Discharging

Some friends and I tried discharging (using a bleaching agent to remove color from fabric) today. We tried “SoftScrub Gel With Bleach” and Jacquard Discharge Paste. On some of the fabrics, one product worked great and the other didn't. On one piece of fabric, neither worked, and we later wondered if it was cotton, or a synthetic. With the discharge paste, you let it dry, then steam it heavily with an iron before the discharging takes place. You have to do this outside, because the fumes are bad. With the SoftScrub, the discharging starts quickly, and did not seem to be speeded along by the steam.

Fabrics react differently depending on how they were dyed. For example, some black fabrics discharged yellow-orange, some almost white, and some pink. You also have to use something to stop the chemical reaction and keep the bleach from eating through the fabric. We used Chlor Out, a product used to eliminate chlorine in fishtanks.

We used rubber stamps, freezer paper stencils, free-hand painting, and also some old cast-iron water meter covers that I have been collecting. (I made friends with some of the guys at our town’s water department, and asked them to bring me the old covers as they replace them with new ones. The ones I have received are chipped and unusable as water meter covers, but they make very cool stamps and door stops!) The first photo in this post, showing stamping with a water meter cover, was done on Robert Kaufman Kona cotton with the SoftScrub.

I also discharged a coat I bought on sale for $10 at my favorite discount store, Target, this week. It was a black-ish gray canvas with a corduroy collar, and the collar discharged an orangy-pink. I used the water meter cover to stamp it first, then drizzled the SoftScrub on top. After it was washed and dried, I went back in with Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow and painted in some of the discharged areas. If you look closely, you can see the word "WATER" in reverse all over it. I'm not sure if it is done yet; I may go back and do more later. Here it is now:



Here's another stamp done with discharge paste on one of the water meter covers on blue fabric:


I also tried dribbling the SoftScrub right from the bottle onto the fabric (black Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton) and got some beautiful gradations from bronze to gold within the drips:


I just love this piece Alisan printed on a piece of cheap red fabric she bought at my least favorite discount store. She got some beautiful oranges and yellows:

And she got some beautiful periwinkle blues on this purple fabric:


A more subtle over-all effect with a rubber stamp, on the same fabric:

DeLane got this cool effect on a fabric that had a black print on top of a bluish base:

If you are a total control freak, this technique is probably not for you. You roll the dice and you take your chances. Of course, once you know a little bit about how the fabric will react, you can plan a bit. This was really fun, and worth further experimentation.

Soy wax resist

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to try more surface design techniques. Tonight, while the rest of the world was watching the Super Bowl, I tried out soy wax resist. I purchased the “Microwaveable Soy Wax” chips at Michaels craft store in the candle-making section.

It only took a few minutes to melt the chips in a small glass bowl in my microwave. I used a small plastic medicine measuring cup, dipped it in the wax, and randomly stamped it on white fabric. I did not use PFD – “prepared for dyeing” – fabric. This was just cheap white cotton I had on hand. After the wax cooled, I applied yellow and green Jacquard Textile Color straight out of the jars. I brushed it on first, but found it easier to manipulate with my hands, like finger paints. (It washed off my hands and from under my fingernails easily.)

The instructions say to let the fabric dry and then iron it to heat set, but of course I was too impatient for that! I tried heating the fabric in the microwave on a few layers of paper towels. This seems to have done the job of heat setting (since when I rinsed it out under hot water, the color stayed very strong), with the added benefit of making some of the wax melt out into the paper towels. After that, I rinsed it in very hot tap water, and pressed it.

The effect is similar to batik, but without as much crackling as with other waxes. It was easy and fun, and I'll be eager to try out some other tools for applying the wax, different patterns, and using other fabric dyes and paints on top of the wax resist.

