Wondering Wednesday : Differences...

Button Mad, from Facebook, asked if spunbonded fabric is the same as non woven fabric.  The answer to that is ...yes... and no... 

There are a lot of similarities between the two.  Both are made from man made fibres, using an industrial process, not a loom, so they have similar properties.  They don't fray.  They don't have a bias edge, or a 'right way up', for that matter.  They come in a variety of different weights.  They can be coloured in a variety of different ways, too, and heat distressed, though with differing results (try it and see...). 

The main difference between the two types of fabric, though, is their method of manufacture.  I have already described how spunbonded fabrics are made; basically, the fibres are floated on air and zapped with heat, resulting in a semi transparent mesh type fabric.  It is made for use in industry, and is therefore very strong, and resistant to heat. Non woven fabrics are made in a variety of different ways, sometimes using heat, but more often using chemicals or solvents.  Whilst the lightest of them are undeniably semi transparent, their strength and their heat resistance will vary. 

I use both, but the texture of lutradur and zeelon for me is the clinching factor; it is an interesting fabric in itself, whilst non wovens tend to be uniform in structure; think of interfacing, for example.   I hope that answers the question.. if you want more details, just ask in the box...

PS  Transparency is not necessarily a feature of non woven 'cloth'; felt is a non woven, and wool felt is certainly the odd man out; it needs heat, soap and friction to felt, or a felting needle/machine.  

Try It Out Tuesday : Avoiding Flat Colour

I need to make some pastel coloured lutradur and evolon, so decided to mix up some dye.  I've never really wanted pastel colours before, so, being an eternal optimist, I put less powder in than usual, and hoped for the best.  And, because I want rather a lot of the cloth, I mixed up a fair amount of dye... as you can see, I keep mine in coffee jars.  There's some lilac, some blue, some golden yellow mixed with scarlet and a darker red.
I keep the jars in a tray; that way, spills are kept to a minimum.  This is particularly important if you are working anywhere near wood.  Trust me, you will never get a transfer dye stain out of a wood floor...or cabinet...or anything you might be working near... sigh.

I use plain newsprint for my transfer dyes, if I want a large sheet; otherwise, I tend to use the cheapest possible copy paper for A4 and smaller.  Because I wanted  to use the dyes together, I simply took a pile of newsprint, put it onto the work surface and started sloshing on the paint.  You can see from the image above, that I really mean sloshing!  I want to

make sure that the paper is really well covered in the paint, as any missed parts will show up as white on the cloth...so the section on the right would have an interesting white triangle with a lilac blob in the middle.  Fine if you intend it...not so great if you don't.

When you take the first piece of paper off, you should find that some of the dye has soaked through onto the next paper.  This is good news... as you can then either continue to paint with the same colour, or add a second.

 The image to the left shows a piece of paper from later on in the dyeing, where the yellow/scarlet and the darker red had both soaked through.  As this was the last piece, I left it as it was.  It has some interesting patterning.

Then, I thought.... wonder if it works... so, when the paper dried, I tried some sample pieces.  As I had thought, the blue and purple were not strong enough; the reds, though, produced gentle, interesting colours.

 The red, on the left, had been combined with the blue; the yellow/scarlet with the red.  In both cases, you can see gentle variations in colour which I think are quite pleasing.  Tomorrow, though, I'll have to add some more dye powder to the mix and try again...  On the whole, I think I prefer to mix strong dye to keep in the jars, and add more water to the dye to produce pastels.  It's much easier to measure that way.

Inspiration Monday

Taken in the Scottish Borders

Tip Of The Week : More Lutradur Lace

If you have tried out the Lutradur lace, and feel it's altogether too flimsy for your liking, try folding the Lutradur in half before you stitch it, or even add a third layer.  That will make it a bit more substantial, and, of course, there will be less distortion when you stitch into it.  Or you could try moving up a weight, from 30 to 70, for instance. Or both!  The piece shown here was made with two layers of Lutradur 30, and whilst the difference isn't really visible, I can certainly feel it.

May's Challenge : Extension

I set a challenge for May, and, I have to confess, then I promptly forgot about it...sigh.  As I really want to do it (and never mind any of the rest of you...), I thought I'd give myself an extension to the 30 June.  That goes for everyone else, too...

