Adventures in Transfer Artist Paper

Posted on May 12, 2015 by edges

I love transfer artist paper. I’ve used it a number of times with differing effects.

You can purchase this online or at craft stores, possibly your local quilt shop.

It works only with an ink jet printer, and your results will come easier to you if you have a little bit of experience in photo software, like Photoshop or Corel.

You print the image onto the paper and then iron the image onto your fabric. The BIG difference between TAP and printing directly onto fabric paper is that the transfer actually becomes a part of your fabric…any fabric. It never washes out. It’s permanent.

You can see on this image that this botanical transfer prints right over the fabric and the underlying pattern shows through. This particular print worked beautifully because it ended up looking like dew on the plant. The instructions say you can print on wood, glass, stone, basically anything, as long as you can iron on it. It takes a little practice but here are a few tips:

–Always use a hot DRY iron — no steam.

–Remove the transfer while it’s still hot.

–Illustrations tend to look more interesting than photos, but worth trying both.

–Reverse anything with lettering before you print it on TAP or it will read backward.

–Cut as close to the image as possible before you iron it on your fabric.

–Try ripping the edges of your paper before ironing. It gives a torn, aged effect.

–Experiment, experiment, experiment! If you are a photography junkie like me, this is a great way to play with your images.

Here’s an example from the upcoming Software Inspirations program I’ll be teaching next week:

I also added some embroidery to this project, which is actually a travel pillow.

The final image is from a Messenger Bag, the project I created from a previous Software Sampler lesson — a good text example of using Transfer Artist Paper to convey an emotion, a worn timelessness.

I’ll leave you with my all-time favorite quote from Macbeth:

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Photography and Stitching on Organza, with a Touch of Needle Felting

Posted on May 8, 2015 by edges

I worked on this piece several years ago, but I recently brought it out again because of my work with Transfer Artist Paper. (I’ll show you that in my next post.)

In this example, I transferred my photography onto printable organza. You can buy sheets at an art supply store or even an office supply store…certainly online as well. They are designed for ink jet printers only.

I played with black and white photography and used a (more or less) abstract photo and began a collage. You can see from the photo that I added a number of different layers of texture — background fabric, organza photo, embroidery.

And believe it or not, the whitish fabrics floating a little ghost-like around the edges, are used-up bounce dryer sheets. They are shredded and needle felted onto the surface, with embroidery on top. (Incidentally, the photo is a detail of a wrought iron gate on the side of the road, which surrounded an old farm family tomb. It is just down the street from my house. The gate has since collapsed and been replaced with something much less ornate. But the tomb remains.)

In the detail below, you can get a good look at the needle felting used to attach the organza and the dryer sheets. On the organza, the more felting I did, the more the organza began to sort of pull apart and shred, which gave it a wonderful, antique faded look.

The embroidery over the top added a whole new level of detail and interest. This is one of those experimental pieces that gets more interesting the closer you look. I really enjoyed playing with textures other than simple quilt cotton. Our sewing machines are designed to sew through many different types of fabric and materials. While quilt cotton is easily accessible and stunningly designed these days, you just never know what fun things you can use in your “art quilting” travels.

Art and Art Only

Posted on March 27, 2015 by edges

“Art and art only can cause violence to be set aside.” –Leo Tolstoy

For anyone with a child in the school system within the last 15 years, you know what STEM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math.

Experts (MANY experts) tell us that’s what all our children must be trained in, in order to move the country forward, in order to get jobs, in order to be successful.

Do you agree?

As for me, I have mixed feelings. No doubt, STEM provides key strengths for our kids to make a living in the future. No doubt, we all need these skills to build infrastructure, cure diseases, and solve problems. No doubt.

Where, then, in society, do we learn more subtle skills? Things like anger management, empathy, caring for one another, caring for the planet and the rest of the world around us? Or even less subtle skills like critical thinking, decision-making, morality, justice and local and global citizenship?

In the last election, only 12% of 18-30 year-olds even bothered to vote. I wonder what percentage of them own a smart phone. My guess is somewhat more than 12%.

“Art and art only can cause violence to be set aside.”

Tolstoy had a wide vision of art: literature, paintings, music, poetry, drama. Soft skills to say the least. Don’t get me wrong. I love doctors, scientists and engineers…(I’m married to one). But STEM is only useful when it is accompanied and partnered with creative thinking, creative expression, beauty, appreciation, and acceptance of our common humanity.

My embroidered tablecloth and fabric tulip vase. I ‘ll teach it at a Software Inspirations class.

