Snapdragon Designs - Costumes by Commission
Fabric Foiling Tutorial
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Fabric Foiling for Bellatrix Lestrange You will need, in no particular order: Fabric foil and adhesive (available in kit form and separately from www.bellanonnaquilt.com) Embroidery hoop Squeeze bottle with steel tip (available at many craft stores, used for precision application of glues, paints and resists. Or you can MacGuyver one out of an old metal mechanical pencil tip and a small squeezy bottle) Iron (I use the Clover mini-iron just for control purposes) Fabric (I used polyester double georgette. Your fabric must be able to be ironed for this to work. If you’re using a sheer or lightweight fabric like I did, remember to back it with something absorbent but fairly smooth. I used flannel.) Metallic silver Sharpie, fine-tip Eyedropper
What to do: Start with a scrap of your fabric. Preferably a large one, as you may need several tries to get the consistency of your adhesive right and the feel of the squeeze bottle. Transfer some foiling adhesive from its canister to the squeezy bottle and add water drop by drop til it’s the consistency of paint. Shake/stir well and put the tip on. Draw your pattern with the silver Sharpie. High-rez
screenshots will show you what to do, but you can pretty much freehand it.
If you’re using a sheer, the Sharpie WILL go through to your work surface.
If you’re worried, put a sheet of wax paper under the fabric. Remove the wax paper and replace it with your absorbent fabric. This is critical. Otherwise the excess adhesive has nowhere to go and you will not get clean lines. Carefully hoop a section of your fabric and a piece of the absorbent fabric. Use the squeezy bottle to very carefully go over your Sharpie design with the foiling adhesive. It should sit on top of the fabric in very thin lines. If you’re getting lines that are too thick, add a bit more water. If your lines are soaking right into the fabric and mushrooming, you put too much water in. Add more adhesive or leave your squeezy bottle uncapped for a couple hours til it starts to thicken.
Let the adhesive dry COMPLETELY. This can take an hour or more.
Lay the foil SHINY SIDE UP on top of the fabric in your hoop. Iron carefully with the edge of your iron if you’re using a full-sized iron. Use smooth motions and even pressure. You’ll be able to feel it start to stick. Press the entire contents of the hoop.
Wait for the foil to cool completely to the touch and carefully peel it away.
You should now have that patchy “I got sent to Azkaban and all I got was this lousy dress” look. You may feel free to add more adhesive and re-iron any section that you feel isn’t shiny enough, you can build up as many layers of foil as you like. Start practicing that witchy cackle! |
