In this tutorial I’m going to show you a fun and creative technique for making what I call “fiber doodles”. Fiber doodles which are pieces of decorative fabric that are made using thread…
the tutorial materials - click here for the materials list introduction - in the last post I listed the basics that you will need to have a go at my little fabric collage project - please know that you don't need all of the fabrics. For example, some of the things I listed were prompts/ideas for using up old pieces of work ... it's exciting to use up old projects and clear the decks a bit ..... so here we go! inspiration - you may have given some thought to your theme or colour scheme ... if not it really doesn't matter. This is a very freeing and very personal project ... you can copy my colours if you wish but better still if you have your own project in mind. If you have no particular project in mind then using a variety of colours with no particular theme means you may end up with some very lovely abstract pieces, which is exciting! prepare your base layer - get your piece of stiff Vilene or stiff calico or cotton and cut your piece into approximately 9 inches x 12 inches. It really doesn't matter at all if you go an inch smaller or bigger either way STAGE 1 - COVER YOUR BASE LAYER WITH FABRICS AND PAPER layering - from your pile of gathered fabrics and paper ... tear, rip or cut pieces of fabric and paper and glue it straight down on the base layer ... work in an abstract manner and work quickly without thinking too much about placement. Don't be too fussy at this stage and you will get some good results here I have glued some paper and some chiffon with stitched pleats some wool tops and some cellophane wrapper as well as very small bits of metallic fabric with fraying edges glues - I use a glue stick ... but you can also use pva glue if you wish. Glue stick dries quite quickly. Whatever you use, you will need to leave your base layer to dry out thoroughly before moving on to the next stage. If you have a hair dryer you can use that on a medium/gentle setting to help it dry a bit quicker ... but I would not recommend using a heat gun as the heat will be too intense and may burn some of your fabrics and papers working fairly quickly, glue all your pieces on ... overlapping if you wish until your base laver is covered completely like this ... above you can see some of what I've used - the green fern and the pumpkin fabrics are shop bought, there is a piece of old cross stitch, two cellophane wrappers in orange and yellow, assorted torn papers from paper bags and distressed magazine papers, the bee and hive image were torn from a magazine, there is also some hand dyed sari silk ribbon and some little torn metallic sheer fabrics dotted over the piece before moving on to stage 2 - please ensure your work has dried out sufficiently (see above) STAGE 2 - APPLY PAINT TO YOUR PAPERS AND FABRICS blending - using your paints/acrylics or other colouring medium ... use them to blend the fabrics and papers together. There are no rules ... it's up to you. You can use your paints or colouring mediums to either enhance and draw attention to areas you love or to disguise areas you don't like so much. If you don't like what you've done with the paint ... wipe it off, let it dry and paint over with another colour or glue a piece of fabric or paper over the top. You can see in the photo below I've added some burnt umber, gold and sap green ... blending all the colours together. Then let your piece dry completely before the next stage in the picture below I've worked burnt umber and gold paint into a piece of wool blanket and it's optional but, if you wish, you can press your gilding flakes into the paint before moving on to stage 3 - please ensure your work has dried out sufficiently (see above) STAGE 3 - ADD MACHINE OR HAND STITCHING AND THEN CUT UP stitching - after the paint has dried you can further secure your fabrics and papers by stitching through the layers. If you have a sewing machine you can use free motion stitch if you are happy with the technique. If you prefer to do simple stitched lines, running stitch or zigzag then that's fine. Perhaps alter the size of your stitches by adjusting the length and width while you are stitching ... that can add a bit of interest. If you are not happy using a sewing machine (or don't have access to one) you can hand stitch through the layers ... long lines right across your piece in every direction ... I've used a simple running stitch and zigzag stitch below ... then turn your piece over (mine looked like this on the back) ... on the back divide your piece into six smaller pieces by drawing lines with a pencil (divide into as many pieces as you wish ... any size ... it's up to