Various weights of Spunbond/Lutradur painted with very dilute acrylic paint. When dry, the Spunbond/Lutradur was ironed onto Bondaweb (leaving the backing paper on the Bondaweb). Shapes were then cut out with a soldering iron, lifted off the backing paper and ironed onto a background of painted Spunbond/Lutradur. I have been stocktaking this week for my end of year accounts and have realised there is no point hanging on to my supplies of the light and medium weight Spunbond/Lutradur till next March to sell at the Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch show. These weights have now been discontinued, which is a great shame. So -   For 2 weeks only - the prices will be reduced from   Light weight - CS500 - £5 - £3.50 Light weight crashed - £6 - £4   Medium weight CS700 - £7 - £4.50   This offer ends at midnight on the 18th July or until my stock runs out.   This is link to the Spunbond/Lutradur page . ...

 Vilene  Spunbond CS700 backed with Bondaweb, cut with a soldering iron and applied onto CS800 Did you all enjoy the lovely weather we had on Friday? NOT!!!! I needed to drive to Stroud to deliver a lecture Friday night and a Scrumptious Spunbond workshop on Saturday. I was due to arrive at 7pm to start speaking at 8pm. As it was raining very hard and it was a Friday afternoon I had to decide if I was going to dice with the M25 or drive along the coast and up the M3. The coast road would add 30 minutes to my journey but I thought it would be a better route as it would keep moving!!!! HAH!!!! I have never had such a terrible journey in all my time driving to workshops. I left Brighton at 2.30pm thinking I would have plenty of time to stop and eat on the way. Silly girl!!! I actually arrived at my destination at 8.40 pm - it took me SIX hours in stead of three. I could have flown to Spain or driven down to my friend Sue in France in that time. It was unbelievable.  I have...

It's 6am and dark outside. The words are flowing now and I have already eaten TWO  pain au chocolat. I am SO naughty. I seem to need lots of treats to keep me going, why is it only bad carbs will do when you are under pressure? I can be slim and gorgeous next week Ha Ha!! once the book has been delivered. So - this blog is supposed to be about promoting Hot Textiles - not books and snow.  The sample above shows dyed lightweight pelmet vilene (green) and Spunbond CS700 (brown) cut with a fine tip soldering iron and bonded onto Spunbond CS800 (blue). If you want to iron on your intricate cut outs, make sure you iron Bondaweb on the back of your products before you cut them. You can leave the backing paper on or take it off when you solder, it's a personal choice. Don't forget your baking parchment on top and underneath and of course, you need to be soldering onto a ceramic tile or similar. Right back to writing - keep calm and carry on . . . . . No Richard, I haven...

 The Textile Studio at Denman I love teaching at Denman College - the home of the W.I.   The teaching studios are well equipped, the food is great and I always have fab students in my group. The workshop ran from the 25th - 27th and a good time was had by all. The word had got round that I like to do stretching exercises to music with my students after lunch every day to help every one stay awake and feel refreshed. I was going to leave this as after all; I was teaching at the W.I. but no, my ladies were expecting it to be part of the course. Oh we did have a laugh! The students were - Jane Bothwell, Helen Dickinson, Sheilah Edgson, Jean Harnaman, Carole Jethwa, Jeanette Lamb, Patricia Richards, Margaret Sargeant, Pauline Walker and Jill Wilson.  The workshop was fast paced to cover all the products everyone wanted to try. The students painted and dyed Tyvek, Bondaweb, Vilene Spunbond and various weights of sew-in and iron-on interfacings. These were then layered up ...

Well we had a very full on week. My girls worked hard and produced some great samples - at least one of which will be in my next book . Here is a selection - Liz Smith 1 - Layers of Vilene Spunbond CS 500 Tyvek and polyester organza, machine stitched onto dyed craft Vilene in a flower pattern. The layers were then zapped away with a heat gun and the rest taken away with a soldering iron. The beads for the stamen were added later to create a more three dimensional sample. Craft Vilene is an excellent background for zapping onto as it doesn't distress with heat. Liz Smith 2 -  Strips of painted Vilene Spunbond CS 800 and 700 have been cut into wavy edges with a soldering iron and ironed on to painted Bondaweb. Liz wasn't keen on the colour combinations she ended up with but I think they work well together. Marilyn 1 - Layers of painted Bondaweb layered with Vilene Spunbond CS 800 and 700 that has been cut with a soldering iron have been ironed a piece of han...