Did You Know That Fabric Can Rust?

Chloe Findlay-Harder — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:24:28 +0000

Okay, fabric itself can’t rust, but you can use rusty metal to print on fabric – and get some really incredible effects.

The basic technique involves wetting the fabric either with water, vinegar (for a faster process) or a combination of both. The wet fabric is used to wrap around rusting iron pieces, covered and then left to work. Of course, the sky is the limit for what kind of effects you can get – think about all the different interesting metal shapes are out there!

Rust-Tex wants to encourage the use of rusted fabric in fiber art and has put together a competition and exhibition of art quilts using rusted fabric. You can find the call for entry and more information here . The competition closes on January 10th, 2010 with the winning quilts being exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in England during August 2010.