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Soie chenilleAu Ver à Soie Chenille de Soie available in 5 m, 10 m et 120 m skein in 18 colours from the Soie d’Alger range. Hand applications : Machine applications : Envision a bolt of the finest velvet draped on a table. As your fingers stroke the shimmering surface, you notice how smooth, even and plush it is to the touch. Now this sensation is available in a thread for embroidery ! Soie Chenille à Broder, Silk Chenille for Embroidery at first glance resembles a lustrous velvety cord. If you have stitched with a chenille thread made for knitting, which by comparison is neither silky to the touch nor smooth, you will not have experienced how much more luxurious silk chenille made for hand embroidery really is! The word chenille in French literally translated means “caterpillar”, which precisely describes the appearance of this thread. In other words, the little fibers of silk stand out at right angles, like the hairs of a caterpillar. Silk Chenille for embroidery can be seen in much embroidery from the past. On raised embroidery panels for caskets and pictures from the seventeenth century, it was used as moss and foliage. Samplers in both England and America in the eighteenth century have silk chenille couched for trees for used as grass. It was also an especially popular thread with French embroiderers in the 18th century that used chenille lavishly for clothing embellishment and trim, especially with ribbon embroidery. Consulting period Victorian embroidery books you will find mention of chenille used on crazy quilts, couched as trim on clothing, evening bags and used on other embroidered articles as well. Suggestions for using Soie Chenille à Broider The designer of Louis XV’s wardrobe, Saint Aubin in his manual of embroidery written at the end of the 18th century specified there were two basic methods to use chenille thread. One could “thread short lengths of it on a needle with a long eye and pass it through the fabric.” He also advocated using satin stitches or long and short stitches to blend the shades. “One must not, however, used chenille doubled as one does with silk.” St. Aubin also noted, Soie Chenille should be stitched in short lengths. This is particularly true if you are stitching in and out of the linen or canvas. Keep in mind that every passing, both backwards and forward through deteriorates the pile. Stitchers should take care to ease it through the fabric. The finished effect will be well worth the extra effort. To begin, try short satin stitches stitched in silk chenille. Do not try to pack them too close together. Run your finger across the top of your stitching. You will see the result is very lush and textural. Experimentation is required to determine how close the stitches should be for coverage of the ground fabric or canvas. Chenille needles were devised for stitching silk chenille. They have wide eyes and sharp points to pierce the fabric to lessen the wearing of the thread. The size of the needle to select depends of the density of the fabric you plan to stitch on and the type of stitch. We suggest starting with a size 20 Chenille needle, and be willing to experiment. St. Aubin’s other method of applying silk chenille is to couch it on to linen or canvas. Using a couching thread that is the same color of the chenille can do this. Please note that the numbers of the silk chenille match Soie d’Alger color numbers. This was intended to make it easier for the embroiderer to match the exact shade of Soie d’Alger for couching. Using one strand of Soie d’Alger in your needle should suffice to couch chenille on most canvas and fabrics. We suggest you wax the Soie d’Alger strand for strength and ease of handling while couching, particularly if you have difficulty with threads tangling. Following the angle the chenille is twisted, the couching stitches should be at a 45-degree angle, and will be hidden by the “fur” of the chenille. Some embroidery ideas for Soie Chenille Christian Dior used silk chenille for the center of tiny embroidered flowers sprinkled over the fabric of an afternoon tea dress, during the early 1950’s. Chenille can also be used to suggest velvet, such as on Santa’s suit on needlepoint canvas or counted thread embroidery. Anytime you want the effect of nappy texture on a figure; Soie Chenille would be a good choice. It can be a fur trim on the edge of a sleeve or around a collar, or a fur muff. On a landscape design it can be grass, bumble bees, of the fluffy tail of a squirrel, rabbits or monkey. Finally, any place you would use turkey work, try using silk chenille instead. Soie Chenille is packaged in clear acrylic boxes containing 3 yards each. Bulk quantity is available on request. Bibliography : Art of the Embroiderer : Charles Gremain de Saint Aubin Los Angeles County Museum of Art & David Godine Publishers 1983 Embroidered Georgian Pictures Margaret Swain Shire Publications Fashion in Detail – From the 17th & 18th Centuries Avril Hart & Susan Noth Rizzoli Publications 1998
Copyright L. Haidar for Access Commodities 1997. (Au Ver à Soie US Agent and Distributor) |
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