Posts Tagged ‘Stenciling with Paintstiks’

Free Project: Shelly’s Magic Mats

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Here’s a great little project for our DesignMagic stencils – or one of your own designs! My Magic Mats pattern is the simplest way to make a placemat that I can think of. All you need is two pieces of fabric, some interfacing, one paintstik, one brush, and one pair of DesignMagic stencils. It’s easy!

Fair warning – this is a long post with a lot of pictures. If you want the short version, visit the Learning Center on our site and download the instructions as a PDF. The instructions are posted here.

Here are photos of three finished Magic Mats.  As you can see, you’ll need one piece of fabric to be painted and one that will serve as the borders and backing. Let’s get started!

Material List (for one Magic Mat)

  • 1 (9″ x 17″) rectangle focus fabric (to be painted)
  • 1(18″ x 17″) rectangle of border/backing fabric
  • 3/4 yard medium weight fusible interfacing, such as Pellon ShirtTailor
  • 1 set DesignMagic stencils
  • 1 or more Shiva® Paintstiks
  • 1 stencil brush (more if you use more than one color of paint)
  • Grip-n-Grip no-slip mat [Bear Thread Designs]
  • 404 spray adhesive [Spray and Fix / JT Trading]
  • Removable chalk pencil

Step 1 – Fuse interfacing to fabric

Cut two rectangles of fusible interfacing slightly smaller than the fabric rectangles. (I cut mine about 1/8″ smaller so I don’t get fusible stuff on my ironing board cover.) Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric rectangles using the manufacturer’s instructions.

The interfacing adds body to the fabric and eliminates the need for batting. The placemat stays thin, but it’s not wimpy. I used Pellon’s ShirtTailor interfacing, which is a nice medium weight product.

Step 2 – Prepare fabric and stencils for painting

Mark the horizontal and vertical center lines on the focus fabric with a removable chalk pencil.

Place your stencils right side up on your work surface. Clearly mark one as Stencil-A and the other as Stencil-B with a permanent marker.

If you are using pre-cut mylar DesignMagic stencils, place the stencils wrong side up on a piece of newspaper and spray the back side of each stencil with 404 adhesive spray. (I prefer to do this outside or in the garage so I don’t stink up my work area.) I like to call 404 spray “post-it notes in a can.” Once the stencils are sprayed, they stay where you put them and don’t move around as you are painting.

If you are using your own designs cut from freezer paper, do not spray them with 404. Use the information in the Design Magic book for alignment tips and adhere the stencils to your fabric by pressing with a warm iron.

Step 3 – Paint DesignMagic images on focus fabric

Place your focus fabric right side up on a Grip-n-Grip mat (if you have one.) The mat will keep your fabric from moving around while you paint.

Remove the film from the end of your paintstik, rub the paint on a piece of freezer paper, and load the paint onto a stencil brush. For more information on stenciling, visit the Learning Center and download the document on Stenciling.

To paint the first image, position Stencil-A so that two alignment guides are even with the registration marks on the fabric. Paint the fist images using paintstik color and a stencil brush.

Lift the stencil from the fabric. Place the stencil on scrap fabric and gently wipe away any excess paint before using the stencil again. (I don’t usually worry about wiping my stencils unless it’s very messy or if I’m using several colors and don’t want to muddy them up when I paint the next image.)

To paint the second image, position Stencil-B next to the fist painted image. Rotate the stencil until th eimages on the stencil match up with the painted image from the previous step. Use the alignment guides and the registration marks to make sure the stencil is in the right place. Paint the image, lift the stencil, and clean the stencil if necessary.

Continue painting images, alternating between Stencil-A and Stencil-B until you have painted 8 DesignMagic images on the focus fabric.

Step 4 – Allow paint to dry and heat set paint

Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours and then heat set the paint to make it permanent. To heat set, place the painted fabric on an ironing board, right side up. Cover the painted fabric with a piece of muslin or scrap fabric. Preheat a dray iron to the appropriate temperature for the fabric. Press each section of the fabric for 10-15 seconds.

I usually heat set paint by placing the fabric paint-side down on parchment paper and pressing from the back. But in this case, I’ve already fused interfacing to the back, and I think it’s better to press from the top with a pressing cloth.

