How to make plant prints on fabric

I've been doing some more flora printing - the term I use for making plant prints on fabric.

The last photo I shared (above) generated quite a bit of interest and a few questions, so I thought I'd make a little video to share my process.  Not that it's complicated, but sometimes it's nice to see how someone else does it to give you the confidence and motivation to try it yourself.



So, have a watch, tell me what you think and whether it's something you've had a go at.  In the video I show a book cover that I've made with the plant printed fabric.  You can find the tutorial on how to make the cover here.

Above is the finished book cover that I started in the video and below is another (sorry about the distracting fabric it's lying on) plus some cards I made with the same technique.

Enjoy!

Things to do with freezer paper

I love freezer paper.  It's a real must-have in my quilting studio.  I never considered that people might not know what to do with it, or only know one use, but Carol (from Carol's Quilts) told me that she often gets asked what it's used for.

So, here's a little video I put together for Carol on what to do with freezer paper.  It has more uses that just applique!

If you're in NZ and can't find it anywhere, click here for a link to freezer paper for sale on Carol's website.

I recently used it in my Wingbeats II quilt to make stencils and paint the herons and the waterlines.

And I used it to help me cut out the organza moths in Dusk Moth.  I show that technique and how to use it as a stencil in the video.

The video is not an in depth how-to on every single technique - that would need a whole series of vids, it's such versatile stuff - but it will give you a whole heap of ideas on how to use freezer paper and then you can experiment for yourself.  Or if a particular idea takes your fancy, you can go searching for a more detailed tutorial.

Enjoy!

What do do with dyed silk organza?

Just a quick post to follow on from my last post about dyeing silk organza.

So what do you do with silk organza once it's dyed?  You can cut it up and collage it, you can stick a lightweight fusible on the back and cut intricate appliqué shapes from it, you can use it in layers like I did with my 'Early Morning Fishing' quilt.

Or you can use it as a whole piece for an overlay or underlay.  Here's what I'm doing with the piece I dyed for my how-to process photographs:

I've done some flora printing (printing with plant material) onto a white background fabric and then just laid the whole piece of organza over the top.  So far I'm liking where it's heading.

How to dye silk organza. Technique 1

I've been asked for some more information about how I dye my silk organza.  I'm planning to show you several different techniques that I use, one per blog post, so watch for more to come.

Note:  Safety first folks!  Wear your protective gear when you're dyeing and use a dust mask when working with the dye powders.  Use measuring, mixing and dyeing equipment that is reserved only for dyeing and keep food and drink out of the dyeing area.  Use your common sense and you'll be fine.

First, I purchase silk organza in bulk so I can cut off what I need when I want it.  It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

Next, I make up my dye solutions.  I use fibre reactive dyes from Dharma Trading Co and mix 1 tablespoon (that's a spoon that measures 15 liquid millilitres in NZ) per 2 cups of water (500 millilitres in NZ).  I know people weigh their dye powders to be more precise and get percentage solutions, but that's a bit too exacting for me).  I leave these dye solution concentrates in my studio fridge and then I can mix these together, dilute them or whatever I want to do, whenever I want.

Piggyback serendipity is what I sometimes call the technique that I'll show you today.  I often have some bits of organza already cut and just grab one when I'm dyeing my cotton fabric and do the same treatment on it.  So it's piggybacking off what I'm doing with the cotton fabric.

You'll always find a bucket of soda ash solution in a corner of my studio.  I like to leave my cotton fabrics soaking in there for at least 24 hours before I dye them.  I think it helps with 'opening' up the cotton fibres to accept the dye.  And of course, soda ash is needed as part of the chemical reaction with the fibre reactive dyes that I use.

But I don't leave my silk to soak.  Silk prefers acid rather than base solutions to preserve it's lustre, so I keep the exposure to soda ash to a minimum.  I just dunk it in the soda ash bucket and squeeze it through.

Today I was planning to do a tray dye on a metre piece of cotton.  So I accordion folded up my organza before I put it in the soda ash.  It's hard to handle and fold when it's wet, so unless you like wet silk organza sticking up all over your arms, try and fold it dry.

I fold and scrunch it into different shapes depending what I'm planning.  An accordion fold means that the colours will repeat across the length.  Then I scrunched it to fit into the tray.  If you wanted water ripples, you could pleat it up more regularly.  Or you could scrunch one area and have another area lying completely flat.  Experiment, it's part of the fun!

My cotton fabric goes on top folded into whatever shape I want and then I pour my dye solutions over.  Today I used some yellow and red to make orange, added some water to dilute then added a bit of navy for brown.  I'd pour on a bit and then add some more dye to alter the colour a bit but keep it related to the first colours.  I added turquoise, then some navy and then some more yellow and a bit of water here and there.  Now you can see where the serendipity bit of the name come from.

Press it all down so you know it's squeezed through then leave in a relatively warm place for at least four hours, and overnight if possible.

