Fusible Applique Process

This is a re-post of a blog post from September 2020 on the fusible applique process we use with Thermofax printing.  This is the same process described in the "Thermofax Printing for Fusible Applique" article published in the summer 2023 issue of Quilting Arts magazine.  The issue is currently available digitally online and on newsstand June 13.  We have a number of screen designs suitable for this process available in our Etsy shop.  Feel free to contact us with any questions. (pgfiber2art@gmail.com)

Another technique we have used Thermofax screen printing for is to create raw edge fusible appliques.  Back in May, Sue shared a project where she used the "lazy daisy" screen in 3 sizes to make appliques. They were printed with black acrylic paint on yellow fabric.

After printing and heat setting, they need to be backed with a fusible product before cutting out.  Sue used MistyFuse, but you could also use Wonder Under or Steam-a-Seam2 Lite, or another favorite fusible, as long as it is fairly thin.  You don't want to add stiffness or something that might gum up on your needle when stitching. After fusing, cut them out, then you are ready to create your arrangement on the background.  Play with the arrangement until you are satisfied.  Consideration was also given to where the stems and leaves would go and what needed to go underneath what. Above right is the arrangement with stems and leaves added.  The stems & leaves were fused and stitched before the flowers were fused in place. To maintain your arrangement, take a picture for reference and you can also lay them out on another surface the same way you want them on the quilt.

The flowers were all edge stitched in black along the printing lines, and the petals have some accent stitching in yellow.  

Elizabeth made her applique sample using a zebra screen and made it into a postcard.

She cut her postcard base (fusible Timtex or Peltex can be used) to the standard 4 x 6" size and printed the zebras on a yellow fabric.  Then she fused Heat 'n Bond to the back before cutting them out.

Above shows the cut out zebra and positioning it against the background of grasses printed on the fabric to be used.

Finished postcard above.

Here are some other examples of applique projects.

Butterfly postcards - printed butterflies, cut out after fusible applied, finished postcards.

Falling leaves - pin oak leaf appliques, before and after applied to quilt.

The birds were printed on a color catcher (colored by putting in with a wash load of dyed fabric); different colors were tested to see what looked best on the piece on the right.  Color catchers are great for this technique because they are non-woven and won't fray on the edges. 

We have a number of screens in the shop that work well for this fusible applique technique, including various flowers, leaves, bird, butterflies. If you have a photo of an item, you can turn it into a screen - all of those items mentioned started out as photos we took. And like the flowers, when they are digital, you can create various sizes.  What photos do you have that would make great appliques?

More Ice Dyeing and New Thermofax Screens

While Elizabeth was busy with her ice dye experiment, Sue did some ice dyeing of her own.  She brought along some previously dyed pieces for over-dyeing, so decided to see if she could improve them with ice dyeing.  One piece was an uninspiring light green, and the other was a pretty ugly brown with some patches of dark blue.  Of course, she forgot to take "before" pictures.

 Here's the set up of the two trays, with the soda ashed fabric under the ice.

 The pale green fabric got azure blue and kingfisher blue dye.

 The ugly brown got 3 colors - black cherry, deep purple and elephant grey.

The "ugly brown" above is greatly improved.  Most of the brown is transformed, and the odd blue streaks even add a bit of interest.

Likewise, the formerly green piece, now blue-green, has a really lovely texture from the ice.  She is much happier with these two transformed pieces.

In addition, we have made 3 new thermofax screens which will be added to the shop soon - a 5-leaf stem, an ancient pine,  and a berry branch.

Come back every day for more quilt camp adventures in surface design!

Indigo Unwrapped

Remember the wrapped and tied pieces we showed in yesterday's post?  Here's what they look like after rinsing and washing.

This is Elizabeth's clothesline.  The 2 on the left were accordion pleated and banded - one horizontally and one vertically.  The next was pole wrapped on a very small diameter pole, so the dye didn't penetrate very far.  Fourth from the left had various sizes of round wooden discs and glass marbles.  The pieces with circles was folded and clamped between wooden circles.  Second from the right was simply folded and clamped. The piece on the far right was done with whiffle balls rubber banded into the fabric.  Below are some close-ups of the whiffle ball piece.

 Isn't it cool how the holes in the ball create the darker dots at the center of the circles?

This is Sue's clothesline.  On the left is a sleeveless t-shirt.  Next is the green piece that was banded with marbles, then the purple piece that was pole wrapped.  Last is a piece that was folded and clamped with 2 wooden rectangles as the resist.  Below are some close-ups.