The prompt for May's challenge is a Basho haiku (the details are here .  I have an image in my head... and will make it next week.  What about you?

"Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps' nest."
- Matsuo Basho

Photo Friday

Jungle Patterns.  How do you think that was made?

Try It Out Thursday : Using Lutradur Lace

Okay, it's my birthday today, and I'm cheating slightly... I thought I would give you some eye candy.  I showed you how to make lutradur lace here; now I'm showing you what I did with that little piece of lace.  As you can see, it's attached to a fascinator base, and I've added some feathers and a sequinned motif.  I think it's fun!  The base is black, which I thought made it slightly more sophisticated than either red or white.  I think this one is finished, but you never know with these things... sometimes things get added... I'm tempted to try to find a tiny bird to perch on it!

The lace was attached using tiny hand stitches.  Because the sinamay base is curved, I carefully stitched around it, then made a dart of sorts of the excess material and trimmed it back.  I then added a few stitches to the raw ends, and covered all of those workings with the feathers and motif.  These are glued down, making the joint even more secure.

Hope you enjoyed the eye candy!  What will you use your lutradur lace for?

Wondering Wednesday : Keeping Dye

How long can you keep transfer dyes, once they have been made up into solution?  Well... the answer seems to be, indefinitely.  Providing, that is, that you keep them in a jar, preferably in a cool place.  I have even found that, if you let the dye dry out, you can add more water and redissolve the remains...but I think that's taking economy a little far!!  I keep my dye solutions in coffee jars (we drink rather a lot of coffee around here...).

The image is of a transfer dyed quilt entitled 'It's Coming To Get You!'. 

Try It Out Tuesday : Lutradur Lace

If you have used water soluble embroidery paper or fabric, you have probably made needle lace to embellish a piece of work.  If you take a scrap of any weight of Lutradur (except, perhaps XL; I haven't tried it, but I don't think it's worth it...), and free motion stitch into it, in interlapping circles (or in my case, rough approximations of circles).  My preferred weight for this is Lutradur 30.  As you stitch into the cloth, you will find that it distorts and puckers readily.  That's not a problem, as you will be burning out most of the cloth anyway. 

You can use this technique on either plain white or coloured fabric; here, I've used transfer dyed Lutradur and a variegated thread.  The photographs have been taken over  a brown envelope, just to let you see the holes.  You might remember that I used this technique to make a flower here.  Why not try it with some scrap, and see how you get on?  I prefer it to 'lace' made with water soluble materials, as it is stronger, and, if you don't burn out all of the fabric, you get the remains of the cloth adding colour as well as strength.

Inspiration Monday : Persevere!

 

 

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”  

                                                                                 Calvin Coolidge

Tip Of The Week : Developing Colour

If you want to develop a rich base colour using transfer dyes or paints, try mixing several different shades of the colour, and apply them in layers across the cloth.  Tear up some of the sheets of paper, to give irregular shapes, and apply them randomly.  This gives a much more interesting finish than a single application of flat colour.  You can see a variety of reds in this piece, despite the colours showing up from below. 

It's Okay....

not to get it right first time.  To make such a mess of it, that you have to put it in the bin.  It's okay to fail.  Really it is, I give you full permission.  Because if you don't try it, and more than once, you'll  never know what it feels like to succeed...right?  Repeat after me... it's only fabric.  It's not even very expensive fabric, compared to what we pay for commercial printed fabrics in the UK... now is it?  So, whatever it is you were thinking you'd like to try... ask yourself...what's the worst thing that can possibly happen?  We've already established that it's okay to fail, so what else is there?  Yes, okay, possibly burning the house down might be up there...but you're too sensible for that!  Go on, try it... you know you want to!

Photo Friday : Strange Swimmers

Strange Swimmers is a small art quilt using lutradur 100.  All of the colour in this piece is made using transfer dyes and paints, with the stitch following some of the interesting marks that suggest swimming.  I think it has a real underwater feel; what do you think?  How do you think I achieved that look?

Try It Out Thursday : Matching Bookmark.

