A lovely concoction of natural fibres and hand stitch. I am slowly catching up with my life - and this blog. I still have a load of emails to reply to, including yours Diana. I hope to catch up with a lot while I am up here at the the show.  Chris and Laura mucking about as we set up the stand. On this Valentines evening I am laying on my bed at my lovely guest house that we stay in when we do a show at the NEC. Laura, The other Vilene consultant, is in the room next door. We both manged to get up here despite the M40 and M1 being closed. We have set up the stand and have sorted all the materials we need for our 3 workshops. The show is Craft, Hobby and Stitch International, it's a trade show. I work with Vilene and run their retailer workshops. I am struggling with my knee at the moment, Laura is being a star and helping her old mate with the lifting and the carrying. I will write more about the show next week - now on with this post. I have split t

Gorgeous over printing. Today was the first day of five workshops I will be teaching this week in Devon and Cornwall. It has taken some organising but we are well on the road now.  The first workshop was Transforming Transfers for the Totnes branch of The West Country Embroiderers. It is a very simple workshop that always yields great effects.  Some of the group getting down to it . . .  I took my heat press with me as it can be very annoying waiting to share an iron. The heat press is very hot and very fast. Disperse dyes/transfer paints were painted onto paper. Once the paint was dry the papers were ironed, paint side down, onto synthetic fabrics. We were using Evolon, ployester satin, polyester velvet and Vilene Spunbond.    Leaves were used as a resist on this print.      The leaves were then turned over (they are covered in dye) and printed onto fabric.  This was the final print.  More plants -    Dried flowers used as a resist . . .  

 Emma had great fun layering papers with her transfer prints. Here is the second part of the 7th weekend of ExTex, a little late but as usual I have been out and about spreading the joy of textiles!!!! The Sunday saw the girls experimenting further with the disperse dyes (transfer paints), ironing them onto Vilene Spunbond and other synthetics that were lurking around. They had such a good time with these dyes on the 6th weekend and wanted to try some more samples. As we were using synthetics the group used soldering irons to cut the fabrics and heat guns to distress them.  Disperse dyes painted on to paper and then ironed onto synthetic fabric.   Transfer printed fabric decorated with painted Bondaweb and gilding flake. A transfer print further decorated with stitch.   Vilene Spunbond printed with a paper bag.      Transfer printed Vilene Spunbond that was then distressed with a heat gun.  Torn transfer paper ironed off randomly then decorated w

disperse dyes (transfer paints) ironed onto polyester satin The last workshop of 3 at Inkberrow Design Centre Inkberrow Design Centre was Transforming Transfers. I love transfer printing, it is one of the most simple techniques for colouring synthetic fabrics and one of the most effective. Disperse dyes (transfer paints) are painted onto copy/computer paper. Once the paper is dry the dye is ironed off onto synthetic fabric. You need to place baking parchment underneath your fabric and between the iron and the dyed paper. The dye is transferred by heat, so the iron needs to be as hot as your fabric will stand. The papers can be cut or torn and resists can also be used between the dyed paper and the fabric. We had a great day experimenting with the dyes, the studios at Inkberrow are large and airy with plenty of room for play! Emma and Sally ironing off their papers   grasses used as a resist between the dyed paper and the fabric Sally used a metal frame as a resist - and discover