What I learned

 Last weekend I went to a WAC workshop with Linda Schmidt.  Among the many embellishment techniques she taught was painting on fusible web then fusing it to your fabric and layering with foil.
I had some microwave dyed silk charmuse the was boring so I used this technique on it and did the shiny silvery leaves.  I used "Wonder Under" painted it with some pearlized Jacquard fabric paint.  I found that I needed to peel the web off of the backing and fuse it to the fabric with the unpainted side on the fabric and a sheet of parchment paper over the web.  Perfect results!  Then I placed the foil on top and ironed again with parchment paper covering the work.  After it was done I went further.

I did another technique Linda taught; which I already knew, but had not used in quite this way, of stitching scraps together encased in two layers of Sulky Solvy.  I cut small confetti scraps and included a few bits of the painted web that was left over from the leaves and with a layer of Solvy on the bottom and another on the top I ironed them together, put it in a hoop and free motion stitched with metallic thread in the needle and matching color rayon in the bobbin.  THen I cut out the leaves and put them in warm water and washed away the Solvy.  THe 3-D leaves were then stitched to the garment.  I also added some silver gutta line work.

I will bring this to class on Wednesday and show you the steps.

June 6 PHOTO CLASS

 On June 6 we start another round of photo classes.  The 4 Wednesdays in June for 9 until 12 noon.
Bring your lap top loaded with PhotoShop ELEMENTS.  Or plan to download the trial version from Adobe.  Have a few photos you want to work with and we will go from there.

The dog was done by Betsy.  Kate at the tide pool is mine.

We will do some review of past information to bring you up to speed and we will go from there.
I love to teach this class and although I am not a computer geek I can teach you the basics of the techniques we will be using.

microwave successes

 THese were a few of the microwave dyed cotton successes.  The great colors
were so exciting.

 The bottom photo is the result of a fold and dipped triangle.

Paste Paper

 Have you ever done Paste Paper?  I hadn't until about a week ago.  You mix wall paper paste and acrylic paint and then brush it onto any paper.  Let the first layer dry and add another color then you can scratch, finger paint and distress that layer reveling the bottom layer.  You can add several layers.  When it is dry you can use it in many ways.

 I made a small note book. It is hard to see the cover, but it is cool and I sprayed it with gloss spray.

The inside of the book has another paste paper and a note pad.

Doin' the Twist

 In Santa Barbara I taught "Twist and Shout at a retreat.  These are some of the results hanging on the clothesline.  They were dazzling.

 This is my favorite "Instant Gratification" class to teach.  Easy with great results.  What could be better?

 Last Tuesday I went to Riverside ASG and Kathy Sterling taught the most wonderful quick jacket.
It took less than one hour to make.  No kidding.  I came home and whipped it out in 1 hour using some "Twist and Shout" silk chiffon.   That 1 hour included battling the metallic thread in the serger.  Love the result.

 Back View

Front view.  It has black silk bands around the neckline, down the front, on the sleeves, and across the bottom.  It is all sewn on the serger with metallic thread in the loopers for some glitz.

color studies

 This is a color study lesson.  When you take two complimentary colors and use them as straight color
they look way too bright, jarring, and probably ugly, but take variations of the same colors and they start to look pretty good.

Sam red and green, same design layout, but this time I used variations of red and green prints to make things more eye pleasing.  I even painted some of the green print to give it a better color and obscure the print a bit.  It worked!

Try it, you'll like it.

Procion Dye for Cellulose

We will dye cotton, rayon or linen on Wednesday.  You bring the fabric and I will bring the dye.
I Came home from babysitting and mixed about 15 bottles of dye so let's have some fun.

Time for me

 While I was in Italy I went to a small museum of Etruscan items that had been found in the area.
I was the only person there and I had a great time taking photos of the beautiful pottery and jewelry.

 As I was leaving I saw a sign  "No Photography" Oh well, The broken and repaired pots were the inspiration for the silk painting I did last week.  It came out very well.

I used some silk screens to add details onto the pots as well as using some thickened dye along with the regular gutta resist.  This color scheme is very different from what I normally do.

So Easy, Microwave dyed silk

 It's good to be back, but don't forget there is no class next week.  Come back on May 16 and dye cellulose fibers.  Bring at least 2 yards of PFD or pre-washed cotton, linen or rayon and we will work with Procion MX dyes.

 This is an example of what we did today.

 Show and tell is always a treat and Rose Marie had a special "accident" that turned out super to share with us today.

Myrna is having fun taking men's jackets apart and turning them into ever so chic vests and jackets with the addition of a few darts, extra fabric and great buttons.