And this is the news that will be going in mail orders for the rest of this month and February.  I thought you might like to have a look.  I will start loading these on the blog as I prepare them.  News from Unique Stitching January

So, three classes: one using Procion Dyes and two exploring some of the newer mediums such as TAP, Lutradur, Angelina, Foils, Bonding Powder, Inktense Pencils and other surface colouring products.  All three classes cross over a range of experience, from absolute beginners to people who have started playing with these media but are not sure where to go next.  There will be plenty of ideas and information shared but most importantly you will get hands on and try things for yourself and I guarantee you will have fun.  Each class will run for about an hour, with a bit of slippage.  Numbers will be strictly limited.

You can book at the stand on the day or prebook on www.uniquestitching.com.au.  I will hold places in each class every day for bookings on the stand but if you know you and/or your friends definitely want to do the class it would pay to prebook.

The first class starts at 11.00 each day and will be focused on the Angelina and Lutradur.  You can make Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), fabric postcards, or bookmarks.  Here are a couple of examples

The second class will be a dying class using Procion Dyes on cotton Fat eighths. It will run from13.15 each day.  You can choose three colours to blend to make 6 different colours.  Traditional colourways will be blue, red, yellow like this:

or a less traditional combination such as red, orange, purple like this:

other alternatives will be three blues or three greens, or three purple/pinks.

The third class is brand new, so much so that I only finished the sample in time to send the photo for inclusion.  It will run from 14.30 each afternoon.  This one explores Transfer Artist Paper (TAP), foils and a couple of colour products, predominantly the inktense blocks.  You will create a piece of embellished fabric that you can use as a small wall hanging, a cushion centre, a feature fabric or pretty much anything.  Here is my sample.  You can add more colours or more depth of colour with a couple of different products.

this sample is a bit crocked.  You will be given rulers so you don’t rush it like I did.  I am calling this Adelaide River because some of the images came from there and it is a place that has impacted on me.  I have tried to capture the poignancy of the location in the piece, but we will talk about using colour to add emotion to a project.

In the middle of all of this, somewhere between 12.00 and 13.00 I will do a traditional workshop in the workshop rooms on using different fabrics in your patchwork and quilting projects.

I hope that there is something here to tempt all of you living in the Sydney/NSW area and that you will join me.  Of course we will also have our full range of colour, fibre, fabric products; magazines and books; and so much more.

I will run similar classes (though not necessarily the same) in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane also this year.  See you there.

One will be a Dye class – 6 degrees of seperation.  In this class, you will choose three dyes and dye 6 fat eighths of cotton fabric, creating a palette of colour.  There will be plenty of information such as dye theory so that in the end you will be able to take the ideas and make your own dyed fabric.  You can use one of several options of yellow, red and blue or step out on the wild side a little and use other colours.  In the sample below, I used orange, red and purple.

The second class is one I ran in Brisbane and everyone had a ball.  It is using Lutradur and Angelina to make a laminated fabric which you can then turn into ATCs or Bookmarks.  These photos may be familiar to regular blog followers but here are two examples:

The third class will use TAP (Transfer Artist Paper), Foils, Inktense and some other colour products.  You will learn how to use all of these and see how TAP behaves on different surfaces.  The finished piece can be a small wall hanging; a feature print for a quilt, cushion, jacket ;a bag panel or anything you like.  You could just mount it on a canvas and hang it on the wall.

Here is the sample.

It is not the best photo as I only finished it about twenty minutes ago and I am running out of daylight.  I will take a better picture in the morning.

What do you think?  Will you join me?

Here are the details if you want to have a look.

Collage Challenge Registration Form 2012

Challenge Information and Instructions

The first step is preparing the photos.  I selected 20 and scanned them into my computer.  I then resized them so that they were all six inches square.  With hind sight, I should have made them six and a half inches square so that the seam allowance was not white.  This would have given me a bit of slippage for dodgy seams.

When they were resized, I converted them to grey scale and saturated the colour a little, increasing the contrast a small amount to make the images a bit crisper.  The better the quality of your photo at the beginning, the better your transfer will be.

