November Tart Kit: Angelina

The kit this month gives you a chance to play with Angelina fibers and film and to use it as a design element in your next piece. The butterfly above was made by Sue using the Angelina film and Extravorganza. She sandwiched the printed butterfly between two pieces of film and pressed. She trimmed around the design just outside of the film edges which had adhered together. The sunflower was also printed on the Extravorganza and fused onto a yellow fabric, trimmed and appliqued to the background.

Angelina is wonderfully colored fibers and film that can be pressed, cut, sewn, stamped, painted, and much more. It has the ability to add sparkle and shimmer to the surface of a piece. The Angelina fibers in the kit are called hot fix and will adhere, generally, only to themselves. It is very important that you use a press cloth so that they don't stick to your iron or something that you do not want Angelina'd!

Take a small amount of fiber or a lot and arrange it on the press sheet, cover with another sheet and press for about 3 seconds on a silk setting. The more you iron, the more you change the surface of the Angelina - especially the color. Once it is pressed, it can be stitched, cut, or torn.

Angelina fibers can be mixed, or patterned.

Because Angelina sticks to itself, you can entrap yarn, fabric, or sequins between two layers, allowing the bottom and top fibers to come into contact.

By placing Angelina fibers between two pieces of water soluble stablizer, you can create a lacy effect. Wash away the stablizer and let the piece dry before you iron.

You can also press a sheet of Angelina, cut up and place with other snippets of yarns and threads between the water soluble stablizer and stitch.

The Angelina film will melt with the heat of the iron or a heat gun. Use it in strips to make beads. Or crumple it and iron it and it will look like crystals.

October Tart Kit: Pin Weaving

This month's lesson will give you the basics of weaving on a portable loom as well as instruction on doing randon fabric weaving. Hopefully, the photos will make the written instructions a little more understandable. The first photo show the pins in place along a piece of graph paper placed on top of a foamcore board and a yarn wrapped around the pins. This is called warping the loom.

The warp thread can be split with a double row of pins allowing a slit in the weaving like a buttonhole. The weft material will split around the slit or it can be woven back and forth up to the slit.

By placing the outside pins in an irregular line, your finished piece will not be straight across. You will use the outside pins to create your finished edge so it can be exactly as you want.

The next photo shows two things: you may warp the loom with different types of thread (see the heavier, darker thread and notice it is split; and the placement of the weft material in an arc. Leaving the weft material in an arc will allow it to be "beat" into place without pulling in the side warp giving a more even weaving.

When the weft material is in place, use a comb or plastic fork to "beat" it into place. You can beat it as tight or loose as preferred.

By weaving a craft stick in your weave and standing it on edge, you will create a shed or opening that allows you to move your weft material across the weaving. This will help if you have a heavy yarn or weft material that will not pull through the warp yarns easily. Otherwise you may use the weaving needle to go over and under the warp yarns.

The following photo shows a mostly finished piece. Not the slit on the right, the uneven botton edge, the curves in the weft material, the variation of the widths of the weft materials, and the changes of weft material. Experiment with laying in a heavier weft and filling around with a lighter yarn.

This next photo shows the weaving of silk ribbon in a diamond shape. By placing the pins in a specific line, you may create pretty much any shape you desire.

In this next weaving, the weft materials are left loose as fringe along the top and bottom sides. The middle section was woven with a selvedge by taking the weft back across the warp in the opposite direction without breaking the thread. The weft can meet in the interior of the weaving - either separating with a slit or by crossing and integrating with the second color.

The alternate weaving option is to use random fabric weaving. Strips of fabric are laid across a piece of fusible interfacing. By lifting every other strip and laying a strip across the warp, the fabric is interwoven. The next row will be accomplished by lifting alternating strips. Once the piece is woven, press with the iron to adhere it to the interfacing and remove the pins.

Curves may be cut and interwoven. The trick is to cut the curved strips side by side and keep them in order! You will then put them back strip by strip in the original order.

In either method, experiment with different weaves. The basic weave is over one, under one, reversing in the opposite direction. A basket weave is over two, under two, reserving in the opposite direction. Try over one, under two. Once you have finished weaving, remove the pins. Integrate the piece into a larger quilted piece or use separately. Add texture to your weaving, by incorporating beads, wood, torn strips of fabric or paper. Dare to experiment!

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.