Spirit

I would like to try laser printing onto fabric. I have tried bubble jet, but the main printer is a laser and want to see what happens.
The focus is on the word “Spirit” so in Publisher, typed in as many words I knew that reflected the meaning of the word Spirit.
Energy, life, élan, spunk, enterprise, tonic, zest, oomph, drive, joie de vivre, dynamism, mettle, vitalise, flourish, electrify, energise, animate, enliven, soul, spirit, self, vigour, capture the spirit, verve, ephemeral, spirit of the moment, breath, heart, dash, intrepid. Symbol: dove, flame, wind. 5 Elements; wind, earth, fire, water, love.
Very nervous about using the laser printer, as it gets quite hot, but then paper doesn’t burn when it goes through, so cotton should be okay.
Ironed the calico, and then backed it with freezer paper. I trimmed it all to A4 size, and ensured there were no loose threads.
I then re-ironed the freezer paper just before printing to ensure it was joined everywhere. Set the printer to manual, HQ1200, thick paper. Very nervous threading the paper though the printer. It worked. A small amount of loose toner on the bottom of the freezer paper, but printed even the fine fonts onto the fabric okay.
Cut the fabric into strips for weaving and laid it out on some fusible stabiliser, with the adhesive facing up. Wove the strips with other fabric, ribbons, yarns and thread. Once happy, I ironed it to make sure it stuck to the stabiliser. I even found a spelling mistake in the words I printed out. Drew some dove and flame images onto freezer paper, and made stencils. Using purple and gold Shiva paint sticks I found the stencils appear most effective when using 2 colours with each stencil, eg wings-purple, body-gold.
I wonder if the stencils will lose their luminosity under the chiffon. Left everything to dry for 24 hours. Added feather to add another dimension, and some Angelina fibres. Laid some blue chiffon over the top of everything, and some plain calico on the back. Machine quilted with pink threads, and metallic threads, meandering around the stencils and the words for effect. I tired to be as unstructured as possible. To bind the quilt, I used gold metallic thread zigzagged in a medium with. Reminds me of the Russian Icons. Everything got trimmed back to the stitching. Now some beading to finish it off. I followed circled lines with beads, and small circles with beads. Then with variegated blue crochet thread fern / feather stitch “branches” in one third of the spirit, connecting the beaded curves and circles. This spirit was fun to make, and now going to make on 4 times as big. Time for play.

Flax “Harakeke”

Purchased a woven flax bag from the $2 shop, and after cutting it to A5 size, I stitched the edges to prevent it falling to pieces as it is loosely woven.

I laid masking tape out in a grid and cut to make line and some squares. Shiva Paint Stiks again, green, brown, and gold. A paper towel seemed to work best rubbing in the colour. When dire, and making tape remove, the paint colour changed the look of the woven mat. Perhaps it could have been rubbed all over, and not masked off, or painted first, then sections masked, and another colour rubbed over top?>
The flax pattern by Jenny Hunter, out of the NZ Quilter magazine was enlarged, rotated ,and printed onto freezer paper. Ironed the pattern onto a yellow/orange print fabric. Double sided Vilene was ironed to the back, and the flax pattern cut our, following the freezer paper lines.

After ironing the flax cut out to the woven flax background, I satin stitched the fabric outline, trying to reduce the width at the points. Initially I didn’t use stabiliser, but in the end I did put some on the back and this made stitching the woven mat much easier.

After making up the quilt sandwich, I used green thread and outlined around the flax, and then changed to gold metallic thread and continued echo quilting.

Loose Threads

I have been saving all my loose cut off threads in a tissue box for the last month. I laid them out onto some clear “wash away” stabiliser. I moved them around a bit, but wanted a random unplanned piece. I pinned the next layer of wash away on the top and started to sew with mustard coloured thread in a free motion straight stitch. I MUST remember to lower the tension on the foot, as the threads kept getting caught on the bottom.
Moved the wash away in a forward-backward motion. I then changed to purple thread, and created more lines in the same direction. Finally, I found some old green silk thread, so I stitched that as well in the same direction.
After washing away the stabiliser, my initial thoughts are that I have used too much green thread. Perhaps when it is dry?
Trimmed the thread “fabric” to a uniform rectangle, and off centre placement onto some left over red velvet strips from F’s cushions.

Invisible thread zigzagged it all down, then Blue silk thread meandering across the fabric, like steam rising. Still felt the piece need more, so “jazz” yarn from Spotlight got zigzagged won as a fringe I really like this effect.

Frottage and ferns

Shiva Paint sticks have been sitting in my drawer, and I need to play with them to understand their qualities a bit more.
I wonder if they can create the sense of sunlight filtering though the forest.

I tried rubbing them over a woven flax mat, (frottage) but the design that came through to the green fabric wasn’t strong, just random blobs of colour. So…I masked off sections on another green fabric and frottage bronze, gold and green Shiva sticks using the mat as a background. This was a better effect than trying to frottage the whole mat.

Found some brown chenille yarn from Spotlight, and it reminds me of the furry part of the ponga fern, so I am going to create a frond in front of the frottage paint stiks.
Using wash away stabiliser and a long zigzag, I secured the yarn to the wash away in a coiled stem / frond.

After washing the stabiliser away, I hand sewed the “koru” to the green fabric. The spirals were difficult to sew, but at this stage, I cannot think of another way to attach them.
I machine quilted in one direction, only following the line of the making tape “blank spaces. To me the result was similar to the dappled sunlight filtering into the forest.

Some Jazz yarn framed the piece, but maybe it would have been better as a spiral, instead of a diagonal? What do you think?