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| Top to bottom: crinoline, canvas, heavy fabric |
Beneath the beautiful colors, patterns, and surface are the
supporting cast of fabric collage: the backings and the fusing materials. I almost always use one
of three types of backings for my collage work - canvas, crinoline, or heavy
fabric. My experience led me to the conclusions in this table.
BACKING TYPE
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
canvas
|
several weights, very stable, easy to
find, relatively inexpensive
|
harder to sew with hand stitching
|
crinoline
|
translucent, light weight, easy to sew
through with hand stitching, relatively inexpensive
|
harder to find, less stable
|
heavy fabric
|
easy to find, many color options, often
free, ease for hand stitching varies
|
stability varies
|
Each backing type has it benefits and draw backs. If I plan to do lots of embroidery on a piece, I fuse it to crinoline. If I’m just going to frame the piece without edge stitching, it’s finished. But if I want to finish the edges with satin stitch, I might fuse it to canvas after I’ve finished the hand work for more stability. I tried fusible nonwoven stabilizer a few times and didn’t like the feel of the collage. It also seemed harder to do my hand embroidery on these pieces.
 |
| Crinoline over patterned fabric showing translucency |
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| Back of piece with canvas backing |
I have experimented with several types of fusible products. For larger pieces of fabric that don’t require hand stitching, I have used spray fabric adhesive with success. Normally, I use a paper-backed fusible, such as Wonder Under, because of the ease of not requiring another nonstick ironing sheet. I often apply the stabilizer to a larger piece of fabric than I might use immediately, so I have some prepared scraps on hand. One problem with this type of fusible is that on light weight fabric, the fusible can darken the right side and even show a slight pattern if it’s present on the fusible surface. Misty Fuse is best in such cases, and in general is a great all round good choice.
Next: my experiments with various fabric and paper choices in collage.
Posted by Cris Winters