I then opened a word document, set the page layout to Letter as the photo transfer paper I have is US sizes, not A4.  I inserted the photos, one per page, creating page breaks as I went.  Once I had all twenty saved in the document I printed them onto the photo transfer fabric watching my ink carefully so I did not run low.

Once printed, I left them to cure a bit (not necessary) and then cut them to 6 and a half inch squares.

I then started cutting my fabrics.  The design calls for 240 3 and a half inch squares.

Stitch all 240 into 120 pairs, ensuring that no two fabrics are the same in a pair.

 Set aside 22 pairs.

Take 20 pairs and stitch them into ten sets of one long line

Then, take the remaining 78 pairs and stitch them into 39 4 patches.

Press all the seams as you go.

Use the guide below for you layout.  The light grey four patch are you photos.  The dark grey four patches are your pieced four patches. The pink strips are, obviously your four squares sewn into a strip and the white pairs are you left over pairs.  Construct your 20 blocks.

To make the sashing you need 12 2.5 inch squares and 31 2.5 by 6.5 inch strips.  Construct the centre.

I then added 6.5 inch borders, quilted and bound the quilt.

Here is some detail

I had three photos that were longer than they were high, so I printed them at 6.5 by 9.5 inches and left off one of the pairs in each block.

You don’t need much to make these, and they are really fast.  You need some Timtex or similar product like this, vliesofix or double sided web – two sheets, and two fabrics (two fat quarters are enough).  Cut the fabrics, two sheets of vliesofix and the Timtex all to about 15 by 18 inches.  In addition to that, you will need some card or template plastic to make two templates and your iron, sewing machine and thread.

Download and print the templates here.  You can make these any size and shape, but make one first and then start to play with designs to individualise the resulting bowls.  Trace the two shapes onto template plastic or firm card and cut out the exact template.

Take your vliesofix, fabric and Timtex to the ironing board.  Iron the vliesofix sheets to each side of the Timtex.  Remove the paper on one side and iron one of your fabrics right side out to the Timtex. Flip over and repeat with the second fabric.  You now have one firm piece of fabric to work with.   Trim to size so you can see where you are going.

Using the templates cut out one base and six sides.

Use a satin stitch to machine stitch around the outsides of all the shapes.  You could machine quilt or do some embroidery or other embellishment if you like.

Lay the short end of a side piece to one of the sides of the base.  Adjust your satin stitch so that you are using the widest of the zigzag widths and stitch over both pieces to join.  Take care to keep the edges touching and the corners aligned.

As you can see, I have used the reverse side of the base to the sides, but you don’t have to.  Stitch all of the sides to an edge of the base.  You can reverse every second piece if you like or be consistent like I have.

Now comes the trickiest part.  You are going to stitch each of the sides together in the same way as the sides to the base.  I find it easiest to start from the outside and work in.  Align two side edges that are next to each other.  Hold the sides so that they are touching but not overlapping.  Stitch with the wide satin stitch from the outside in.

Repeat until all six sides are joined.  Trim off any loose ends of thread.  and now you have a bowl to use

And it is reversable.

Like many of the projects we have done in the last two weeks, I am confident if you make one bowl, you will make many more.

Okay, what do you need?  You need a metal or cane ring of about 20 cm diameter or something to make one out of; 1.5 metres of ribbon to cover the ring;  scraps of felt in at least two colours; about 10cms of vliesofix or other double sided web; a small amount of toy stuffing; six metres of fine ribbon and 1.5 metres of cord; scissors, sewing machine, thread and a small amount of craft glue.  Optional is some felt bits, like felt balls or flowers.  If you don’t want to use those, you can just make more stars.

I got these at Spotlight some time ago when they were having a sale, but check out what you have in your drawers before spending any money.  They are optional and in the end I did not use the creatures, though I still might add them in later.  Chunky beads work as well.

Start by preparing your ring.  If you have one cover it with ribbon, if not, make the ring with wire or firm plastic, bind the ends together (I used sticky tape to hold it in place until I got the ribbon around the sides).

Use a dab of craft glue to hold your ribbon end in place. Cover the whole ring and glue the end down when finished.

