Printing on Fabric

Carol asked me about printing on fabric, so I thought this would be the place to answer. Many years ago Threads had a reader say in a letter that she did it-before color printers in the home. I tried it and was lucky. Now I know some of the things you need to be careful about.

Several companies produce fabrics that are ready for the printer and are available at some fabric, quilt, and craft stores. They come pretreated to make them accept and keep the ink from the inkjet printer. They are also backed by a paper that is peeled off later. You can buy several kinds of cotton and silk and even sheers. If you do a lot of printing on fabric, you can treat your own fabric with Bubble Jet Set or Inkaid to save on costs. I just use the pretreated fabrics for convience. If you treat your own, iron them on freezer paper for going through the printer. Be sure they are cut to the correct size and have no threads loose to catch or wrap around printer parts.

Check to make sure you load the printer in the correct way, so it prints on the fabric not the paper. I've made all the mistakes, but hey that's how you learn. Just load one sheet at a time and stay with the printer while it works. I use the regular ink setting, but some like to use the best setting. Each company has it's own directions for treating the fabric after it's printed and the ink is dry, either by heat setting with the iron or rinsing. Read the directions. I do both in case. The paper is removed before rinsing, but be careful not to distort the fabric. Sorry but I don't have a lazer printer, so I don't know how to print using it.

Here's the next set of manipulations of the amarylis. I crop a section near the center. Then arrange 4 of them, rotating and flipping the sections to get two designs.I'm not sure which is my favorite. Any opinions?

Now you've gotten what my kids used to call the full lecture. "Can't you just give a simple answer Mom?" Evidentally not.

Computer Work

Last winter the Amarylis bloomed nicely, and I took Photos of it. Because I enjoyed the printing on fabric and then stitching it, I decided to see what I could do with this one.

Here is the twirl function in Photoshop Elements.

Then I used the zigzag function on it. I think this one has some possibilities.

Thanks to everyone who visits and especially to those who comment. The computer server still doesn't want to let me email directly from the comments. I'm still looking for a way to do it.

Class

Dale of www.thethreadstudio.com is running a class called Holey Moley. It will run for a year with a new area of experimentation every two months. She posts exercises during each period to help us explore that area. Holes are the first area with lots of suggestions on how to make them. Above are yarn rings made around whatever is handy. I used my finger. The yarn on the left is all from one scrap ball of a loopy, variegated yarn. On the right is a metallic yarn. I used my finger to work around.

Here is a grid I made from chenille yarn. Interesting to work with. With all the confusion of upgrading the house and the usual claims the garden makes, I haven't done much.

Totes

My dear DIL had sent me boxes of upholstery samples years ago that I keep working on. I've made pillows and a vest that I didn't care for, but the thing that seems to be the best use for them is totes. I gather sets together in a color theme and stitch them to create a big piece of fabric. Each seam is sewn, pressed open and then top stitched on each side to make it flat. I box the bottom corners and then sew a pleat from the top, across the bottom, and up to the top on each side in a U to give it strength and shape. They are lined in synthetic satin.

This is the biggest one.

This is my favorite, because it has more color.

Backgrounds

I was playing around with the embellisher and felted a couple of pieces of wool. I think these will be two of my backgrounds to bead on for next year's Bead Journal Project. Of course, by then I may have decided on all the other ideas that are floating around in my head.

For some reason the emails I send to people who comment don't seem to be getting sent any more. The server changed methods last March, so I think that is the problem. Thanks for all who visit. I do appreciate it.

Painting, nature

I didn't like some of the fabrics that I had painted, so I took Dynaflow and repainted them. Now they are much better. They were too washed out looking before. I was looking at the Stargazer Lily in the front flower bed and thinking how beautiful it is and how well it grew this year. Must do something with the image.

See what I found on one of the buds. He just stayed there through a number of photos even with my bouncing the plant around to get better angles.

Beading

I decided to try another bracelet worked on grosgrain ribbon. I had orange ribbon in my ribbon box, so that determined the color scheme-not the usual one for me. This time I left the ribbon showing in parts and more of the Mother of Pearl buttons. For a closure I used a thread chain loop. Now I need to find something to wear it with since most of my wardrobe is blue, purple, bluegreen.

Machine Embroidery

After watching the Quilting Arts Video "Gathering of Leaves" by Heidi Lund whose work I love, I decided to do some of my own. They are sewn on Dupioni silk with light green on the underside. Not hard to do. I like to have pieces around so that if I need something, I have a starting point. It's a good way to feel productive when you can't concentrate because of the confusion caused by upgrading some of the things in the house.

Quilt

Here's how I've started to embellish the hanging. I'm not sure how much more hand stitching I'll do, as it is hard to get the needle through the layers. The sequins are attached with needlelace using perle cotton.

This is the new addition to the living space, so we are set for the winter once we haul more branches out of the woods to cut and stack. The photo is from the brochure. I wish I had that nice stone wall instead of the brick one.

Gift

Lise http://funkybeading.blogspot.com and I exchanged one of our Bead Journal Project pieces. This is the one she sent me. It's all about the icy winter in Medicine Hat. I related to it, because we were snowed in which isn't supposed to happen in our temporate zone of the Pacific NW! I just love it-so much wonderful beading. Now to find the perfect spot to hang it.

Bead Journal Project

It's hard to believe that the year is over for the Bead Journal Project, and this is the last journal quilt. It's a commercial batik with an old Mother of Pearl button. I've enjoyed the two years so much. We will be doing it again but will wait to start until January.

Calendar Girls

Val picked this calendar page to be our inspiration for August for the Calendar Girls http://calendargirls2008.blogspot.com There is a lot happening in it, so I chose to use the heart motif.

The background is needlefelted on the embellisher. The hearts are hand stitched.

Experiments, gift

I was watching a Quilting Arts DVD that had Catherine Nichols showing her grafiti lettering and decided to see what I could do with my initials. Here are the results. I never have doodled much and am trying to get in the habit. This month for Unlimited Textiles, Seasons was the theme. Look at the wonderful quiltie I received from Guzzisue http://travelfibreandthread.blogspot.com I'm so pleased with it.