you) then be brave and cut them up with scissors STAGE 4 - WORK ON SMALLER PIECES - ADD TEXTURE add texture - your pieces should now be a bit more abstract and have some interesting lines and areas of colour. The next thing is to select just one of your small pieces to work on. work on your small pieces one at a time personalising them and adding texture and interest. You can add texture by building up more layers of fabric and paint (in the same manner I mentioned above). further texture can be added with 3D elements such as the "emeralds" I've added below. Position your bits and pieces on your little piece, then glue down to keep them in place, then over sew to further secure. I would add my 3D elements first before doing a lot of hand stitching. I tend to hand stitch or sew on small beads as the final stage ... but, of course, it is up to you I added the chiffon and emerald strip which I glued down to "place" it, then stitched it to secure afterwards, I worked some french knots around the piece to help blend it in with the surrounding fabrics and papers at any time, you can also apply more paint if you wish and remember those gilding flakes, if you have some. Press your little shimmery flakes into the paint and leave to dry thoroughly. Cover the gilding flakes with a piece of plain paper and carefully press and smooth the flakes to burnish them into the paint. Gilding over pleats, lumps and bumps ... even little stitches ... will enhance the raised areas. If you don't have gilding flakes ... you could gently rub some treasure gold (or similar), metallic paint, markel sticks or metallic oil pastels over any raised areas you wish to enhance and draw attention to (if you want to go the whole hog ... there are a variety of products out there for adding texture to your piece ... by adding texture to paint as well as texture pastes and 3D paints that you puff up with heat products ... this tutorial does not explore all those possibilities ... but if you are familiar with them ... they are suitable options for adding texture to your pieces. It's just not possible to explore everything in one tutorial within a blog post) gilding on pleats to enhance raised areas hand stitching - when it comes to adding little stitches to your piece ... it's nice to use a variety of different types of thread, use a variety of thicknesses and a variety of colours or toning colours. Stitch your biggest stitches, with your thickest yarns, first ... then fill in around with smaller stitches and blend your colours. I, personally, like tones of similar colour all blended together ... but you don't have to do what I do. Do what pleases you! different stitches - you can use your small pieces to practice new stitches. I'm a terror for always using my favourite french knots ... so next time I do this technique (which will be on Wednesday as I have a Crow Day) I promise to use new stitches. I recommend any of Jan Beaney's and Jean Littlejohn's books for stitch inspiration and I also have Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches which is useful. Online ... you can visit Sharon B's dictionary of stitches for hand embroidery and needlework for beautiful stitch ideas. Be creative and use the stitches out of context to add texture and interest. In addition, you could consider stumpwork or raised embroidery. The possibilities are endless ... stitching through painted areas after working on all six of my little pieces I found that each one took on a new personality they spoke to me and let me know which type of "allotment" they would be ... ... like a story unfolding and I hope that yours will too I hope you have fun with the basic ideas contained in this tutorial work into each one as much as you wish ... until you are happy with your little pieces it is up to you you can refer back to my last seven or eight posts for more detail thank you for reading today and for following along the tutorial will stay on my blog forever ... so don't feel under pressure have fun!! ♥ Posted by Carolyn Saxby
A Love For The Sea Vanessa Barragão is an ecological textile artist based in Portugal. She started her own design studio in 2014, using only recycled or otherwise discarded yarns to create her artwork. She creates artisanal tapestries, rugs and wall hangings made using various hand-crafted textile techniques. Building
Keep things au naturale with this easy tutorial.
23 Feb — 19 Apr 2015 at the Southbank Centre in London, United Kingdom
How to how to remove the flour resist and paint from your fabric!
Object of Comfort Talisman, Front View I've just released a new tutorial pattern, now available here in my Etsy shop! This one is on how t...
Learn how to make the Electro-Fashion Cat using conductive thread in our easy to follow tutorial.
