Printing on Fabric

It has been a little while since I last ran fabric through my printer, I have been wanting to try printing a photo in sections on fabric and stitching it back together. So come along and I'll show you what I did.

First, I made up a batch of my homemade Inkjet set solution, that will allow me "set" the printer ink into the fabric so they won't run or bleed. I have shown this before but, I wanted to prepare a good sized piece of fabric this time, so I tweaked my recipe just a wee bit. The recipe is very simple.

2 tablespoons of Alum   (the stuff used when making pickles)
2 tablespoons of Soda Ash  (the stuff fabric dyers use  NOT washing soda)
2 cups VERY hot water
I mixed this all together.....made certain everything was completely dissolved, added my dampened fabric (which was previously pre-washed) and let it soak for approximately 20 minutes, at which point I gently squeezed out the excess liquid and hung the fabric to dry. (Be sure to wear rubber gloves when handling the solution)
I prepared enough fabric to create 18 printable sheets.

How do you make printable fabric sheets, you ask?  just follow these steps.
Once your solution soaked fabric is thoroughly dry, you need to press it well with a dry iron (no steam!) The  fabric at this stage is susceptible to scorching, so be mindful of that too.
Cut fabric and freezer paper into pieces a bit larger than 8.5 x 11 so that you will be able to trim them perfectly.

Press a piece of freezer paper to the backside of each of your fabric pieces

trim to the size of copy paper....8.5 x 11

Next, to be certain each piece of fabric goes smoothly through my printer, I stitch each piece of prepared fabric to a sheet of cardstock using a zig zag stitch. take a close look at the photos below, leaving that little bit of cardstock at the edge ensures that the printer will grab it and feed it through perfectly each and every time (I ran 10 sheets through in this session and each one printed exactly as I wanted)
Caution! be absolutely certain that you have trimmed the threads as close as possible.....you do NOT want any loose threads that can get caught up in the printer.

here is a look at 4 sheets after they came out of the printer.

I removed the stitching by simply sliding the seam ripper along the edge, to take the fabric off of the cardstock and freezer paper ( I can reuse that cardstock many more times) and now I am ready for the next step...............ahhh...but that will be in another post.

For those who want to know what kind of printer I used, I currently have an inexpensive Canon Pixma iP2600 ink jet colour printer. 

Inspiration

Lately I have become quite fascinated with feathers, I have had some interesting visitors to my bird feeder this summer. Recently, this tiny little Red Breasted Nuthatch has been popping by. It is only 3 - 4 inches and moves very swiftly so you need to be quick to snag a photo.

 This pretty little bird was the inspiration for the doodle below.

Yesterday, I was quite surprised to find this looking back at me just outside my window...... It appears to be a Broad Winged Hawk.......this beauty was roughly 20 inches long (maybe bigger)
I took this photo through the window......he was only about 3 feet away and I swear he was posing for me!

Tentest Design wall

Sometimes you need something more substantial than a flannel design wall. Those are great for block placement, but what if you want to add embellishments?.....you can not easily audition beads, buttons or found objects in an upright position.  
I thought you would like to see what I use. At the lumber store, I purchased a sheet of "Tentest", I bought a 4'x8' sheet and asked them to cut it down to a more manageable 4'x6' size

close up of the cut end

This product is a fibrous board, also great for use as a bulletin board. It is sturdy, fairly lightweight and pins into very easily. I took an inexpensive bed-sheet and essentially made a large pillowcase out of it to slip right over the whole piece....I can use both sides if I want to.

4'x6' covered Tentest

 You can pin just about anything to this, so now, you can quickly see how the addition of  various embellishments will look......walk away, step back and assess before making a commitment.

Sun-Print & Thread

Do you recall the sun-print I made using feathers? here is what they look like now, with just a small bit of stitching added. I tried to maintain a light airy feel.

Centerfold

That's right, I can add "centerfold" to my list of accomplishments.......no need to cover your eyes, its not me, just my design  :-)

The Autumn issue of the Canadian Quilter is out, and for this one, I submitted a design/pattern for those who would like to try a bit of thread painting. My design allows the maker to really take full advantage of beautiful print fabrics and then, to simply enhance them with thread.

Marsha, the Editor, has once again, done an outstanding job! Don't forget, there is also a spot on the CQA web site (members only section) where members can access the PDF version of the pattern to send straight to their printers as well as an area to upload photos of their finished projects. In addition, there is now a CQA blog...even more ways for Canadian quilters to connect

Lesson Learned

Last week I decided to try something I had read in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts magazine. It was an article on dyeing fabrics using ice cubes. Even though I do not have "Procion" dyes, I thought I'd give it a whirl with the dyes I did have, and see what I might end up with.
.
I soaked the fabric as instructed, layered fabric, ice cubes and dye powder (as instructed)

The article tells you to place this container inside another in case of overflow as the cubes melt....hmmmm, it is a "volume" thing, I was certain it wasn't going to overflow, but did as instructed and I am quite happy that I did because very soon after I placed my jar of fabric/cubes and dye into the second container I heard a loud CRACK!  that did not sound good at all but I did leave the whole works for 24 hours (as instructed)

well it did not overflow, but it did LEAK!.......This could have been an awful mess

here is the hole in bottom of the jar.......was it the warm fabric-ice cubes-glass combo?

