This was a fun project to work on this week . . . one of my Etsy customers requested a purse that included a peace symbol and the colour purple. I pondered it for a while and searched for fabric printed with peace symbols and didn't come up with any that appealed to me . . . so I decided to create my own fabric!
This is a piece of purple batik that I then discharged with dishwasher gel to obtain a beautiful greyish-blue shade. You can never be sure just what colour a particular fabric will discharge to, so this was a delightful surprise. If you are unfamiliar with the discharge process, it is employing bleach to remove dye from fabric, which reveals the underlying colour ... if you stop the process at just the right time:) Dishwasher gel contains bleach (ask me how I discovered that one!) and the consistency makes it great for rolling onto a stamp for this purpose. The stamp I made for this commission was cut from a piece of craft foam and then glued to the lid of an old medicine bottle, which made a great stamp holder.
After the purse was constructed, I did some free motion stitching around some of the symbols and then created a drift of circles in a band on the purse . . . and then painted that band roughly with irridescent aquamarine textile paint and a brighter turquoise paint. The painted band has been outlined with a row of aquamarine stitches and a row of amethyst stitches. There is a cluster of beads on the lower edge of the flap to help weigh it closed . . . and a matching card case and wristlet key fob complete the set.