If you look closely at this shirt, you can see a pattern of small rectangles.  What Sue did first on this shirt was screen print it with a product called Color Magnet, which is a dye attractant. The rectangles are a slightly darker blue than the rest for some additional subtle patterning.  Adding the bands for the white striping was a last minute decision that turned out well, since the whole thing was just an experiment.  The screen she used is called Rectangle Rows and is available in our Etsy shop.

While indigo is typically done with white fabric, producing the distinctive blue & white patterning, Sue wanted to see what would happen if she over-dyed some colored pieces from previous dyeing sessions.  Above is the green piece where Sue used buttons in the banded areas. Some of the green is still visible around the circles and you can also see where the button holes were on the buttons.

This purple piece was pole wrapped, and while the indigo did not penetrate all the way to the center, there is some very cool patterning along the left and bottom edge of the fabric.

Stay tuned for more adventures with indigo dyeing!

Shibori

One of the things we like to do at quilt camp is dye fabric, scarves, and other items using the Japanese method of resist dyeing called Shibori - which actually encompasses numerous ways to shape and  compress fabric before dyeing it, resulting in surprising and delightful patterns.  You can never completely control the process, so each piece is unique.

Last week, one of the things Sue started off with was preparing fabric with several methods of Shibori to be dyed by immersion dyeing, using up the last of her cobalt blue dye with a bit of Kingfisher blue mixed in.  One of the projects she needs to get started on is for a group exhibit project called "Fly Me to the Moon"; Sue's quilt is to be based on the song "Moon River", so she is attempting to create some fabrics that might be used in this piece.

One piece was pole wrapped, another had marbles banded into the fabric, a third was folded and clamped between wooden circles, and the fourth was accordion folded and banded with rubber bands. Below the fabric is folded and wrapped around a pole (PVC pipe) and wound with string, not too tight so it can be scrunched together as in the second photo.

Compressing the fabric acts as a resist and prevents the dye from penetrating into all the areas of the fabric.  Small glass marbles are inserted in the fabric in the other piece and secured with small rubber bands.  Again, the bands act as a resist and the bound areas absorb less of the dye.  I don't have before photos of the other two pieces, but you can get an idea from the results.

Here the pieces are all "batching" in the bucket of dye - it required a container large enough to cover the fabric wrapped around the pole.  They were allowed to sit about 24 hours.  Here are the results.

This is the pole wrapped piece.  More dye is absorbed on the outer surfaces.  The inner layers are lighter.

The marble piece is folded so you can see both sides.  Notice how on one side, the circle centers are greyer than the other; the greyer circles are the inside that was against the marble.  The bluer color is what was on the outside.

This piece was folded in half lengthwise, then in thirds.  The wooden circles were placed above and below and clamped together.  You can easily see how the  clamped area resisted the dye.  One of these might make the right sized moon, maybe with some more texture added.

This last piece was done to use up some more of the dye, and added after the others were taken out, so the dye was 24 hours old.  Usually the color is not as strong as the dye gets older.  This one was accordion folded and banded at intervals - the vertical white lines are where the rubber bands were placed and the darker horizontal lines were the folds in the fabric.

Today we made an indigo pot and dyed more Shibori pieces in it.  Those results will be shared in another post.

PG Fiber2Art Featured on Artistic Artifacts Blog

Quilt Camp has begun on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, but before we get deep into telling you what we are up to, we’d like to suggest you check out JudyGula’s blog at Artistic Artifacts.  As you probably already know, we teach thermofax printing at her shop in Alexandria, VA, and for the past two summers have designed screens which could be used in the row her shop features for the Row by Row Experience.  Judy was kind enough to highlight us in her latest blog post and we would like to share that with you.  

PG Fiber2Art and the Row by Row Experience

We love working with PG Fiber2Art, the surface design team of Susan Price and Elizabeth Gibson. We carry a large variety of their beautiful thermofax screen designs in the shop, and they teach one of our most popular classes, Printing with Thermofax Screens, which will next be held on September 26: register online.

Because we are offering their thermofax screen alternate design as part of the 2015 Row by Row Experience (see above, click for a larger view), we will also be offering a fun, abbreviated “taste” of the process on the evening of August 13 as part of our How Do I Use This sessions — register to join us!

