Painting on Fabric with Acrylic

My quilt studio looks like it was hit by a tornado.  

I blame it on my friends who keep inspiring me to experiment with new and diverse things.  Besides continuing to use scraps to make art quilts, I have started making texture tags, stab books with found papers, and using acrylic paint to make my own fabric designs. I thought my acrylic paint days were pretty much over, except for painting the odd doll table or chair, so I was way down on my supply.  I had to go buy some acrylic paint, but it was well worth it. 

 

There is a tutorial on YouTube, by Deborah Boschert, that inspired my thorough attempt at painting on fabric with a paint roller and toilet paper tubes.  See her amazing video here, Rolling Paint On Fabric, and do get hooked!  

My crafty daughter is currently making tissue holders that can be hung in your car.  They are amazing!  She lives on the eastern side of the country.  She wants to make me my own custom Fiat tissue holder, so I was tasked with designing my own fabric.  I have sketched my Fiat before, but decided to do a new sketch, then I did another sketch based on the second sketch and took all the details out and made it much smaller.  It is small enough to cut out of sticky-backed craft foam and adhere to a toilet paper roll.

I measured around the roll and made a paper template to place my design on.  This way I know it fits before I stick it to the roll.  I am glad I put those dots at the top, because they became a reference for placing repeats on the fabric.

But of course, I practiced first with a different tp roll that I put a line design on, just to play and figure out the ins and outs of the process.

I used a cheap vinyl placemat, from the dollar store, to put my acrylic paint on.  I also, decided to use a little textile medium in the acrylic paint, so it will not wash out of the fabric after it is heat set with an iron.  I do not expect to wash any of my art quilts, but I may need to wash something like a bag that holds tissues.  Above is the photo of my first two pieces of printed fabric.  The one on the left is a solid blue, that I rolled the lines onto, in purple, then I stamped on it with a stamp I made from the same craft foam.  I just squeeze a little white paint into my purple.  It has my own custom "Fiat" design on it.  It is mounted on the end of a thread spool.  The fabric on the right, was my first try.  It is rolled over a pink fabric that has white swirls in it, but you would never know by looking at it.  I like how the paint gets paler as you roll. 

This is my final Fiat print.  I used orange acrylic paint, with textile medium in it, on white muslin.  I lifted the roller off after each section and applied more paint, then lined up the dots and rolled another section.  It took a little longer, but I love the somewhat consistent result.  My daughter has it now and she is making me the coolest thing for my car.  

Quilted Pillow Case

This is not a Kawandi.  It did use up some of my scraps, however.  I love how it looks, but I know when I wash it there will be threads galore.

This is one side of my pillow case.  It has a travel sized pillow form inside.  I started by measuring the width of the pillow and adding about 1/2", then I cut it from WOF, then lay the pillow on it and rolled it end-over-end to determine the length.  I left about five inches extra on one selvedge end, for the piece you tuck over the end of the pillow, once you put it in there.  Then I made a backing the same size, from the same fabric and I cut the batting about 6"shorter.  I sandwiched them and adhesive basted the layers, so they would not shift while I added all the raw-edged scraps on top while I quilted back and forth.

Then I surged around three sides.  This is what it looked like before I folded it to make the pillow case.

This photo shows the back side aka inside.  I just sewed down the two sides that have pins, and it was finished!  The selvedge edged flap will be on the inside, once it is turned right-side out.  SMILEY FACE!!

This is the other side of my pillow.  Once I got started sewing the quilting lines, with my walking foot, it went pretty fast.  All the pieces are raw edged.  Some have selvedge edges on them, some are flannel, some are batiks, but all are scraps, some from Jane's recent Hatchi quilt tutorial.  Just click on any photo to enlarge it.

Eyes of the World Shelf

I never imagined being alive in 2025.  It had always seemed so far off.  I am retired and have time to do many things I have always wanted to do.  I have recently discovered I have been making art quilts longer than I thought.  I love making quilts and trying new techniques.  I do not always have someone in mind when I make a quilt, so I keep it for me.  I have a lot of quilts. After a while it gets tricky to store them.  I decided I needed to make a special place to store my quilts.  The lion's share of my quilts have been stacked atop my arch top trunk, which was given me when my grandmother passed away in 1973.  Quilts are "heavy", even the doll quilts get heavy when you stack 70 in a pile.  

This cannot continue.  I took my friend, D-F, out to lunch in November and then we stopped in at "Eyes of the World" just to have a snoop around.  It turns out they were having a sale, due to the owners retiring.  All the fixtures were marked to be sold.  They had marvelous fixtures, and one massive metal curly one really called out to me, but I knew there was no way I could ever get it home.  So, I looked around and found a very sturdy, solid wood unit with adjustable shelves that was painted lavender and purple for the awesome price of $24.  I paid for it, and they put my name on it.  They said they would call me to come in get it just after the new year; after they closed.

Last Friday they called and said I could come on Monday.  We took the truck down and they loaded it in.  I was worried about how the two of us were going to get it into the house, down the hall, and into the master bedroom.  We did just fine with a very minimum of cursing.  I wiped the whole shelf down and replaced the shelves.  I spend the rest of the day, folding most of my large and medium quilts to fit on the 22" wide and 14" deep shelves.  I love how it smells like Eyes of the World.  

It has 36 quilts in it, with zero space for any kitty wanting to repose on any of them.  I could not find my bandana quilt, so after the shelf was full, I went on a hunt and located it in our walk-in closet with two other gianormous quilts.  I decided they could stay there.  I started a list of locations in our house and noting how many quilts were in each location (i.e., hall closet, my office, quilt studio wall, under the cutting table, etc.)  I have 184 quilts in my house, not counting a handful of small art quilts that I know are mixed in with the doll quilts.  The quilt that was on my design wall in my November 25 post (below), is with my long-arm quilter.  When I get it back, it will be #185 in my house.  That is a good name for a quilt.

