make a thirty-six foot long pennet string on a budget?
Good question.
Here is how we did it.
Fifteen red backed dancer images and fifteen white backed dancer images, laminated, evenly spaced, and color alternated, then sewn together using.....double faced bias tape.
Did anyone know you could sew through laminated items? Well, I didn't until last week. But I thought I would give it a try.
I chose a #16 jeans/sharp top stitching needle and heavy top stitching thread.
Here's what sewing it together looks like.
All of the pins I used to hold the images in place had to be thrown away, as the laminate dulls them and they were bent up quite a bit . Despite the bais tape the whole process was rather more slippery than I had thought it would be. The first time through was ....um .. shall we say, trying and I did get pricked... a lot. As most seamtresses know, the thing you worry about most when you get hurt sewing, is not bleeding on the project, no worries here really, laminate wipes clean!
I changed to a new needle for the second row of stitching. I would not recommend skipping this step no matter what. When I sewed the second row of stitching, Bree held the pennets behind me to keep them from twisting and tangling as I sewed through. As you can see from the photo there are dancer girls behind the machine, on the machine, waiting in front of the machine, what you can't see are the ones in my lap , over my shoulder, and Bree standing behind me with the rest of the pile, waiting for the nod to send more forward.
I don't think I would try this with a machine that is not geared for at least denim sewing.
Don't, whatever you do, try this with a light-duty machine!
This is an akward project no doubt about it.
Definitly not for the beginner.
As always there is a small budget and when you have a small budget you have to have a large imagination. How can you make a thirty-six foot long pennet string on a budget?
Good question.
Here is how we did it.
Fifteen red backed dancer images and fifteen white backed dancer images, laminated, evenly spaced, and color alternated, then sewn together using.....double faced bias tape.
Did anyone know you could sew through laminated items? Well, I didn't until last week. But I thought I would give it a try.
I chose a #16 jeans/sharp top stitching needle and heavy top stitching thread.
Here's what sewing it together looks like.
All of the pins I used to hold the images in place had to be thrown away, as the laminate dulls them and they were bent up quite a bit . Despite the bais tape the whole process was rather more slippery than I had thought it would be. The first time through was ....um .. shall we say, trying and I did get pricked... a lot. As most seamtresses know, the thing you worry about most when you get hurt sewing, is not bleeding on the project, no worries here really, laminate wipes clean!
I changed to a new needle for the second row of stitching. I would not recommend skipping this step no matter what. When I sewed the second row of stitching, Bree held the pennets behind me to keep them from twisting and tangling as I sewed through. As you can see from the photo there are dancer girls behind the machine, on the machine, waiting in front of the machine, what you can't see are the ones in my lap , over my shoulder, and Bree standing behind me with the rest of the pile, waiting for the nod to send more forward.
I don't think I would try this with a machine that is not geared for at least denim sewing.
Don't, whatever you do, try this with a light-duty machine!
This is an akward project no doubt about it.
Definitly not for the beginner.
