Virtual Quilt Camp 2020

If you've followed Elizabeth and Sue for any length of time, you know they usually have a summer "quilt camp" at Elizabeth's New Hampshire summer house where they spend time printing, dyeing and trying out other new techniques.  Circumstances did not work out last year for quilt camp, and now the 2020 train wreck of a year with the corona virus has put another crimp in the best laid plans.  So, like everything else, we decided to try a long distance, VIRTUAL QUILT CAMP!  We are both going to carry out the same techniques in our separate studios and share results.  Not as much fun as doing things in person, but we'll try to make it inspirational at least. To start with, our studios.

Here's Elizabeth's garage studio in New Hampshire.  A big plywood table provides lots of room to spread out and not worry too much about being messy!

This is a corner of Sue's home basement studio in Virginia.  Print table to the right, sewing machine to the left, cabinets full of the fabric stash and other supplies in the background.  One major difference - Elizabeth's air conditioning is all natural, Sue's is canned air and it gets very cold in the basement! (She wouldn't mind the alternative.)

So what are we going to work on first?  We decided to run through some printing techniques/products based on our sampler printing class.  First up is the difference between opaque and transparent paint.  We chose to use graphic screen designs from our Etsy shop and each did prints with the 2 types of paint. Opaque paint blocks whatever is in the background. Transparent paint allows some of the background to show through.

This is one of Elizabeth's prints using the gear screen.  The top print is opaque, the bottom is transparent.  You can clearly see that the top print blocks the background color, whereas the bottom allows some of the color to show through.

Example number 2, again opaque at the top and transparent below.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can easily see the print of the fabric showing through the paint of the bottom print.

For this example, you really will need to enlarge to see the subtle differences.  This is Sue's first sample, using grey opaque on the left and gun metal transparent on the right.  The background fabric has some metallic gold in the print.  When you enlarge the photo, you can see that the grey paint blocks the gold, but the gun metal allows it to show through.

Print #2. Again, there are subtle differences here that are hard to see unless you enlarge the photo. The left is opaque turquoise and the right is transparent turquoise. As with the gold, the black lines in the background are blocked on the left and visible on the right.  

Elizabeth's paints were both from Pro Chemical and Dye.  Three of the 4 paints Sue used were also from ProChem; one was a Yudu screen printing ink.  While there aren't huge differences between opaque and transparent, it is something to keep in mind when selecting your paint.  Sometimes you want the background to show, other times you don't, its an individual choice but one to be aware of.  

Do your own experiment.  See if you have both opaque and transparent paint in your supplies and do some sample prints to see how they differ.  Share your results in the comments!

Covid19 Quilt Challenge

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is an international organization whose purpose is to support and expand the reach of art quilts and quilters through world-wide exhibitions.  The organization is also broken down into regional groups and local PODS. Sue belongs to the Northern Virginia POD which is part of the North Carolina/Virginia Region.  The pod issues periodic challenges and the most recent was a COVID challenge - to create a quilt inspired by the virus, whatever aspect the quilter chose and any size.  With other projects on her plate, Sue chose to make a 12" square and focus on the frequently seen image of the virus and the stay home orders issued in the first months of the pandemic.

The inspiration came from 2 things - a photo of a globe thistle that reminded her of the spikes of the virus and photos of doors taken several years ago which represented shelter.  The first part of the creative process was to turn the thistle photo into a Thermofax screen.

Cropping down to just the flower portion, changing to black and white, and then applying a filter resulted in this image used to make the screen.

Since this was representing the spikey part of the virus, Sue wanted to print this over top of a circle representing the body of the virus.  For that she turned to a stencil of  circles in various sizes. The plan included 3 different sizes of the screen, so 3 sizes of circles were needed.  The circles were stenciled first in gray, and the virus spikes printed over top in a raspberry color on a dark teal hand dyed background. This photo shows before and after the virus is printed over the circles.

Next was adding the door to represent home and shelter.  The original photo was slightly altered in photoshop and printed on fabric, then fused to the center of the square.

You'll notice another element was added here as well - some phrases often heard from the medical professionals - "wash your hands, wear a mask, 6 feet apart, disinfect, flatten the curve, social distance, stay home".  These were also screen printed onto the background. After adding the backing, the piece was quilted.

