This weekend I found a few spare hours to play around with lutradur so see what I could come up with.
I don’t use lutradur often but it’s got some special features that are kind of nice …
It has a beautiful web-like texture, kind of like dryer sheet texture which I love, but more dense. It’s also stiff which means it can support a lot of heavy stitching. It doesn’t fray which makes it really useful for making appliques and for using in applications where you don’t want fraying.
But my favorite thing is that it’s polyester which means you can make holes in it using a heat gun.
So I began with a project in mind – a small shoulder purse – and took a piece and painted it. I added an underlayer of fabric which will show through after I’ve heated the surface, and I’ve added some free motion stitching on top. The stitching acts as a resist and will help to contain the holes. It also adds some additional surface texture.
As I heated the lutradur with the heat gun, I noticed that the color changed. At first I was a little disappointed, but as I worked further I decided I really liked it.
After I was done heating, I added some gold highlights.
So now the fabric is ready and I like the way it’s turned out so far. The holes look a little different from the holes you get when you heat tyvek which turn the edges crunchy. The holes in lutradur are a little softer and more delicate in appearance.
I sort of have a plan for how I want this project to look when it’s finished. We’ll soon see how that turns out.
I was asked recently by a new art quilter “What is tyvek?” I guess for those of us who have worked with art quilts for any length of time, it’s easy to forget that there are new art quilters joining our ranks at any given time and I’m sure some of these newbies are scratching their heads over some of the products and techniques that are used for art quilting. 
