Clearsnap and Stencil Girl Blog Hop- Hand Dyed Fabric Pillow

I am on a quilting kick right now and although I am primarily a paper craft designer- I am always looking for ways to combine materials and techniques. Today I am playing with these two cool 9x12inch over sized stencils from StencilGirl:

Bubbles

Marrakesh Mix

I thought they would make a very cool hand dyed fabric. But since I am experimenting, I decided to start small and do a patchwork pillow- incorporating my hand dyed fabric into it. I used a resist technique and Izink Pigment, but you can also use any Clearsnap Pigment ink refill, or you can directly ink on the fabric with Colorbox Crafters Ink. Here is how I do the technique:

{first, you will want to spray the BACK of your stencil with repositionable fabric adhesive. Did you know there is a front and back to stencils? Just look closely on one of the corners you will see a manufacturers mark of some sort, thats the top!}

{lay your Stencil on top of a piece of muslin that is cut slightly larger than the stencil. Take some white acrylic paint and brush over the stencil. The white will act as the resist when we dye the fabric}

{I set up my dyes by dropping 3-4 drops into some small plastic containers. I use my melamine cutting board as a work surface, but a cookie sheet would work too}

{get the fabric immersed, and then lay out on the work surface}

{Now the dip in the dye is just to get the fabric wet and to allow the color to bleed. Now take the Izink dropper and drag over the fabric like show}

{now twist it to get the dye all soaked in (i know I should have done the demo with the blue-looks like a bloody mess!}

{Roll Fabric back out, and dab off excess ink from the stencil resist portion}

{Repeat with your other color. Hang out to dry making sure the drip area is over grass or dirt. When dry, press with a steam iron}

Sorry I didn't get more pics- but I go zoo into making this little pillow! Basically I cut the hand dyed fabric into 3- 2.5x9 inch strips, then used some of my on hand scraps for the rest.

{if you want to make your own I followed this free tutorial from DREAM PATCH HERE

{I quilted with a contrasting red to get my dyes fabric to stand out even more}

For the back I used and inexpensive screened cotton fabric- it mimic the resist technique on front

{Its just a little pillowcase pocket opening on the back for each cleaning}

Puffy Loves his new pillow, and I love it for sitting my laptop on when it gets to hot o my lap!

SUPPLIES:

Izink- Tulip

Izink- Tomato

StencilGirl 9x12 Marrakech Mix and Bubbles

white acrylic paint

Muslin

Foam Brush

Extra fabric and Batting

Pre made pillow form