A Sweater for my Honey!

Last year, I started on a sweater for my husband. Knitting a sweater is a big project for me. The color must be chosen, the yarn dyed, the pattern selected. All of these decisions must be made with the intended wearer, if you want the sweater to be worn! The pattern was probably the easiest choice. My guy knows what he likes, and having sewn for him, I have a pretty good idea as well! Zip front; basic cardigan cut; pockets. No itchy wool!
A beautiful alpaca-merino-silk worsted yarn was the winner. Now for color. On the western edge of the Tucson valley are the Tucson Mountains. These peaks are not the tallest surrounding our city, but they are the prettiest. Dark browns, splashes of greens and teal, mahogany. This is what my man wants.

The Tucson Mountains

 This is what he got:

The shower yarn barn

Dyed, dried and waiting to be knit!

The colors really do evoke the mountains! To keep the colors flowing, I knit with three balls at a time. It keeps everything mixed up and prevented striping. The front and back of the torso are knit as one piece. This sweater design is based on a favorite hoodie pattern I have sewn many times. As a long time seamstress, to be able to shape a garment as you build the fabric is nearly miraculous! No seams if I don't have to! I designed the pockets to be knit as I went. Nice and deep, like a good pocket!

Sweater torso before adding zipper. 

Next: the sleeves. 

Start of a sleeve

I prefer to knit both sleeves at the same time. This guarantees symmetry! And the knitting is complete. You can see the stitch pattern in the above picture. It is a thermal weave, very warm, and interesting to knit.

Two sleeves: blocked

All that's left now is to sew the underarm sleeves and set them into the body. Back to those sewing skills! Oh, and insert the zipper. All the sewing is by hand. This is no place for a sewing machine! Soon enough, the sweater is being worn!

The finished sweater! Snazzy, eh?!

My timing was perfect. I finished the project a few days before our nighttime temps plummeted! It has been worn everyday since!

Freezer Paper Screening

Using freezer paper to create one-off designs is one of my favorite methods for decorating t-shirts and bike jerseys. You'll create a negative and a positive of your image, which doubles the possibilities! Let me show you what I mean.
I tie-dyed my bike jersey, but it needs another layer of pizazz. I like to be visible when I ride. You know the phrase: see and be seen!

Front: bright but plain!

Back: same as front (plain)

I had a border design selected that I thought would work: curves to break up the horizontal lines of the tie-dye, and an added bit of femininity! I took the design into photoshop and enlarged it to fit my canvas.

Border: Modified from the original

The black and white copy is placed under freezer paper and traced. The freezer paper has a shiny, plastic coated side. You draw on the paper side, not the plastic! Freezer paper can be found with the foil and plastic wrap in your grocery store. Be sure to use permanent ink (like a Sharpie) to trace the design. I have found that pencil and ball point ink lines smear when the iron hits them. You really don't want to deal with that mess! Usually the copy is dark enough to see through the freezer paper without additional back lighting. Use a light box or a sunny window, if you need. 

The tools for the stencil

Design
Sharpie
Freezer Paper
Exacto Knife and blades
Cutting Mat

Traced and ready to cut out

Now you will carefully cut out your design with an exacto knike. The part that is black is where paint will later be placed on the jersey. Be neat and try to not cut past the lines. If that happens it isn't the end of the world, you can iron a paper patch over the top! This is a very forgiving technique. 

All cut out!

I used the same motif on the front and back, so I cut two layers of freezer paper at one time. The next step is to iron the stencil onto the garment. Do not toss the parts of the stencil you aren't using! I assure you, they are like gold and will get used in another project! 

The "left overs" for another day!

Put a piece of heavy cardboard in your shirt. I like mine to be about 10% wider than my finished garment. The fabric stays nice and flat. Check your placement. Use the underarm seam as a guide or make markings for reference. Set your iron to a medium heat with no water. Iron the stencil on, plastic side down. Do the front and then the back of the shirt. Check to make sure all edges of the stencil are secure.

Ironed on and ready to paint

Select the paint you'll use. You have probably made the color decisions while you cut the stencil. I tend to work a few steps ahead in my mind! I chose a few textile colors: Indigo, Green/blue Halo, and a Bronze Metallic. Keep your color choices down to three. More colors than that can result in  a muddy look if your paints have areas that will be blended.The paints I use are Lumiere and Neopaque made by Jacquard. It is also feasible to use thickened dyes instead of paint, dyes just require a different cure and more time. The textile/fabric paints are immediate and they dry quickly. 

