Brusho on Fabric and Shrinkplastic- Flower Mini Quilt by Tamara

Brusho on Fabric and Shrinkplastic- Flower Mini Quilt by Tamara

This week I got to play with Brusho on fabric. Amazing effects and great fun. They aren't permanent but if you are making an art quilt for display- that is no problem!

Background:

First I made the background. I sprinkled my fabric with Turquoise, Prussian Blue and White- masking the bottom ½ with newspaper, and spritzed with water. I then removed the newspaper and sprinkled on Sea Green, Leaf Green and Moss Green.  I added a bit more White to the sky and spread out and mixed my colors with a foam brush. Then I left that to dry.

  I then flipped over the stencil and printed the Brusho that was on top on the rest of the grass. I'm also putting up a picture where I did the same on white fabric so you can get an idea of the effect.

Shrink Plastic Flowers:

Shrink Plastic is a really fun material to work with. I like using it to make buttons and charms to put on my quilts. Again, I wanted to try it with Brusho. I used the white as it is a bit more forgiving with materials you can use on it.

This time I sprinkled my Violet, Rose Red and Orange colors very lightly. I sprayed with water and soaked up some of the excess color. It's important to remember when you use shrink plastic that the colors get richer as you shrink it. Pictures below are wet and dry.

After my shrink plastic had dried, I cut out flower shapes and punched holes to be able to sew them on- they shrink to about 30% of their original size, so bear that in mind! I use a Heat Gun to shrink my flowers, you can also use an oven. You need to hold the gun steady onto the object being heated, a few centimeters away. I hold my flower down with a bamboo skewer (so it doesn't blow away)- NOT in the hole I punched to sew it on! The flower shrinks and curls up on itself and then flattens out again - that's when it's done shrinking! If you want them flat, put a heavy book on while still warm. I like the extra dimension mine have by not being flat.

You can really see how different they look!

Then it was just a matter of making my quilt sandwich with batting and a backside, quilting it together, and sewing my flowers on! I added a couple of extra embellishments for fun.

I really hope you enjoyed this project! And I would love to see what you make using these techniques. 

Shrink Plastic