It looks like this little quilt can serve as a reminder of cautious behavior for the near future and maybe even longer. Has the pandemic inspired you to create a quilt or other fiber art?

Thermofax Screen Printing Tips

We frequently get various questions about printing from customers in our Etsy shop.  Though we have FAQs on Etsy and this blog, people don't always read them.  So we thought it might be helpful to do a post of our printing tips.  There are always variables when printing, so we recommend doing test prints before starting on your project.  That way you can work out any issues without ruining the project.

First things first:
TAPE YOUR SCREEN if you did not order a pre-taped screen. See the tutorial on our blog at http://pgfiber2art.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_10.html
Find a how to print tutorial at http://pgfiber2art.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-print-with-thermofax-screens.html

Printing Tips:

• Thermofax printing works best on a padded surface.  On a flat surface, we use a piece of craft felt topped with a piece of canvas fabric or muslin.  The fabric serves to absorb excess paint.  (top picture below) For t-shirts, other garments, or tote bags place a piece of cardboard covered in waste fabric inside to provide cushioning and prevent paint transfer if it bleeds through; change fabric as needed; or just use a couple of layers of craft felt.  (bottom picture below)
  
  
  
  
• If you are printing on fabrics, use paints formulated for textiles.  These paints will give your finished product a softer “hand”. Some types of paint we use include: Fluid Textile Paint (artisticartifacts.com), ProChem (prochemicalanddye.com), Speedball Fabric Printing Inks, Jacquard paints, Versatex paints (DharmaTrading.com). You can also find paint at DickBlick.com and jerrysartarama.com. 

• Different paints have different viscosity; some sink into the fabric more than others. In the photo below, the white paint was thinner and sank in more and gave a raised effect to the lettering.  The blue paint was thicker and stayed on the surface keeping it flatter.
  
   
• If printing on paper, you can use acrylic craft paints. Speedball makes both textile and non-textile inks (paints). Look for the “fabric” designation when printing textiles. 
• DO A TEST PRINT.  Before tackling your project, do a test print so you know how many passes you need, how much pressure with the squeegee, and can see any spots that may need a bit more attention or may not print clearly.  Often the screen needs to be “primed” and will print better on the 2^nd or 3^rd print.  Below, the top picture shows the print after one pass with the squeegee. The bottom shows the same print after about 4 passes.  Keep lifting edges of the screen to check the print before removing the screen.
  
• Squeegees come in all types and sizes.  While a general rule of thumb is to match the size of the squeegee to the size of the print, you may not get even pressure with a large squeegee.  Our favorite squeegees to use are old credit cards and hotel keys. There are also scrapers that come in sets of 3 sizes that you can find in auto supply stores (used for detailing) or big box home stores in the paint department. If you want something larger you can find them at the art supply websites. When printing, hold the squeegee at a 90 degree angle and pull across the screen towards yourself.
  
• We do not usually secure the screen to the surface we are printing on, but if you need to, blue painters tape works well for that.  Otherwise, hold the taped edges of the screen securely while printing.
•  IMPORTANT! Before removing the screen, pick up the edges and check the print to see if you need to go over any area again.  You can carefully move your hand holding the screen to different spots to check so that the screen does not shift.  Or use tape to hold the screen in place. As stated previously, one pass across the screen is seldom enough.
• Put a line of paint across the top of the screen and pull the paint toward you.  Moving the squeegee in different directions means you are likely to shift the screen and end up with a shadow print. It is Ok to put more paint in denser areas. You are pulling the paint all the way across the screen so it may take more than you think. Dense/solid areas will require more paint and passes of the squeegee.  A smaller squeegee means you can target specific areas more easily.
  
•  Heat set (iron) the print when dry.

Clean Up:

·        As soon as you finish with a screen, drop it into a pan of room temperature water to prevent paint from drying on the screen. Paints labeled "pearlescent" that contain mica will clog a screen more quickly than those without and will need to be cleaned sooner.

·        Use an old toothbrush or fingernail brush to gently clean the screen; some paints may leave a slight stain.

·        Pat the screen dry with an old bath towel and allow to dry completely before storing.  Screens put away damp may stick to each other and cause the plastic emulsion to peel off.

We hope these tips will lead to more successful printing!