Use an inexpensive foam brush to paint

Paint is applied. Almost done.....

I paint one color, flip the shirt over and use that color on the back. I repeat this with all the colors I am using. I find that carefully turning the project over keeps the paint from smearing. If you are concerned about messing up your art, just wait and do the other side after the front has dried. Once the paint is dry to the touch, remove the stencil. Tweezers may be needed to get small pieces free. Leave the cardboard inside and let the paint dry for 24 hours before heat setting. Take the cardboard out before you iron. Once it is heat set, the design is permanent!

Use a press cloth and dry iron on cotton to set the paint.

Not plain anymore!

Looks good coming or going!

Pretty simple! And every one is unique. I hope you'll give this a try and show me your results!

Convergence

There is a style of quilt, developed by Ricky Tims, that he calls "Convergence Quilts". The past few months I have played with the technique and I wanted to share what I have done. You may recall the ice dyed cottons I did a while back (Serendipitous Dyeing); the fabrics I created then have slowly been disappearing into projects. Convergence quilts look complex and abstract. I could never quite figure it out; fortunately, Ricky wrote a book on the technique so I didn't need to do the figuring! The first fabric I played with was this one:

It was tough to cut into this fabric, but I did it!









Can you see how it is sewn together? The fabric is cut into vertical strips of graduating widths. these are reordered and stitched together. Then the entire piece is turned 90 degrees and cut into strips again. Everybody swaps places and  its resewn! I have yet to decide on the next step for this fabric. It is hanging on the wall!




This summer I headed back to visit with family   and meet my great nephew. I turned a piece of   fiery orange into a cover for my Kindle Fire (it seemed appropriate!). I had used the pale sections of this as pocket lining in a pair of jeans; the rest was "converged" into a mini quilt.




I think this fabric was more suited to the style. It took on an impressionistic feel. I used the fire/flame as my quilting design.







Kindle pouch and I-Pad mini pouches. The blue and pink bags were also made from the ice dye fabrics.






I have one more with multiple fabrics. ultra-violet; wisteria, dark brown and robin's egg blue. I used a low water immersion method for dyeing. I made four blocks and positioned them so they form a pin wheel of sorts. This is the arrangement that I chose after photoshopping lots of options.

I have added a narrow ultra-violet border. It looks like it wants to be a lap quilt. I may turn it on point, so the diagonal becomes the horizon line. Still working on it! I"ll keep you informed as it comes into being! 

The Artful Kimono

The kimono is the quintessential feminine robe. Simple in design and comfortable to wear. Based on the humble rectangle, it is also simple to construct. Last year I painted fabric to rebuild my man's favorite chair. I chose to create a large freezer paper stencil. I do mean large: 38" x 56". As I worked on cutting it out, I thought I might be insane! This was a lot of paper to move onto the plain fabric and I truly questioned my sanity and ability to get it straight! Turns out it was pretty simple. I acted like the magician pulling the table cloth out from under the dishes and it worked! Afterwards, I was left with the negative part of the stencil to use on another project.

I wanted to try some new air brush inks, so I proceeded to get that negative stencil on to some fabric. Because the stencil would keep areas white, I chose a silk/cotton that would shine!

                               

This is how it looked after ironing the stencil on. The blackened areas are where the  fabric will stay white. I took the piece outside, on a non-windy day, and mounted it to my spare cutting board. I the started painting. This is how it looked after painting and fixing.

I needed a new short robe. I pulled out my kimono dimensions and started planning! There wasn't enough air brushed fabric for the entire kimono, but my stash contained a piece I had dyed from a pale blue to a seafoam green. It was perfect!

Kimono Front

Kimono Back

I love it when things come together! 

Some of my Creations....

I thought it might be fun to share some of the quilts I have hanging on my walls. The vast majority of them are my designs; ideas that bloomed in my head and had to be let out. Like any craft or skill, I have improved with time. Each creation teaches me something new: a dyeing technique, a new piecing method, an experiment in color and shadow. It entertains me and covers the white walls! I like graphic, abstract shapes and I do love the petroglyphs and aesthetics left by the original Americans of the Southwest.

