Pleasures of Polyester

Well, my new shipment of PFD and dark fabrics arrived today from Robert Kaufman. The big ticket item is 100 yards of their 100% polyester Nu-suede fabric. It feels like a moleskin and does fray a bit. But is so very soft and luscious – it looks like a great fabric for warm blouses or else jacket/skirt/slack combos. Yes, garment sewing. Good thing my best friend taught sewing for 30 years! Here are a couple pictures of work in process and finished goods from the first 30 yard roll:

Started the first piece with an all-over pink color, then rag-rolled an 'orange creamsicle’ color over it.

The second piece shows a yard of fabric in process. It got turquoise dye (Pro-Chem’s Transperse turqouise) all over, then it was spread out on plastic (my favorite heavy vinyl from Jo-Ann’s.)  Then I sprinkled it with salt and waited for it to dry. That piece sold right away, so I did it again with a three-yard piece, which is shown in the third photograph. That shows it mid-way through the heat-press process, which is when the color changes. Transperse is Pro-Chem’s name for their disperse dyes designed for transfer printing.  The main problem with the whole process is the investment into the heat press. But everyone who handles the fabric falls in love with it – I did!

I still have more to learn, so I’d better get to it! Thanks for looking!