Happy Easter! Since bright and happy colors are everywhere, I thought you might enjoy the colored version of the stitched leaves pattern that I’ve been working on. This particular piece is white Kona cotton free-motion stitched with black Aurafil thread and painted with fabric paints.
Remember my “brain dump” on the return flight from Florida?
I used this doodle to think through to make a stitched version. I actually made 4 stitched versions of this leaf pattern, each using a slightly different technique to get it the way I wanted it:
Now to add color. I LOVE my thin fabric paints (I use Dye-na-flo) because the colors are so clear and bright, they don’t obscure the color of the thread, and the feel of the fabric doesn’t get stiff as with regular fabric paints. However, the bleeding can be a headache.
I used a product that is supposed to stop the paints from bleeding but retain the clear bright colors. I think it was somewhat successful. However, if I REALLY want to insure that the paint doesn’t bleed, I may have to use a better resist in the areas that I want to make sure stay paint free.
I painted one with inks – an unmitigated disaster that is awaiting a new life as something, but I can’t imagine what. It’s pretty horrible. Not even fit for coasters.
It’s been a wonderful day – I got to sing with my FABULOUS women’s choir at Good Friday services, had a fun lunch with them, then made a happy leaf picture. I am blessed to overflowing.
Best wishes, and a Happy Easter to you all! Chris
I really like your translation! I would love to see the final done in stitches!
Happy Easter!
Thank you, Judy! Actually, the colored piece is done in cloth with free-motion machine quilting with black thread, then painted. My goal is to make it look like a pen and ink drawing – so it’s really cool that you like it!
beautiful – great post and glad to see you in the wonder and whimsy pool
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Thanks for the dyenaflo tip. I’m having some disasters on my end as well and trying to figure out what resist to use to keep my colors from bleeding so badly. The only thing I can think of is to dye, resist, dye, resist in multiple series. Any suggestions?
Patricia – As much as I love the clear colors of Dye-na-flo, I found that I have absolutely no control over where they go except if I use a resist. My resist of choice is school glue – the clear blue kind that is water soluble. I sometimes think I want to try soy wax, but in my world, I need LESS gear, not more. School glue is cheap, readily available, and easy. Maybe not the smoothest line without practice, but practice I did!
(I’ve never tried to use real live dye. Again, it goes back to me needing less gear, not more.)
With my early attempts at Whimsical leaves, I was quilting the piece first, then trying to paint carefully without the glue resist. What I finally ended up doing was painting the piece FIRST, then quilting. That’s the only way I could control the results.
There are plenty of times when I let the colors co-mingle – if you look at some of my later attempts with Dye-na-flo, you’ll see that I’ll allow two colors to bleed together – for example, the yellow and blue mingle to make green. But it’s a bit of a crap shoot – sometimes one errant drip of red on green and poof – there’s the brown.
I’ve done a little bit of experimenting by laying down a pattern in glue, then painting the lightest color over it, then after letting it dry and iron set, add more glue, painting with the next color, letting it dry etc. Then, after several layers, I wash out all the glue at one time. It’s long and drawn out and I have to remind myself that I’m supposed to be enjoying the process.
For an alternative, go to the thread “Painted Threads” by Judy Coates Perez (http://judyperez.blogspot.com) . She paints her quilts with acrylic paints and no resist – but acrylic paints behave themselves, unlike Dye-Na-Flo. She has a good explanation of how she does her painting – It’s just different that what I was attempting.
I hope my long reply helps – but drop me a line if I didn’t answer your question! Thanks for stopping by – Chris
I hope that helps – let me know