September Tart Kit: Lutradur

This month's kit contains a piece of Lutradur and several products that you can use to alter it. Sue made this little quilt by coloring the Lutradur with watercolor pencils, melting it, cutting it out and sewing it to her background piece.



This piece of Lutradur has been "washed" with the watercolor pencils and melted with a heat gun. Melting it gives a lacy effect.

After using watercolor pencils, a gold PaintStik was applied by rubbing it over a rub plate. It was then melted.

The Lutradur was dyed with a Procion dye. See how the dye concentrates along the spun fibers.

Sue made a sample of different paints on the Lutradur. The bottom was first covered with gesso - one and two coats. You can see the subtle differences. Make your own sample to keep as a resource.

Foil can be applied using a fusible web. While Lutradur has a matte finish, the foil adds glitz! Melt it afterwards for an interesting texture.

Lutradur can be printed on. The photo on the left is a copy on paper. The photo on the right is the same image on the Lutradur. Be sure to use a back paper in the printer as the ink will permeate the Lutradur.Jamie layed the printed image of Lutradur onto a background, batting and backing and stitched with threads and yarns. Where the Lutradur showed, it was melted out, leaving the background cotton showing through. It was then incorporated into a finished piece.

August Tart Kit: Sheer Sensation

Our lesson this month comes to us courtesy of Peggy Holt. Her use of sheer fabric over silk flowers and colorful threads was featured in a past issue of Quilting Arts magazine. We have designed our kit to make use of her techniques. The above quilt was made by Peggy.

You will begin by layering a muslin backing, piece of batting, and a colorful background. We have included our hand-dyed cottons for this purpose. You may construct a background by stitching or by collaging the cotton. This background piece should be centered on the batting with a couple of inches margin. Lay the piece of organza over the top and baste at the top edge.

Pull back the organza to reveal the background. Lay the silk flowers and threads in a pleasing arrangement. You may want to spray baste these items to hold them in place.

Pull the organza down over the silk flowers. The organza will be a few inches larger than the background.

Quilt around the silk flowers and add decorative stitching. As you quilt the piece, the extra organza will pleat and fold. By stitching around the silk flowers, they will become more visible under the organza.

When you are finished quilting, you may bind this small piece or incorporate it into a large compostion. Try experimenting with other brightly colored backgrounds, silk leaves, and other colors of organza. This last quilt is another example of Peggy's use of a sheer fabric over silk flowers.

July KIt's: Discharging with Bleach

This month the lesson involves bleach pens and discharging the color from a piece of black fabric. The fabric in the kit is a Kona cotton and will bleach to a rust color. Other fabrics that you try may have different results. Experiment with both commercial solids and prints and hand-dyed cottons.

Before you begin, it is essential that your supplies are out and ready. Once you have put the bleach on the fabric, the only way to control the discharge process is to stop it by putting it into water. We have included some Anti-chlor for you to use in your second rinse, which should help to keep the bleach from destroying the fabric in the future. Be careful with the bleach as it will dry out your hands, bleach anything it touches, and interfere with your breathing if you inhale the fumes. The bleach pen makes the chlorox easier to handle than straight bleach and has less odor. To prepare your rinse water, fill two containers with warm water: one water only and one with the Anti-chlor (about 1 tsp to 2 gallons). When you finish discharging, you will drop the fabric into the straight water to stop the bleaching process and then rinse well in the Anti-chlor water; then wash well with soap and water. Dry and press and use as one-of-a- kind fabric.

Use the bleach pen to make designs. This bleach pen has both a narrow tip and a wide one. Work fast as the first mark will bleach more than the last! A foam brush dipped in the bleach gel or staight bleach will also leave designs.

Squeeze out a small amount of the bleach pen onto a palette and dip a stamp into it and then onto the fabric.

Cover the fabric with tape and brush the bleach pen into the areas not covered by tape.


Bleach can be placed into a spray bottle and sprayed onto the fabric. You can discharge alot or little depending on the stream of the spray.

A large cotton doily was used as a resist for the bleach. Without totally soaking the doily, spray and carefully lift the doily off. Rinse immediately.

The black fabric can be wrapped or scrunched and then sprayed with bleach for a shibori result.

June's Tart Kit: Shaving Cream Marbling

This month we are using foamy shaving cream to create a base for a marbled monoprint. The shaving cream will hold the thin paint while the untreated fabric is laid on top to print. Once the shaving cream has dried, the fabric is heat-set and washed. You have just made your own one-of-a-kind print!Spread the shaving cream in a thick layer onto a covered surface. Smooth it out with a knife or straightedge.


