Screen printing with an embroidery hoop

I have been messing with different print ideas and a new to me technique is screen printing with an embroidery hoop.

I really like the idea of this because of the small scale. This enables you to work in a smaller area than if you had a larger frame and you can better place your image around your fabric. Although saying that, the area you work on rather depends on the size of your fabric, but you could print in sections at a time if it makes life easier. For this experiment I chose to work on a smallish fabric piece that fitted on the a mat on my dining table.

I ordered some printing mesh from ebay for this. I bought a metre, which is loads, but it was only £4 all in, so a bargain really!  

I stretched a corner of my mesh over the hoop, pulling as taught as I could

I then cut off the excess close to the frame. I won't cut so close next time, as I wasn't able to stretch back on after cleaning, so I just threw it in the bin.

Do not worry about drawing ability, as this was my starting point!!!

I drew my desired shape onto a piece of freezer paper...

cut with a scalpel...

and stuck shiny side down to the mesh. I would probably recommend masking tape if you have  it, but i didn't! I don't think these stencils are really re-usable after the printing, but if you used acetate or something like that then you could probably use as many times as you like!

This unregistered Nectar card has come in handy after all! It will be my squeedgee

I wrapped my cutting board with some old fleece...

and then some calico to make an improvised printing surface.

Fabric layed flat on top I went for a random print placement

Dollop some ink above the shape with a spoon

Grab your Nectar/credit card (old one please) and with the card angled towards you scrape the ink over the stenci, scrape it back the other way and ta dah...

I did not pull the ink too far past the stencil, as there is no need and it makes more mess and wastes ink.

you end up with something like this. This one was a bit fuzzy as my first go, but the rest worked well and I went back over this one at the end. Going back over is not advised, as it can be tricky to line them back up, but if you're feeling lucky then there's no harm ;-)

I chose to print on a pink background with a flourescent orange ink (it is more flouro in real life) and the speedball inks work well as they have a good opacity. Different background colours can be fun to play with when printing and is something to think about as the obvious thing to do is reach for the white, but it doesn't have to be a white or cream base. This scrap is a piece of linen from a previous make that was dyed using a Dylon machine dye. I like these as they often give an even coverage, but it might be easier, cheaper and more reliable to buy a plain colour to print on if you were going down this route.

So, there you have it...small scale screen printing! This was alot of fun and really easy to clean up after, which is always a bonus. I shall definitely be giving this another go and this piece has not gone to waste either, as i have cut it up into printed patches to mend my really, really moth eaten blanket. Who new I had such a love of pink???

Hand printed fabric swap partners revealed

First of all I just want to get the cheesy bit out of the way and say a huge thank you to you guys for taking part in this swap! I was expecting a handful of people to show interest, so more than a dozen is brilliant!

I have been spying on you all and you are all very creative peeps, which should make for a really fun swap. I have split everyone into pairs as per below and it's now up to you to get in touch and get to know one another. Pairs are as follows...

Charlotte (english girl at home)  -  Claire (hoopes park studios)

Katie (what katie sews/what katie does)  -  Lucy (reniqlo)

Louise (elsiemay and bertha)  -  Béa (beas sewing adventure)

Amandine (fleur de carotte)  -  Kate (fit and flare)

Jen (tea for two diary)  -  Ingrid (we the sewing)

Amanda Stinton (instagram)  -  Jenna (just sew jenna)

Carrie (oh she dabbles)  -  Me (Here!)

If you haven't received an email from me by now then a mistake has been made with your address or it has gone to your junk mail. Email me if this is the case! (address in about page)
 
I can't remember who, but I recall there was a request for a button somewhere along the line, so I have rustled this up for you (don't laugh). I have no web dev/build knowledge when it comes to creating a code for this bad boy, so I'm afraid it's going to be an image and a link.

http://marillawalker.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/hand%20printed%20fabric%20swap

Over the coming weeks I am going to be sharing my own progress and some tips, but it would be great if you could do the same if you stumble across some interesting techniques. Some of you might feel like keeping your prints a secret until the very end, so don't worry if sharing's not your thing.

I will be offering as much support as you guys want, but just to remind you I am no printing expert!!!! Don't let this stop you asking questions though, as you all have my email address by now!

By the way, I have sent invites out to the group Pinterest board, but now realise that not everyone is a member of Pinterest. If you want to add any images, but don't have a login then send them to me or a link and I'll pin it for you.

Hand printed fabric swap - where do you start?

If you have already registered your interest in this challenge or are still pondering on doing so then here are some ideas to get you thinking before kick off.

Bearing in mind that we are not all experienced printers in this challenge, it may be a bit confusing and difficult to know where to start exactly.

Printing can get expensive, so if you are starting from scratch in terms of equipment then it's probably best to get creative with your tools if you don't want to invest too much in a completely new craft. As far as colour goes, you can use as much or as little as you wish, but the more you use you the more you have to buy!