Start With a Photo

“Start With a Photo” is a workshop I will be teaching for the Charlotte Quilters Guild in April. When I started working on the sample for the workshop (see my previous post), I realized that I would have to simplify the photo even further if I was going to teach it in a 4-5 hour workshop! So in this piece, I made the barn siding all one piece, the wall all one piece (with two highlights at the top) and the grass all one piece. The window is three pieces (black, gray, and white). The rest is all done with thread painting. Here’s how it looks now that I have finished the thread painting:


Here’s how it looked after I had fused the fabric down and sketched out the stones and highlights on the boards and window, before thread painting:

These are the threads I used:

Here’s how the piece looks on the back of the interfacing used as stabilizer. You can see all the detail that has been added with the thread:

Here’s a closeup shot of the back:

I’m still planning to finish the piece I started beforehand, which has a lot more detail in the fabric pieces (it took me hours to cut the stones for the wall, for example), and think it will be an interesting exercise to see how much more detailed the finished piece will be this way. Stay tuned.

Frequently asked questions:

What thread do you use for thread painting? I like “fine embroidery thread” like Mettler’s cotton merc. No. 60 and No. 50. If you use heavier-weight thread, like cotton machine quilting thread, there is more draw-up in the base fabric. Make sure you use the same weight thread in the bobbin as you are using for the top thread. I sometimes use a different color, because I like the little flecks of color that come up to the top if I have my tension slightly off. It adds very cool texture to the piece. WARNING: Quilt judges usually don't like this. They think it is a mistake! I do it anyway, because I like it. I am doing it on purpose! I think there are still a lot of quilt show judges who just don’t “get” art quilts, or who expect art quilters to follow the same rules as those for traditional quilts. Oh, well...

What stabilizer do you use? I use Pellon’s non-fusible “sew-in” interfacing. It comes on bolts about 22-1/2" wide. It is very stiff, but not too heavy, and provides a nice surface under the fabric to stabilize it for heavy thread painting. I used to use the fusible interfacing, but this works better. After I fuse down all my fabric pieces to the background, I cut the interfacing an inch bigger on all sides, and pin the fabric to it with straight quilters pins.

What fusible product do you use? I use Heat-n-Bond Lite. I keep meaning to experiment with other fusibles, but this is working for me right now, so I am sticking with it. I only use Heat-n-Bond in art quilts, because it makes the piece very stiff. I don’t use fusibles at all in my traditional quilts, or anything I’m doing by hand. In fact, I used to be so opposed to fusible products that I refused to use them at all in my first art quilt, “Teach Me to Hear Mermaids Singing,” which you can see on my website. Some of the pieces in this work (like the 1/4" fish eyeballs) were pinned down before they were secured with thread. Trying to thread paint this piece was like wrestling a porcupine. So I gave in, and started working with a fusible product.

How do you keep it from puckering up? This is technically called “draw-up,” and the best thing you can do to avoid it is to use the right interfacing as a stabilizer (see question above). Next, make sure you don’t thread paint too heavily in one area, especially right at the beginning. I try to go over the entire piece lightly, go around the outside, and then go back and do detail work on each area. For example, on this piece, I did a single line between the boards on the red fabric, went around the stones in the wall, and did simple lines in the grass first. I do not use a hoop. It slows me down, and I think it is a pain in the derriere. I know some people who love using a hoop, though.

I want to do this! Is there a book you recommend? I love Coloring with Thread: A no-drawing approach to free-motion embroidery, by Ann Fahl (2005). She has wonderful tips and trouble-shooting lists, thread and stablizer pros and cons, plus amazing photos and samples.

Shelburne Museum barn quilt in progress

This is a photo I took of the beautiful round red barn at the entrance to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, where my family and I visited this summer. I loved this photo for its diagonal movement, rich textures, and the wonderful colors. It is a simple composition, yet these details make the image complex, and I find that my eye can linger on it for a long time and not be bored. I like the subtle curving of the barn, which is unexpected.



And this is a photo of the quilt I am making from the photo. I tried to replicate it as closely as possible, but brightened the colors a bit. It is about 14" x 19". This shot shows the quilt before any thread painting, which will add a lot of detail, highlights and shadows. All the pieces are fused down with Heat-n-Bond Lite, and it took me longer to make that stone wall out of fabric than I think it would have taken for me to make a real wall out of stone! Whew!

I find taking photos of my quilts while they are in progress a really good exercise. When you look at the piece smaller, from a distance, you see things you would miss looking at it from only a few feet away. For example, I can see now that I am going to need to add a lot of darker gray in the window to get the shadows right. I need to add darker shadows in the stone, as well. And some lighter highlights on the right side of the barn.