PLEASE READ FULL DESCRIPTION for this class.... For this listing you are not receiving any physical item. This is for a online video instructional class. No item will be shipped to you. Upon purchase you will receive your link to the online class within 24hrs, generally much sooner. I hold my online classes through Ruzuku. Upon purchase of this class, you will be sent a link for this class, within 24 hrs, generally much sooner. I have also made the class available for download, if you desire to do so. This is only available to you, after you accept the link for the class and sign into the online class at Ruzuku. You will not be downloading anything from Etsy. You will not be receiving a physical item for this listing. This listing is for my online video tutorial instructional video class,"fragrance fabric book. I have created a class, where you will be making 2 fabric books, with fabric pages, as inserts. In this class, you will have over 2 hrs of instructions. I have included 6 different images of flowers, for your personal use only. I will walk you through the steps of creating your own book. You will see me discussing my thought process, as to why and how I choose my pieces. I created 2 different size of books, to show you that regardless of the size, each book is unique, beautiful and will leave the viewer, wanting to investigate your book, again and again. I love working with old, tattered, vintage, discarded pieces and show how you can create a unique and beautiful piece of art, that will be cherished for years to come. ***please note, that the last 3 images listed, is showing another sample book, using the techniques from this class. You will be making the first 2 books shown. This class, is similar to my other fabric book class; New Beginnings. We are creating fabric pages in this class, as where in the other, you would be incorporating paper pages. These make wonderful gifts for the holidays, Mother's day, Father's day, teacher gifts, a just because gift, birthday's, etc. I have also made my classes available for download. Please keep in mind, that to be able to download the videos, you may find that your download speed is too slow. If you find that you are having a hard time downloading the videos, this may require you to find a spot(business) that allows free use of their wifi and has faster download speed or contact your internet provider and see about obtaining faster speed. Also, sometimes firewall protections and image blockers, will prevent you from downloading videos. ***PLEASE NOTE*** I still hold the copyrights to my videos and photos, even though I allow you to download them. The videos are for your personal use only. You do not have my permission to copy the videos or photos and resell them for any purpose. ****When you purchase this class here on etsy, I will notify you within 24 hours, with the information on how to access my class*** Once you are in the class; it starts immediate and all of the course lessons are available at once. ***important**** You will want to make sure that if the email that you pay with, isn't where you want me to send the invite link to my class, that you let me know. Otherwise, the email that is listed on your payment receipt, is where the invite link will be sent to. ***All classes sales are final*** ***to view more of my art, please visit my blog*** www.earlymorningthoughts.typepad.com Website; https://nelliescreativetouch.com Pinterest; vintage123 Instagram; Nellie Wortman
These stays are certainly the most complex cording project I've done, so I wanted to share how I've been going about it! First off, I'm using a totally different cording method than the ones shown in my Making a Corded Petticoat post. In both methods shown in that tutorial, the cord was put in place first and its channel was sewn around it. Those methods work just fine for a corded petticoat, but won't work very well for these stays. Instead, I'm sewing channels into the fabric first, then inserting the cording afterwards. As a reminder, this is the pattern I'm working with: Fabric Prep Since the criss-cross cording is the most difficult part of these stays, that's what we'll focus on. Each of the squares that make up the criss-cross pattern are only 0.25" wide, so they're very small and difficult to sew accurately. The space between each square forms the channel that the cord threads through. I'm using a green shot cotton as the pretty outer fashion layer of the stays, with two layers of thin but tightly woven white cotton as the strength layers. My stitches will go through all three layers of fabric, but the cording will be run between the two white layers of cotton. The first challenge was figuring out how to mark the stitching guidelines on the fabric. I could have made all the markings on the back of each piece, but I find that the top side of my stitching often looks a bit more precise than the back, so I needed a way to mark the green fabric so that I could stitch accurately, but not have the markings visible later. Squares marked with water soluble pen, with a penny for scale. At first I tried using a water soluble fabric marker that had a relatively fine tip. It showed up very well on the fabric, but since it is a marker and the fabric wicked the ink out a bit, the line it left was fairly thick. The thicker line made it very hard to see where exactly to stitch. Some of my test squares were more parallelogram than square, and the width of the squares varied between 5/16" and 3/16" wide. It may seem like I'm being overly picky, but that is a difference of 1/8", which means I was off in some areas by the width of half of a square! When working at such a small