I prefer to dye my own fabric in the summer – there’s something about hauling plain white fabric outside and with the magic of chemistry, ending up with something completely different.
And besides, dyeing fabric is messy!
I’d much rather end up with a little extra dye and water on my lawn than in my bathtub…

My favorite method of dyeing fabric is a low water immersion process.  I stuff my fabric into heavy-duty plastic bags, dribble the dyes on top and let them brew.  You can end up with some amazing colors and patterns that way.
I’ve also soaked my fabric in the …read more

Just about a year ago, I wrote a review of Susan Stein’s Fabric Art Workshop, and recommended it highly for those who wanted a book to grow with as you learned surface design techniques.   Well, Susan has done it again!

The new book is Fabric Art Projects, and my supposition is that it is an expansion of the last book.  The description says that it teaches techniques and provides projects to use them in.  I’m thinking that perhaps it would be best to take a look at the book first if you’ve already bought the first one, but if not, this …read more

There are so many different ways to color fiber – your imagination really is the limit!
I’ve blogged about my various experiments with dyeing and painting fabric before, using everything from traditional fabric dye, onion skins and acrylic paint.  Cyndi has been running a great series on creating your own surface design fabric.
But have you ever thought about using Kool-Aid to dye fabric?
Snow Angels has created some gorgeous yarn using the drink powder.  You’ll never believe some of the colors she’s come up with – they’re so vivid.
I wonder if they would work on wool fabric too…

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 …read more

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

I showed you the process of using bleach pens to print fabric yesterday, but how did those samples turn out? Here’s how the green print looks after being soaked in the bleach neutralizer, washed, dried & ironed:

I love how this swatch turned out… but the bleach didn’t do a darn thing on the other two!  So be forewarned, do your swatches first before you start bleaching yards of fabric for your next project

As, promised – here’s the slightly-overdue tutorial
Did you know that you can use those bleach gel pens to print on fabric?  That’s right, I’m abusing fabric again!  Depending on the fabric you can get anything from dramatic white lines to soft, hazy marks on the fabric.

You’ll need fabric (cotton is the safest to start with, bleach will destroy certain man-made fibers), a bleach gel pen (in the laundry aisle of your grocery store) and a bleach-neutralizing chemical.  You can get expensive ones from dyeing & fiber art supply companies – but I’ll let you in on a secret…  …read more

I love to dye my own fabrics – but it’s not something I like doing in the winter time.  I prefer to have a well-ventilated studio to work in
This process may change my mind though…
Kelly has detailed the process of using snow to create lovely hand-dyed fabrics – very cool!

I’ve been printing on fabric for quite a few years now.  It’s amazing to see how you can transform an everyday piece of fabric into something spectacular – with not a lot of effort!
There are lots of different ways to print on fabric, but I tend to like the low-tech method of stamping or block printing.
I’m currently working on a series of garlands using this:

It’s taffeta printed with Lumiere fabric paint & my own hand-carved stamps.
I like to use this stuff:

It’s called “E-Z Cut Printing Blocks” and has the texture of a rubber eraser – but comes in big sheets.
You’ll …read more