By the way, if you get a chance to visit the Shelburne Museum (about 20 minutes south of Burlington), go! It is fabulous in so many ways, great for kids, and they have excellent quilt exhibits, too.

Great surface design books for art quilters

Just as a chef needs to have many techniques (roasting, sautéing, frying, baking, etc.) in his or her repertoire to keep things interesting when creating a new dish, art quilters (or those just tentatively stepping into this strange new world) benefit from learning new techniques and testing out new materials. It can keep your work fresh, it can keep your brain challenged, and it can make you more creative. All of which are good things, even if the materials and techniques never make it into your work. (But I bet after you try some of them, they will!) Perhaps the best reason for trying something new is that it is fun!

In the “Creative Surface Design” class I taught at Quilters Loft Company today, we tried out a lot of these techniques, and had a ball doing it. My students asked me to post a list of the books I brought to class. So here they are.

There are many wonderful books out there that can help you learn more about these techniques, and inspire you to try them out. Here are some of my favorites right now:


Between the Sheets with Angelina: A Workbook for Fusible Fibres, by Alysn Midgelow-Marsden in conjunction with Viv Arthur of Art Van Go (2003). Step-by-step instructions and photos show you how to fuse, melt, paint, emboss, and make vessels and wearables from Angelina fibers.


Creative Embellishments for Paper, Jewelry, Fabric and More by Sherrill Kahn (2007). Gosh, there is a lot in this book! Fabric and paper beads, air-dry clay, stuffed shapes, Angelina, metal, laminated accents, Tyvek, shrink plastic, sheet protector embellishments, fun-foam, wrapped chenille pipe cleaners, stenciling, and weaving paper and fabric. Tons of projects, beautiful photos.


Creative Quilts: Inspiration, Texture & Stitch by Sandra Meech (2006). You just can’t go wrong buying a book by Sandra Meech (and she has several others). Her work is so exquisite and so varied that this is almost a “coffee table” book. It is that visually interesting. But it is also a wonderful self-study guide with specific design class sections to help you boost your creativity while you learn more about design and composition, finding a theme, texture and dimension, and exploring stitch. Plus a very good section on sketch and stitch books, and why making them can make you a better artist.


The Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Color on Quilts by Linda & Laura Kemshall (2007). This book was recently released. It is a wonderful combination of beautiful pieces that will inspire, and practical techniques for innovative ways to add color to quilts. Methods and techniques: painting, bleaching and discharging, pastels, dyes, image transfer, fusible web. I love this book!



Paintstiks on Fabric: Simple Techniques, Fantastic Results by Shelly Stokes (2005). Everything you need to know about Shiva Paintstiks: rubbings, masks, stencils, etc.

And here are a few photos from the class today. They sure look serious about what they are doing! We had a lot more fun than these photos show. Thanks to all my students. I always learn from you, even when I am the one teaching! And I could not have done this class without the assistance of my good friend and fellow art quilter and pattern designer, Grace Howes (www.barnyardchatter.blogspot.com). Thanks!

Glue resist batik

This is started out as a piece of plain white cotton fabric, which I painted with Elmer's "Washable School Glue No-Run Gel." It looks light blue in the bottle. This technique does not work with regular white Elmer's glue.

I allowed it to dry completely, which took about 4 hours. I put mine on top of the dryer while a load of laundry was tumbling, just to make sure it was really dry. It's hard to tell, because it is still a bit sticky even when it is dry.

Then I took Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow fabric dyes and painted them on. The spots where the color is most intense is straight dye. The pastel places are where the dye is watered down. I was a little bit surprised that it really worked; I had expected the dye to wet the glue enough that it would sneak into those areas, but the glue must really saturate the cotton fibers. Pretty cool.

I allowed it to dry, then heat set the dye by ironing it with several layers of paper towels on both sides (because of the glue). Some of the paper stuck to it, but that was okay, because after that, I thoroughly rinsed it in warm water to get all the glue out, peeled off the bits of paper towel that had stuck, and then dried and pressed it.