Print and trace the large star onto some cardboard or template plastic and cut out.

Then, trace the star onto your felt.  Each length on your mobile needs two stars.  I wanted four stars in total, so cut out 4 pink stars and 4 purple stars

Print and trace 8 of the small stars onto your vliesofix or other double sided web.

Iron them onto contrasting felt.  In this case, I ironed four pink and four purple stars.

Cut these out on the lines and after removing the backing paper, iron to the centres of the larger stars.  Create contrast.

I had intended to stitch some pink buttons into the centres here and the project would have benefited from the addition of the buttons, however I could not find them, so gave up.  You might add buttons or other embellishments at this stage.  You could stitch around the small stars too, but I did not.  The mobile will be unlikely to get washed in the time it is used, so it probably won’t make any difference.

Pair up your stars, with the right sides out.  Stitch just inside of the outside edges leaving one side of one point open.

Insert a small amount of toy stuffing into the stars.  Push the stuffing into the points, but don’t worry too much about filling it all evenly,  you just want to get a bit of body in there and you can massage it into place when you have finished stitching it up.

Cut your ribbon into six half metre pieces.

Tuck one end of the ribbon into the open side of the star and with it tucked in a little, stitch the opening closed, catching the ribbon and holding it in place.  Repeat for your other stars.  Tie off any threads and trim away.

Make the felt flower lengths next.  To do this, tie a knot at the end of your remaining two lengths of ribbon and, one at a time, thread the ribbon into a tapestry or upholstery needle.  Push the needle through the felt bits stringing them onto the ribbon.  You may need to get some pliers to help you pull the needle through.  Pliers give you better grip and some leverage which helps pull the ribbon through the felt bits.

Once you have all six strings ready to go, tie them to the ring, varying the length so that each is a bit different.  Spread the six strings evenly around the ring.

Trim off the extra ribbon.

To create the hanger, cut your cord into three half metre lengths.  Tie the three together with a knot.  You might decide to add a loop or hook, but the knot will be sufficient and is easy.

Tie the three cords evenly around the ring, ensuring that the ring will be even and verticle when hung.

And you are done.

Now, I am going to show you one option for creating fabric wall art, but I hope that you will take the ideas and adapt them because the sky is the limit really once we break down the steps.  I recommend three basic parts, each which can be varied:  a surface designed background, padding or bulk in the middle, which can be quilted if you like; and a focal point.  I have used the silver leaves because it works with my theme but you could use applique, collage, photos, anything.

So for the first step, I used a fat quarter of black hand dyed sateen and two deColourant Mists – one clear and one dusty rose.  I also used some leaves from the garden.  Ferns work really well for this technique, but we don’t have any, so use any leaves you like the size and shape of.  The more interesting the better.

lay your leaves on your fabric, push down to keep fairly flat.  Lightly spray the surface with the uncoloured deColourant mist.  Spray from the top down rather than from an angle to ensure you are not getting under the leaves.

Remove the leaves and let the fabric dry.

The pattern will start to show up once it is ironed but you can start to see the complexity of the pattern already.  Steam iron with a hot iron.

Once ironed, replace your fabric and lay the leaves on at a different set of angles.  Spray, allow to dry and then steam iron again.  Spray your fabric for a third time, but this time use the deColourant Plus.  This has colour added to it.

Both the deColourant gel and mist come in deColourant Plus versions.  These not only remove colour but also leave a new colour in its place.  I love these on dark fabrics like the black and the blue I am using in this project. anyone notice the blue photos turned black?  Seamless aren’t I?

So, for the third spray, use the deColourant plus.  In the photo below you can see the colour on the leaves.  Spray fairly heavily to get an even coverage.

Again allow to dry and steam iron.  Your background fabric is now ready for the next stage.

You can do anything for your background.  You can use prepared commercial fabric, you can paint instead of discharge, you can use stencils or masks.  A mask is just something that prevents the colour getting to the background by masking or resisting.  The leaves I have used are a mask.  There are a heap of fabulous commercial ones available or you can use items from around the house.

