Trying New Things : Soutache

Happy new year everyone!

I've sadly neglected this blog for far too long. I had been busy with work and really wasn't able to do much crafting until the last few days.

I have been fascinated with soutache. It looks so lovely. Somehow it always looks intricate and fancy and oh so pretty. So after doing some research on what soutache braid to get, I bought some from beading.pl. They are an online store in Poland but you can email any questions and they'll reply in English. They were so helpful too! Me being a complete newbie in soutache, haven't even seen the braid in real life before, and yet I was soon able to get my soutache stash soon.

And here is my initial attempt:

I realized that my tension was too loose and this made the piece kind of soft. I also used Fireline initially and realized that this is probably one of the few instances that Fireline isn't quite the best option. I think it's because Fireline tends to be stiff when it gets "folded" and sticks out in the wrong places along the shaping stitches. Just my two cents though. I don't consider myself a soutache expert, of course.

Then I tried Nymo and this drapes quite nicely. I never liked Nymo for my usual beadweaving but I have to say it seems to be perfect for soutache.

My succeeding attempts:

Still not even. It sure takes a lot of getting used to especially when joining to make the "lollipop," or even just shaping the braid to create a gentle curve.

At any rate, I was able to work on better tension and this doodle seems to be better coordinated:

Then I got all excited and did embellishment already without adding any backing yet.

More soutache adventures to come!

By the way the soutache braid I got from beading.pl is composed of viscose and is the Pega brand. It's nice and does not fray too much. Although I haven't tried any other kinds of braid yet (rayon or polyester), I think this viscose kind is just great.