Skip to main content

Fabric Test

For Oliver's first Halloween bag I want to make a jack-o-lantern center panel with the orange solid. The problem with that is that I'm not very experienced with needle-turned applique (I've only done one little heart patch on my recycled linen quilt.) I think I'll be okay with turning the pumpkin shape, but how do I get a face on it?

My solution is to draw one with a Sharpie and embroider around the edges. Since I've never tried this I needed to test the fabric first to see if the ink will bleed or wash out.

Here we go.

Passed the bleed test.

Passed the wash test.

Here he is this morning after drying last night. Success!

Labels:

Comments

nightsmusic said…
Just an FYI, I've done that in the past. Over time, it will fade. The Sharpie, I mean. Can you outline the face? Or would that be too much?
October 18, 2019 at 9:44 AM
the author said…
Oh, rats. Okay. Thanks for the heads up on the fading factor, Theo. Maybe reverse applique? I've never tried that, but I should be able to find instructions online. I'll do another experiment tonight.
October 18, 2019 at 1:07 PM
nightsmusic said…
I used to do watercolor painting on tshirts and such and would use the Sharpies to accent the flowers or whatever I'd painted. Eventually, all the colors would fade from the washing. Babies make a mess, at least mine did, and their washing was probably twice as often as mine own so...I just wanted to mention it.
October 18, 2019 at 1:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.
Post a Comment
Read more