Silk mesh
- Thread starter Shanazel
- Start date
I don't know very much about felting, much less nuno felting, so I hit the net and surfed up a crash course (short example video below). Apparently, they use both habotai silk and polyester chiffon with this technique, so it seems this fabric is in the same company with other veil fabrics.
There is a ton of info online about how to nuno felt textiles that are thin to thick, light to heavy, and flat to chunky, all dependent on the combination of base fabric and (for lack of a more elegant term) all the stuff you pile on top of it before you go to felt it together. I assume this particular fabric is intended for visibility, either as the base or an upper-level embellishment (why else would it need to be pretty?), and the first use would imply that it drapes nicely.
I do wonder if the more open weave might make this fabric grabby, since one of the objects of nuno felting is getting the wool roving to lock its fibers into the base, and the looser texture facilitates that. Can they send you a low-cost sample so you could see whether it has a tendency to catch, either on itself or on the embellishments of the costume you're wearing (sequins and beads)?
I guess the worst case is you buy three yards, don't like it for veil, teach yourself nuno felting, and make a bunch of funky scarves...
There is a ton of info online about how to nuno felt textiles that are thin to thick, light to heavy, and flat to chunky, all dependent on the combination of base fabric and (for lack of a more elegant term) all the stuff you pile on top of it before you go to felt it together. I assume this particular fabric is intended for visibility, either as the base or an upper-level embellishment (why else would it need to be pretty?), and the first use would imply that it drapes nicely.
I do wonder if the more open weave might make this fabric grabby, since one of the objects of nuno felting is getting the wool roving to lock its fibers into the base, and the looser texture facilitates that. Can they send you a low-cost sample so you could see whether it has a tendency to catch, either on itself or on the embellishments of the costume you're wearing (sequins and beads)?
I guess the worst case is you buy three yards, don't like it for veil, teach yourself nuno felting, and make a bunch of funky scarves...
Shanazel
Moderator
I don't think it is stiff, judging from what the gal who bought a yard said. Over the years, I've done some felting, both needle felting and hand felting. Love the results. Have seen some things so beautiful that they were almost unreal. Hate the process. Hate it. Needle felting especially bored me out of my mind- poke, poke, poke, poke. ?
Shanazel
Moderator
Found this in my email. Looks like the stuff makes nice skirts. Adding the taffeta band might give it weight for a nice swing during a dance.silk tulle
Greek Bonfire
Well-known member
It's gorgeous!!!
I'm picturing some poor student edging a silk mesh veil in Wrights blanket binding and making a tragic mess of that beautiful fabric. If you were going to add ribbon, would you use 100% silk to keep the weight light, or integrate the design throughout the veil so the ends wouldn't be disproportionally weighted?
I like the look of heavily embellished veils, and since I'm more toward the older Egyptian flap-the-veil-around-a bit-then-drop-it usage style, it isn't a problem to have irregular aerodynamics, but I remember some of those older sequined veils behaving weirdly from the inconsistent weighting. My first teacher had one veil with a sequined sunburst pattern starting center on a side edge. It was beautiful. If you entered with it on your head, you looked like a religious icon, but when you went to dance with it, holding the veil on one long side behaved differently than holding it on the other long side.
I never gave it much thought before, but back in the pre-silk days, you might have seen a poly chiffon veil with sequin trim only on the edges, but when the Lurex veils were in style, the design was never just at the edges. Maybe that was a manufacturing effect--Lurex made a better warp than weft?
I like the look of heavily embellished veils, and since I'm more toward the older Egyptian flap-the-veil-around-a bit-then-drop-it usage style, it isn't a problem to have irregular aerodynamics, but I remember some of those older sequined veils behaving weirdly from the inconsistent weighting. My first teacher had one veil with a sequined sunburst pattern starting center on a side edge. It was beautiful. If you entered with it on your head, you looked like a religious icon, but when you went to dance with it, holding the veil on one long side behaved differently than holding it on the other long side.
I never gave it much thought before, but back in the pre-silk days, you might have seen a poly chiffon veil with sequin trim only on the edges, but when the Lurex veils were in style, the design was never just at the edges. Maybe that was a manufacturing effect--Lurex made a better warp than weft?
Shanazel
Moderator
My favorite veils were weighted along one long edge with lightweight trim or large paillettes. Nothing heavy enough to black my eye if I got clumsy, but enough to give them a nice swing. A student had one weighted along both short edges with beaded fringe. She accidentally whacked someone with it during a group veil dance, thereby giving new meaning to the troupe's name: The Veiled Threats. Fortunately, it happened in practice and not performance.
Oops, forgot to add answer to question of where to use the ribbon. The illustration in Threads was a dress made in the twenties with a wide border at the hem alternating strip of satin, strip of mesh, strip of satin for maybe 3 or four repetitions. Don't have the magazine with me so can't check right now.
Shanazel
Moderator
Hmm. The reply I left yesterday must've gotten swept away in the changeover.
No, my Veiled Threats have no relation to any Threats in the SF bay area. We just liked the name.
Correction to the information on the silk mesh. Silk taffeta, and not satin, was used to finish the hem edges of the original 1929 dress. The skirt had six layers of silk tulle and the taffeta bands added weight "to control the tulle's tendency to flutter." The dress was originally sold in San Francisco, but there was no mention of any Threats to it.
No, my Veiled Threats have no relation to any Threats in the SF bay area. We just liked the name.
Correction to the information on the silk mesh. Silk taffeta, and not satin, was used to finish the hem edges of the original 1929 dress. The skirt had six layers of silk tulle and the taffeta bands added weight "to control the tulle's tendency to flutter." The dress was originally sold in San Francisco, but there was no mention of any Threats to it.