Dye Day

Last week Sue participated in a socially distanced dye day at Artistic Artifacts.  The class was limited to 7 and each participant had their own 6 foot table, their own supplies, and masks were required.  The method of dyeing employed was low water immersion, done in quart canning jars.

Judy prepared the dyes for everyone; we started with 3 colors - turkey red, mixing blue and sun yellow.  Each person had a pan holding soda ash water to soak our fabric pieces in, and a jug of plain water. Soda ash acts as the fixative to bond the dye to the fabric.

We started with a layer of fabric in the bottom of the jar, then added a quarter cup of the dye concentrate mixed with a quarter cup of plain water. Then another 1/4 cup of soda ash water was added. On top of that, we placed layer 2 of fabric followed by another color of dye and soda ash water, then layer 3 on top of that.  Six jars were assembled with the first 3 colors of dye. Then we were provided 3 more colors - turquoise, fuchsia, and orange. Some yellow and butterscotch were also available.

A total of 11 jars were assembled with fat quarters of fabric, handkerchiefs, doilies, laces and trims.

Above are some of the handkerchiefs.

This group of fat quarters are probably the least successful.  Lesson learned: its probably best to stick with just 2 colors in one jar. Either that, or make sure each layer fills the width of the jar, so there is less  travel of the dye between layers.  Some of these may get some discharge treatment (taking color out) or over-printing.

The top 2 in this photo combined fuchsia and orange.  The bottom 2 combined orange and butterscotch.

In this photo, the top 2 pieces were in the bottom layer in 2 different jars and were folded in accordion pleats.  Both contained the red, blue and yellow dyes,, but in different order.  One had blue as the bottom layer, and the other had red as the bottom layer.

Top 2 were in red/blue/yellow jars.  The bottom 2 were in turquoise/fuchsia combinations.

The bottom 2 here were also in fuchsia and turquoise. The top 2 were a combination of turquoise and yellow.

While all the other fabrics are 100% cotton, these last two are a cotton/silk blend. They were middle layers in the red/blue/yellow jars.  They are actually rectangular but because of the blend, the corners curl up.  The fabric has a really nice sheen to it; in hindsight, Sue might have preferred to dye these by another more controlled method.  

There are also some other handkerchiefs and trims that unfortunately turned out pretty dark.  Those pieces are additional candidates for discharge or other method of color removal.  We'll be sure to share photos when those results are available.  That is the serendipity of this method of dyeing. Some pieces turn out great, others less so. But with more practice and careful consideration of color combinations, results are sure to improve.  The next dye day on June 27 is sold out but there is another on the calendar for August, and an indigo dye day in July.  You can find the class calendar here.

Vintage Challenge

Sue's monthly art bee issued a challenge last fall to use some vintage items in a 24" square wall quilt. One member, Barbara, had some vintage hexagon blocks that she offered to be used.  Sue shared embroidery transfers that she found in her mother's things that were likely from the late 1930s/early 1940s.  The challenge was to use these items in the quilt.

This is the hexagon block that Sue chose.  There were a variety of fabrics and each member chose the one that appealed to them. 

Here is an example of one of the embroidery transfers.  There is a stack of these folded up sheets that contained images for, as in this case, luncheon cloths; also napkins, dish towels, quilts, children's clothes, basically any household textile.  Sue chose to use the flower motif in the corner in her piece. The hexagon flower was the starting point, and after looking at the colors, she remembered an unfinished embroidered dresser scarf in her mother's things.  

This design was embroidered at both ends of the unfinished piece.  The colors seemed to blend perfectly with those of the hexagon, so Sue decided to cut off one end to use in a whole cloth quilt. 

The concept as you can see was to use the hexagon as a flower.  The stem was cut and fused to the fabric and then the hexagon was fused on as well.  Both were hand stitched with a blanket stitch around the edges.  The other element to be added was the transfer image, which Sue placed in the two top corners and hand embroidered.

Next, a border was needed. Again, a vintage textile was put to use.  Among the things Sue kept from her mother's belongings was a tablecloth; even though stained and with a few holes, it held memories of baking cookies, as it was used for cooling cookies after they came out of the oven.  The blue was a perfect match for the blue embroidered ribbon in the center.  The border here was cut from the border of the tablecloth.

