New Tool

I am always looking for practical items to help me with my creativity. Well I now have a new tool in my toolbox. I recently read about using painter's tape for printing on fabric using the computer. So I "borrowed" a roll from my husband's toolbox. It looks like masking tape, but it's blue and is not as tacky.
My goal was to use it to tape a piece of fabric to a piece of paper to put through my printer. I do a lot of printing on fabric. The pre-treated fabric works great, but it's expensive. I also like to use fabric with designs on it and other fibers in addition to cotton.

First I tried to run a piece of fabric through my printer that was 8 1/2" x 11" taped to a pece of paper with the painter's tape.. It jammed my printer. This jammng does not upset me. I have pulled many a piece of jammed paper/fabric out of my printer without hurting the printer.

I did try it again using the envelope setting on my printer. I have never done that before, but under the properties on the print screen, I chose envelope. It went through beautifully.

But sometimes, I only want to print on a smaller piece of fabric that is not a full sheet. This is where the I think I discovered a new use for this new tool. To print on a smaller piece of fabric, I first print the words/image on regular paper. Then I take a piece of fabric that is at least larger by 1" all around and tape it onto the printed piece of paper with the painters tape, making sure I left enough room for a seam allowance. This ensures that I control where the words/image are printed. In this case I used white silk dupioni.

It's a beautiful thing. I used this technique to print on a different fabric for each line.

And used it for a page in a fiber book that I am making to celebrate the marriage of my son.

And now for Sunrise#3. Even though you might not be able to see it, the sun rises every day without fail.

New Project

I have always wanted to make a fiber journal. I have a workshop coming up the middle of May and I have decided that I could use this format to demonstrate a lot of my techniques to personalize a quilt. I knew the perfect theme would be my love of cycling. I have been saving stuff for just this opportunity.

My goal is to do a page a day for 7 days and on the 8th day, construct my album. So, come back and visit daily to see each page.

1st page

I used a quote by John F. Kennedy and printed it on fabrics using my computer. Ric rac is framing the quote and sequins were attached with beads. I stitched the “pennies” onto silk dupioni with metallic thread, by hand.