For the second stage, you need to prepare the frame or canvas that you are going to mount your piece into or onto.  I am using an artist canvas which is readily available and cheap.  I have cut some wadding to the same size as the canvas and glued it to the surface.

Next, I am going to wrap my fabric over the wadded surface around the sides and, tucking in the corners, staple the fabric to the canvas to hold it in place, keeping it taut.  You can glue, stitch, thread or staple at this stage.  You might choose to take the glass out of a cheap frame and wrap the fabric around the backing card.  In that case you may not need nor want the bulk of the wadding.

If your focus point is applique or something you need to stitch through, don’t attach the fabric until you have completed that – obviously it will make it hard to applique if the fabric is already stappled to a frame.

This photo is a bit light, but you get the idea.

The third element is your focal point.  For that you can do anything.  Choose a theme that suits the decor of the person receiving the piece and tie it in with your colour selection and surface design patterns.  I continued the leaf theme.

While I was discharging the fabric, I was dehydrating some of the leaves off the tree that I took my mask leaves off.  For information on how to dehydrate flowers and leaves, this website is very comprehensive – http://tipnut.com/how-to-dry-flowers-a-collection-of-tips/

These will be fragile, so I have painted them gently and sealed the back to give some reinforcement and strength.  The first lot I painted silver and tried against the black and the blue backgrounds.

I also painted some rust and teal ink over the leaves, but did not like that so much, though it was getting there.  It is worth experimenting to get the look you are after.

In the end, I aged some painted dried leaves with distress ink and embossing powder, but I will show you the final version after Christmas as the recipient is watching my sites hoping to see her gift.

Anyway, this suits my friend.  I hope that you can take the concepts and the techniques and tailor it to gifts for people you know.

today we have another ‘any one can make this’ project dressing up old or cheap plastic bracelets.  You might have a collection of old ones, might finds some in the op shops or could pick up cheap bracelets from the discount stores and dress them to suit a colour scheme more suited to the giftee or a particular outfit.  This is also one of those projects that is and looks very simple but the range of adaptations available can be mind blowing.

You need some bracelets, scraps of wadding, craft glue and yarn, ribbon or fabric scraps in the colours you want to use.  I have also used some iron on pearls and the heat wand thing-a-me that makes them stick.  This is optional but does really make a difference to the finished look.

I am going to show you two versions.

First choose a bracelet and measure how wide it is.  Cut a strip of wadding out to that width.  Put glue on the top surface of the bracelet and glue the wadding into place.  Trim to fit.  You can add multiple layers of wadding to increase the loft if you like.

Roll your yarn, cords or other narrow material into a ball which will fit easily inside the bracelets.  Hold or glue one end in place and wrap.

Place each wrap of yarn snuggly next to the previous one, leaving no gaps.

Once you have covered the full surface, trim the yarn and push the end under some of the layers.  Add a dab of glue to secure.

This next example is better for ribbon or strips of fabric.  I have used a strip of crushed silk satin.

Put glue on the end of the fabric or ribbon and hold it in place on the bracelet.

Wrap around the bracelet slightly overlapping each wrap.

Keep going until you have covered the whole surface and glue in place to hold.  Once this has dried, or however much later you find your heat wand (three days in my case), choose some iron on crystals, pearls or other elements and heat them to apply.  This next photo is a bit blurry, sorry.

Create patterns, apply them randomly, add different sizes and colours, what ever you like.  Then you are done.  Pop a couple in an organza bag or a nice box with some tissue paper and you have a lovely gift for that difficult to buy for teenage girl you know, secret Santa present or something to compliment your Xmas outfit.

Here is the pattern

Detail of two panels:

You have two options for the shape of the panels.  You can tape two A4 sheets together, matching the lines or you can take on A4 sheet to a photocopier and increase its size to A3.

The beauty of this pattern is that you can use the shapes and the embroidery for a heap of other things, like napkins or bags, or stockings etc.

You can also make it less rustic simply be changing the fabrics.  Try some red silk with velvet applique as the top with gold or black embroidery for example.  Anyway just play and enjoy it.  We will be back to normaly tomorrow.