Trapunto quilts blog

Here is the link to the blog I mentioned at the meeting on Sunday. It belongs to Geta Grama from Romania. 

Her shadow trapunto quilts are super and can be seen in this post.

http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.ro/2000/01/my-shadow-trapunto-quilts.html

Trapunto and Boutis

Ten of us met yesterday to experiment with trapunto and boutis techniques. Here is a picture of what we were doing.

And here are a few close ups of 'work in progress':

It will be interesting to see how they all turn out when finished.

 

Colouring fabric at our February meeting

We met on 15 February to explore various ways of colouring fabric. Here are a few photos I took of what people were doing.

Some were mono printing:

Others were experimenting with glitter flakes:

Or with watercolour crayons:

At our next meeting on Sunday 22 March we will be trying out ways of using boutis and trapunto techniques in non-traditional ways. These are both techniques where the amount of wadding is varied in different parts of the design to emphasise some areas. My next post will show some examples.

Come along if you would like to experiment with these techniques, or to learn the basics working some small samples. You will be able to use either hand or machine stitching.

Folding, pleating and weaving at our January meeting

Lis brought along lots of her samples to our January meeting, so we had plenty of choice when it came to manipulated fabric techniques. Here are some of them:

Folding

Pleating

Weaving

Then we each chose one or more techniques to try. I'll post more images after our next meeting.

First meeting of 2015 this Sunday!

This Sunday, 25 January, we will be having out first meeting of 2015 at the usual venue of Croft Memorial Hall (WA3 7BQ).

 

We will be experimenting with manipulated/folded patchwork and Lis will bring along various examples which you may like to try after seeing the demonstrations.  As usual, you are welcome to bring your own work if you would prefer.

Please bring something for the shared lunch. The cost is £5 for the meeting, plus an annual fee of £10 due this month.

 

Requirements for manipulated / folded patchwork

Fabrics 

If you have never done this technique you will need plain cotton fabric, calico will be fine.  

If you are familiar with this technique bring other fabrics that will hold the crease – you could use patterned, dyed, striped or different coloured fabrics. 

This technique uses quite a lot of fabric and as several techniques will be demonstrated you will need more than 1 metre or several fat quarters.

Equipment

Sewing Machine and hand stitching kit with appropriate threads.

Many of the techniques can be done by hand if you do not have a sewing machine.

Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter.  Ironing mat and iron.  If you don’t have these we can share.

Optional

Bondaweb or your equivalent choice.   

Light weight iron on vilene. 

 

 

 

Photos from October's meeting

Hi everyone,

Here at last are the photos I took at our meeting in October and my results from the rust dyeing.

First of all, some from the show and tell.

Phyl's finished piece using the fabric Leah dyed for the group. I have to admit, I've not decided what to do with mine yet. Has anyone else made anything with their piece?

Then some sun dyed samples from Lis. The piece top right is cyanotype which was left in water for several days and came out brown instead of blue.

And a batik piece from Phyl from earlier this year. Mine faded quite a bit, but this piece has really kept its colour.

For the activity, Leah brought along ferrous sulphate, tea and soda solutions for 'alternative rust dyeing'. To start off, Julie showed us some pieces she had rust dyed at home, which she had produced by tying the fabric to a rusty metal drum (note the string marks). This is usual way to rust dye, but it can take days for rust to transfer to the fabric.

Then we all tried not to make a mess as we added solutions to fabric in different orders and amounts. The last photo is of my fabric from the meeting. I got a good range of shades, which was a pleasant surprise as I had little idea what the result would be.

In two weeks time we have a workshop with a visiting tutor to learn nuno and 3D felting. Please let Lis, Liz or myself know if you will be coming to the meeting.

September meeting cancelled

As only a few members of the group were free for the September meeting, the next meeting will now be on 19 October when Leah will be demonstrating rust dyeing using ferrous sulphate (hope I've got that right). A requirements list will be circulated before the meeting, as usual.

See you in October!