Transfer printing or Dye Sublimation printing is a way of permanently dyeing fabric that does not require immersion of the fabric in water. It also allows you to create prints that range from photographic realism through to the most gestural, abstract mark making. Scale is only limited by the width of the fabric and no print residue sits on the fabric surface.
Birds, insects, or botanicals can be your chosen subjects for this course.
We will be juxtaposing subject with background, technique with technique, and colour with colour. Our detailed centrepiece images will be placed beside backgrounds that might complement, contrast or camouflage.
Participants will end up with a set of fabric ‘pages’ that illustrate the various techniques taught in this workshop.
Once all our designs have been ‘printed’ we will spend the second half of the course embellishing our imagery with free motion machine embroidery.
Machine embroidery techniques will be taught from scratch, and we will be building up to advanced techniques, so all levels of ability are welcome. A knowledge of your sewing machine will make the machine embroidery unit a more enjoyable experience and some practice at free motion machine sewing would be an advantage.
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Beginner to advanced free-motion machine embroidery workshop.
In this workshop we experiment with ways of building up textured 3d surfaces, using stitch and applique techniques. We start with a 2d Image and turn into a 3-d relief surface.
Expect to explore the potential of free-motion machine embroidery. We’ll stitch on metal mesh, metal fabric, water-soluble fabric, transparent organza and tuille as well as with traditional loft-creating fibres such as various forms of wadding and filling. My unique long-stitch machine embroidery technique will also be taught.
Starting with the basics, we’ll move into more advanced techniques in step by step progressions, always experimenting with ways to raise the surface of the fabric.
Students are asked to bring in drawings, photos or digital images of organic objects of their choice such as fungi, leaf litter, insect wings, bird feather patterns, bark patterns etc… These will be the starting point for our final designs.
This project delves into the use of free-motion machine embroidery to create a diverse botanical collection of leaves and petals. Students will progress in step by step exercises, from beginner through to advanced, in the various techniques of free-motion embroidery. ‘A Botanical Collection’ allows us to explore colour, pattern, transparency and texture through stitch. We work on a mix of fabrics, including transparent and water-soluble, to craft perforated and transparent, variegated foliage for our collection.
Transfer printing offers a way of dyeing fabric that does not involve immersing the fabric in water. It leaves no 'print' residue that would affect the drape and feel of the fabric. It allows, therefore, an amazing range of visual options from photographic realism where designs can be manipulated in digital editing programs through to the most abstract free gestural linework that wet dying simply does not offer. Experimentation with transfer dye techniques will reveal the versatility of this medium. You can work realistically, use digital photography, or create free abstracts. Paper painted designs are sublimated with heat to a range of fabrics, from satin, stretch knits, sheer organzas as well as recycled polyesters.
The prints are then embellished, pushing traditional machine stitching techniques in new directions. The long-stitch free-machine technique, with lustrous threads, will be used to enliven the printed surface.
The finished project can be a stand-alone image or be incorporated into wearable costumes, jewellery, or ussed to decorate various functional objects such as notebooks.
A textile practitioner for over thirty years, my recent practice has taken me in the direction of investigating the transfer printing/dye sublimation technique in depth. Stitching, and especially free-machine embroidery, has also been a focus and has resulted in the exploration of stitch in less conventional ways, extending stitch length manually to ‘paint’ patterns and lines on the printed surfaces. The use of threads with sheen in repetitive line patterns brings surfaces to life and never fails to surprise me when light is directed at the materials from different angles. I have created series of backyard birds in textiles using these techniques. The magpie has been a favourite subject.
Regent Honeyeater machine embroidered study of critically endangered bird
How the transfer of the image occurs using a heat source such as an iron
Interview for the SAQA Aviary Travelling Exhibition at Brigham City Museum of Art and History, Brigham City, Utah