Hazards of working with Devoré

I'm currently working with some beautiful Devoré that has been gently ageing in my stash for more than a few years:

 This fabric was purchased from Janome Balcatta so is ex Knitwits stock :) I also brought a length of this in a red colourway, which I made up into a top from a 2007 issue of Burda World Of Fashion, way back here in 2008.

What I had forgotten since making that top (but having read my old post realised it also drove me crazy back then) was how horrible and itchy the remnant fibres are when cutting this material.

Um yes that is a glass of wine....I would say usually I DON"T recommend drinking while using sharp implements, much safer that way!

 The fabric itself is fine beforehand, and once washed the resulting garment will be itch-free too, but the process of cutting the pattern pieces out of the fabric ? Eck!
Every time I rolled a blade along a seam or snipped a notch hundreds of these tiny little fibres were released from the "velvet" sections of the Devoré, spreading themselves over every available surface:

And clogging up my rotary cutter (grrrr):

Think I will need to be changing this blade afterwards...

Luckily having small children means that there is always a pack of wet wipes handy, which made cleaning up the bench top a LOT easier. These fibres are so prickly and itchy I would hate for any to get ingested or in the eyes of my little ones :(

If I were working with this fabric in larger quantities -or more often- I think I would be looking at ways to keep down the fibre spillage down or possible avoid it altogether (starch spray?). Makes you wonder what happens if factories where people are cutting and working with this all day long...

Hopefully the temporary itchiness will be worth it all when I'm done!

Kate :)