After I wrote the post, Crafting with Rust & Relics, a reader asked,  “So what kind of crafts can we do with these old relics?”Since I’ve seen my daughter using these items, I have used them myself, read about relics, and have viewed them at craft fairs, I didn’t think to explain about projects you can undertake. 

Many can be attached to mixed media pieces.
Some can be background material for attaching others.
Use old wood and arrange some of the relics on it.
Some people attach keys, buttons, watch findings and similar items to quilts and fabric art.
Glue them together for three dimensional …read more

Many artists nowadays incorporate buttons into their mixed media and fabric art.  This photo reminded me of some of the lovely effects you can achieve.
The appeal of your art will vary depending on colors, styles and materials.  They also be memory pieces, using buttons from special occasions and from clothing of family members attire.
Some quilters/fabric artists use many buttons of various colors and types so these  nearly cover the piece.  Others use buttons simply to enhance their design or emphasize specific portions.
How have you used buttons in your art work?

Microchips are coming into vogue as a way to label and identify one’s quilts, fabric art and other crafts.  This also is a method of helping to ensure the security of your item.
Worried about your quilts being stolen from a shop or gallery? Embedding a microchip isn’t a sure fire way to prevent this, but you can determine ownership if the quilt is recovered.  Also, if the microchip identification method is more publicized, perhaps thieves will think twice about taking such art objects.
These microchips can be placed in the layers of the quilt or fabric art before quilting or embedded after …read more

Labels for quilts and crafts can be as simple as signing or quilting your name and the date to attaching a piece of fabric with many details.  Signing with indelible  ink or embroidering your name on the item makes it more permanent.  A  label can be removed. 
There also are ready made labels you can purchase and then simply sign your name with permanent ink.  Applique these to the back of your quilt or fabric art.
Computerized labels have come into vogue and enable you to add more information to your quilt.  Simply print directly on inkjet fabric sheets, then stitch to the back of …read more

I’m not usually drawn to urban scenes.  I live so far out in the ‘burbs that it’s really sort of sub-suburban.  But Karen Stiehl Osborn’s Urban Landscape series just takes my breath away.

There’s a lot more to like on Karen’s site too.   I love here fabric “fragments”, her Autumn Traces series, and the series called Conversations with Myself.   Karen is one of the partners involved with the wonderful Collage Mania auctions.
Images: Karen Steihl Osborn

My daughter has become adept at taking interesting photos as inspiration for her quilting and fabric art.  Often these will be bits of bark, barn siding, flower segments, and other textural objects.
Then she incorporates them into many of her small quilts, utilizing a variety of techniques.
This photo of barn siding offers suggestions for textural ideas you may want to try.
Sometimes you might get ideas from a single photo.  Other times you can try combining a variety of close-ups.  Or you can vary the close photos with distant scenery to give you a fascinating combination.

My daughter, fiber artist Beth A. Mastin,  is forever using up her scraps for her quilting and fabric art projects.  For this quilt, she started with a blue background piece she had put together previously from strips of various shades of blue.
As she dug through one of her bags of scraps, she found other snips and pieces of fabric to create the rest.  The blue portion is postcard size, with a border around to enlarge it.

Beth Mastin Image

What have you created from scraps? Large quilts or wall hanging size fabric art?  Or even postcards and inchies?
(See more of Beth’s work at Meandering Threads.)

Printing, dyeing and painting your own fabric can be a lot of fun – here are my top 10 reasons why I like to create my own fabric

You can make the exact fabric you need for a particular project.
Even if it’s not the exact match – odds are good that you’ve still created a really cool piece of fabric!
I’m a control freak.  If I can make it myself, I’m a happy camper
You can transform an ugly piece of fabric into a usable one – paint, dye, bleach and more are great ways to “upcycle” fabric.
It’s thrifty!  …read more

Sharon Fairclough says:
I would use the book for ideals for my end of the year t-shirt for my pre-k class were thinking about tie dye but this book probablly will have more ideals. Thanks for the giveaway

Well, that’s great, Sharon, because YOU’RE THE WINNER!!

Embellishing quilts, fabric art and mixed media has become very popular.  The artist might use simply a few items or can almost cover the piece in a technique called encrusted embellishing.
What types of embellishments are there?

Beads
Buttons
Charms
Scrapbook stickers
Handmade fabric buttons
Pieces of wood
Decorated CDs
Foil
Artificial flowers
Keys
Advertising buttons on pins
Postage stamps
Rubber stamping

Do you have any other interesting embellishments that you use? How do you use them?  What are your favorites?