More on Lettering

Good Monday everyone.

I spent today working on my little magic heart.

Today, I took the woodsy palette from Thursday and lettered over the fabric I printed last week.

I stitched the first row using the medium value of tan/gray.

Using stem stitch, I made sure that I formed the letters by always going in the same direction, keeping my thread below my stitching because I was using an S-twist thread (DMC cotton floss), stitching left to right.

Mary Corbet of Needle N' Thread has a great post on tips for stitching outline and stem stitches using S-twist and Z-twist threads. It's worth its weight in gold. Reading that post helps a lot in creating nice, even stitches as you stitch your letters. And, if you're not sure how to tell an S-twist from a Z-twist, she also has a post explaining that. I just love Mary.

Now, onto my second row. Next I added the darkest brown/gray value being careful to stitch in the exact same direction as the row before. It's amazing how the letters start to fill out and the second row complements the first.

Usually when I'm lettering, I'm paying attention to where the light source might be so I get the highlights and shadows correct. This time, I was just trying to make woodsy-shaded letters and I was less-concerned with highlights and lowlights.

The third row filled out the letters nicely with an orange-brown. The pictures are a little off since they were taken under lights due to our gray, rainy November skies...

Lastly, I just added some highlights with the lightest coffee colored thread...

Tonight, I'm re-creating a special plant from my friend's garden. I don't think she reads my blog very much so it shouldn't spoil the surprise.

I'll tell you about how she inspired me tomorrow.

See you then.

Testing a Theory...

...a theory on inkjet printers, lettering transfers, and washability...

I wrote this post on the topic of lettering when I was stitching my Breakfast at Tiffany's block.

In that post, I mentioned this class that I had taken with Canby Robertson; a needleartist, teacher and designer who also happens to be a member of my local Embroiderer's Guild Chapter.

While taking Canby's lettering class, she made the comment that she had discovered that she could effectively transfer lettering to fabric using her inkjet printer AND that she had also discovered a way that the lettering would wash out.

She had found that when she printed out in full black, the transfer did not wash out. However, when she printed out in grayscale, the transfer DID wash out.

Hmmm...I have a number of upcoming projects that require lettering so I wanted to test her theory with my own inkjet printer. My printer is an Epson NX400 --it's one of those all-in-one jobs and it is at least five years old if not older and I think it cost me about $99 way back when. In other words, I don't have a fancy printer.

I cut out 4 - 4"x6" pieces of freezer paper and ironed the shiny side of the freezer paper to the back of four fabrics: Two pieces of quilter's cotton, one silk taffeta, and one silk organza. Don't forget to clip at least one corner on the leading edge of your fabric sheet.

Here's what happened...

As you can see, I had mixed success.

First and foremost, I will forever moving forward keep a scrap fabric sheet close to my printer and use this to run through the printer FIRST to clean the heads of the nozzles before passing my good fabric through the printer.

Secondly, the second piece of cotton jammed up the printer and made a mess because my freezer paper wasn't bonded solidly to the fabric and the leading edge of the fabric separated from the paper beneath....and it made a big mess.

Next, the gold taffeta silk fared really well except for that little blob of ink to the upper left.

After the big mess I made in pass number two, I should have re-sent through a "cleaning" sheet. Another lesson learned. Now that little flub is a design opportunity and I'll cover it up with something.

The last one, the sheer silk organza, was the real surprise for me. I expected, because it was white, that it would have ink splotches all over it. But it didn't!

It turned out beautifully. And I like the transparency and the lettering very very much.

Lastly, since I wanted to test Canby's theory that my grayscale printing could wash out of the fabric after I was finished my stitching. [Note: By printing in grayscale, I mean changing the actual color of the font to a light gray in your word processing program or in Photoshop, Image-Adjustments-Hue/Saturation-and increase the lightness to about 75%.}

I took the first piece of quilter's cotton to the sink to wash it...

As you can see below, the transfer didn't come out completely but it's pretty close.

Eureka! This is great to know. Next I'd like to test it on linen.

Now, not all transfers can be washed...especially some fancy fabrics. But what we can do is select the palest gray possible so that the transfer is very very faint.

What I like most about this technique for fancy fabrics is that it lets me print my lettering onto a fabric patch BEFORE I piece it into a quilt block.

And so that's what I'll do next.

There are lots of tips on the internet for printing on fabric and I don't mean to list them all here. That being said, here are a few things I learned from this little exercise:

1. Prepare multiple pieces of fabric bonded with freezer paper just in case you have a paper jam or an ink blotch. Though you may not need them, mentally it's nice to prepare yourself by thinking it may take multiple tries to get a really good transfer.
2. ALWAYS run through a "cleaning" sheet of bonded fabric first -- a scrap piece that you can keep by your printer to use to clean the nozzles of excess ink before putting through your good fabric. To be safe, also run this through between each printing.
3. Make sure that the fabric and freezer paper are bonded well and there are no air bubbles between the freezer paper and the fabric.
4. Clip the leading corners so that the fabric and paper have less chance of separating.
5. Run your own test using your own printer. The washability of the grayscale ink may vary from inkjet printer to inkjet printer and fabric to fabric.

