Tag: photos on fabric

Printing on Fabric

One of my favorite types of story quilts is to print a vintage photo on fabric and enhance it with stitch and color. I’m frequently asked to describe the printing process I use.  Here it is – I use an inkjet printer, by the way.

Commercially prepared fabric is available for purchase and I’ve used several of them.  In the photo above, you can see that I wrote the names of some projects where I used each type.  That reminds me of how that product worked and if I want to use it again.  Some proved to be difficult to stitch though by hand, so I reserve those for machine stitching only.

Government Bird Going for a Ride is printed on silk.

If I plan to transfer a color photo and do all stitching by machine, I love to use the prepared silk fabric.  It produces clear images with brilliant colors, and quilts up beautifully.

When I am transferring a vintage photo like the one in Four Brothers, above, I like the vintage look of an old piece of cotton or linen, so I prepare my own fabric.

A good source of linen is a vintage tablecloth (stained and ragged is okay) or napkins.  This photo shows what a bargain such napkins can be.  For $5, I bought six linen napkins, each larger than an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper.  This is less expensive than the packages of prepared fabric.  

First, I press the fabric (here I used a piece of a linen bedsheet – gray, so you can see the paper against it), then cut a piece about 9’ x 12” ( a bit larger is okay).

There are many brands of freezer paper sheets available, I have used many and have no preference – this is just what I have on hand today.  I know I can cut my own sheets of freezer paper to 8 ½” x 11” from a roll; I find the precut sheets to be easier to handle.

I iron the freezer paper (shiny side down) to the fabric.

Using a ruler and rotary cutter, I trim the fabric exactly along the edge of the paper.  A sharp blade helps prevent ragged edges – I don’t want loose threads to get caught in my printer.

I load the fabric on the freezer paper “carrier” sheet into my printer, taking care to be sure that the fabric side will be receiving the ink.  I often print black and white images (even if the original photo is color) to give a vintage feel – then highlight some feature by painting it.

Here is a “man in overalls” fresh from the printer tray.

I sometimes put more than one photo on a page, depending on the desired finished size of my photo. 

I paint the selected portion of the photo while the fabric is still adhered to the freezer paper.  This adds stability and seems to help prevent bleeding. I use some of the surround space to test my paint or markers, as you see above.

I use the same process to print words on fabric. Yes, that’s printing on linen that’s been overdyed with indigo.

In my next post(s), I’ll discuss my painting and quilting processes for these art quilts.

The story of the quilt pictured at the top of the post, the man with the bicycle, is here.

Photos Tell Stories

I love to find old photos of people I don’t know.  Pictures tell stories, and y’all know I love stories.

One of my story quilts, Sprinster Sisters, stitched and embellished.

I’m preparing a presentation for my quilt guild on techniques used in textile collage.  One of my methods is to print photos on fabric, stitch a collage, then write a story to accompany it.

In getting ready for this part of my class, I went through my collection of photos picked up at garage sales and antique stores, and my imagination took off!

A “bad” photo…double exposure and such, but, man, can’t you tell this child is happy to be in her arms?

In my fabric collages, if I use photos of people I know, I feel obliged to stick to the truth.  I’m careful not to use an image without permission, and I strive to get the facts.  Those efforts take time.  If the photo tells a great story, or conveys a special memory, it’s worth it.

But, I do love to use a photo of unknown persons and tell my imaginative story. In those cases, the story evolves as I stitch this person, and it’s pure fun-writing fiction is a blast!

The photos I’m sharing here instantly brought adventures to mind…I can’t wait to print them and play with them.  One in particular is mind-boggling.  

It’s this family of four – printed as an 8” x 10” and mounted on a backer-board.  I saw it in an antique store over several visits, and finally couldn’t resist it.  The reason I was so intrigued is that the woman looks to be strange.  I know what I thought…but only verbalized it to Jim…he knows I have some off the wall ideas and wouldn’t think I had “lost it”.  

Some sewing friends came to visit, saw this in my sewing room, and one gal exclaimed, “That woman is DEAD!.”  “That’s what I thought,” I replied.  My friend went on to educate me about the Victorian era custom of taking a family photo ‘one last time’ after someone had died.  I then began to read about it and learned, that, indeed, it was a relatively common practice.

So, what do you think?  I think this might be the case … and my imagination goes so many places… about the physical limitations the corpse would present to the photographer.  And, the expression on the face of the little girl on the right tells me she may be traumatized for a long, long time.

Note: Some of the old photos I’ve shared here are not always of the highest resolution – but the quality is good enough to print on fabric, then paint and embellish – and that’s my process.

And the bride at the top? Don’t you think she has a story to tell? I’ve actually written the story…waiting to share it with you once I had it printed on cloth…gotta get busy.