Rinse it all under cold running water until the water runs fairly clear.  I then soak the fabrics in warm water, changing the soaks every now and then, usually leaving it overnight at some point, until all the excess dye is gone.  Then separate the silk from the cotton, wash the cotton in your washing machine on hot and hand wash the silk with warm water.

Dry, press and use in whatever way you wish!  Above you can see the two finished pieces from this particular dyeing session.  Organza on the left and cotton on the right.  Silk picks up the dye very well so the colours look a little deeper on the organza, but remember you are seeing it double thickness and with a green backdrop (thanks to the recent rains for greening everything up!)

And look how that cross shape comes through the organza....now there's a little piece of inspiration....

How to bind a funny angled quilt.

This is a lozenge shaped baby quilt that I made for a friend.  When all the triangles were laid out on the floor I liked the look of it so much that I didn't want to square it up.  So it can be a funky playmate, or folded back for a bed quilt, a snuggly quilt for the car - anything really, but it meant that when it came to bind it I was dealing with non-right angled corners (120 degrees to be precise).

But it's pretty easy really to make nice neat mitred corners on these angles, just follow similar steps as to usual and you'll be done.

Sew the folded binding strip to the front of the quilt with a quarter inch seam using your walking foot just as you would for a square quilt.

Before you get to the first corner, put a pin in parallel and 1/4 inch away from the next side of the quilt.

Sew up to the pin and then take a couple of back stitches.  Take the pin out and take the quilt out from under the needle.

Fold back the binding strip away from the quilt so the raw edges of the binding strip are 180 degrees from the raw edges of the next side of the quilt.

Fold the binding strip back down so the raw edges of the quilt and the binding strip are aligned.  You will have this neat little tuck that you can see in the picture above (pin it if you need to).

Start sewing right from the edge of the quilt, taking a couple of back stitches across the tuck.  Continue sewing along until you get to the next corner and repeat the steps above.  Join the ends of your binding strips as you usually would.

When you fold your binding strip over to the back of the quilt, you will get a neat mitre in your corner on the front of your quilt.

And a neat mitre in the corner on the back of your quilt.  Pin (or clip using Clover wonder clips - I love them for binding) and hand sew your binding down.

Easy peasy!  So don't be scared of using different angles in your quilts or table runners.  The mitre works out just the same.

The bright orange backing is a built-in safety feature.  You never know when you'll need a high-vis blanket for signalling helicopters...

35" wide and 54" long point to point.

How to finish the edges of mini textile art

I've been making some teeny little wall hangings.  And by teeny, I mean a few inches across.

Finishing the edges of these little artworks is always a bit tricky.  I use a heavy weight vilene in them to stabilise and stiffen them so they don't really lend themselves to a traditional binding, and they are too small for that anyway.

I have used a close zig-zag stitch along the edges but that takes a lot of thread and can gobble the corners if you aren't careful.  And I have messy backs from my embroidery that I'd like to cover too.

Then my talented friend Shirley let me in on how she finishes her bookmarks that she makes.

First, you iron a fusible web like vlisofix, mistyfuse or steam-a-seam onto some coordinating fabric.  Then you trim a piece of that fabric to about a quarter of an inch bigger than your little piece of art.

To form a hanging loop so you can display your artwork, use a piece of embroidery thread and take a large loose stitch through the backing fabric, fastening it with knots on the wrong side.

Tack down the fused fabric on the back of your artwork then trim the corners like in the photo.  Fold the edges of the fused fabric tightly over to the front of the work and fuse them down.  Fuse the back securely.

Stitch along the folded edges to secure.  You can use a contrasting or matching thread, a decorative stitch or plain machine stitch, or you can do what I did and use an embroidery thread in the bobbin (I'm using my hand-dyed silk/cotton blend) and work from the back to make it a feature.

Make sure you remember to sign and label your work, then hang it on the wall to enjoy.  These three are now keeping my hand-dyed threads company in my studio and gallery.

The middle one (Tree Hug #2) is 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches and the other two (Tree Hug #1 and #3) are 3 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  They are for sale at $12 NZD each or $30 for the set.  Email me if you are interested!

Edit:  These are now sold, thanks for your interest.

How to tie a knot for hand-sewing

Want to learn the magic of tying a neat know when you are sewing on your quilt bindings?

I used to tie ugly knots.  Yup, being a mostly self-taught sewer and quilter, I didn't know there was a technique.  I'd get myself in a tangle and it used to annoy me.  I'd seen people tie knots fast and neatly but just didn't know there was a trick to it.

One day I got around to learning how.  I can't remember who taught me, but my knots are neat and tidy and look like a little bit of magic when I do it fast.  So thank you anonymous teacher!

I've taught a few people now too and it always makes my day when they get it.  So I ventured into the realm of video tutorials and I've uploaded a knot-tying video to YouTube.

Enjoy!