My grandmother's trunk is a lot less stressed now.  It has 25 small quilts on it, mostly wall hangings/art quilts, and of course, the wonderful rug my quilting niece made for me.

Year-end Wrap Up

It has been such a busy year.  First, Lois and I started an art quilt group last January and they wanted me to teach them how to make Kawandi style quilts and confetti quilts, so that was the Feb and March meetings.  Then BBQ gave our group a place in their quilt show (last Sept), so we each made a 12" X 12" Artist Statement.  I have so much to say about me as an artist, I was thinking that 12" X 12" is awfully small.  But in June, I looked back at some techniques I used in the past and found a cut-layer project I completed back in January of 2011.  I decided I would use the cut-layer technique in my Artist Statement.  Then I scaled back my preliminary design and made it much simpler.  I used bright colors and lots of layered lettering, which Lois informed me is actually reverse applique.  My new process is a lot tighter and less messy than the one I did in 2011 (although I think it looks amazing).  I did another immediately after the Artist Statement, then used the cut-layers in several different projects.  I feel like I have found something that is really me.  I made thirteen Kawandi style quilts in 2024.  #1 I did in 2023. What I discovered after completing number 12, is I am finally beginning to understand it and have a better feeling about the process and what I am creating.  Out of the 14, the last four are my favorites.  

On my Dec 8 post, I have a photo of my #13 Kawandi.  I was conflicted about turning it into a tote bag.  I have gone and done it!  This photo is showing the front of the bag.  The photo below shows the other side.  I hand stitched two pockets inside, so I have a little bit of organization.  One I measured specifically to hold at least one rotary cutter.

I attended an art quilting class in May (Amy Carter) and learned about dying fabric and painting on fabric and using Misty Fuse.  I have been experimenting with this.  Two of my art quilts, I made specifically for 'calls for quilts' by Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).  One I donated to their annual fund raiser auction.  The other I made specifically for the "Story Quilts" trunk show sponsored by the Idaho/Montana SAQA Region, which I belong to.  Doing these two art quilts helped me stretch and learn!  This year I made a total of 29 art quilts, 12 doll quilts, three regular quilts, and one regular quilt top that is at my long-arm quilters at this moment in time.  I designed and built an American Girl Dolls and Friends Quilt show that was showcased in the Home Arts Dept. of the Western Idaho Fair, last August.  I became well acquainted with banjo fabric and learned how to make fork pleats.  I made a wood table and chair for the quilt show and all the pipe and drape.  I spent wonderful hours, in my backyard, painting safety cones with spray paint and Dawn dish soap, while having my camera on a tripod, standing by, so I could take photos of hummingbirds visiting my multitude of Zinnias, none of which got entered in The Fair.  I also made two tote bags, two zippy bags, one Unruly Award, and a set of clothes for Raggedy Ann and Andy.  This was also, my third year of working in the Home Arts Dept. at the Fair for most of August.  Getting ready for the opening day is exhausting, so is taking it all down and getting it ready for pick-up by the entrants.  I have made some good friends working there.  I also continue to meet my cousin most Fridays to play violin with her.  It has been a busy, creative, and fun year!

Tiny Quilt

Last night, after we watched Scrooged, I found some odd pieces of fabric in my design book.  I decided to rearrange them and make a tiny quilt with them.  After I pieced them together, they were kind of wonky, so I left that as part of the quilt character.  I added a little embroidery at the bottom, then I found a piece of backing fabric that matched one of the half-square triangles.  In my embroidery/handwork bag, I found my tiny spool of tatting/crochet thread, that I bought at the Re-use Market.  I decided to use it to hand quilt the tiny quilt.  It went pretty quick, then I went to bed.  This morning, I turned the edges of the backing toward the front to create my cheaty binding, which I whip-stitched into place. Ta-da!  All finished in a few hours.  

It measures 4.5" X 5.5".  This could be something I could do to get rid of all the little half-square triangle blocks I have.  Isn't it wonderful?  Have a merry Christmas!

Christmas Kawandi!

Greetings and Merry Christmas!  I have been on a Kawandi journey this year.  I have made 13 Kawandi style art quilts this year.  I do think each one is better than the last.  I know it is a style I will return to often, as it is so fun and improvisational.  This Christmas one took me three days to construct.  The quickness of this method is one of the main attractions, but also just how different you can make each one.

I feel like I have received good feedback on this one and I have it hanging in our entry hall.  It has so much bright fabric and fun in it, and that is what I truly appreciate in any quilt.  Of course, the word "Joy" was made using my ghetto reverse applique technique.  30" X 38"

Using Fabrics with Selvedge Edges

In my recent tidying-up activity, I found a nice piece of woven fabric that is sturdy.  I have made another art quilt with it as the backing.  I used flannel for the batting and 505 fabric spray-adhesive to hold the batting in place on the backing fabric.  My whole intent in making this piece, was to fold it in half and make a nice tote bag out of it.  I like it so much, on my wall, that I am not sure the tote bag will ever be a thing.  The whole reason for using the nice woven fabric was for it to be the inside lining.  Hmmmm . . .

I may have to take it down and audition it with a strap to see if I could actually make myself make it into a bag.  Yes, it is another Kawandi, and I used scrap pieces that had selvedge edges on them, almost entirely.

There are four pieces in it that do not have selvedge edges, excepting the square silk and batik bits I placed on top at the time I laid the quilting in.  I have a decision to make, so meanwhile, I will work on a Christmas Kawandi!