Matrix Cloth On A Hot Summer Day

Sometime in my recent past I purchased Fabricate, by Susan Wasinger, and since then it's been on my mind to try some of the projects listed. I love the project on the cover - a pretty handbag embellished with colorful wool flowers that were created from sweaters or other woolen fabrics. I definitely want to try that sometime.

But it's summer now, and the purse seems like a fall or winter or even springtime project. Right now I have hot summer sun streaming through my kitchen window, and although I love any sun at all, especially in the winter, the summer sun makes my kitchen really hot and uncomfortable to use. And I do want to use my kitchen!
So I chose a different project: "Swatch Matrix". You need lots of little swatches of fabric. Got it. Lots of thread. Got that, too. Dissolving fabric stabilizer. Had to get that.

Next, you clear space on your table (my work tables are always covered up with projects - current projects, projects to come, projects abandoned until further notice. I cleared off one table (piling projects onto a different table, of course!), set out pieces of Sulky Water Soluble Fabric Stabilizer, and started laying out triangles of fabric - I used cotton, cotton blends, & linen - pieces of decorator fabric samples, and quilting fabric given to me by friends & family or purchased at rummage sales.

Here you can see triangles of fabric, right side up, placed on pieces of Sulky.

And here are the fabric swatches all carefully placed, ready for a top layer of Sulky.

Here are the fabric pieces sandwiched between two pieces of Sulky. I sprayed water on top to make the water soluble stabilizer "melt" just enough to hold the fabric pieces securely. When the top of the matrix fabric was dry, I turned it over and spritzed the under side, making it "melt" to the fabric on that side as well. Once dry, it was ready for sewing.

Holding up the matrix cloth which is secured temporarily by Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer.

Starting to sew the piece together - I used a straight stitch & a long stitch length. At this point it feels like you're sewing through plastic wrap!

 

Examining my sewing early in the process.

Closeup of matrix cloth farther along in the sewing process

Once you have the pieces joined by machine sewing, soak this new cloth in warm water to remove the stabilizer. I rinsed this piece a couple times to get out most of the stabilizer. I didn't try to remove all of the Sulky - keeping a little of the stabilizer in the fabric helps keep it stiff later.

I lay it flat to dry most of the way, then ironed it (cotton setting) to dry it all of the way. I sewed a piece of hem facing along one side on the back of the matrix cloth, threaded a curtain rod through it, and hung it up in my sunny, hot kitchen window.

Matrix cloth installed, morning view.

This is my kitchen window, with the pretty matrix cloth letting filtered morning light through.

Matrix cloth in kitchen window, hot afternoon sun.

And here is the matrix cloth hard at work, keeping the hot summer sun from overwhelming my kitchen. I love how it lets some of the light in, keeps the kitchen feeling bright and cheerful, showers my counter tops and walls with matrix shadows.
It makes me very happy.