The Texas road map vest

I should really call this post The obsessional saga of the Texas road map vest. First, here is the result. 

 

And now I'm sure you're dying to know how and why it I made it.

To begin at the beginning (but skip on down if you'd simply like to know more of the how and not the why)...  Anyway, the beginning was my discovery via Meetup of The Dallas Area Fiber Artists.  I went to the October meeting which was attended by a large and diverse group of women (and a couple of men).  Liza Mackinnon gave a terrific presentation on her intricate paper clothing sculptures, several of which she brought to show. And they were what I had in mind when I started thinking about creating something Texas-themed for the November meeting and holiday party. 

Those free road maps you get at the welcome station to each state – how can you just throw them away? Pinterest has boards full of clever ideas on how to use maps. And I thought it was entirely possible that I could assemble a simple vest, wearable on one occasion, out of my Texas road maps. But as the idea evolved, it turned toward printing the map on fabric, and I was even able to find a pdf of the current Texas road map online, eliminating the need for scanning. 

The vest pattern I chose, an OOP Butterick 6714, has princess seams in front, and I added princess seams to the back, both to add width over the hips and to make each individual pattern piece no wider than 8½ inches, so I would be able to print it out on my printer. After making and adjusting a muslin of the vest, I scanned my pattern pieces and assembled them in one big file in Photoshop. I converted the map pdf to a jpg and overlayed it on the pattern pieces. Rather than trying to get the entire state on the vest (which would have left a lot of blank, non-Texas areas), I simply sized it so that I thought it looked visually interesting.

  

Then, because the side pieces attach to the fronts and backs with curved seams, there was a lot of fiddly bits in Photoshop, trying to get the best map alignment (which isn't perfect). Next, each pattern piece with its overlying map was put on a separate file. So much for the Photoshop part, a lot quicker in the telling than in the doing. 

Oh, then the printing of the fabric! You can find numerous websites that tell you how easy it is, and I do think my experience was complicated by the fact that I was printing pieces much longer than 11 inches. I used a very finely woven mercerized combed cotton broadcloth from Dharma Trading Company. I soaked the entire piece in Bubble Jet 2000 which bonds the inkjet printing inks to the fabric and then hung it to dry. Then it must be pressed with a dry iron, so as not to dilute the Bubble Jet impregnating it. Because I let the fabric dry thoroughly, it was impossible to get it totally wrinkle-free. My solution was to put a sprayer top on the Bubble Jet bottle and slightly dampen the fabric before pressing. The best solution would probably be the iron the fabric before it becomes totally dry.

  

Next I cut out my fabric pieces, either 8” wide for the side pieces or 8½ wide for the front and back, of varying lengths, from 15” for the two side back pieces to 26” for the front pieces. (My printer is an Epson Artisan 50 and it will print banner lengths up to 44”.) And, of course, I cut out freezer paper to the corresponding sizes. For best adhesion, I found this important tip on the Internet: press on a hard surface on maximum heat. (Mr. C found me a nice, smooth board to use.) Shiny side of freezer paper to fabric; press on the freezer paper side.

However, the freezer paper didn't prove sufficiently stiff, although I enlisted Mr. C to hold my long sheets upright in position as my printer loaded them. After having ruined a piece, I ended up using some Strathmore drawing paper as an additional backing to the freezer paper, attached with repostionable spray adhesive. Another important tip: make sure the edges of the fabric, especially the leading edge that the printer will grab, is securely adhered to the freezer paper and the additional backing.

 On my Epson printer, the printing setting was Best Photo, and the medium Photo Paper Glossy. I was amazed at the quality of the printing. 

 

  

I let my pieces sit at least a day before using Bubble Jet Rinse which is supposed to create a stronger bond between the ink and the fabric and keep the color from fading. I put each piece separately in a large tray with 2 oz of rinse to 1 gallon of cold water, agitated it for 2 minutes and rinsed it in cold water. The website says to dry flat, not sure why, but I laid the pieces out on towels and let them dry.

On each piece I embellished several of the roads with a simple running stitch and a single strand of cotton embroidery floss for the red or black roads and a double strand for the deeper red interstates. However, the colors match so perfectly that the embroidery is only noticeable on close inspection. 

 

Before sewing the pieces together, I backed each one with an iron-on tricot interfacing. The lining, which is polyester charmeuse, gave me a bit of trouble, especially since I was rushing to finish the project in time to wear the vest to the November festivities. Because I didn't want to deface my map with buttonholes, I used size 4 sew-on snaps, covered with fabric, rather than buttons to fasten it.

So there you have it. And now I have it: a unique vest that I doubt that I will ever wear again, a fabric objet. I'm thinking of putting it in my Etsy shop. What they say about writing that gets edited out is that it's never wasted, it's a plus in the learning and improvement column. So, although I don't expect to be printing and sewing any more map-related garments, I'm trying to regard all that time and effort expended in a similar manner. Perhaps something else will come it.