What Have You Done With Machine Embroidery Lately?

Posted on March 13, 2015 by edges

I ask myself that all the time.

My latest project is one I’m doing for work, which will be for a class in April. It’s a part of Bernina’s Software Sampler presentation. I am stitching out a ring of 8 designs to be used (ultimately) on a tablecloth for a round table.

It’s far from complete, but I promise to show you when it’s done.

But what’s new in the home embroidery industry? Well, that’s where this gets interesting.

I have a few favorite sites that I visit, but I’ve noticed some trends and thought I’d share some of the best with you.

Urban Threads, always on the cutting edge (no pun intended) of embroidery, has a new Look Book out. You have to take a minute to browse…very fun stuff.

You’ll notice that lettering, in many forms, has re-emerged as one of the most popular uses for embroidery. I see this trend at work very often as well. Everyone wants an item that is personalized, whether that is for a wedding, or just a simple monogram, the birth of a baby, you name it.

Bernina has just released new, inexpensive software that lets you add lettering to any embroidery design or just create your own lettering in any true type font that you have loaded on your computer.

This is a big deal. In recent years, Bernina’s software with lettering had an entry price of over $1000. The new software, called Customizer, saves to any machine format and is available for under $250 at any local Bernina dealer. But, as I say, anyone with any type of embroidery machine can use this software. Find out more about it here.

And all you techies looking for something new and fun for your machine embroidery?

I found just the thing.

Janome has introduced an app for ipad or android that is called AcuDesign. It’s a $49.99 app. But before you get nervous about the price, you have to see all that it does:

–Comes with 500 designs.

–Allows you to see animated stitch-outs.

–Edit your designs.

–Resize them.

–Send them directly to your email when you want to stitch.

–Save in any format, work in any machine’s hoop.

Might be hard to see on my ipad in this picture, but the way you scroll through the various designs is so easy, and the work screen is intuitive.

And if you ever need more info, Janome has created a webinar, over an hour long, that goes over all the features. (Love these gals in the webinar, they sound like people I should know!)

Finally, I am seeing a bump in interest in crazy quilting. The website mollymine.com has a lovely collection of crazy quilt designs, from quilt blocks to holiday-themed. And our friends at Designs in Machine Embroidery have featured crazy quilting on the front cover of their April issue, with a free crazy quilt design available.

Soooooooo…..what have you done with machine embroidery lately?

We have a world of opportunities in front of us. And we haven’t even looked at Pinterest yet.

(Yet.)

Do You EQ?

Posted on February 19, 2015 by edges

If you haven’t heard of this yet, EQ (Electric Quilt) is software used for designing quilts.

And it’s very reasonably priced.

I had the opportunity, recently, to learn EQ7 and get to know EQ expert, writer and educator Barb Vlack. Within minutes, she had us designing quilts. Barb will be teaching Electric Quilt at International Quilt Festival in Houston. If you are interested, I highly recommend her class.

As you can imagine, the program gives you rotary cutting instructions, fabric yardage and templates to complete your design. Their website Electric Quilt offers training, books, downloadable fabrics and tons of other support materials. The blog, doyoueq.com offers a quilt club, challenges, and a stunning, stunning quilt gallery of customer’s designs, laid side by side with the quilts they then produced from the designs.

Did I say stunning?

After only a few minutes of playing in the software, I designed this quilt.

With another click it became this.

Now it may take a little longer to actually sew it.

Or I can choose to just enjoy it and sew it later. Or never sew it.

But it’s still fun to discover the possibilities — my unique possibilities. You can create your own appliques, and with a plug-in, you can even create your own embroidery. The ideas are endless. The program comes pre-loaded with something like 4500 blocks and designs, so if you never create a block yourself, it will still keep you busy for the rest of your life. And you can also display fabric instead of just colors. These images I’m showing? They would make great greeting cards — more ideas.

I could see myself getting lost for days in this software.

But what a terrific way to challenge ourselves, learn new techniques and explore design.

Do you EQ?

Maybe you should.

Polka Dot Finale

Posted on January 13, 2015 by edges

I am crossing the finish line.

Still sewing the binding, but the quilt label is done, the sleeve for hanging is complete and all I have left is the last bit of hand stitching to pull it all together.

The red background is twill, the tree is wool and the rest is cotton, with a wide variety of thread weights for applique.

For everyone who participated in the Polka Dot Fabric Exchange, I THANK YOU! Your fabric is lovely, especially when it’s pieced together with everyone else’s!

I really enjoyed challenging myself with this project, as it was a meaningful way of bringing together quilters from around the world.

