Sari Silk Patchwork Belt

The sari silk scraps that are available on Gwen Lafluer's website are irresistible, with their delicious, vibrant colors and glittering embroidery and gemstones. Naturally I ordered them in practically every color. They made gorgeous additions to several of my art pieces. I had quite a selection of scraps left over and thought there would be something magical about combining them with some Turkmen jewelry parts. I tried to visualize just the right project--and while I loved both the vibrant colors of the silks and the unique variety of Turkmen component--I couldn't come up with just the right project. I visualized a blouse, a vest, a skirt and a totebag, but I didn't feel inspired to pull out my sewing supplies and start creating.

My stash of silk scraps, Turkmen jewelry parts and Darn Good Yarn.

One day I was remembering some textile items that were gifted to me and my mother back in the early 1970s. My cousin had been sent to India for a year as a representative from the bank she worked for. Not only did her adventure spark my interest in the designs and fabrics of India, she also became one of my first career-woman role models.

My uncle went to visit her, and brought back exotic gifts for us: perfume and a green silk scarf for my mother, and a yard of yellow linen embroidered fabric (that I made into a fabulous mini-dress) and a hot pink linen embroidered sash for me. The gifts made a huge impression on me--a young "country mouse" who had hardly traveled out of upstate New York.

Fondly remembering the sash from India, I decided to make a belt. First, I put out all the silks to make my color selection.

These were some of the final sari silk selections used for the belt.

Next, I cut them into 2" squares. I had decided that 2" was the perfect width so I would be able to wear the finished belt with my favorite jeans.

I measured the space of the belt loop on my favorite jeans so that the belt would fit through them  just right.

I found some fusible felt interfacing and cut it into long strips, 2" wide.

One side of the fusible interfacing had glue dots that would melt and stick to the silk squares.

A cutting mat, rotary cutter, scissors and a metal ruler were used for precise cutting.

Next, I selected the colors I wanted, and using a rotary cutter with a metal ruler on my cutting mat, carefully cut them into 2" squares.

 

I arranged the silk pieces in a color gradation and when I had an arrangement I liked, and carefully fused the silk and interfacing together with a hot, dry iron. I used a piece of parchment paper over the silk to prevent scorching, and also to keep the glue of the interfacing from gunking up my iron.

The silk squares were carefully arranged and ironed on to the long,  2" wide strip of interfacing.

A view on my ironing board of one side of the fused squares.

The next step was doing the same thing on the reverse side. Since the fusible interfacing was only sticky on one side (the other side was felt) I used some wonder under lightweight fusible webbing and ironed the squares in place on the flip side. So far, so good!

The fused side was flipped over, and thin fusible webbing used to adhere the rest of the silk pieces.

Unfinished belt, with both sides fused.

I needed to cover up the join marks between the squares, so I decided to connect the pieces with contrasting stitching. I set up my sewing machine with black thread and got to work. My machine has a lot of decorative stitches, so I varied the design. I had never tested some of the stitches so I had fun experimenting.

 

The stitch choices were all really pretty, but I settled on a few favorites that seemed to go with the silk and Indian theme, and alternated them.

Detail of stitching.

Unfinished belt, fused and stitched.

In a few places, the silk had slipped and the white interfacing showed. I solved the problem by cutting small strips of contrasting colors and stitching on either side. It was a happy accident--the thin patched sections turned out to be some of my favorite parts of the final belt.

Detail shot of small patched and embroidered strips of silk.

The belt was going to need a closure of some kind. I debated about whether to use a buckle or a loop, and opted for the loop since it would allow the belt to be worn both tight around the waist or lower on the hips. I didn't have a D-ring handy, so I pinned some circular binder rings (leftover from my Turmeric Flip Journal project) in place and tested it out.

I tried the unfinished belt on to see how it was looking. So far, so good.

Testing the unfinished belt to see how it fit.

I noticed that the edges were a bit uneven and the silk frayed easily, and debated what to do:

• I could leave it raggedy and call the design "rustic"
• I could trim it off, but then the stitching might come undone
• I could bind it with fabric, but I didn't have enough commercial double-fold binding on hand that would cover both sides and the ends
• I could make my own binding out of fabric...an ambitious undertaking...and I was afraid it would overpower the patchwork design
• I could use some kind of sealant to keep the frayed edges from unraveling

My decision was to try some black gesso along the edges. The black edge would match the black stitching, and the rubberiness of the gesso (when dry) would prevent fraying yet still be flexible.

First, I used a machine blanket stitch along all the edges. Next, I applied the gesso. To keep the line straight and neat, I used a thin, heavy brass bar to block off the center parts. I carefully painted the gesso on with a small round sponge brush, lifted away the bar, cleaned the bar, and continued the process until all edges on both sides were painted black.

The heavy brass bar was positioned so that only a small part of the edge could be painted.

After the bar was carefully removed, the neatly painted black edge was visible.

Black gesso was carefully and slowly applied to the edges on both sides.

Was I done? Almost. It looked pretty good, but the collection of Turkmen jewelry parts was still calling to me.

I "auditioned" the various pieces to see if I wanted to have one on every square, alternate squares, and whether I wanted all round, or additional heart and rectangular shapes.

This "audition" had assorted Turkmen pieces on each silk square.

This "audition" had a round Turkmen piece on every other square.