The observant among you will realise that this post is a day late.  That would be because I went to visit a coaching client, went fabric shopping, generally got diverted and started making this project a tad on the late side.  That meant it didn't dry in time... so we're doing it today, instead.  I won't mention the forgetting to take the final photo and waking up at 2am thinking...oops...

I thought we'd try out a small, fast project, just in case you want to try out the paint splodging technique I used earlier in the week, but don't want to make a larger project.  So... I thought I'd continue in the book theme, and make a bookmark to go with the journal.  I cut a piece of Lutradur 130 (you could use 100, or even 70, at a pinch), six inches wide and the length of the journal.  I then folded it in three equal parts, to make a 2" column.  I opened it out again (see picture above) and laid it flat on a piece of scrap board, and added fabric paint, using the method here.  The only difference is that I added much more paint this time than I did for the journal cover; you can see that from the image below.  Don't go overboard, though, or when you brayer it, the paint will ooze out of the sides and be wasted.

 I folded it back up again, and ran a brayer over both sides.  This brought the paint to the surface, and created a bookmark shape. 

However, until the paint dried, it would not hold together, so I wrapped it in greaseproof paper and put it under a large pile of books for an hour (if you have a book press, that would be ideal).  When I brought it back out again, I put it onto the ironing board on another piece of greaseproof paper, pressed one side, turned it over, pressed the second side and left it to dry.  This ensured that the paint stuck to itself and to the Lutradur. 

The finished bookmark was large enough by itself to be used right away, but I wanted to add a few fibres at the bottom, just for interest, so I cut a hole at the bottom of the bookmark, using a paper cutter.  That worked beautifully (to my surprise; I thought it might have been a bit too thick).  I then threaded some hand dyed fibres through the hole, to produce the finished item.  This is a really quick project, though there is some drying time.  They would make good little gifts, or raffle prizes. 

Wondering Wednesday : Lutradur v Zeelon

...as in, what's the difference between Lutradur and  Zeelon?  Well, they have quite a few things in common.  They are both spun bonded, semi transparent and easy to colour.  They burn nicely, giving super effects. They come in a variety of different weights.  They don't fray.  The difference between them, though, is that Lutradur is made of polyester, while Zeelon is made from nylon. 

So what, I hear you holler?  Well, that's imporant because of the colouring aspect.  Both Lutradur and Zeelon can be coloured using paints of various types.  It's when it comes to dyes that they differ.  Lutradur can only be dyed using transfer (sublimation) dyes, which were specially designed for polyester fibres.  Zeelon can be dyed in that way, also, but, being nylon, it is also possible to use acid dyes on them, making them a little more flexible. 

The only other main difference to my mind is that they are slightly different in terms of their texture; Zeelon is smoother than Lutradur.  Otherwise, they seem to be interchangeable.  Is one 'better' than the other?  Well... it depends on what you want them for.  For me, it comes down to personal preference.  Try them out... see which you prefer. 

Try It Out Tuesday : Adding The Cover

If you remember from last Thursday's post, I had finished off the cover, and looked at a different way of attaching it.  The journals I am working with have soft covers, but good quality paper, so I wanted to make them a little more robust, and hopefully, much more attractive, so decided to make the cover a permanent feature of the journal.  I did that by putting a layer of fusible on the back of the cover.  I peeled off the backing and wrapped the cover round the book, fusible side down, exactly as I wanted it to sit, tucking the flaps in at either side.  I then put a piece of greaseproof paper over the cover to protect it, and pressed both sides with a warm iron (just follow the directions for your fusible if you're not sure).   I then opened the book, and did the same with the flaps, just to make sure they were securely attached.

Looking at the journal (above), I decided it was a little long, top and bottom, as it overlapped the edges of the book. For purely aesthetic reasons (the cover is strong enough to hold the book as it is, without any further change, I thought about how to change it.   I did not want to fold the flap in, as the corners would have been far too thick.  Instead, as the Lutradur won't fray, I cut a slit in the top cover and bottom cover, over the spine, opened the book and cut along the inside edge of the journal.  The slit in the spine area just made it easier to cut.  That produced a final book that looks like this:

I wanted a journal that suggested a garden...and here it is.  I hope you'll try this little project!  Share a photo with us if you do, and tell us what your theme was.  If enough journal photographs arrive, I'll create a separate page here on the blog to show them off!