For fun, I thought you might like to see the creative journey, step by step in images. Dedicated to quilters everywhere…we’re all on the same family tree!

Scribbling a thought at the breakfast table.

The fabric begins to come in from all across the US and the world.

I am moved by the notes attached to every fabric square, so I saved them.

Testing for applique.

Getting an idea of how the tree will look.

Transferring the drawing of the tree.

Cut out and fused down.

Leaves have been cut out and placed for position.

All appliqued, embroidered, quilted, just about done.

Hugs to my polka dot friends!

Book Cover Obsession

Posted on November 23, 2014 by edges

I love to read.

I love to read so much that my house is overflowing with books in basically every room. I give them away, I stack them, I loan them and I cherish them. When I die, someone will have to go through all of them, because many are signed by the author or are first editions. I’m hoping to organize them.

Some day.

And I read them on a Nook too. Just not enough. I like to read nonfiction digitally. I enjoy magazines online or on the ipad or on the Nook. I read biographies there, health, political books–anything I’m likely to read once and toss aside. But a delicious, yummy, hefty fiction in a dreamy setting with characters I want to have as friends, and a storyline that goes on forever with themes…oh my…themes that resonate with the deepest part of my own flawed character?

Well, those are the books I want to carry around forever. I want to touch them and hold them and..and…interact with them. I want to turn pages and go back to pages and look up dialogue and descriptions, and just enjoy holding them.

So I still read books. The old-fashioned kind.

And what does someone do who loves both books and fabric?

Cover the books. In fabric. I cover my favorites and I make covers in different sizes and move them around on the books I’m reading at any given time. This is the easiest thing in the world to do, especially if you have a serger.

First find yourself the softest fabric – the stuff you want to pet the most.

I use a pattern from a book called “Ready Set Serge” by Georgie Melot. It’s one of the best beginner serging books I’ve seen.

Most people don’t really know what to do with a serger, but once you learn to use one, you’ll never want to be without it. They finish and cut a seam at the same time. They’re fast.

They are the best possible way to sew knits or garments. They are another tool in your belt, and like all tools, take a little training.

I have a Babylock that was given to me by my mom several years ago. (She has a pacemaker and because the motors in segers are so strong, she is not supposed to get too close to them in action….isn’t that strange?) Anyway, sergers are notorious for being hard to thread, and with 4 threads, there’s definitely a knack to it. The handbook is invaluable because I still use it every time I change settings. However, for a 4-thread overlock, which I use the most, I just leave the serger threaded off to the side of my workspace, and simply plug it in when I am ready to work.

The book covers require 4 straight cut pieces of fabric: cover, lining, and 2 side pockets. Plus one piece of ribbon to use as a bookmark. That’s it. The sizes do change based on the size of the book, so you may want to experiment a little with the pattern.

You can see that I make notes on patterns that I use often. I’ve never met a pattern I didn’t want to modify. This way I know exactly how to cut the fabric for any particular book.

Her directions are very straightforward. These sew up in about fifteen minutes, so of course, you’ll want to start a collection of them yourself.

This is what a great 4 thread overlock stitch should look like. No pulling or bunching, lying completely flat, with the thread from the back side running right along the top of the edge of the fabric (that might be hard to see in this pic with the white background).

So the next time you find yourself snuggling up with a book, think about making a cover for it. What a tactile way to combine the pleasures of the mind with the pleasures of the senses.

I’m Biased.

Posted on November 11, 2014 by edges

When it comes to binding quilts, I have a new standard. I do my best not to use a straight cut binding any more.

Here’s why. About 14 years ago, I made a silly little Christmas quilt –stack and whack — and hand quilted the whole thing. For years this little quilt has been in our family room — thrown over the back of a sofa, strewn on the floor, used as a way to keep someone’s feet warm, folded and propped up as a pillow, and just generally loved to pieces. Literally.

It has been washed countless times.

And it is beginning to fall apart. How sad.

You can see the fraying. In some places, it’s worn clean through to the inside of the binding.

Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty frayed, even though the rest of the quilt is holding just fine. I used quilt shop quality fabric, so the fabric was not an issue.

But even quilt shop fabric cannot withstand the repeated agitation of the washing machine and pummeling of a hot dryer.

Think about this: when a binding is straight cut, the very edge that you see fraying on my quilt is really only about 2-3 strands of thread. All the abuse that quilts take is right on those edges, on those very few threads. Straight cutting your binding may be great for a wall-hanging or something that will have little handling and use.