Have a great day everyone.

I'm off to clean up my sewing area before the I get too far underway with this next project. Otherwise Tiffany blue might end up where it's not supposed to be...

Lettering

About a year and a half ago, I took a lettering workshop from one of my Guild members who is also a needlework artist and designer, Canby Robertson. You can read about that workshop here --

It influenced greatly my lettering for this piece.

I ended up using four shades of Guterman sewing thread to stitch these letters. Starting with the medium, medium-gray shade, I stitched the main body of each letter.

I then used a darker medium-gray thread to create the three-row "trunk" sections of the letters...always keeping thread direction consistent from row to row.

I used stem stitch and stitched top-to-bottom and left to right.

Next I added the shadows using a dark gray; using my original picture as a guideline and assuming that my light source was coming from above (there's a chandelier hanging over that sign)...

Lastly, I added the highlights using a very light-gray thread...

And here's the block...

Ready for the next step...

Happy Weekend everyone!

Tiffany Transfer

There are many different methods of transferring a lettering design to fabric...but deciding which one I want to use depends on the variables of the situation.

I have begun again to work on my Breakfast at Tiffany's CQ block and wanted to transfer the store logo to my pieced block.

I couldn't trace the design through the fabric at the window since the pieced fabrics were too thick to see through.

My second thought was to use the tissue paper transfer method but after I traced the letters, I realized my lettering was a little wonky and stitching over it was likely to make it wonkier (and take forever).

That's when I decided to print out the logo mirror image (rotate image>flip horizontal in PS) and coat the lettering with a thick layer of graphite pencil. I find if I use a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, my lines remain precise.

I then placed the graphite-coated lettering onto my block and, holding it tightly under tension so the paper doesn't shift, I burnish over the the letters pressing hard so that the pencil transfers to the fabric.

The pic doesn't show me holding the paper firmly because I can't hold the camera and hold the paper tightly. After I lifted away the paper, I took my pencil and lightly went back over all the areas to deepen the transfer.

IMHO, this backwards pencil transfer method beats a carbon transfer method because it allows me to be much more precise.

Now I'm ready to start lettering. I converted my color photo to black and white and used that photo to create the color palette for my lettering.

I think I'm going to have to use machine sewing thread because one strand of embroidery thread may be too thick...

And there you have it. Breakfast at Tiffany's is underway...

OK. Maybe aqua isn't completely out of my system...

Lettering on Fabric

Yesterday, our Embroiderers' Guild held a Lettering on Fabric workshop with Canby Robertson. She is a fabulous teacher and shares so much of her knowledge beyond the "topic du jour".


Canby is a very accomplished needlework designer, teacher and artist. You will often see her work in the EGA National traveling exhibit. Here is a closeup pic of the piece which is touring now, The Rebirth of Venus. You can just see some of her lettering in the top of the picture.

Section from Rebirth of Venus by Canby Robertson

She has a lot more needle-life experience than me so I just enjoy being a sponge for the day and soaking up everything she says...about conservation, framing, printing techniques, you name it!

Our focus was on lettering and Canby has considerable calligraphy experience which she brings to her embroidery. Through trial and error, she has learned invaluable tips for letter placement, alignment, spacing, and stitch direction when applying hand-lettering techniques to the art of embroidery.

Lettering on piece by Canby Robertson

She asks, "Do you wish to make the stitched letters on your surface embroidery as professional in appearance as the lettering that enhances counted techniques like cross stitch embroidery and samplers?"

Another lettered example by Canby Robertson

Yes indeed, I do. In fact, she noted how often we stitch a gorgeous piece of embroidery, only to place an amateur-like signature in the corner...Oh, Canby, I am guilty of that...but never again after yesterday!

She has this very simple but nifty tip to underline the alphabet which you are going to use with black permanent marker -- and then use the line under the letters to get the proper alignment for your letters by drawing a line on your tracing paper and matching them up.


After aligning the letters, we traced our names onto our fabrics using a lightbox...


And began stitching the letters using one strand of cotton embroidery floss and a size 10 embroidery needle...


Following her tips and guidelines for stitch direction and shading...


We had a wonderful day!

Thank you Canby. Thank you for the techniques, the knowledge and the smiles of satisfaction. We're off to explore whole new worlds!


Now I feel confident in tackling some of those projects that I've wanted to letter and just didn't have the guts.

Oh, and I can't mention lettering without telling you about the series of tutorials on hand lettering that Mary Corbet is holding on her blog Needle 'N Thread. It's really a great series with lots of tips, close-up pics, and decision support for making your own lettered sampler. I am really enjoying it...especially the tip on how to dot an "i" without traveling the thread behind your work! Thanks to you too Mary~!