scale, even a little bit of deviation becomes extremely obvious. Wibbly wobbly stitching due to wide fabric marker guidelines. I considered using a fine mechanical pencil to draw more precise, accurate lines, but there were two potential issues. One, I was worried it wouldn't wash off well, leaving me with pencil lines all over my stays. Two, it's actually pretty hard to draw an accurate line on this fabric with a mechanical pencil, as the pressure of the lead warps and distorts the fabric as you're trying to draw. Can't draw a straight line b/c the pressure of the lead warps the fabric. Luckily, I was able to solve both issues at once with my favorite secret weapon: Mah super-sekrit weapon. Shh, don't tell! Starch has saved my butt on many a sewing project. Here, it serves two purposes. First, it stiffens the fabric so that it is almost paper-like, so now I can easily draw on it using the mechanical pencil without the fabric distorting. Now I can get perfectly straight, thin, highly accurate stitching lines! With starched fabric, no distortion! Comparison of marker lines vs mechanical pencil lines. Second, thanks to Lifeofglamour's various experiments with tinting starch for use on ruffs, I know that very often, pigments and dirt that are mixed in with or sitting on top of starch wash out without staining the fabric. When I tested this theory on my fabric, washing the starch out washed the pencil marks down the drain too! You can buy spray on starch or the liquid kind you dip your fabric into from the store, but thanks to Frolicking Frocks (dude, check out those petticoats!) I'm a convert to making my own out of cornstarch. My test stitching proves much more straight and accurate with the pencil guidelines, and after washing all evidence of the pencil lead is gone! Now that I've got that settled, the last step before stitching is to use a lightbox to trace my design onto the fabric. Stitching My original plan was to hand-stitch the stays, but I came to my senses after attempting a sample. I tried using my modern sewing machine, but it's very hard to stitch a line precisely 0.25" and stop in exactly the right place using the pedal control, so I pulled out the little Singer 99 hand crank machine I refurbished a few years ago instead. Remember this one? Isn't she pretty? With a hand crank, it's really easy to stop right at the exact number of stitches you want. A lot of fiddling and several tests later, I settled on a stitch length calibrated to precisely 1/16 of an inch, giving me squares that were 4 stitches wide on each side. Getting the correct stitch size is no mean feat on these old machines, since you set the length by screwing an unlabeled knob in or out as needed. That knob is the stitch length regulator. Notice the distinct lack of numbers or any useful markings of any sort? Now that I've got the length set, sewing each square is now as easy as starting the needle in the right place, sewing 4 stitches, sinking the needle on the 4th stitch, raising the presser foot, turning the fabric, putting the foot down again, sewing 4 more stitches, etc, all the way around the square. This leaves a bunch of thread tails all over the place. Of course I can't just trim them because the stitching would come out, so the loose threads are pulled to the back and tied off. Since I'm a bit paranoid about the knots coming undone, I put a dot of Fray-Check on each to prevent unraveling. Remember to test the Fray-Check on an inconspicuous spot first! My layers are thin, and on the first few knots I used too much and it soaked through to the front. Threads pulled to the back for tying. At first I was tying the threads after each square, but it's more efficient to sew several squares, then flip to the back and start pulling through/tying off. The problem with doing it that way is that those loose tails get in the way of stitching, and if you sew through the tail of a square a few rows down it's a mess to untangle. Luckily, I'm owned by two exceedingly furry felines, and thus have a clothing de-furring brush that doubles as a way to clear all my loose threads off to one side with a single swipe. Guess the fuzzbeasts are good for something. There's something like 200 tiny squares on just ONE front panel, plus more on each side panel, so you can see why this has been taking me a while! Cording After washing the starch out, drying, and pressing each piece, it's FINALLY time to stuff some cord in there. I'm using the same Sugar n' Cream cotton cord that I used in my corded petticoat. You'll want a cord of a width that fits fairly snugly in your channels, so choose accordingly, or stitch your channels to accommodate the cord you wish to use. I'm using a thick, blunt needle with a wide eye. Tapestry needles are perfect. The eye should be large enough that the cord just fits through it, but not so big that the needle won't fit through your channels with the now doubled cord in tow. I also have a pair needle nose pliers, because despite my best efforts, the eye of my needle still gets stuck in the fabric sometimes. When I made my last pair of corded stays, I broke the only good needle I had and swapped to one that was nearly the same, only sharp instead of blunt. It sorta worked, but the sharp tip kept shredding the fabric on both sides, and those scrapes later unraveled into larger holes, allowing the cord to poke out. I wouldn't have minded if they were all on the inside, but most of them were on the pretty outside! If all you can get is a sharp needle, grind the tip down. Holes in channels caused by sharp needle shredding fabric. Sadly, these are on the front, so they show when I wear it. On the backside of the stays, I