But when you want your quilt to last and to withstand a little love (and cleaning), take the time to bias cut your binding. With a bias cut, binding is no longer dependent on just a few threads, but on the hundreds of threads criss-crossing those edges. SO much stronger.

A few tips:

–Take advantage of the special tools out there that will help you to conserve fabric while cutting your binding. The following picture includes the “Bias Binding Simplified” ruler from Creative Grids.

–Watch the video on the Creative Grids page, as she also makes my point about using bias binding. She gets to that explanation in the first 3 minutes.

–Try the “Quilter’s Strip Ticket” for Bias Tube Construction. That’s the red card shown below. You can get both of these tools at your local quilt shop. If not, for heaven’s sake, ASK them to order it. Using this method, you’ll waste very little fabric.

I love a striped binding, and the most recent quilt I finished was certainly completed with a bias binding. I am permanently convinced. Of course I am.

I had to live it myself to learn the hard way. As usual.

Mini Quilt Mania

Posted on October 7, 2014 by edges

I was never big on the whole mini quilt trend. Until I made one.

Here’s a quilt with a number of different techniques: squares on point, paper piecing, rounded corners, ricrac insertion.

Yet I could work on it on a tabletop. I didn’t have to clear my living room to lay it out. It didn’t take me years (I’m still working on a couple of quilts, hoping I live long enough to complete them). I didn’t hurt my shoulders, my back or develop carpel tunnel.

I worked on it sporadically over a few days and now it’s DONE.

That’s the beauty of mini quilts. They completely fill my need for instant gratification. This one will be on display at the store, then come home with me to be a placemat or table runner. It’s cheerful enough for that post-holiday table, or would look great in the summer with a glass of lemonade on it.

It still needs an adorable bright yellow binding, but the dimension is, I don’t know, 18 x 24?

I don’t have to clean out a closet to find storage for it.

The book it came from is titled, “Little Quilts” by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger.

I used mini charm packs from a darling new retro fabric line called “Pedal Pushers” by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda.

All the fun was actually in the details. Paper-pieced fans over Wooly Lady wool, with ricrac sunshine rays peaking out over a quilted background.

It’s CUTE.

So while I may have been slow to get onboard…(what does anyone DO with a mini quilt? aren’t they doll quilts? why bother?)…I’m onboard now. Here’s what you do with mini-quilts:

— Admire them.

–Give them to your kids or grandkids.

–Learn new techniques.

–Use teensy bits of fabric.

— Put them around your house, on tables, counters, hang them on the wall.

–Finish them and move on to the next fun project and fabric line. Seriously. They take up almost no space at all if you want to throw them in a closet or on a shelf.

Don’t worry, I’ll never completely give up my snuggly quilts or even the artsy ones. But mini quilts are like having a forkful of chocolate cake — enough to get a delicious taste but not enough to do any real damage.

The Burden of Excess

Posted on October 3, 2014 by edges

I think I have been building a fabric fortress.

Between Ebola and ISIS, global warming, widespread violence, political inertia and general public apathy, I am exhausted. I am tired of worrying, tired of taking action against all odds, tired of challenging the status quo and tired of cleaning my house.

If only someone else would do all this work for me. Can someone else please solve world hunger, cure the diseases, make sure everyone has a safe place to live, keep my neighborhood safe, write the essays, pay the bills, do my laundry and cook the family’s dinner?

For awhile, can someone else go to work for me and comfort those who wander in and tell their stories, maybe help the woman whose husband is in the alzheimer’s care facility, chat with the lady who just lost her daughter to breast cancer, make the day brighter for the woman who is the only caregiver for her aging mom, and for that matter just generally fix all the brokenness and the heartache and worry and pain?

If you can give a hand here, that would be great.

Because I try to solve all of this with fabric. And I don’t think it’s working.

As a matter of fact, I think the fabric is suffocating me. That’s why I spent some time this past week clearing out a great deal of the fabric in my sewing room. I have come away with 3 giant bags of scraps: batiks, traditionals, solids, you name it.

And I am donating it to the next rummage sale.

Don’t get me wrong. I still have plenty of fabric on hand. I still have projects in the queue. I still have far more than I thought possible. I still have Sterlite bins full of lovely possibilities, full of the hope of one world-weary woman, assembling bits and pieces from random places and random lives and attaching them to one another with the audacity to believe that at some point it will become something, if not beautiful, at least useful.

I’ll never be able to part with it all.

Thank God.

But at least I let go of some of it.

Edgestitch

Sewing is life. Life is art.

Category Archives: Creativity