Tools

Here are some of the low tech solutions I have come across online to give you some inspiration...

Everyone uses toilet roll don't they? (I hope so!) This is such an effective way of producing an all over print. You could even place them in clusters to form shapes like triangles or do different colours. What about turning some of the circles into faces? Oh god, anything is possible!!!

The corn on the cob is ingenious! I totally love this texture and think this is one I am definitely going to try! FYI, there are a tonne of other vegetable stamp ideas out there too. Check out my pinterest board, but also google for ideas and look in your veggie bowl!

The above big blobs with dimples is a stamp which is actually formed from plasticine. If you have any spare plasticine lying around then you can really go to town with making shapes.

Me thinks that the houses are probably cut from lino, but if you've got any of that slim craft foam then you could create a similar kind of block. I mean the kind of craft foam that kids use here that you could cut with scissors, stick to a block of wood or something and hey presto you have a stamp!

Pencil rubber ends? Gotta love it.

Block of wood wrapped in string is another one I'll definitely be trying. It's got a bit of an Orla Kiely cross hatch vibe to it if done in different directions overlapped.

Spots made with a cotton bud dipped in ink is another fave. I love how irregular they look as opposed to using a cork, where they will be much bigger and more regular. Not that I'm dissing the cork method. I have tried it and it works out really well. In fact the humble cork is about to make an appearance further down.

If you can spare an apple then this is wonderfully kitsch isn't it?

A whole host of carved corks! These are best carved with a craft knife to get a clean cut, but going back to the craft foam, you could always cut small shapes and stick them to corks rather than carving. Maybe several layers though to give you a deep enough stamp. It's a great excuse to crack open the wine too!

The bubble wrap print illustrates perfectly how you can utilise stuff you have around you. Look at your recycling bin and see what textures you've got lurking in there. corrogated card or bottle tops could easily get you started.

It's easy to get bogged down with too many suggestions, so I'm going to stop there I think, as I'm getting myself into a bit of a tizz. I'm not sure how much I can point you in any direction and how much it's about just trying things for yourselves. If you are not so new to print then you can probably steer yourselves quite well anyway with lino prints and small scale screen prints, These are something I have dabbled with, but am not skilled enough to go into any detail. Have a look on the internet for tutorials and think about whether you want to create an all over pattern, dye technique or illustrative print.

One product I will introduce you to is freezer paper. This stuff is great for creating stencils and you can iron it onto the fabric. Here's a link to a tutorial to give you an idea of what it is. I have used this on the below print and it was so simple. I drew my shape on the freezer paper (which is supposed to be a bird made from my hands, like shadow puppet), cut it with a craft knife and placed the stencil onto the fabric fixing it with an iron. I then stamped inside the stencil with a cross cork stamp a load of times until the shape was filled in, removed the stencil and repeated the process over the fabric. The grey dots in the background are another cork stamp which I kept on stamping fairly randomly. So low tech and it didn't take a whole load of time. I did sample to get a look that I was happy with (which is essential), but printing a metre like this was not too bad. I was stamping up and down fairly quickly, as there's no need to be really careful when you're basically colouring in a stencil with a stamp. You could even get little people to help...

I wrapped my print in a little sleeve made of parcel paper with my name stamped on before sending. You do not need to do this, but I thought it added a nice touch!

 What inks are you going to use?

I'm sure that you are going to want recommendations at some point and I have been pondering at where to start.

I use Speedball screen printing ink for the most part, but they do a block printing ink too. I've never used this, so don't know what it's like, but they are good products. Just check that the ink you are buying is suitable for fabrics and not just paper!!! See part of their range here.

Another brand I use is Versacraft fabric stamps. These are brilliant for small scale prints, but you may only get a patchy coverage with it. This is something I like, but may not be what you want. I ordered mine from Sticky Tiger as they have a large colour selection in stock.

If you are going down the stamp pad route then one brand I totally do NOT recommend is Dovecraft. The feedback is true and this stuff never dries properly and will never stop smudging. It's really bad on paper and fabric. Steer clear!!!

If any of you have some recommendations for products or techniques then do share as we're all open to suggestions!

I hope this post is useful and don't forget that if you want to join in then comment on the previous post here with details! Come on, it'll be fun!!!

Hand printed fabric swap - sign up here!!!

Right, I am going ahead with this then. I am going to organise a handprinted fabric swap!

Toilet roll stamp!

For those of you who did not read the last post, I am doing a hand-printed fabric swap for fellow sewists. This is a challenge for all skill levels and I am confident that amazing results can be achieved with very low tech equipment.

Basically I will pair people up, so you can get to know each other and you can then each produce one metre of hand printed fabric to swap with your partner. This will be a great way to get to know your partner and you can swap ideas and print techniques as you go if you like! Get to know your partners likes and dislikes, but do not let this confine you too much, as you will hopefully be using this challenge to experiment with colour and texture, so don't need to follow a specific brief as such (unless you want to!)...