 After some rummaging around in my sewing supplies, I did manage to find a set of D-rings, and switched the circular rings for the Ds. Before hand sewing the Turkmen accents, I hand stitched the D-rings in place.

I also tried on the belt again so that I would know where to sew the Turkmen pieces. I needed to be sure that, on the reverse side, some of the Turkmen parts would show when the belt was closed and the inside of the belt came through the end of the D-ring. I took care to use very small pieces that might fall near the closure.

The finished belt is colorful, fun, unique, and eye-catching! It can look elegant and festive on a "little black dress" or casual and Boho-chic with a pair of jeans or peasant skirt. I am sure I will get a lot of wear out of it. Although my new belt is really is not at all like the belt my uncle brought back from India in the 1970s (it was wider, hot pink, and had little mirrors embroidered on), it is every bit as pretty and whimsical, and evokes happy memories of my teenage years.

The Humble Shoe Box: Upcycled and Transformed

When I saw some gorgeous yellow embroidered floral trim on the Gwen Lafluer Studios website, my inner flower-child cried out for it. Yellow is my happy color, my "go-to" color, and I visualized wearing it on the bottom of my faded jeans, stitching it to a peasant shirt, or combining it with my own fabrics for a decorative pillow cover. All of those ideas would have been beautiful...but impractical. I didn't want to get the trim dirty or ruin the shimmer with wear and tear or repeated washing. It was also a little scratchy, so it wasn't quite right for my adult post flower-child wardrobe or to rest my head on.

So, I thought a little harder, and realized it would be just right for up-cycling a shoe box. I have been painting, collaging, stamping, stenciling and decorating the humble shoe box for years. As luck would have it, an empty box on my design table was just the right size for the gorgeous yellow trim. Sadly, I hadn't ordered enough to cover the whole box, so I rummaged around my stash and auditioned a few fabrics, ribbons and papers until I found a combination that I liked. I also discovered that Gwen's gorgeous patchwork sari silk trim went nicely with the yellow trim. I mixed both trims with an embroidered sheer sari silk remnant that I had been hoarding for years.

I started by draping the fabric and trims over the shoe box and lid, taping it lightly to see how it looked. I snapped photos as I went along so I would remember what worked and what didn't.

"Auditioning" fabrics, which are lightly wrapped on the shoe box.

Once I decided on the arrangement, I took all the pieces off the box and started painting. The box was red and shiny, and I could see the color peeking through the sheer white fabric, so I knew the lid needed white gesso. It took a couple coats to tone down the red.

Covering the shiny red box with white gesso.

 After the white gesso was dry, I used Golden heavy matte gel to adhere the white sari silk to the box top. I carefully wrapped it around the edges and glued it in place. While that dried, I set to work on the bottom of the box.

After the gesso dried, heavy gel medium was used to wrap sari silk scraps around the lid.

 Where the lid and top of the box met, I painted yellow. I knew that I couldn't use anything thick above the wide (2.75") yellow trim or it would be hard to close the box.  Next, I applied heavy gel to the bottom 3/4 of the box and added the yellow trim to the front and back. I used heavy gel at the edges of the trim to prevent fraying.

The top was painted yellow to compliment the trim, but allow the box to close easily.

While auditioning the fabrics and papers, I had thought I would use a thick fabric collage of "scrappy" fabric on the sides, but changed my mind and used some commercial scrapbooking paper instead.

An India-inspired commercial scrapbooking paper was used on the box sides.

 The sheer white silk fabric on the top wasn't quite wide enough to cover the whole left and right sides of the box top, so I auditioned a bunch of ribbons and fabrics, finally deciding to layer some wide orange grosgrain ribbon with an India-inspired orange and pink plaid ribbon.

Two types of ribbon decorate the box side lid, complimenting the paper below.

While the bottom dried, I attached the sari patchwork trim across the lid vertically, which nicely covered the join mark where the two pieces of white silk met. I wanted to keep the softness and loft of the sari patchwork, so rather than gluing it in place and risking it getting flat, hard or discolored, I attached it by poking a hole (with an awl) through the fabric and lid edge, then pushing a large brass brad through and flattening it on the inside. The brads add to the decorative effect and are also very strong.

An awl was used to poke a hole through the cardboard and fabric.

The patchwork sari silk was attached to the lid with brass brads.

The two trims are united with a dangling Turkmen Jewelry component.

 An important part to my design was a dangling jewel, which came as part of my order of Going Global Turkmen Jewelry Parts. It was just the perfect adornment for the box, and although it is fairly small, works nicely to unite the fabrics and colors of the top, bottom and sides, adding just the right bit of magic and mystery to what used to be an ordinary shoe box. I hand-sewed it to the sari patchwork fabric using red thread.

Side view of the finished box.

Below is a photo of my newest storage box, sitting atop some of the others I have made over the years. With all my art supplies, jewelry components, paper scraps, fabric scraps, photos, and ephemera, I am sure I will fill up my newest storage box very soon!

Other boxes in my collection were covered with newsprint, stamps, stencils, craypa, fabric, and painted deli paper.

Like the trims I used? The great news is that you can get 10% off on any trims on Gwen's website during the month of November...just in time to create some up-cycled shoe boxes to use for holiday gift-giving! Please also check out what the other Artist Tribe members are making in November using the gorgeous trims that Gwen Lafleur carries on her website. You can see them on Gwen's blog, or click here to see all the Artist Tribe projects.