In 1994 I waited for our first full monsoon season in Tucson. Rain is rare; it is a desert! And monsoon is highly anticipated!

C'mon Monsoon!

The lightening rises up from the clouds in this hand quilted, machine pieced wall quilt. I was new to fabric dyeing, and had lots of value gradations to use! This quilt also commemorates the hurricane Nora which was predicted to drown us. I inserted the two drops of rain that came from the storm into the quilting!

Trilogy

I started teaching myself how to use light and shadow. I dyed fabric from a pale brick red to dark gray and ran the stream of light diagonally. Making triangles the featured shape was a natural for a study of three! Machine pieced and quilted.

Silk Strings

This bright beauty is an all silk top: charmeuse and crepe de chine. It is the lightest weight wall hanging imaginable and it shines, as only silk can! The colors were all hand dyed or painted and the black was commercially dyed. This one was also machine pieced and quilted.

Anasazi Doorway

Another all silk top created with paper piecing. Have you ever seen the ruins in Chaco Canyon? The buildings were entered from a hole in the roof and the rooms were separated by these keyhole shaped doors. Their doors did not look out on the landscape, but mine does! I hand painted the silk crepe and machine pieced and quilted this wall hanging.

Stained Glass Dragon

I made this wall hanging from an actual pattern! All the fabric I hand dyed, except the black! I marbled fabric for his hair/mane?! Lots of bias strips were made for the "leading". These were fixed with adhesive and then sewn into place.  

Flaming Pineapple

This wall quilt is destined to be a full size quilt. "Pineapple" is a technique for paper piecing the blocks off-center, from the basic log cabin pattern. I think the juxtaposition of the fiery reds and yellows on top of the cool teals was ideal. It has the depth I was looking for and I worked out some pretty nifty quilting lines. This piece is only 19" x 13.5". The finished blocks are only 2.75" square. A real miniature!    

OpArt Study

An OpArt Study. I saw a flyer with this design printed on it and thought I had to make it in fabric. It took some figuring to get the strips cut and arranged. Once I had it down, I created a bed quilt for my man. That quilt is not currently out, so I'll show you a photo of it at a later time! By now, I'm sure you have noticed that I frequently work out my ideas on a smaller scale before I apply them to a "usable" size! This enables me to estimate the yardage I need to dye and hopefully solve the puzzles!

Autumn Lattice

We were living in a house with glass doors facing the west. In the fall the Sonoran desert has some of the most beautiful and gaudiest sunsets around! Oranges with bits of blue and greens from the mesquite trees. I designed this block from scratch initially as a value study in grays and black, and then converted it to color. I set the lattice on top so it floats above the orange background. This one was hand quilted, and fits a queen size bed. Quilts tend to be square or rectangular, this was my first departure from those boundaries!

Favorite 'Glyphs

This wall quilt has a couple of my favorite petroglyphs: the dreamer and the dreamed along with something that appears to be a window, but really isn't! I tried out a a technique called "ghost layers and color washes" in this one. Each of the colors: cobalt blue, kilt green and violet were dyed in seven values to create this illusion.

Peloton Pile-up

Based on the traditional "Double Wedding Ring" pattern, mine takes a bit of a non-traditional twist. I had amassed a pretty decent stash of hand-dyed fabrics and wanted to clear out the cache, so I could dye more (of course!)! I separated my fabrics into 5 levels of light to dark and cut it into strips of varying widths and then sewed them together. I did have to dye the gray gradation for the rims/rings. I sketched this out with watercolor pencils and the quilt began! We were watching an early stage of the Tour de France which had a massive crash. All those colorful jerseys and wheels led to the name!

Prayers for Rain

This is a whole cloth quilt. Meaning: one piece of fabric with the design hand-painted on. I first dyed the background a pale pinkish/lavender. I made stencils from freezer paper for the border and flowers. The center design is borrowed from the Acoma pueblo peoples pottery designs. I enlarged the motif, drew it on and then painted all the elements with thickened dyes. Fertility, rain and harvest are symbolized. I machine quilted this with lines radiating outward from the center design.

Simply Squares

Sometimes simple is a relief! What if you just use the square? A basic nine-patch with borders. And squares within squares within squares...you get the idea!