Step 5 – Assemble Magic Mat

Use a 1/2″ seam allowance for all seams on this project.

Align the long edge of the painted fabric with one 17″ edge of the border fabric, right sides together. Pin as needed and stitch the full length of the seam with a 1/2″ seam allowance. I don’t have a good 1/2″ seam guide, so I actually marked the 1/2″ line on the back side of my painted fabric.

Open the fabric and check to see that there the seam allowance covers the unpainted portion of the fabric. You can always make an extra wide seam allowance if you have unpainted portions of the focus fabric showing at the seam. Press the seam allowance toward the border fabric.

Fold the remaining 17″ edge of the border/backing fabric 1/2″ to the back side a press. After pressing, open the fold for the next step.

Align the second long edge of the painted fabric with the remaining 17″ edge of the border/backing fabric, right sides together. The fabric should form a tube. Pin as needed and mark the seam allowance 3″ from each side. (See red arrow in photo above.)

Stitch a short 3″ seam from each end, leaving the middle of the seam open. You will turn the Magic Mats through this opening later.

Here’s what your Magic Mat should look like so far. The two pieces should form a tube, and there should be an opening in one of the seam.

With the tube wrong side out, flatten the tube so one of the long seams is 1.75″ from the folded edge. Do NOT press the tube flat while it is wrong side out – we’ll press it flat after turning it right side out.

Pin the ends of the tube together and stitch a seam along each end using a 1/2″ seam allowance. Peek inside the mat to make sure unpainted portions of the focus fabric do not show at the side seams. Trim the side seams to 1/4″ if desired.

Gently turn the Magic Mat through the opening in the seam. Use an awl to pus the corners out for nice square corners.

Flatten the placemat and give it a good pressing.

After the mat is pressed flat, top-stitch along the edge of the focus fabric to secure the layers together and to close the opening in the mat. I also top-stitched along the grid lines in the painted fabric. The stitching gives the illusion that the fabric is pieced, but is far less work.

Enjoy your Magic Mats!

Magic Mats really are easy to make, and they are a fantastic way to play with DesignMagic images. They are big enough to show off the repeating designs, and small enough that they can be done quickly. It takes me about 25 minutes to paint one of the panels and less than an hour to assemble a mat. Now that’s what I call magic!

Make Magic Mats for your own home – or make gifts for your friends and family. If you prefer runners to placemats, simply make a longer version of this project. It’s easy!

Download a free copy of the Magic Mats pattern

Visit the Learning Center on our website to download a free, printer-friendly version of the Magic Mats pattern. The pattern is posted on the Design Magic Resources page. You are welcome to make copies for your friends.

Learn more about Design Magic

If you like making Magic Mats, you’ll love Design Magic for Paintstiks on Fabric. Learn to make your own designs, turn them into stencils, and transfer the images to fabric. With Design Magic, you really can design your own fabric!

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Posted in "How To" Information, Design Magic, Free Project Tutorial, Paintstik Projects | 1 Comment »

Design Magic: Make Scrollwork This Summer!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

As part of my visit to Bernina University, I offered the dealers and shop owners a free DesignMagic stencil along with a free project. (More on the project at the end of the post.) I was really interested to see which of the 4 stencils (Safari, Scroll, Fractured-X or Wavy Squares) they would choose most frequently.

While all of the stencils were popular, 35% of the dealers chose the Scroll stencil to make the sample for their project. The most frequent comment was that they liked the circular lines of the design — often referred to as “curlicues.”

Here is a photo of the Scroll stencils.

When I created these designs, I was thinking about waves. (If you take one of the curly images and lay it on its side, it looks like a wave breaking — or at least it did in my mind.) But the composite image doesn’t look like water in any way, shape, or form!

Leanne (my trusty assistant) thought the images looked like Scrollwork, and that’s how the stencil got it’s name. (The discussions on names get very interesting at times — much rolling of eyes and tons of laughter as more than a few inappropriate possibilities are tossed about…) But, back to Scrolls…

I used the Scroll design for the very first project I created for the book. I made the little Scrollwork quilt at a retreat last fall. It was really an experiment to see if I could use Design Magic images with patchwork projects (instead of whole cloth), and clearly, the answer was YES! Here’s a photo of the Scrollwork quilt.

