Inspiration Avenue: homage to needlecraft

I'm a day early with my Inspiration Avenue challenge entry this week because tomorrow, my usual day I post my challenge entry, is Veteran's Day. This week, for our Inspiration Avenue challenge, Hettienne asked us to pay homage to needlecraft. Originally, I was going to turn one of my empty thread spools into a message keepsake, but I simply didn't have time to plan out and make something I've never made before, especially since I was gone all day yesterday and will be gone most of today (Thursday).

I had intended to make a new "Mess in a Bag" as I call my dresses, but these take at least eight days, which means I didn't have time to make one in time to enter it in the challenge. However, I had just finished one and sent it to a friend, so I hope she doesn't see it on my blog (grin).

Although I took no photos of the piece I made for my friend, here is how I made it, based on one I made about a month ago.


You begin with Liquid Nails or caulk (which I used), a zip locking bag, and a bit of water.

Place your caulk and a bit of water in a bag. The amount of water you use will be something you will have to play with. I've made three of these and haven't gotten it right yet! I keep ending up with too much water in the mix.

Add your doll or infant dress and knead the bag, getting complete coverage of the caulk and water. Allow to sit unattended for at least a day until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Pour off the excess liquid, knead a bit more, then remove as much air from the bag as possible, and allow the dress to sit in the bag for at least five days.


When the dress has set for a week, remove it from the bag and position it on your substrate. You should not need any glue unless you don't immediately affix it to your substrate. Position the piece on the substrate as you want it to be when dry. If you want a subtle look, paint the dress while it is still wet.


Allow the dress to dry for at least two days in the position you want it to dry in. That means if you want to hang the piece, you will need to stand it up to dry. When completely dry, paint the dress using acrylics, if you have not already added paint.


This is the piece I just finished. I'm not sure you can tell, but this dress is quite dimensional because I shaped the bodice. In addition to the above directions, I added pink paint to the caulk and the water when I originally placed the doll dress in the bag and kneaded. This is a tip-in that is going to a friend in a color swap. Her colors are orange and pink and the size of the tip-in is 8 inches by 11 inches or about A4.

I hope this is not too far fetched to be considered for this challenge. It was a difficult one to comprehend what was really expected, so I went by the examples Hettienne gave us.