We're going to stay with the theme of books for a while... if there is anything you would particularly like to see featured here, please let me know.

Inspiration Monday

It doesn't matter how good, bad or indifferent a photograph is, you can usually find some part of it that will spark an idea.  For me, I'm wondering about creating surface texture on Lutradur XL, inspired by the texture of this piece of stone (which is part of a house somewhere in Scotland).  What does it inspire you to do?

Tip Of The Week

Think outside the box.  Just because it's a photograph printed on fabric, in this case, Lutradur XL, it doesn't mean that it has to be hung as an image.  This bag features a manipulated photograph of a section of rock, taken at Hunstanton, my favourite Norfolk beach.  'Sunny Hunny', or just Hunny, as it's known locally, has amazing cliffs (follow the link and scroll down to see an image). 

I have lined the bag with black Lutradur, which is really closer to grey; a pure black would have been too dark, but this is perfect.  I'm now considering how to finish the edges, and what sort of fastening to use.  I found this beautiful string of agates, which go beautifully with the colours of the bag.  Or perhaps a piece of driftwood  as a fastening...?  I haven't decided yet.  I am, however, very pleased with it at this stage.  Now to see what sort of fascinator might go with it... I haven't used lutradur in a fascinator yet, so watch this space!

Spunbond Dolls

I make dolls from time to time, and have found that lutradur and evolon are both wonderful for doll making.  The one above is a lilac love fairy; her body is made of evolon, which I painted using fabric paints, and added the detail with silver gutta.  Gutta isn't just for silk painting; it's wonderful for adding detail on any type of cloth.  Her wings are made from lutradur, which had been transfer dyed.  Why not try it out for yourself?

Photo Friday : Journal Cover

As we're working with journals just now, I thought I'd show you the journal cover that Angela Huddart made following the project instructions I gave here .  Angela used Lutradur 130, on which she had printed a photograph of a rag and bone man her father took in the 1960's.  I can remember rag and bone men, though later in the sixties, they came round in a dishevelled van, rather than a horse and cart, at least in our neck of the woods.

Angela said it took her 20 minutes from start to finish; she already had the fabric printed.  Told you it was quick and easy!! Thanks for the images, Angela!

Try It Out Thursday : Journal Covers (Decoration)

On Tuesday's blog, we made the basic cover for a soft bound notebook.  Now, we're going on to embellish it a bit, before we cover the book itself.  The painted colours were quite strong, so I wanted something that would stand out.  And I started with a button, a lovely pink button, which I put in the middle of the cover and thought...yeah.. that's the centre for a flower.  Not any old flower, either, but a daisy.  So, I went to find some fabric, thinking that I really wanted something yellowy, and found some white fabric with an abstract daisy print (I bought it some time ago, and have never used it; it's now on the pile to be used sooner rather than later...). 

I cut a piece of the fabric roughly the same size as the front cover of the book, and ironed on some fusible.  I put the button roughly in the middle of the paper coated fabric, so that I could see the scale that the petals needed to be drawn at, and drew a freehand daisy shape onto it.  With each petal, I started at the button, and returned to the button, drawing round it slightly before making the next petal.  You might want to practice this on a piece of paper, first.When taking a photograph for the blog, I discovered that you couldn't make out the pattern, so inked it on with a marker pen.  This proved to be a mistake, as you will see. 

The original drawing, just using a ballpoint.

Inked in with marker pen for visibility.

AAARGH... See those blue marks?

 I had forgotten that I had been working on a soft surface (my ironing board).  As a result, when I used the ballpoint pen on the fusible backing paper, it had torn, slightly.  When I then inked up the design so you could see it, the ink travelled on the greaseproof paper, and got onto the cloth, mostly around the middle.  The button doesn't cover it enough, and it looks truly out of place.  Next time, I'll use a pencil for this task!  Right now, though, I need to think about what to do to camouflage the rogue marks. 