Making this quilt led to all of my “aha” moments related to the alignment guides on the pre-cut mylar stencils. when I made the blocks for this quilt, I put them on oversize blocks. Then I had to try to trim them down to size. With some designs that might work OK, but this one was a real bear. All the curves made it tough to find the “corners” for trimming the blocks to size. It was definitely one of those moments when I said “There has to be a better way!” And, of course, there was.

A number of people have asked what color paintstik I used on the Scrollwork quilt. Since there is no “burgundy” in the paintstik line, I made my own by mixing Purple Sage and Alizarin Crimson. (Crimson is a dark red, and the addition of purple tones it down to a nice burgundy.)

Before I go, I want to share one more piece that I made with the Scroll design. This is one of my Magic Mats. I painted this fabric while I was in Orlando. (I’m always happy when I can do double duty by demonstrating on fabric that will actually get used!) I used Chocolate Brown (from the matte color line) on the pink fabric.

I have finished editing the photo sequence for Magic Mats, and I promise to post the instructions shortly.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. If a rainy day comes your way, grab a paintstik and a brush and make a little Design Magic of your own.

Shelly

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Posted in Design Magic, New Products, Paintstiks, Stencils | No Comments »

Design Magic: On Safari with Margo!

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

After much holding of breath and saying of prayers, the first copies of Design Magic arrived in my office just a few days before Spring Quilt Market. I felt totally blessed that the book arrived in time — and that Spring Market was held in Minneapolis this year. We’re just a few hours away from the Twin Cities, so I didn’t even have to drive as far as the airport.

Once the book arrived and everything was packed, I decided to take a few hours to make something special for myself using the cover fabric from the book. I’ve already worn out the Primrose tote that started my Design Magic adventure, so I decided to make the new Margo bag from my good friend Joan Hawley at Lazy Girl Designs.

Margo is a delightful bag with a zipper at the top — and leave it to Joan to figure out such an easy method for adding a zipper! Margo is a little bigger than I would normally make for a purse (I like them SMALL so I don’t carry too much junk…) but she is going to be perfect once my iPad arrives.

I used the Safari design and a Grape (matte color) paintstik to paint this beautiful piece of hand-dyed fabric. As soon as I finished, I knew it was perfect for the the cover of the book, and I have to say that it made a fabulous bag as well. I had a hard time cutting into this piece of fabric to make something I’m sure to wear out, but hey –  what good is beautiful fabric if it just sits in the closet? If I wear it out, I’ll just have to make a new one!

More about the Safari Design

Matthew Mills, my very talented graphic designer, created the Safari design for me when I was working on the book, and I have to say it is one of my favorite designs. The design is printed in the book so you can make freezer paper stencils from it, or you can purchase our pre-cut mylar Safari stencils. The mylar stencils have several advantages — they are already cut (of course!), you can see through the mylar, and all the alignment guides are etched into the stencils to make your life easier as you paint the images on fabric. Here is a picture of the Safari stencils. (You can see all the new stencils on our New Products page.)

And here a closer look at the Safari design on a piece of the Gradations fabric from Benartex.

I used this set of stencils to make the On Safari quilt project that is included in the Design Magic book.

On Safari is a super-simple quilt. The 4 large panels are painted on fat quarters that are then trimmed to size for insertion in the quilt top. I just quilted in the grid lines. I was surprised how many people at spring market thought it was appliqued or pieced.

At any rate, you can go on your own Safari Design Magic adventure. Make a Margo bag, make a quilt, you decide! Whatever you choose, it will be lots of fun.

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Posted in Design Magic, New Products, Paintstik Projects, Stencils | 3 Comments »

Deisgn Magic: Primrose Projects

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

In my last post, I introduced my new Design Magic book. It’s due in from the printer any day now, so you can imagine that I’m waiting on pins and needles! Did I mention that I hate waiting??? In the mean time, I want to tell you more about the book.