This would be a really fun way to make quilt blocks for a kid's quilt. Or for one of those kindergarten quilts (you know, where the teacher finds out you are a quilter and suddenly you are in charge of helping 25 kids make a quilt?)

I wonder how it would work on a t-shirt...

Painted fusible web

I learned this technique from the fabulous new book by Linda and Laura Kemshall, The Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Color on Quilts (2007). By the way, I highly recommend this book if you want to try out some wonderful surface design techniques. It has clear instructions, great lists of what you need, and step-by-step photos of everything.

If you want to try this, take a double-sided fusible product (I used Pellon's Wonder Under here) and paint very watery acrylic paint (I used Lumiere, but you can use regular acrylic paint diluted with water) onto the bumpy fusible side. You want enough water that the paint will run and create wonderful ripples, like this:




If you don't use enough water, your paint is too solid, it will be opaque, and none of your fabric will show through.

Let it dry completely. Then cut it in any shape you wish. Place the pieces painted side down (paper side up) on your fabric. I used black for drama. Place a piece of baking parchment paper on top to protect your iron, then iron it down. Allow it to cool, then peel off the paper. So fun!

This surface is fragile, and only works for art quilts and not anything that will be washed. And you can't iron it afterward, or your iron will stick to the fusible surface.

I tried this earlier with Heat-n-Bond Lite, and it leaves more of a plastic-y surface over the paint. It looked as if it had been laminated. Other fusible products may yield different results. I wonder what would happen if I sprinkled some bits of Angelina in when the paint was wet? Would the fusible web bond it to the fabric surface, too? Maybe I'll try that later...

What am I going to do with this now? I have an idea in my head, but need time to execute it. Come back later and find out!

Here's a detail shot, showing the fusible web on the fabric after I removed the paper backing:



UPDATE: Here's some of the quilting I have started today (Jan. 25):

Needleturn appliqué tip #1

If you are doing needleturn appliqué, and have a shape with an area that is cut out inside it, do not cut this area out when you are cutting out the piece initially. Wait until you have completely sewn down the outside edge before you cut it out. Then cut out a little bit (maybe one or two inches) at a time. This keeps the piece from wiggling around and going all "wonky" on you when you are sewing it down. You can see from the photo that trying to pin down this leaf – if I had cut out the center – would have been like wrestling a little snake!

When you do this, you do need to be extra careful that you do not cut through the background fabric when you are cutting out the inside shape. I did this only once (and decided that the piece really needed a little berry right over that spot!) Use very sharp, small appliqué scissors and you will not have a problem if you are careful.

In the photo above, you can see that I have completely sewn down the outside edge, and I'm ready to start on the inside edge.

This is a leaf from block 5 of “Bohemian Bouquet,” my Mystery Block of the Month pattern. I will be posting more of my tips for needleturn appliqué with each block I release this year.

For more information on “Bohemian Bouquet,” see my Nov. 19, 2007 blog post, or go to my website, www.bluemoonriver.com.

Tyvek again

The first photo shows a piece of Tyvek painted with Dye-Na-Flow paint and some Lumiere after it was melted; the "before" shot is second (I folded the strip and punched holes in it.) The third shot shows a piece that was folded accordian style and then slashed with scissor cuts before melting. I tried the heat gun tonight on sheets of Tyvek, but didn't like how it moved around and buckled up. I like working on sheets between my Teflon pressing sheet, with an iron. The last piece reminds me of a molted snake skin.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today I am celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. with some great quotations by him:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

“The time is always right to do the right thing.”

“Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

“I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

Tyvek Beads

I tried my hand at making beads out of Tyvek today. First, I painted Lumiere on a rectangle of Tyvek (a recycled U.S. Priority Mail mailer) and cut it into triangles about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. I coated the back with a glue stick, then rolled the triangles around a wooden bamboo skewer. (See second photo.) I used a heat gun to melt them until they fused.


I think I'm going to try making them a bit fatter next time, and perhaps melting them a bit longer. They are still a bit "papery" on the ends. I'm also going to try allowing the Lumiere to dry longer, and lusing less of the glue stick.

