Adventures in the fabric lab
Bespoke prototype Fold+Rºll … find out more about its features below….
I’m going to admit it here, but I’m not the world’s best seamstress. However, I love making things and so if I need to do something, I’ll find a way. At the moment the thing I want to do is make adventure Fold+Rºlls. I love the idea of a multi-purpose do it all cloth thing that you can use on your travels for camping, bike packing and other outdoor adventures. A kind of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy towel. But (even) more practical because you can also store things in it. So I’ve been researching fabrics that are various combinations of waterproof, absorbent, stretchy and pliable, ordering them in and figuring out their benefits and applications.
It’s not just the fabric though. There are two parts to making a Fold+Rºll - the fabric has to be printed so that the instructions are all clear before they can be cut out and sewn up.
Printing set up
The dining table approach to product development…
To be honest, printing is something I’m a bit more comfortable with tackling than sewing. So I recently ordered a print screen for the outer artwork. The only snag was that the screen, which is a very smart aluminium frame with a taut mesh preloaded with the artwork, is bigger than any table in my house. So I had to wait until my husband was away for a few days to have room to convert our dining table into a temporary print workshop. To get the surface required, I ended up clamping a very large piece of hardboard covered with a beachtowel to the table to give me the width and surface you need for this size screen printing. Once this was done I measured and marked the corners with tape to help me line everything up. This kind of set up is the thing that takes time. Aligning everything correctly, having stands to keep the screen in place whilst you lie the fabric out flat, racks ready for wet prints to have somewhere to dry without them curling or splodging. It’s best to split tasks up and take time the time to do each one individually and accept that the dining table is not going to be in use for dining for a while.
Fabrics
Of the fabrics I sourced to try out, I found this recycled waterproof polyester (the kind that gets used to make washable nappies for babies), quite easy to print and nice to try in black.
I also found an organic cotton with a waterproof layer (which printed nicely but is white so less practical for the grubby amongst us) and a fine orange waxed cotton that is showerproof.
Once I’d assembled a pile of printed outers (and pressed the kitchen table back into use) I was wondering what to start on next. So it was great that a friend asked whether I could make a Fold+Rºll for her keen bike packer husband.
The mission was to incorporate some handy elements for a cyclist on the roll...
Material choices
I've been experimenting with screen printing fabric for exactly this moment! I used the black recycled polyester fabric sample I'd printed for its waterproof properties (it has a PU layer on the inside). That means it will both repel rain if it's strapped to bike luggage and also in case he needed keep wet clothes separate).
Then I combined it with a printed sample of waffle cotton towelling I had on hand - for drying off with.
Sewing
I did a lot of measuring, tacking and ironing (low heat) to get the sewing right. I do not have a specialised machine for sewing stretchy fabrics so I had to really coax the stitching out of my little Elna machine.
Extra features!
The neat bit was that my friend asked whether I could leave a little secret opening at the top so that it could also be stuffed as a pillow for sleeping. Self-adhesive velcro tabs in the interior mean that it can aso be stuffed half full as a pillow (we thought full might be a bit much).
This is the first ‘adventure’ Fold+Rºll. It has set off round France and I’m hoping for a postcard soon…
I’m still looking at what to do with the other prints I’ve made - and looking at other fabrics too. I think I’d like to try something just a bit thinner for the outer and maybe a different towel too. Then there’s the ‘extra pockets’ issue (I have made a pattern up) and strap holders so it could be attached straight to a bike or to the outside of a backpack.
All these things will be continued when I get chance….
Although sometimes my prototyping workshop gets a bit congested with Jess. I’m not sure whether this is a protest or an affirmation.