PG Fiber2Art maintains a really wonderful blog, full of inspiration, instruction and information…right now they are documenting their experiences at many of the New England shops participating in Row by Row. Time to envy these lucky ladies: they spend part of every summer in New Hampshire, lakeside, at their very own Quilt Camp.

We wanted to share some of their Row by Row-related posts with you, especially when they included some “learned the hard way wisdom.” I had to laugh —very much WITH them, not at them — when I saw the title Wonky Is Easier When You Read the Directions … I personally am notorious for not reading directions!

But as we all know, any time spent with fiber art is well spent, even when you don’t end up with what you thought you would.

And as the saying goes, the third time is the charm. Along with the fish screens they had created to use for this year’s Row by Row, they had created two beautiful sea shell screens too. Don’t they make for another beautiful alternative for the Artistic Artifacts row? (See below, click image for a larger view.)

Here are lessons learned by Elizabeth’s — great tips for anyone who picked up our Row by Row pattern:

• Wonky isn’t severe. Don’t make those cuts too severe or they will grow out of your control.
• Measure as you go so you will end up with a block you can cut into a square and not end up with a rectangle.
• Don’t make the inner rounds too wide or you will reach the 9.5 inch block size limit before you get as many rounds of fabric on it as you want.
• When horizontal doesn’t work, try vertical. (Our 2015 winner did, see below!)

Above, Elizabeth used the PG Fiber2Art crackle screen (also available in our shop; if you aren’t close by, visit the PG Fiber2Art Etsy shop) on the Woodstock by Batik Tambal, Green River for wonderful additional background texture. Then she added another thermofax layer of the fish screens with PROFab Transparent Textile Paint in hunter green and navy.

New in the Shop

We are working on adding some new screens to the Etsy shop.  There are 3 new so far, with a spring theme in mind.  We've got an apple blossom, a dogwood blossom, and some water ripples that are great for background texture.

The apple blossom is available in 3 sizes which can be purchased individually, or as a set at a savings over the individual screens.

 The dogwood is the state flower of Virginia, so adding this to our collection is long overdue.

This image of water ripples is great for adding a subtle overall background texture, especially in a color that is not a high contrast to the fabric.  Below are some photos of how the screens look when printed.

Both the apple and dogwood blossoms are printed in white (even though the dogwood looks pale pink in this photo).

In the image below, the water screen was printed twice with discharge.  The first time was with a wedgewood blue color, which was hard to see.  The second time was with a plain discharge, so it was just taking color out, not replacing it with another color.  That provided a more visible texture.  If you're not familiar with discharge, it is a process for taking color out of fabric.  It can be done with bleach or products containing bleach, but does require something to stop the bleaching process, such as Anti-Chlor.  For this piece, I used deColourant discharge paste - it is made in plain and colored versions.  I like this product because it has a less offensive odor (more citrusy) and doesn't require the stop-action product.  It does require heat (ironing) to complete the discharge process.

If you're looking for something new to print, check out the designs available in the shop.

New Printing Enthusiasts!

In our thermofax screen printing class yesterday at Artistic Artifacts we created a new group of printing enthusiasts. One student does painting on silk, another works mainly with mixed media, others were more in the fabric/quilting arena, but all found ways that this "addictive" technique can be incorporated into their creative process.   We had plenty of time for printing, experimenting with discharge and thickened dye, and all produced successful prints. What an enjoyable way to spend the day!

We started out with just muslin and tried various paints to get the feel for printing. Then our students pulled out other fabrics they brought and got busy with their own choices of colors and images.

 Betty had this beautiful dyed (or painted?) piece that she printed with our bird on a branch screen.

 Another birds in a tree screen printed on a commercial "hand dye".

Jan had this interesting fabric from another workshop that she used the sewer cover screen on with a similar paint color to add another layer (the partial squares are the screen print).

Judy used the circles screen to add more interest to a commercial print.

Elizabeth demonstrates how to tape a screen. We also demonstrated how to use discharge and thickened dye.

 This is one of Debbie's discharge pieces.

 Betty produced this lovely subtle discharge on her piece.

 Nancy's discharge on a commercial batik produced this lovely pale pink image of the birds hiding among the leaves of the print.

Kate is very happy with this piece of a yellow to orange gradation on which she printed a seed pod in orange on the yellow to orange section and a butterfly on the orange to red section.  Can't wait to see what she does with it!   Most of these screens are available in our Etsy shop; if you don't see them there, feel free to contact us via email through our profile.