Design Magic is a really great way to make your own designs, turn them into freezer paper stencils, and add the designs to fabric by stenciling with paintstiks.

Freezer paper stencils? Yes, freezer paper stencils. While they don’t last forever, freezer paper stencils are much more durable than you think — I really pushed one set and used it more than 50 times before it was really worn out. As a matter of fact, I used freezer paper stencils to make most of the samples in the book, including the queen-size Woodland Flowers Quilt.

And as much as I love freezer paper stencils, there is an outer limit to how long they last, and that means you have to make multiple sets of stencils for a very large project. I like making stencils (it’s really quite easy), but even I was a little annoyed after making the 4th set of stencils for my big quilt. I decided there had to be a better way.

It took a few months and a series of samples from my very patient and understanding stencil company, but I figured out a way to make pre-cut mylar stencils from Design Magic designs. And I liked them so well that I decided to include one set in the Design Magic book. (I chose the Primrose set for the book because I used it for the big quilt — and that was the design I was working with when I figured out how to make the Design Magic process work.)

So, you get the best of both worlds. If you like the idea of designing your own fabric, the Design Magic book gives you a neat method for making your own designs, creating stencils, and transferring your designs to fabric.

If you just want to paint, you get a set of pre-cut mylar stencils that can be used to make any of the projects in the book — as well as any that you can dream up — without the work of making stencils. Here’s a photo of the Primrose Stencils.

And here are a couple of Primrose images stenciled on a piece of Gradations fabric.

As you can see, the Primrose stencils form a stylized floral motif when they are painted in a repeating pattern. They can be painted in a single color or multiple colors. I really like painting on the Benartex Gradations fabric with a single paintstik. I used a blue/turquoise variation of this fabric to make my Primrose Tote. (Confession: The book does not include instructions for this tote. I used some very basic instructions from an old magazine article and re-sized the bag to fit my painted fabric. You could do the same using your favorite tote bag pattern.)

If the fabric is not changing color, I like painting with multiple colors. Here’s a piece in progress that I was painting with bright colors.

This bright and cheerful fabric will make a wonderful wall quilt or pillow cover for a room that needs a splash of color!

As you can see, there are plenty of wonderful possibilities for the Primrose design that comes with each copy of the Design Magic book. In the next post, I’ll introduce you to additional Design Magic stencils.

As always, happy painting!

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Posted in Design Magic, New Products, Paintstik Projects, Stencils | 1 Comment »

Make a little Design Magic!

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

I know I’ve been missing in action here on the blog, but I’ve been totally immersed in finishing up my new book called Design Magic for Paintstiks on Fabric. The book went to the printer at the end of April, and I should have copies in my hot little hands sometime next week! And just in time for Spring Quilt Market. Whew!

Here’s the cover of my new baby and a few paragraphs from the Welcome section:

Welcome to the world of Design Magic. It’s a magical, mystical world indeed, where simple shapes are  transformed into easy-to-use tools, and fabulous fabric is created in far less time than you ever imagined possible. It’s almost like having your own magic wand!

And now that you’re here, I hope you enjoy the Design Magic adventure as much as I have. The path is full of exciting  “aha” discoveries and “wow” moments. There’s never a dull moment in the world of Design Magic.

So, what’s it all about?

Design Magic is a really slick method for making your own designs and putting them on fabric with minimal tools and time. It’s faster than fusing and easier than appliqué! Here are the 3 main steps.

  • Create a design by cutting shapes from a square of black paper.
  • Make a set of equal and opposite stencils.
  • Stencil repeating images on fabric with paintstik colors and stencil brushes.

The book includes complete instructions for making your own designs and stencils (of course), but I’ve also included a set of pre-cut mylar stencils for those of you who just want to jump in and paint. Here’s a picture of some fabric I’ve painted with the Primrose stencils that are tucked inside the back cover of each book.

There’s way too much to tell you in a single post, so I’m not even going to try. If you want to see what else we are introducing at the Spring Quilt Market, jump on over to the New Products page on our website.

We’ll be shipping the new books and stencils out to our retailers and distributors within 2 weeks, so you won’t have to wait too long to get your own personal copy of Design Magic.

