Page 48 - The Digital Cloth Issue 7

I paint all my own fabrics, and cherish the painting the painting process. If I get stuck, I
process. Intuitive fabric painting is all about l
etting go, using what you have, and
experimenting. Follow your own curiosity to make sparks my imagination. Breaking
marks, use tools to create unpredictable patterns
and designs, and blend colors straight on the
baking sheet. After I’ve added as many paint layers details. I cut collage pieces to size,
as seems right, I let my fabrics air dry and press
them flat.
I like to spend some time looking at my fabrics
before starting a collage. I study the patterning,
light and shadow, and colors that came out of
start cutting. Cutting organic shapes
with curves and odd angles always
down a fabric into smaller pieces
helps me notice more elements and
leaving the edges raw with a little
allowance for layering elements over
one another. When I’m happy with
a layout, I lift up the layered collage
pieces and put a dot of glue on the
backside, then put the piece back
down into position. Using a glue stick
allows me to rearrange pieces easily. I
often glue the collage to a
background fabric or cotton quilt
wadding, and trim away any excess
wadding to create a quilt patch.
Then I press the whole piece with a
dry iron; this dries the glue to a crisp
finish. I like my collages to be stable
enough that the pieces won’t quite
fall off, but soft enough to work my
stitches through.
Finally comes the stitching! I use
sewing thread to add holding
stitches to the entire collage piece. I
love to hand sew, making imperfect
little straight stitches that are worked
around each collage element like
sewing on a patch. My stitches
often look wobbly which gives them
a charm all their own. My
hand-sewing method has a
comforting ritual to it. I make a
quilter’s knot in the end of a length
of thread and bring my needle up
through the back of the collage
layers, somewhere near the middle.
I work up and down through the
piece, using mostly stab stitches. I use
a strong coin thimble for stitching.
I always do a little dance when I’ve
completed all my holding stitches.
Now I ask myself “does it feel
complete?” Usually, the answer is
no. So now I break out my colorful
embroidery flosses and pearl cotton
threads and dive into stitching all