Simply Pretty Stuff by Lynne Suprock: How To Alter An April Cornell Piece Using Extra Fabric And A Gel Press: Art Project Tutorial 15

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

How To Alter An April Cornell Piece Using Extra Fabric And A Gel Press: Art Project Tutorial 15

Posted by Simply Pretty Stuff

How To Alter An April Cornell Piece Using Extra Fabric And The Gel Press: Art Project Tutorial 15

By Lynne Suprock

Oh my, oh my, OH MY! Seriously, there's been a sewing frenzy here once again! Oh heavens…. the paints, the Gel Press, the scissors, and this poor little, sad little, old little shift, all meeting up on my dining room table…..and then strewn there for days! Lol

So the back story goes…. in 1986, I actually discovered the April Cornell line of dresses and honest to gosh, swooned. I did not have the money to spend on the outfits that I coveted, but on outlet sale day in Baltimore….. I got an ensemble!! This wine colored silky frock came with a navy tulle over coat that had matching embroidery. Ou la la. Well, ou la la in 1986 anyway!

So now it is 2018, but I throw away no outfits once coveted. The tulle coat still makes an appearance, although a bit tattered. However, this shift has definitely seen better days…..did I just say DEFINITELY seen better days? Be that as it may, I wanted to experiment, and sew I did. J

Let’s walk through the transformation. This time I am using Gel Press with my fav stencil for March, "Scribble Scratch", from Carolyn Dube and Stencil Girl Stencils. I think the best thing to do with this dress is to add a few good pleats. For those inserts, I will pop slices of color onto the fabric.

Step one: This will always be my Step One... so I will type it and reaffirm. Take a deep breath and say....."well, I don't like it anyway, so nothing I do to this piece is going to make it worse"...... lol. Now proceed to step two!

Step two: Find that extra fabric to paint, cut, and insert later into pleats. Lay out your stencil and measure so you will have enough to cut for the six pleats. Set that fabric aside for now and move on to let's say..... make an over slip of another colored fabric that will match the eventual pleats. I thought why not?!

I have a fav Tina Givens pattern that would work perfect for an over slip, and I liked a see through gray sheer nylon fabric, so decided to use that with the pattern. As well, I thought I would add a wine colored trim! Oh yeah. That was the yum!

Step three: Follow the pattern instructions. I left the facing off the sleeves and neckline, and just turned, pinned and sewed the fabric under.

The trim was pinned and sewn into place. The whole slip was so lightweight and had such movement.

Step four: Time to paint, paint, paint! So, here we go. Keeping it simple, I used equal amounts of GAC-900 and Golden acrylic, mixing in a teflon pan for ease.

Step five: I could hardly wait to get my awesome Stencil Girl Stencil onto the Gel Press. Then I rolled the paint generously over the total stencil, and removed it.

Step six: Each of the square pieces of fabric that were cut to the length and width of the widest part of the pleat to be inserted. Then, each piece was gently smoothed over the Gel Press and allowed to dry. In between gel pressing the fabric pieces, I wiped off the press with a baby wipe and repeated the process of rolling paint over the stencil times six.

Step seven: I collected all six panels, cut them, and pinned them behind the vertical slits cut into the shift.

Step eight: I made the final press at this point and of course.... put on one of my necklace designs and..... swirled around the yard for a sorta fashion show! :-) Again, great accolades to the photographer!