Magic Sizing vs. Spray Starch

I have been experimenting with using Magic Sizing (Extra Crisp) instead of spray starch when I make circles to appliqué using Perfect Circles. (See my blog post of Dec. 5 for a description of how to do this.) And it works beautifully. Now I don't have to worry about moths and silverfish eating holes in my heirloom quilts! I'm a convert.

You may have to look around a bit for this product. I found it in an upscale grocery store, with the laundry products. I had tried several other discount and regular grocery stores before I found it.

A Dozen Hearts

Here’s a new design, a table runner with raw-edge appliquéd hearts. It’s easy enough that you can whip one up in time for Valentine’s Day. I'll try to get the pattern up on my website in the next 24 hours. It is 14" x 42", but you can make it any length or width that is a multiple of seven by simply adding blocks vertically or horizontally.

This little quilt also looks adorable hanging on a door.

Brag Book

Here’s another little book cover, made today. This one is pieced with hand-dyed scraps, then quilted and painted with Lumiere fabric paints. The closure is one of my daughters’ elastic hair bands and a button. This one is a small photo album ”brag book;" I’m going to put photos of some of my art quilts in it.

Address book cover

As part of my end-of-year organizational activities, I went through my old Rolodex to update and purge addresses and phone numbers. Seems like everyone I know is moving every few years or so, and I had a lot of work to do. I decided to give the updated information a new home. I purchased a binder-style address book, and made this quilted cover for it this morning.

I started with a piece of felt, covered it with fabric scraps, and quilted them down. Then I tucked under the edges, sewed them down close to the edge, and folded under about 3 inches on both ends to make the sleeves to hold the binder. Voila!



I have purchased a small photo album "brag book" and intend to put photos of some of my art quilts in it. I sometimes meet people and end up talking to them about what I do, and a lot of them have absolutely no idea what an "art quilt" is. I figure a picture is worth a thousand words, so I intend to make a cool cover for my brag book and pop it in my purse, just in case I run into someone who is curious... or maybe someone who just happens to want to commission a large work ... :)

Making paper snowflakes

I grew up in Pittsbugh, Pa., where there never seemed to be a shortage of snow by Christmas time, but here in North Carolina (where it was 80 degrees several days last week!) we haven't had a decent snowfall in years. Gosh, I'm tired of dragging my kids around on their sled in the mud and about 1/4 inch of snow! So my daughters and I decided to make our own blizzard this weekend – with paper snowflakes.

We stuck them up on our front window using double-sided tape and now we feel frosty even when the thermometer is not!

Here are my directions for making them:

Start with a piece of white paper, the thinner the better. Fold up one end so that the edges meet along one side and you have a nice point at the corner. Crease very well with your fingernail. (Sharp creases and presise folds are the keys to making nice snowflakes.)



Trim the excess paper so you have a triangle (a square if you open it up).



Fold the triangle in half again and position your new triangle with the longest side down, so it looks like a little mountain, like this:



Here's the trickiest part. You now have to fold this triangle into thirds. Start on one side and give it your best guess. Fold it gently, without creasing, because you will probably have to adjust it a bit before you get it right. (Don't worry, you'll get the hang of this after you've done a few snowflakes.)



Now fold in from the other side. Inspect it from both sides. You should have it folded into thirds. If not, go back and adjust it. Then crease well. Make sure the point at the top is sharp and precise.



Here's how it looks from the other side (I think it resembles a rocketship):



Trim off the "tails" (or the flames, if you are envisioning a rocketship) so that you have just a triangle again.



If you open it halfway up, you can see how it is folded into thirds (sixths if you open it all the way up):



Now, cut your design. Use the sharpest paper scissors you have. You can also use hole punches to punch circles in the interior. Remember that the shapes you cut into the folded sides will be doubled (a semicircle becomes a whole circle). You can cut smooth curves, or sharp angles. Have fun and experiment. Here's my design:



And here's the most fun part! Unfold your snowflake and enjoy. Don't you feel the chill in the air?



You can do this activity with fairly young children. My seven year old enjoyed it, although she had a hard time cutting through all the layers, so we had her draw her design in pencil, and then I cut it out.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! pleeeeeeese!