Embellisher Experiment #5, Denim Shirt

Wearable art is not my thing, and everyone who knows me knows that my idea of high fashion is a brand new white t-shirt from Lands End. Or green.
But who amongst us of a certain age didn't begin her embroidery career decorating denim shirts, or skirts? To me there is no more compelling "blank page", as far as clothing goes, than a denim Western shirt in a nice, washed blue.
I just happened to have one in my closet, so started thinking about how I could put my Embellisher to work on it. This is what I have so far.....

I couldn't just felt the Battenburg lace onto the denim. I needed to use a little "glue", in the form of wool roving. So I laid little wisps of it over the lace and felted away. This worked surprisingly well.

Next came the "appliqued" cotton print. This is some of the last of the indigo print from South Africa that I have been hoarding for about ten years.


Here you can see the roving being felted along the edge of the cotton.

The front so far.....

...and the back.
The roving gives a wispy look but I don't think that matters...it softens the lace.
This will be a nice background for some handwork, which will also help secure these felted elements more permanently. I have a long trip to and from having dinner with my father-in-law, sis-in-law, and niece this evening, so I hope to get some done then.

I might even wear this one day....