Devore for Dummies

Among my many projects clamoring for attention are some silk devore scarves. Or more correctly, scarves to be made into silk devore.

What is devore? You might also know it as "burnout" - usually seen with a satin or velvet weave so that the backing fabric shows through where the floats or pile has been "burned" away. It produces amazingly beautiful effects, but like many surface design techniques, is relatively simple to do.
How it works:
A chemical gel or paste is used that 'eats' (devours) cellulosic fibers through a chemical/heat process. By using a blend of fibers, a web of fibers remains to create the effect. Similar process is used to produce cutwork, generally using a resist of protein or synthetic thread to create the outline of the cutout design.

What you need:

• A fabric that is a blend of cellulosic fiber (cotton, rayon, linen, bamboo, hemp, etc.) and either protein or synthetic fiber (wool or silk or polyester, etc.). I prefer to work with a silk/rayon blend woven as either a satin or velvet fabric but it's fun to experiment. I have some cotton/silk blend fabric that I picked up at Sew Expo that I'll likely try to use for this technique.
• A chemical gel or paste designed for this process. Fiber Etch is the most commonly available product.
• An easy to clean worksurface
• Painter's Tape (the blue stuff) - low adhesive or alternatively you can stretch in a silk painting frame
• Nitrile gloves (preferred)
• Hair dryer
• Iron
• Stamps, stencils, silkscreens, etc. and/or applicator bottles with small tips for drawing

Dharma Trading Co. is a good place to find these supplies. For designs, I like using the silkscreens from Ginny Eckley at photoezsilkscreen.com.

The process:

1. I tape my project down to a worksurface with low adhesive painter's tape. (There are different levels of adhesion available; for fabrics you want the "delicate" surface stuff). Or else I stretch it in a silk painting frame.
2. Put on your gloves. Fiber Etch is potentially highly irritating to skin, etc. Good ventilation is also a good idea. These should be automatic precautions anytime you're working with any sort of chemical, even if it's "non toxic".
• For silkscreens, I use painter's tape to hold the screen in place while I use a foam brush or plastic card to apply the gel evenly.
• For stamps, I put a little gel on a small plastic (not paper!) plate so I can get a thin amount onto the stamp. Or I paint it onto the stamp with a foam brush.
• Stencils - similar to stamping - put a little gel at a time onto a plastic plate and use that to load your stencil brush.
• Another application idea is simply writing or drawing on the fabric using an applicator bottle. I like to look up favorite poems or quotes.
3. Once your design is applied, dry the gel onto the fabric using a hair dryer.
4. Once the gel is dry, iron the project from the "wrong" side using silk setting on the iron. The chemical is heat-activated, so make sure you iron evenly and thoroughly without burning the fabric. You may notice your designs turning brown as you iron them - this is okay. Just don't make them too dark brown or you are risking eating holes in your base fabric.
5. If you are using a delicate fabric, you can tumble the project in the dryer for an extended time rather than ironing it directly.
6. Test as you go to see if the fibers in the treated area are becoming brittle - they should start coming off when rubbed gently.
7. Once the project has been thoroughly heat-treated, rinse well under running water. The design should appear as the "devoured" fibers wash away.

That's it! Your "devore" is finished - now it's ready to be dyed or used. The example scarf in the photo above was commercially made. I hand dyed it using Colorhue dyes.