Cactus flower

I'm taking a class in fabric manipulation- the ways you can push textiles beyond their natural state- and it's been really interesting to see what you can do with basic cotton. So far we've tackled ruching and flower making, two applications where silk really comes through. I think that's probably what most people imagine when they consider ruching or delicate flowers.

I'm learning the techniques, though, and it seems sad to throw good silk after bad when the experimenting could just as likely produce something lovely as something tragic. So I decided to stick to cotton for the experiment phase and have been really surprised.

Ruching is the technique of folding or pulling fabric on the bias to create hills and valleys, then stitching them invisibly in place. I'm using a pink cotton fabric that someone offloaded to me awhile back. It has a very preppy vibe but it fits right in with our current Barbie world.

First, I created a three layer bodice (fashion fabric, muslin cotton bodice with vertical coming and a horizontal "bone" across the bust points.... for that "Barbie" look).

Then I pinned it to the dressform and started draping, pinning, and pulling the fabric into a wave from the top of the bodice, across the waist and wrapped around to the back. On the bias, the fabric was wide enough to create a skirt out the same pice of fabric. This resulted in a little dress with only one seam down center back. I closed it with an invisible zipper. It has a looser fit that is pretty forgiving and has that "bias" feeling of stretching with you. I haven't had it modeled yet... but I took it an a Light Rail outing and snapped a picture. Scroll through to see the progression.

The second technique that we've worked on is flower making. I think if you use silk, it does a lot of the artistic heavy lifting as the fibers reflect light and have color variation that is really well-suited to imitating flowers. Sticking to cotton, I knew I needed to make up for its light absorbing properties with shading and developing the shape of the flower.

I decided to create some of our native Texas flowers as my focus is on our fibershed and our local flora is pretty spectacular. I compiled inspiration from the Texas Highways, called "a carpet of color" by Lady Bird Johnson in 1965 and one of the reasons for The Highway Beautification Act passed during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency.

There are so many legends about the flowers lining our roads but the one that I found the most interesting was the yellow prickly pear cactus. There's some speculation about whether it is the actual "yellow rose of Texas" as there isn't a native yellow rose.

Want to go deep? Check out A Smithsonian Folkways banjo and fiddle recording of Yellow Rose of Texas, a song probably better enjoyed without the problematic lyrics. Or read about Emily Morgan, the woman who helped Texas defeat Santa Ana and may- or may not- have been the original Yellow Rose of Texas. Good, bad, and ugly, Texas always has layers.

But the reason I was particularly interested in the cactus yellow rose is because they adorn prickly pear cacti in our state. While the fruit of the prickly pear seems like it would be the most useful dye, it's actually tiny insects that make their home on the cactus tunas that make a vibrant carmine red. You can read all about how their pre-Colombian use led to widespread colonial demand... including the British "Red Coats."

So the yellow prickly pear cactus flower seemed interesting to make.

Stiffening the fabric made it possible to cut out petals that would hold a shape. I used Mod Podge Stiffy diluted to 50%. Because I didn't want it to soak up too much, I remoistened my fabrics, soaked them overnight, then set them to dry. True to the name, they were stiff but not solid in the end.

I made an oak tag pattern for large and small petals and cut them out of two colors of fabric, a brighter yellow for the outer leaves and a more golden color for the interior. I singed the tip of the outermost leaves- carefully!- and then used a Clover Mini Iron 2 to shape each petal. I found the round ball gave me the bowl shape and fluttery edges, while the long wire gave a central vein and curled the edges of the largest petals. I applied some red and orange fabric paint for dimension and handsewed the whole shebang.