Dribble the Dye-Na-Flow paint onto the shaving cream surface. The paint can be mixed in a separate cup before dribbling or it can be mixed right on the shaving cream.

Use a large toothed comb, chopsticks, or a knife to move the paint around, creating the marbling pattern.

When you are satisfied with your pattern, carefully lay a piece of untreated fabric on top of the paint. This is the back side of the fabric as it is laying on top of the paint. When you are satisfied with the saturation of the paint, it will be time to lift the fabric off.

As the shaving cream and paint dry, the print will become more clear. Once it is dry, heat-set the fabric between two press cloths. Then rinse the shaving cream out of the fabric.

Small objects may be placed on top of the painted shaving cream before printing. The shaving cream is firm enough to hold these objects.

This photo shows the back of the fabric on the shaving cream with the resists in place. They have prevented the paint from printing the fabric.

Once your fabric is printed, heat-set and rinsed, it is ready for you to use in piecing, applique, or garments.

May's Tart Kit

The kit this month is filled with several types of fabric that can be used in an inkjet printer. We are assuming you are familiar with your printer and can create an image. If you have a scanner or copier connected to your printer, your options for images increase. Besides the photos you take yourself, try using copyright free images from the web. Scan or copy objects directly to the fabric. Print large images in smaller sections and sew them together. Make landscapes, postcards, collages, doll faces, or create one-of-a kind fabric.

This is a copyright free photo that has been printed onto In Good Company's hand-dyed cotton, quilted, and finished as a postcard. This fabric has not been treated and so will fade over time.

This photo is a sampling of materials available for printing with an inkjet printer. The Bubble Jet Set can be used to pretreat any fabric before printing. This will allow the image to become more permanent and is recommended especially for prints that will be used in garments or in a quilt that will be washed. The Bubble Jet Rinse will help set the image. Fabric is also available that has been pretreated and is ready for printing. It just needs a sheet of freezer paper behind it to allow it to be run through the printer.

Jacquard makes a cotton sheet and an organza sheet for printing. These fabrics can be purchased with the freezer paper already attached. The organza makes a great overlay because it is sheer and translucent. To fuse over another image, use Misty Fuse.

Twill tape and silk ribbon can also be printed on. The trick is to print the words first onto a piece of computer paper. Using double stick tape or Steam-a-Seam 2, press the twill or ribbon over the already printed words. This will create a temporary bond that will allow the paper to be re-run through the printer. You can also iron the twill or ribbon to freezer paper (once you know where the words will print) and run the sheet of freezer paper through the printer.

In addition to the sheets included in the kit, silk for inkjet printing can be purchased. It is already adhered to the freezer paper and ready to print. It gives a wonderful image with a soft hand.

Experiment with the images and the fabric for printing and explore ways to use your prints in a composition.

April's Tart Kit

This month, the kit gives us a chance to experiment with a textile tool and melt synthetic fabrics. There are several things that can be done with the tool and the photos below will illustrate them. Be careful with the tool, watch the fumes, and use a piece of glass as your work surface.

First of all, you can carve with the tool. One example is to layer polyester bits onto a piece of wool, cover it with a piece of organza, stitch and melt away the top layer or layers.

Another way to use the tool is to stitch a motif onto a piece of Kunin felt layered with one or more layers of organza and other synthetic fabric. Melt away either the positive or negative space to leave holes as in cutwork.

Use the textile to cut through the layers of synthetic fabric to make appliques that can be bonded or melted to another synthetic background with the tool. Make little pillows filled with confetti, etc.

Without melting through the fabric, "stitch" layers of organza together. Use as a background or as an applique or insert into a larger piece.

Because the edges melt together when you cut through two layers of organza, you can made little bags, or pleats as shown below.

And last but not least, use the textile tool to mark the Kunin felt with geometric lines and shapes.

March's Tart Kit

The lesson for this month demonstrates two methods of felting: wet felting and needle felting. To wet felt, the roving is layered vertically and horizontally, and then wet with hot water and liquid soap, and then agitated between two pieces of muslin and bubblewrap.













Once it has been pre-felted, it can be fulled more completely with more agitation or with needle felting.











Using different colors of roving and yarn together, many interesting designs can be made.





These last examples show finished needle-felted projects. Notice the shading in the wool fruits.