I fused the flower shape onto the front section of the cover, overlapping the petals at either side (if you click on the image directly above, you will be able to see the fold lines that indicate where the flap is on the right hand side, and the centre of the cover on the left.  That makes the design much livelier, as you will see in a moment.  I then stitched round the petals using straight stitch.  I did that to ensure that the stress of opening and closing the book would not unstick the flower.  I used straight stitch, instead of the zig zag stitch you might have expected because I like rough edge applique, but also because the flower shape is quite delicate; zig zag, even in white, would have detracted from the fresh look of the piece.  The stitching is barely noticeable, which for me, in this particular design, is what I was aiming for.

I then went on a hunt in my studios for something to camouflage the blue dots.  I found a small piece of scrap silk paper, which I had used on a hat project, and cut a freehand circle larger than the button.  That worked very nicely, and pulled the whole piece together.  We assume that mistakes are Bad Things; I prefer to look at them as opportunities...this certainly proved to be the case here.  I stitched the button to the silk paper circle, to create a single unit (much easier to handle than trying to add two separate elements at once, or separately), and then stitched the button in place.  Success!

Before I assembled the journal, which is now nearly finished (above), it struck me that I wanted to make the covers for these paper bound journals permanent.  The original covers are relatively flimsy, much less so than the Lutradur XL.  So, I devised a different way of finishing these journals, compared to the quick and easy version I have already showed you.   We'll look at that on Tuesday.  Meantime, happy sewing!

Wondering Wednesday : Procion and Lutradur?

Can you use Procion MX dyes on Lutradur?   Good question. I once read an article on working with Lutradur that featured procion dyes; I think that they had been thickened and painted on.  Just one problem... they could not be fixed onto the fabric.

Procion MX was not designed to work with polyester fabrics.  It will, of course, work on mixes with polyester in them, such as polycotton, but in that case, what happens is that the dye bonds to the cotton, and washes off the polyester, giving muted colours instead of the usual rich colours that Procion produces.  The only dye that works with polyester is transfer dye; we've talked about it before (have a look here).  Intriguingly, transfer dyes will make marks on cotton fabric, but they are very muted.  You can get a special medium to make transfer dyes work on cotton, but I have never used it.  I'd rather use the dyes that are designed for the particular cloth.  The only time I do use transfer dyes on cotton is when I've combined cotton, polycotton and non woven or spunbonded fabric in a single piece; then it's interesting to look at the resulting print, which will be strong in some places, and not in others.  Just to prove it, we'll do a project using all three at some point. 

Sadly, I haven't got an image of a quilt made in this way, so I've popped an image of 'Green Girl In The Garden' in here, instead.  If you want more information about procions and lutradur, just ask. 

Try It Out Tuesday : Painted Book Cover (Background)

I thought that, this time, I would change the type of book I am covering.  This is a soft backed sketchbook, so I thought that this time, I would use Lutradur XL as the base for the cover.  It looks a bit like Pelmet Vilene, but is made in a different way, with no chemicals, and it doesn't give off dust when it is cut or worked with, which is basically why I prefer it.  Astonishingly, it is still semi transparent, despite its weight, though you really do need something very strong below it for it to be visible.  Since this is a book cover, however, I thought I would use paints on the cloth, something I rarely do with Lutradur, a change from the thinking last week.

I started out by cutting the XL to size.  I was working in the shed, and forgot to take a soft tape measure with me, so instead used a piece of scrap fabric to work out the size the cover needed to be, cutting it to size in each direction, and then laying the pieces onto the XL to show me where to cut.  It worked very nicely, and I got four covers from a metre wide strip of XL.  Before I started painting the XL, I folded it in half , and then wrapped it round the book, as I did before, so that I had a clear indication of which parts of the cover would be visible when it was closed.  This is really important if you're planning to print something onto the book cover; there's nothing more frustrating than finding that you have printed squint, or printed to one side, so that some of the printing is lost. As you can see from the image below, it does cause a bit of creasing on the XL itself, but that is neither here nor there once the paint is added.

As I said in the last post, I wanted to use the same technique as I have done in the past to suggest a garden; random colour.  My reason for doing this is fairly simple.  Making samples of things can result in you having lots of bits and pieces of work that don't fit in with anything else.  They are exactly that; samples.  Working within an existing body of work or theme can unite those different things together, so that you feel as if you really are achieving something.  It can also give you more ideas for working within your existing theme.

