Devil Cloth

This is my sewing room window in the afternoon. I wish I could say that's just a glare, but it's not--just generic grime (outside and in, probably).

For years I'd been hanging onto a picture of a log cabin wallhanging made with organza (I believe) which gave an illusion of stained glass when the light shone through (can I find that picture today? Not even if my life depended on it!) It had been a fleeting idea to duplicate it one day.

Then last week I noticed this going on behind my back and in front of my back:

The flimsies on my rack were suffering from sun damage! It was time to do something about blocking that afternoon light (and unwanted heat).

A friend (one of those non-sewing, collectors-of-fabrics-for-friends, generous hearts) had given me a cheap kitchen/bathroom curtain "rescued" with a bunch of other odd pieces of fabric; when I saw it, I immediately thought of that organza quilt. It had been set aside for just that kind of project, and I knew exactly where to find it.

Then, stumped at how much time/effort (and good fabric) I really wanted to put into this project, I started poking around in the second POUT drawer and found yet more blocks from The Completely Forgettable Block Exchange.

At which point I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me? These aren't gone yet?!?"

Three more blocks would bring this to a good size and use up the last of these blocks (I fervently hope), so I dug into my triangle box and whipped them together.

A quick sketch and math showed how much of the "organza" would be needed as sashing to build these out to the 58" x 34" I needed.

The blue pencil is a puzzlement--it's been hanging around in my tool tin for ages, but I have no idea where I got it or what it's for. Perhaps the next time I buy and wash fabric, I'll mark a corner with this and see if it's designed to wash out.

Posts would help fill in spaces and add stability to the whole thing, and help use up some of the problematic 2-1/2" squares.

Interesting secondary curve shows up when I don't look directly at this.

With this plan in mind, I set to cutting up the "organza". Threads from the first rotary cut promptly buried themselves deep into the cutting mat, probably never to be extracted. It was obvious that I was going to have to do this old-school: with a ruler, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.

It was also obvious that this stuff was woven by the devil, and would fray into nothingness without the least bit of provocation.

So it was with the gingerly-est of touch that I handled this shape-shifting piece of hell, and managed to get almost all the sashings I needed out of it. It simply ran out before I was able to complete the bottom row. (As it turned out, that wasn't a bad thing.)

It's absolutely no fun sewing up a project in which you're afraid to even touch the parts! Despite the utmost care, by the time I got to some seams, the devil cloth had frayed away to mere eyelashes.

In my search through the sewing room for some Dritz "Fray Check", I found a bottle of liquid fabric adhesive (Simplicity "Insta-Pin") and dabbed drops of that along this frayed edge, effectively gluing the devil cloth to the seam binding (with which I finished the outer edges of this project). This was to be a common "fix" as I went along.

Bonnie Hunter's Shoo Fly Leader and Ender Challenge making headway too!

I have an assortment of seam bindings, single- and double-fold, for which I rarely have need these days. I used up a partial pack of blue single-fold by enclosing the left and right borders of this project. Some tan double-fold served as a quick cover and finish of the bottom edge.

The lack of devil cloth for the bottom sashing turned into a benefit: by flipping the entire thing, I could add a hanging sleeve to the now-top edge (which was mostly cotton), and not worry that the weight of the curtain would cause it to deconstruct before my eyes.

So after a week of unhappy sewing, I was finally able to hang this in my window this afternoon:

Room lighting with flash photography

Ambient lighting from outside only.

If I were to do anything like this again, I would buy ribbon and use that instead of strips of the 'organza'. The unsealed/unsecured edges were a massive headache, and just barely...barely, I say!...worth the effort. It does do a great job of cutting the direct sunlight, however. And at quick glance, ignoring its history, it sure is purty.