Old Crochet Lives Again

I recently began a commission and I decided to use an old crocheted doily in this piece for added texture and visual interest.  I dyed the doily a dark green and discovered that, gasp!, the motifs were joined with nylon or polyester thread.  I find it comforting that the artisan who created this piece broke a rule or two when finishing her work. (One is always supposed to use the same fiber to connect pieces of crochet or knitting.  There is lively debate among some sewists whether it is appropriate to use silk thread with cotton fabrics because silk is stronger and may eventually cut through the cloth.)

I wasn't concerned about the white thread because I eventually needed to deconstruct the crochet to finish the piece.  Step one was basting the crochet to the green wool backing.  Pins never work for me, so hand basting was done with a long milliners needle and bright yellow thread - shown at left. Step two created the body parts: right sides together (wool plus crochet treated as one fabric), sew, turn, stuff.  The fabric was used to make arms, upper legs and the body.

Step three took a bit of time.  Each bit of stitching holding the crochet motifs had to be carefully snipped, then the doily restretched and repinned.  Every single picot stitch was firmly tacked to the wool backing by hand and an olive green glass bead sewn into the center.  The glass beads are not immediately obvious, but they give another layer of texture and touch of delicacy to the work.  In this case, they body will be left as the main costume (like a body suit) and the layers of color give a rich finish.

Stay tuned for more on this piece...