Happy New Year everyone...hoping 2019 brings lots of good things your way. We had our first FJ meeting of the year at Sues house; we decided to work through Jane Dunnewold's Improvisational Screen Printing book- the revised edition....but before that a wonderful show and tell.
Denny showed us this really clever Caddy Pad for irons created by Sister's Common Thread. Denny has made several out of her beautiful hand made fabric. They are lined with heat resistant fabric so you can pack a hot iron in them.
Lines for folding are stitched....
making it easy to fold up neat and tidy....
like this. Is this adorable or what!
Denny's year for making big quilts and using different kits has come to an end. Sometimes we need lots of sewing time without the intensity of designing a "one of a kind" piece. It has been a year of surprises, ooohs and ahhhs and we've enjoyed every minute of it.
More beauties from Denny although as she says NOW...she does have to quilt them. Mary.... below showed us a lovely smaller wall hanging with the background worked in foil...so much more effective in person. She really found the knack for working foiled fabric into her design. The piece on the right is for her sister in law...lucky gal!
So here is sweet Sadie...an old gal who's as mellow and gentle as they come...just wants to be with us. Once in a while she'll come over and put her paw on your leg...hoping you'll give her a little head rub...I'm eating it up!
So into the studio and onto the first lesson in the book...working with screens. Denny developed a method years ago...we all called it Denny's screens. She takes apart a regular screen (usually in 2 parts), removes the screen and cording and replaces it with silk screen fabric. Any sheer - usually synthetic curtain fabric works best. Using the original cording and a roller made for screen replacement, the fabric is inserted in. It's important to develop a feel for how tight is too tight. Too loose and it will be difficult to use, pulling the fabric too tight and the screen will buckle.
Once the fabric is in place, duct tape is placed around the edge on both sides of the screen. We all brought wild colors and patterns so we could distinguish ours from others.
Next we worked with iron on vinyl. This is a wonderful material - vinyl on one side and peel away paper on the other. Lay the vinyl over a design...a lightbox or window is helpful here and then trace design with a sharpie marker.
Next you're going to flip it over and "paint" the back with a bright colored Sharpie marker...sounds funny right ?...but you'll see why in a moment. I started cutting before I realized I was supposed to do this but best to do it before any cutting. Below, the design on the left is cut out and ready to go...flip it over (right picture) and you're able to see the edges of the design because of the bright color marking. This is important because the vinyl is clear and hard to see once it's ironed onto the sheer silkscreen fabric.
Iron the vinyl onto the sheer fabric. It works easiest if pulled tightly so I put it in a hoop. Lay the stencil down and cover with parchment paper. Iron with a dry iron until vinyl adheres permanently to fabric. I remove it from the hoop, peel away the paper backing, trim it down and tape the edges...and VOILA...ready to use.
I have belonged to several fiber art groups and I have to say you ladies are quite lucky to all be a part of the Fiber Junkies! What a wonderful inspirational group! We had our own CCC (complex cloth club) and followed Jane's newest book. In fact, I brought it with me this winter to Florida to show the ladies in our small art group!
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