The center portion was quilted with an all-over meander. The border quilting followed the pattern divisions of the flowers. In this photo you can see a close-up of the corner embroidery.

Above is the finished piece, which serves not only to meet the challenge, but also as a memory quilt honoring Sue's mother.  

Several other bee members met the challenge and gave permission to have their pieces included in this post. Holly Cole very cleverly used her hexagon block as a background by creating a digital image that was used to create a repeat pattern that she had printed on yardage.  On the right in this photo you can see the original block she chose.

Her central image of the 2 women and a dog is from a vintage photo, and is heavily embroidered.  The transfer image she chose is used as a frame for the portrait; in the close up below you can get a better look.

Anne Smyers used her hexagon amongst a cascade of floral motifs on her quilt.  The outside and center edges are satin stitched.  The grapevine embroidery (done by hand) is the transfer image she chose to use.

Below is a close up of the embroidery.

All elements are very effective against the pieced neutral background.  You can see more of Anne's work at annesmyers.com.

Terry Peckarsky had fun with her hexagon block, using it as the central motif of a 9-patch style quilt. For the remaining blocks, she made hexagon shaped crazy-patch blocks that complement her center block.  Vintage colors add to the theme.

The transfer pattern was used as the quilting design on the eight blocks surrounding the center.  You can see more of Terry's work on her Instagram page @tpeckarsky. 

Didn't everyone do a great job?  It's so interesting to see how each interpreted the challenge. These pieces would be lovely exhibited together.  Perhaps you'll see them in next year's QU show!

Blessed are the Piecemakers

This quarantined spring has been a time to get ideas out of the head and onto fabric.  Sue's mother Marie passed away on May 29 of 2019, and ever since she has wanted to honor her memory with a quilt.  With outside activities cancelled and so much time at home, the opportunity presented itself to bring these ideas to life.  The quilt she made is a tribute to her mother as a maker and her working life spent as a sewing machine operator and sample maker in garment factories in Berks County, PA. In addition to sewing for a living, she sewed clothes for her 3 daughters, and taught them all to sew as well as other handcrafts.  This post is intended to give some of the backstory of the quilt as well as a look at the construction process.

The project started out by photographing and making Thermofax screens of Marie's tools of the trade, which included scissors, 2 sewing machines, an oil can and thread stand, and notebooks where she kept records from her factory work.  One of the sewing machines is the Necchi domestic machine she sewed on for many years, and taught her daughters to sew on, the other is a Merrow overlock machine from the last factory she worked in.

These images were printed on both natural and colored linen.  The color scheme came from a piece of fabric that is used in the piecing as well as on the back of the quilt.

There are also screen prints of Marie, and the quilt title "Blessed are the Piecemakers", chosen because factory work is piecework.  Sewers receive bundles of garment sections containing a dozen pieces, and pay is based on completed bundles.  Each segment of the construction process is a "job", and each job has a code number.  She worked in several different factories, from making men's cotton underwear to hosiery to women's clothing.  She was skilled enough at the various jobs and machines to become a sample maker.  The last factory she worked in closed in 1984 as more and more of the garment industry moved first to the south and then off shore in search of cheaper labor.    

Texture was added to some of the fabrics and linen prints by geli plate printing with bubble wrap.  Paint is rolled on the geli plate (in this case a circular one), then the bubble wrap is used to pick up paint and transfer it to the fabric.

After making various components, it was time to start playing with the layout.  This was one of the beginning ideas which you'll see changed a bit in the final product. The vertical fabric strip helped set the color scheme.

This version is closer to the finished piece, with eliminations and additions and moving things around, but still needing a spark.

These buttons and old spools of thread (from Marie's collection) were also made into screens. You can see them printed on the quilt in the picture above and below.

Above Sue was trying out a black & white stripe fabric to add the missing spark.  There are also some dyed laces added.  All of these required taking some seams apart to make the additions.

This is the finished quilt, with a black & white fabric also used for binding, and below is a close up.  

The quilting is simply wavy lines with bubbles in a few places so as not to detract from the graphic images.  Interspersed in the piecing are strips with the handwritten story of her life as a maker, meant to be visible but not necessarily readable.  