 XL has two distinct surfaces; I painted onto the shiner of the two. I added all the colours with the same brush, a stencil brush, trying to vary the marks I was making and the depth of the paint.  For reasons I will share later in the post, I needed all the paint to be wet at once, so I worked very quickly.

When the piece was complete, I then took a second piece of XL, and put it face down on the wet paint.  I stroked it gently, and found it moved slightly under my hands (this doesn't usually happen when you do this, particularly when working with paper).  I decided to encourage this movement, and ended up with lovely blurred colour on the main piece, and some interesting colour marks on the second.  If I had wanted more paint transferred from one piece to the other, I would have used a brayer (roller). 

I set the first piece aside to dry, and took the second piece.  I wanted to add some background colour to it, as there was just a bit more white than I like in the background.  So, I took a paintbrush that I had been using for something earlier in the day.  It had quite a lot of paint left on it, and I began to work it into the XL.  This technique is called dry brushing, and is a bit like adding a watercolour wash; as there is not all that much paint on the brush, it does alter the existing colours a little, but is most prominent on the white. If you have to put more paint onto your brush, as I did, add only a little, and try to rub the majority of it off onto greaseproof paper, as if you were stencilling; that way, you can use all the paint, but without having areas that are distinctly darker than others on the finished cloth.

The final result is shown below.  Now to think about embellishments for both of these pieces... but that is for Thursday's blog!  Which one do you prefer?

Inspiration Monday.

I've never commented on how to use these creativity prompts, because everyone has their own way of doing things.  One way of using this prompt, though, would be to make a piece based on it, taking no more than one hour to do so.  If you would like me to make more detailed creativity prompt suggestions, then please leave a note below, so that I can judge if it would be helpful!

Tip Of The Week.

Evolon makes a great base for needle felting, either by hand or machine.  The 'sun' and the dark green areas have been embellished onto the cloth after stitching, to emphasise the landscape dimensions, and give extra texture.  Try it out!

May Challenge

"Spring rain
leaking through the roof
dripping from the wasps' nest."
- Matsuo Basho

 Much of England is experiencing drought conditions, despite torrential rain ever since it was announced!  I found this quotation, and thought it might be an interesting challenge for May.  There are no restrictions to this, other than that you use a spunbonded fabric.  Good luck!  The challenge ends on 31 May 2012. Feel free to ask any technical questions you might have; if I can't answer them, perhaps someone else will!

Photo Friday : April's Challenge

Only one entry for April's challenge... but it was a superb entry, well worth having the challenge for!  Angela Huddart says of this lovely piece;

 

"I manipulated a photo of a field of daffodils and printed it on both Evolon soft and Lutradur 70.  I then layered the Lutradur on top of the Evolon and zapped it with a heat gun.  I rubbed a gold paint stick over the raised surface and when dry placed another layer of Lutradur on top which had been 'dyed' with various shades of yellow Inktense blocks, turned it all over to the back and stitched a daffodil flower head design all over, using a bright yellow rayon thread in the bobbin,  (see the close up photo for detail of the design).  I decided the a 'sea' of yellow needed something more, so used an orange Inktense block to colour the centres of the daffodils before zapping it again with the heat gun.

I finished it by stitching the edges of the whole piece to some bright yellow commercial fabric."

 

Despite the poor level of response to these challenges, I'm going to continue to run them; look out for May's challenge on tomorrow's blog.  I've decided to stop voting on them, however, in case the idea of being 'judged' is putting people off.  I do think that it's a worthwhile thing to do, if it prompts work of the quality we've seen as a response to the challenge stimuli.  And of course, as you will probably have realised, the winner of March's challenge was Felicity Griffin Clark, with Fissures.  Congratulations, Felicity, I'll be in touch to let you choose your prize!  You too, Angela!  Well done, both of you! I hope more people will be encouraged to enter next time.

If anyone would like to suggest a theme for the challenges, ask a question about spunbonded fabrics or offer a photograph for Photo Friday, please email me here