Art
in the Garden
I’ve
been busy tending my garden, which is the inspiration for this blog.
(I
have previously used cyanotype chemicals to pre-treat my own fabric
for sun printing and found it tricky finding somewhere dark to dry
the fabric and it produced lots of fabric, for a large project)
It
helps to have a sunny day, the more sunlight and the faster the
process. On a dull cloudy day it’s still possible, just leave for
longer. Also, it's good to experiment as overexposure will create
different results.
I
left my pieces on my garden table for 30 minutes as it was a
typically British cloudy summers day.
It
helps to use a sheet of glass (NOT UV protected) and I have some
pieces of glass that I have protected the edges of with tape to
protect me from cuts. I use these for mono printing, and even
just for mixing paints so it’s worth the effort of protecting.
Remember!
The chemicals used to treat the fabrics are photoreactive, so you
want to keep them in the lightproof bag they come in as long as
possible, and set up your print in dim light. I went under the garden
table and used my body to block out more light!
I
chose some nature-inspired items to "print" with.
Leaves
& flowers from my garden
The
items placed on the fabric act as a resist, so the part of the fabric
that doesn't get exposed stays the original colour of the fabric. I
used the bright coloured sun printing pack to reflect my garden
theme.
My
printing station consisted of a chopping board with a piece of paper
on top. I placed a couple of the pre-treated cotton squares on this
and then added my leaves and flowers. I placed my glass sheet on top
of this and then slightly tilted it using a stone as a prop so it
faced the sun.
After
30 minutes I rinsed the fabric in cold water, I then left it in the
water for 15 minutes to make sure all the chemicals were removed and
to ensure a deep colour. It's hard to see from these photos, but the
colour did get deeper during this time.
It's
great the pretreated sun print fabric is pre-washed so it won’t
shrink.
I
then hung them to dry and over the afternoon I collected five sun
printed squares all hanging in a row.
Note:
before using these need to be ironed with a warm, dry iron to set the
colour.
You
maybe thinking, like I did that these cotton squares are cute, but
what do I make with them? I decided to make some potholders. I think
they would certainly look great in the garden for a BBQ.
The
15cm squares are a little small on their own, plus I thought
patchwork would help bring out the beauty of these mini sun printed
creations. Any fabric used to make a potholder needs to be either
100% cotton or linen. Synthetic
fabrics, like polyester, can’t handle the heat so check any fabric
you use is 100% natural.
Thermal
batting is also an essential part of a safe pot holder. It includes
a layer of metallized
fibre to protect your hands from the heat. Please do not try to use
quilt batting alone without the thermal layer!
1.
Cut out the following pieces from fabric piece stash. You can decide
which fabric designs to use on each part.
-
cut
two 22cm squares from fabric, one with the sunprint design
incorporated in patchwork, one is a plain piece that you will only
see a little of.
-
cut
two 22×16cm rectangles from fabric
-
cut
one 22cm square from thermal batting, such as Insul-Bright
-
cut
one 22cm square and one 22 x 16cm rectangle from regular quilt
batting. I prefer cotton and bamboo blend.
2.
First, make the inside rectangle piece:
Place two fabric pieces
right sides together. Place batting on one wrong side.
Sew along
one long side of the rectangle.
Trim corners at 45 degrees and
trim the batting close to the seam (to reduce bulkiness at the edge).
Turn
to the right side and stitch 2 – 3 lines of quilting. I sewed across
from one corner to the one diagonally opposite, to make a cross. I
then used these lines as guides to continue quilting a chevron
pattern.
3.
make a hanging loop from a fabric scrap or some cotton webbing.
4.
Layer up:
thermal
batting with patchwork sun print face up on top
the rectangle of the quilted fabric on top of this with the raw edge along one of the squares
edges
plain fabric square face down on top of the rectangle, with
regular batting on top of this
Poke
the hanging loop inside this from one corner and secure with a pin
5.
Pin and sew around this layered square, leaving a gap on one side to
turn the potholder out.6.
Turn out and press.7.Sew
topstitching all around the edge of the square on the top. I
used cream thread for this but feel free to go wild with contrasting
or variegated thread!
Sorry that
I’ve only got one
finished potholder to show, but the garden is proving to need a lot
of tending to prevent a jungle effect! I
have chosen all the pieces from my fabric stash but they are still
laid out waiting to sew. Maybe once the garden is tamed, I could take
my sewing machine outside?
I’ll
post the other finished pot holders, showing all the five different
sun printed colours on my Instagram
feed, so you can check them out there.
Helen
x
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