The piecemakers put a lot of effort into the American economy in the 20th century and made us proud to wear the "Made in America" label. They worked hard for their wages and were able to support their families and move into the middle class to provide a better future for their families.  Blessed are the Piecemakers.

What we Missed this Spring and Making it up with Online Learning

Since the pandemic started, we have missed out on some of the planned events Sue and I hoped to attend. First to be canceled was our Virginia Consortium of Quilters March meeting in Williamsburg.  As their program chair it was hard to swallow as a lot of work goes in to setting up a meeting.  Next to be crossed off the calendar was our VCQ biennial quilt retreat at Smith Mountain Lake, following was a class we were to teach at Artistic Artifacts, and then a new adventure at Red Thread Retreat in rural Maryland with Lesley Riley.  No Northern Virginia quilt show and the realization that we would also need to cancel our VCQ August retreat.  Lots of disappointment.  Plans to attend Threads of Success in Houston in late October are likely also squashed.

On the bright side, so many new opportunities have popped up.  Like many of you, we learned how to use Facebook Live and Zoom and found ourselves in Yoga class, Zentangle sessions with Marisela Rumberg, business inspirational/informational meetings as well as frequenting sewing and quilting professional and group pages which were offering lessons or advice online in a live format.  There was also time to learn new things from YouTube and Vimeo videos.  Like many industries with a history of providing service to customers, the crafters and makers of the world have stepped up to make masks to help protect from the spread of the virus while still keeping their creative inspiration active.  Craft and quilt teachers have adapted to the online platform and some may never return to in-person events again which involve a lot of travel, preparation, toting of supplies, etc.

This spring, we witnessed a vibrant and fun Sheep and Wool Festival as they went online in quick order to make a weekend of fun at the fairgrounds turn to fun online.  They even kept right on going when the server stopped working due to overload and rapidly found a fix to stay afloat and continue online still. Yea, to the fiber artists! Quilt shows like the Quilters Unlimited Show in Northern Virginia also went online, QuiltCon, the modern quilt guild show, announced that in Spring 2021 they will be virtual and with 10 months to plan, no doubt they will be able to put on a fantastic show.  Other Quilt conventions are also announcing plans to hold virtual shows and professional quilt and craft teachers are figuring out which type of platform suits them, some will be live, some may be taped.  All will help fill the void we creatives feel in our lives.  If you have an online opportunity you would like to share, feel free to put information about them in the blog comments.

Last Thursday, Elizabeth took a class on ombre dyeing from Cindy Lohbeck on a platform called liveonlinequiltclass  This class was offered as a four hour live class where the students followed along and dyed as Cindy demonstrated.  You could buy a kit and the class as a package or the class alone if you wanted to secure your own materials. Elizabeth opted for the kit since it included a rack which, she felt, was essential to the process.  Since she is also not in Virginia during the quarantine she needed the dyes and fabrics and other pieces of the kit.  It is nice to get it all in one package but also generous of Cindy to offer the course with use of your own supplies.  You booked and paid for the class on the liveonlinequiltingclass.com website; if you needed other supplies later, such as refill dyes, you can buy them on Cindy’s website handsonhanddyes


The morning of the day of the class you are sent a Zoom link and instructions for a phone or tablet app or a computer.  Half an hour before class you sign on so you can work out any tech issues that may arise.  The class was moderated by another teacher who went over the technology and how to use Zoom; such as how to pin the screen so you only saw Cindy and how to use the chat box.  If you had questions you typed them in the chat and the moderator read them so Cindy could answer. Everyone but Cindy and the moderator was on mute. It all went remarkably smooth.  Four hours was long and exhausting but also fun and invigorating to be involved in something creative lead by someone else.

During class we made two Ombres, one in golden yellow and one watermelon dye colors and one color to color piece where you picked two of your remaining dye packets which would be analogous on the color wheel and where one end is purely one color and the other end is purely the other color with blends in between.  It was very special to learn how to create this technique.  If you think it is something you would like, please get on the mailing list for both liveonlinequiltclass and Cindy Lohbeck at Handsonhanddyes.com   The technology was easy and you won’t be disappointed with all the tips, tricks and techniques you will learn.

Here is the work accomplished during class.  The kit included more supplies for four more to do on your own.

Golden Yellow Ombre

 Watermelon Ombre

 Grape to Kingfisher blue blend