Roasting hot, windy days have come to an abrupt end here in Perth. It's now calm and drizzly, perfect weather for melting fabrics without them blowing away or starting a bush fire.
Today I tried stitching onto felt and organza before distressing with heat. I knew cotton and rayon fibres wouldn't melt but surprisingly polyester thread was also OK because even though it does melt eventually it takes much longer than the felt and organza.
I layered up the fabrics and free-machined scribbles and circles onto them before blasting with the heat gun.
I rolled some organza piece around a wooden dowel and distressed that with the heat gun to make a bead.
I sandwiched some metal grid fence wire from the DIY store between layers of felt and organza. I experimented with various ways of attaching the layers including hand and machine stitching and spray glues. Machine stitching works well but you need to go slow and use the hand wheel to navigate over the joins in the wire grid without breaking the needle. Once this is heat distressed it can be moulded into a 3D shape.
I found some plastic grid in my stash. This can be melted and manipulated with the heat gun. If wrapped around a marble and heated it will retain the ball shape. I combined the mesh with organza, felt and stitch. The plastic mesh can be sewn right over on the machine if you back it with a little water-soluble stabiliser, just wash it out before applying heat.
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