Even though the dye ran out the bottom of the jar I still got some interesting pieces, I especially like the way the middle one turned out

Top layer

Middle layer

Bottom layer

 so.....lesson learned?  Sometimes it is good to follow the instructions   :-)

Sun Printing....the Basics

I have had a few questions about the sun printing process, so I thought I would give you a quick tutorial. You don't need a great deal of supplies for this. The correct paints, fabric that has been thoroughly washed to remove any chemicals, water and SUN. so here is all you need to know

These are the paints. They are Setacolor transparent paints made by Pebeo. This process does not work with other types of fabric paints.  OOOPS!!! apparently I am in error. I am told that other paints will in fact work for this process, Thanks Terry,  looks like I will be doing a little experimenting .....so, let me just say that in this case, Setacolor paints were used.

you will mix your paint with water...that's it....too easy.
Generally the ratio you want is 2 parts water to 1 part paint or for even more effect 1-1 (the more diluted the paint the less intense the print will be)
I always begin with my piece of fabric dampened to allow the paint mixture to flow easily across the surface. It also helps the colours mix and blend. I place my fabric down on a board or some Styrofoam that has been covered with plastic, keep in mind that any lines or scrunching of the plastic will transfer to your final image (sometimes you can get some really cool texture this way)
Now with a paint brush or foam brush, start spreading your colour across the damp fabric. I often use several colours and allow them to mix in some of the areas. Don't be shy, get it good and wet with the paint mixture. Place the items you are wanting to get an image of directly onto the wet paint. If they are very light weight, find a way to hold them down . Items that do not sit flat against the fabric will not produce a sharp clear image.

now take the whole works outside and place it in an area where the sun can do it's magic and leave it to dry

Drying time will vary depending on how wet you got your fabric and how strong the sun is. I always leave it as long as I can just to be certain it is very dry and to get the most dramatic effect. (note the difference between how the colours blend from the wet piece to the dried one below, as well as the texture created by the plastic underneath. I am never certain if heat setting is really necessary at this point (think the sun already did that for me) but I do it anyway.

the fun of the reveal

good colour blend, interesting texture, great images......and now...nicely painted feathers......more inspiration!

Sun-Printed project continued

I found the center of that Dogwood blossom to be very interesting, it is a fabulously textured sphere

So, I wanted to create something interesting at the center of my sun-printed blossoms, "flat" was simply not going to do! I began with a small bead which was placed  in a circle of wool that I gathered up tightly around it to form a sphere I could stitch on, then, one by one stitched small beads to the wool.

actual Dogwood center (far left) bead and wool (center)  finished beaded center (right)

I made a few different sizes to co-ordinate with the various sizes of blossoms, for the smallest ones I just stitched small, layered, clusters of beads

Sun-Printing

Sun-printing seems to be a technique used primarily to create interesting surface design, I am experimenting a little to create a small piece using a sun printed image as the main focus.
My inspiration was this Dogwood blossom

This is the fabric I began with, it is an off white batik with small amounts of very pastel colourings. (That band of colour you see at the bottom is actually the same fabric after the paint was applied)

Wanting more than one blossom, I had to make extra petals to use as resist (more about that process later) you can see that I also scattered on a wee bit of salt for a more interesting effect on the background.

Here is the print left by the sun.

Then, I began to apply colour to the stems, created some leaves, but added only fine lines of thread to the blossom petals.

I'll show how I plan to deal with the centers next time.

Pin Basting

A while back, I heard about a product that allows you to use straight pins for basting your quilts, seems so much easier than using safety pins, especially when it comes to removing them as you are quilting. As is often the case, I wanted to try the product but it isn't available locally. I could buy it online but did not want to invest the money, the added costs of exchange rate and shipping often make products less attractive, especially not knowing for sure if it is a tool you will definitely want to use regularly.
SO, I decided to conduct my own experiment with what I could find easily. In the children's craft aisle at the Dollar store I found a package of foam beads.

the foam is thick enough and dense enough to hold the pins in place.......you simply insert the pin into your quilt sandwich, slip a foam shape on the end (make sure the pin is well inserted but not protruding out the other side)

 For this test, I pin basted

  and then machine basted with wash away thread, removing the foam and pins as I went along

 This actually worked quite well, the layers stayed together, no shifting, and now I can easily maneuver this piece to do the intricate stitching I have planed. (once the stitching is complete I will use a paint brush and water to dissolve the wash away thread)
Would I try this on a full size bed quilt? No, not likely, but it certainly works great for smaller pieces ( the test subject is roughly 30"square) it did save me a bit of time, no sore fingers and by doing it this way I can move the quilt through the machine much more freely......no pins or long thread basting to get caught up on.