Logan's Quilt

Made for our first "great" baby! This one was made of orphaned blocks. After I constructed "Peloton Pile-up" I had strippy fabric waiting for a home. I combined it with greens and blues into random size triangles, squares and rectangles. I arranged it on my design wall so that it appeared to sparkle! Improvisation was the method here! And it was fun! I quilted a design with a pony (Logan's mom is an animal lover- major understatement!) and sent it on its way!

The New Face

I detailed the creation of Eli's quilt in my early entries. Eli is our second "great" baby! Improvisation was the way again with more blocks that were waiting for a perfect home! I tried my best to keep it off the straight and narrow, so to speak and it was joy to make for this little boy! I get to meet him soon!!!











That's the short tour! I do have more quilt art hanging around the house and on the shelves. Next time I have them out, I'll share those with you. I really enjoy coloring fabric. The methods of application and manipulation are seemingly endless! I found another book at Bookman's on "Convergence" quilts. Its pretty cool and I am playing with those techniques. Wait until you see what's next! I hope you enjoyed my quilt tour!
By the way, we just had our first monsoon storm! Fantastic!

Adventures in Screen Printing

I have had screen printing in my bag of tricks for quite some time. It is the best way to get consistent and clear prints. Until recently, I have used the traditional framed screen which is durable and accurate. and bulky. Durability is important, but my style changes and I rarely use a screen for more than a couple projects. Of course, they can be cleaned off and reused. The "photo-emulsion" method produces the finest lines and greatest detail; but it is a pain for us home enthusiasts. It requires more tools than I have around the house! Enter a new product: the EZ Screenprint frameless screen. It uses the sun to develop, and I have access to abundant sunshine. It takes only a minute in the sun, some soaking in warm water, and curing time (again in the sun) to make a screen that can be used for many repeats. It is delicate and I find that paint will dry rapidly in the screen in our near zero humidity, so care must be exercised.

I decided to make a screen for our business, so we could advertise while we ride! At first I designed a screen which would tile together. The results were okay, but not great. I had little success in lining up my registration marks, so my tiles didn't match up like they should. I cut the fabric into smaller pieces and made a puzzle ball out of it. (See "Balls!" in this blog) My next attempt did not involve matching edges. I created a 6 x 6 inch square in photoshop featuring our logo, some gears and cogs, and petroglyphs.

Tiled Screen (See how the edges wrap-around?)

Non-tiled Screen (Nothing to line up!)

The square is printed out in black on to an acetate transparency. This is layered with the screen material and then taken outside into the sun.

The transparency and original print out

The layers: glass,transparency,screen, mat. All clipped together!

 After a 15 minute soak the print emerges!.

The cured screen. Note the color change and where the clips were!

I had ice-dyed nylon from previous dye sessions, (See "The Learning Curve" in this blog), and I selected a yellow green to print on. It takes very few tools to print. A squeegee, paint, painter's tape, paper towels for clean up, a tray with water, and the fabric.

The tools assembled.

I knew from my first experiments with these screens that metallic ink clogs them quickly; one strike and they must be cleaned; so I selected an indigo paint to go with my yellow green background. As you see in the photo, I marked out lines (6 x 6) on the screen. I also marked this grid on my fabric with washable chalk. Printing works best with a little padding under it. I like the height of my ironing board and it is padded nicely. I put on my cover for crafting (i.e. I don't care if something gets on it!) and began.

Stretched into place and secured with pins

I found that I needed to soak and clean the screen after three strikes. Did I mention we have no humidity?! That slows the process a bit, but it preserves the screen. Soon enough, the fabric is covered.

Finished fabric

After letting the fabric and paint cure for 48 hours, I heat set the paints with the iron to make it permanent. I then sewed it into a new tool kit, the 'velope.

Voila, a 'velope!

I have some fabric left and I plan to make a mini-backpack from it. I think it clearly depicts our loyalties!

I submitted two photos of t-shirts I screened to the EZScreenprint people for their gallery, and they were chosen for display on their website! Pretty cool! I was paid in the form of more screens for which I have lots of ideas! Here's the link to the gallery: http://ezscreenprint.com/roxyb.aspx
There are in depth tutorials on their website and all in all, it's a great way to screen print!