Is there any criteria to take part in the swap? I hear you cry!

• Well, I think that this is open to bloggers/avid instagrammers only I'm afraid. It will be easier for pairs to get to know/stalk their partners if they have something visual to look at.
• This is going to be open to the whole world, so non-UK residents need apply!!!
• There is no need to have ever done any print prior to this as I have set up a pinterest board full of inspiration, which I shall be adding to further. See here!

FYI, I'm not an experienced printer, so will be learning as I go on this one, but I have set up a pinterest board that we can all add to with 'in progress' samples and final prints here. Once I have your email addresses, I shall invite you to be contributors to the board and hopefully we can all inspire each other!

I don't want to be too much of a school mistress, but feel that there needs to be a few rules in place to ensure that everyone gets a fair deal.

• Fabric wise, I think it's best to stick to natural fibres such as cotton or linen (doesn't matter what colour or weight). This is better for print and also means that each swappee will get a reasonable quality of fabric in return.
• Please pre-wash before printing to remove any fabric coating and allow shrinkage.
• Also, please fix your dyes according to the manufacturers instructions and wash after printing to make sure that the dye stays in place (even if it's a hand wash). You can then instruct your partner how you washed it, so they know it's safe to do the same.
• Can fabric be at least 140cm wide? Then at least a nice top or something can be made from the fabric.

If you would like to register your interest in taking part then please comment below. Can you please leave your name, blog URL, email address and where you are from? I'm going to partner up everyone randomly, so please be aware that you may have to send your print overseeeeeees!

Please register by Saturday the 2nd of August and I will then pair you up. Given that this may be something new to some of you, I think we should have a longish deadline, so shall we say complete and post your finished print by Tuesday the 2nd September? This should hopefully give you time to gather supplies, have a play and come up with something you are happy with.

Really excited about this challenge and looking forward to getting started already! I have never organised anything like this before, so please be kind and politely tap me on the shoulder if you think I've missed anythign out!

Hand printed fabric swap and watermelon top!!!

I am sewing, sewing, sewing at the moment, but sometimes it's nice to have a change, so whilst testing some construction techniques recently I thought it would be fun to have a go at printing. Every now and then I like to decorate my fabrics, but it got me to thinking, what about a hand printed fabric swap!!! More on that in a minute after I show you my new top...

Here it is in all its glory, but before we go any further, I need to point out that I have shamelessly copied a kids t-shirt design! I dyed this (formerly white) linen last week and realised straight away that I wouldn't wear this fabric as it's too sugary, but when I came across this t-shirt on pinterest I knew what to do!!!

I bought a stamp set for my husband from Donna Wilson a couple of years ago, which has some perfect stamps for this project. I have just checked her website and unfortunately it no longer seems available, but here is a product image of the set. I used the raindrop  and eye stamp.

I dipped a sponge into some black screen printing ink and pushed it down a bit to make a stamp pad kind of thing and just pressed the stamp into the sponge and then onto the fabric. I think it worked out quite well. It's by no means perfect and I made no effort to mark the pattern position beforehand, but does that matter?

Here are the creepy eyes on the back!

You can see that some of the wooden block edges have marked the fabric on the front where I put pressure in the wrong area of the stamp. It's kind of messy, but there's no mistaking that this is a hand printed item!!!

I made the pocket out of some cloud 9 faric from 'the village haberdashery', which is ear marked for Maria. I was going to leave it off, as this is what makes my top a blatant copy, but it looks so good...

The shorts I'm wearing are some that I made a few weeks back and have been wearing loads. I wasn't going to blog them as they didn't seem very interesting, but as they're here I may as well. They are using the same vintage pattern I used for these pedal pushers, but shorter and with a scallop hem.

Right, now onto my idea for a hand printed fabric swap!

I have taken part in something like this before, but it was set up for quilters and it was to swap in groups of four, giving each swapee a fat quarter of your print. I really like this idea, but think it would work great for dressmakers if we swapped in pairs and each gave each other one metre of printed fabric, so that there is a possibility of making something with it afterwards.

Who would be up for doing something like this?

Before you run away scared at the thought, you do not need to have any previous experience in print to produce something fabulous. Look at the following (very acheivable) samples.

This gorgeous linen has a simple ink wash line running down the border

Printed spots, acheivable with a cork and some fabric stamp inks???

Some shibori/tie dyeing

Hand painting with fabric inks

Hand painted stripes!

Amazingly simple idea using bleach, some branches and a spray bottle!

Now I'm not sure how many people will be interested in taking part in something like this and I do not have a massive amount of followers to appeal to, but it should be fun shouldn't it?

Post a comment below if you think that this sounds like a good idea and if I get more than 2 responses then lets do it!!! I'll do a follow up post where you can officially sign up and be allocated a swap partner as well as follow ups after that with print inspirations.

Here are some links to some of my past efforts...

Mimi blouse
Previous fabric swap here
Lino printing (on paper)