poke the needle through just one layer of fabric right at the start of a channel. Since the needle is blunt, with some fabrics an awl is needed to start the hole. It takes a bit of practice to get the tip to go through just one layer of fabric, but practice makes perfect, right? Using an awl to start the hole. Threading the needle into the channel. Once inside, the needle is pushed down the length of the channel, dragging the cord behind it. It's tight, and I have to moosh (super technical term) and manipulate the fabric around the needle to move it along. Sometimes the pliers are necessary to pull the needle through the channel too. The eye is stuck at the entry to the channel, so I use pliers to help it along. At the opposite end, I poke the tip of the needle back out through the back fabric and pull it out, taking care to not pull all the cording out with it! The pliers are also super useful here, as the eye of the needle generally gets stuck on the way out. All the pushing and pulling on the needle is pretty rough on my fingers; using the pliers instead solves that problem. The downside is that I'm more likely to break a needle when pulling on it with the pliers. It's easier on my fingers to just use the pliers to pull the needle out. I don't trim the cord close to the fabric just yet; instead I cut it so there's about 1" still hanging out, then move on to the other channels. The places where the cords cross are a bit tricky to get through, but it's doable. Eventually I end up with a small forest of cord ends growing out of the back of the stays. Well that's a right mess. Once I've got a whole section done, I start trimming the stray tails. I cut the cord pretty close to the fabric, but not right flush with it. There are till some tiny tails hanging out. Trimmed close, with just a little bit hanging out. Then, without holding onto the cord, I tug on both ends of the channel, stretching the fabric slightly. Most of the tails pop back into their holes and disappear. A few are still sticking out a bit, but this is the inside of the garment, so I don't care overmuch. Gently stretching each channel. There are still holes at the start and end of each channel, but again, it's the inside, and they close up a little with time anyways. No more tails! Wow, that got lengthy! If any part of this tutorial isn't clear, let me know and I'll try to unmuddy it a bit. If you've got a cool cording project you're working on, show us in the comments! I've still got a few panels to go, so I'm off to the sewing table again for another late night.
Keep things au naturale with this easy tutorial.
Learn how to make pintucks with your sewing machine presser foot and a twin needle with our step-by-step tutorial.
Hey creative mamas! Have you ever thought that it was possible to get your kids right into nature through a fun crafty activity? Eco print with natural dyes will do just that. It's totally safe,
Learn how to use your food waste of avocado skins and pits to make a natural dye of beautiful pink shades!
I found this pillow cover at the flea market recently. The trim along the edge is what caught my fancy, and I determined to figure out how to re-create it.
Now that discussed all aspects, let's start wrapping and boiling: 1. Put the mordanted and wrung cloth flat on a piece of plastic 2. Pu...
When stitching on this piece nowadays What comes to mind is Every Stone is an Island unto Itself I also thought shoreline rocks would "swoosh" between them. Spent a few days stitching swooshes. Decided this weekend to undo all those swooshes Spent two days so far unswooshing Just going with the flow! Thinking of adding hints of islands.... ....on the distant horizon. Just going with the flow. With on piece coming to it's completion Need to firm up plans on what to start next Playing around with colours. Just going with the flow I learnt something this winter In past winters I assumed snow tunnels we discovered were made by mice. But no It is the squirrels. We watch this little bird food devil slide down his tree straight into a tunnel at it's base and pop out of one of three tunnel entrances at the base of the bird feeder! Cheeky Happy Birthday Mark! I hope one thing leads to another in your studio today. And as Peter London says in "No More Secondhand Art" "... begin the initial phase with the open-ended statement Let's see what happens"
''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007
I chose to use the medium of textile art to create a body of responses to the subject of mental health inspired by a former patient of the West Riding Pauper and Lunatic Asylum during the mid- nineteenth century. A combination of layered printed and embroidered pieces is designed to visually emulate the fusion of floral remedies within the brain. Embroidered text and florals express the beauty which lies beneath the surface of the dark sinister elements of the narrative.
Darning is basically small-scale weaving. It isn’t difficult but like anything else, it takes practice but is incredible satisfying. You will need to buy a darning mushroom, although I have…
I have done the things I set out in my last post and feel a lot happier with the work I have to send off for Project One. I have done some more drawing, and been spending quite a lot of time on res…
Rock Garden in silk, Original Textile Art, 11 x 8.5, Modern Beading, grey silk stones, Contemporary Fiber Art, green beads, embellished art
Explore vildkaprifol's 24 photos on Flickr!
FORMA SHIBORI Forma n°5 Forma n°6 Forma n°7
De cursisten van Textielatelier Mols Moois vilten in verschillende technieken; plat of ruimtelijk, van tas tot wandkleed, van gebruiksvoorwerp tot kunst.
