Saturday, March 17, 2012

Artwork Quilt for my Mom

I have finally figured out how to print onto fabric. My mom lives many miles away from me, and so she hasn't been able to see my kids as they grow up. So, I've made some simple quilts for my kids so I thought it would be perfect to print out some of their artwork, and put together a quilt for her for Christmas. I thought, if I'm going to endeavor into a project like this, I'd better start now! So, here is a picture of the art work I have printed out so far onto fabric. I am trying a vinegar bath and heat to set the ink. I found that tutorial here:

http://dollsanddaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/09/fabric-label-tutorial-made-from-things.html

And, here's where I am at to date:
I will update my progress as I go along.

 April 10, 2012
I got all the pieces I'm going to use to make this and printed and hopefully heat set well enough. This is how I decided to piece them together. 

And I sewed the quilt top. I haven't measured it yet, but it's about lap quilt size, which is perfect because my mom is in a wheelchair now.

Here's the quilt top sewn together. I used yellow and blue for my son's artwork and pink for my daughter's. All of the fabric is from the remnants at JoAnn Fabric's. Some of the pink is actually a very thin fabric, but it's ok! And, some of it looks pink but it's my son's b/c he had colored on a red/pink construction paper.  I have my backing fabric picked out. It's lots of crayons. I'll post about that when I pick it up.  This project is moving along nicely, so I may get it done in time for her birthday early May instead of for Christmas.

4/12/12 Project Finished. Here are the last of my pictures:
 I tied the layers together with these buttons. Here's a close up.

 Here's a close up of the crayon material I used for the backing. What better backing material for a quilt top of my kids' artwork than crayons?

 Lime green bias tape to close off the sides. It's not perfect because I'm still a newbie at making these, but it turned out pretty good nonetheless. I put green buttons on the corners of the front side, too.
 Al done! My mom is going to be so excited to receive this!

2 comments:

  1. I love this! Could you explain how you got the art work from paper to fabric?

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  2. Here is a link to a tutorial about printing onto fabric. You need fabric, and freezer paper, or you can buy special fabric at your local craft store. This tutorial as written by someone who was printing labels, but it works for anything. And then use vinegar to help with the heat setting.

    http://dollsanddaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/09/fabric-label-tutorial-made-from-things.html


    I tried the vinegar, but it seemed to fade my ink, and some of my pictures disappeared all together. The directions on the fabric from the craft store say to heat set with your iron for 1-2 minutes to set the ink into the fabric. I did go over my fabric, but I myself am nervous to wash it. I'm going to suggest to my mom she doesn't. If you are going to make a big project, I'd just trying it on scraps, and heat setting it and then washing it to see what it does. I hope this helps!

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