Revamped Royalty - Part 2

The Bodice

The detail of the bodice has been inspired by a fabric construction technique called chenille. More commonly seen in towels and jumpers, you can create your very own, exciting, colourful version of chenille.

I love to play around with this technique, experimenting with layers of various fabrics, colours and textures.

A simple way to make Chenille is by layering fabric (practice with three), stitching diagonal lines across the grain, and then cut in-between the lines.

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Once the fabric has been cut you can use a small, wire brush (or rub the fabric on carpet or another rough surface), and rough the cut edges a bit to create a fluffy, frayed effect. This is chenille. So easy!

It was this fraying that I found myself really attracted to as it reminded me of something you'd see in punk fashion (and I LOVE punk). I've used the following methods to develop it more: 

- hacking into the cuts unevenly.
- top stitching diagonally across the cuts.
- layering strips of fabric (rather than full pieces) and hacking into those.
- cutting on the straight grain.

Have you experimented with creating your own chenille fabrics? I'd love to see your designs. As always, you can upload them onto our Facebook page and inspire the Revamped Fashion community!