Happy painting!

Shelly

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Posted in General, New Products, Paintstiks, Stencils | 5 Comments »

A tale of two brushes…

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

In an earlier post, I talked about cleaning brushes, but let’s step back and talk about the different types of brushes that can be used with paintstik colors.

Paintstiks are really dry (compared to liquid paints), so any brush we choose to use needs to be fairly stiff. For the most part, I use stencils brushes. But, all stencil brushes are not the same. Some have long bristles, some have short. It’s just another case of the right brush for the right job.

For the most part, I use two types of stencils brushes. One is a standard stencil brush with long bristles. The second is a denser brush with short bristles. Here’s how I use them…

Standard Stencil Brushes

stencil_brushes

Most paint companies make various grades of stencil brushes, ranging from inexpensive to exorbitant. These brushes are fairly dense, usually flat across the top, and have bristles about an inch long, give or take. The brushes are wonderful for stenciling with liquid paints using a pouncing motion, but have to be used a little differently with paintstiks. (You have to apply paintstik color with a scrubbing motion because the paint is so “dry.”)

  • Positive – these brushes are softer and don’t leave obvious brush marks.
  • Negative – the bristles bend a lot and it takes longer to get an even application of color.

Short Bristle Stencil Brushes

paintstik_brushes

Because paintstik colors are so different than typical paints, I worked with our supplier several years to develop a set of brushes just for our use. The brushes have shorter, denser bristles. This means they don’t bend as much when applying paintstik color, and it’s easier to get opaque images on fabric.

  • Positive – it’s easy to apply an even, opaque layer of color.
  • Negative – because they are so stiff, these brushes will leave definite brush marks if you are working on large areas.

Other Brushes

I occasionally use other brushes with paintstiks, particularly when I’m working with small details. Years ago, I found some “fabric dye brushes” in my local JoAnn Fabrics store. I have no idea if they are still out there, but you can keep your eyes open when you are in fabric and/or craft stores. These brushes are made from dense synthetic fibers and I found them very useful for stenciling images when I wanted to change the color of a very small area.

The right brush for the right job…

For some of our patterns and projects, it is better to use a specific type of brush. When we have a preference, we will tell you on the back of the pattern.

cool_coneflower_blog

For example, it’s much better to use the standard stencil brushes to paint the Coneflower quilt — especially the extra-large flower on the right side of the quilt. The standard brushes are much less likely to show brush marks, making for a more pleasing finished quilt.

So that’s my tale of two (or more) brushes. I’m going to be talking about stenciling a lot in the next month or two, so you’ll have a head start on when to use which brush.

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More Beautiful Coneflowers

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Once a month I join a small group of adventurous quilters called the DIVAS for a Monday afternoon meeting. We share our recent work, new ideas, work on group projects, and try new techniques. But summer is special in Minnesota, so our August gathering was simply a picnic at Becky’s lake cabin. It was a glorious day with lots of sunshine, a gentle breeze and wonderful company.

mary_ritter_coneflower

Mary Ritter (Alexandria, MN) brought her version of the Coneflower quilt. It’s really stunning. Mary used matte colors on a mottled batik background and added some borders. It looks very different from the originals. She quilted the background in a linear pattern using a double needle. It sets off the flower very nicely and gives a totally different effect. Thanks for sharing, Mary!

coneflower_k_amparan

And here’s an idea from Kathy Amparan in California. She really liked the leaves from the small stencil, so she made a large freezer paper stencil and added a few to her quilt. What are you doing with coneflowers?

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Congrats to our Quilt Market Winners!

Friday, May 29th, 2009

It’s always fun to have something special going on in our booth at market, and this spring we decided to try something new. We painted a Coneflower quilt top each day in the booth along with our usual hands-on demonstrations and mini-classes. Because there is no piecing involved in making the quilt (all paint, no piecing!) we were able to finish the tops in just a few hours.

Each afternoon, we held a drawing to find a home for the completed tops. Our quilt tops went home with Christine Koehne from Quilt et Textilkunst in Munich, Germany; Jane Barnett from Quilter’s Way in Concord, MA; and Brenda Stengel from Satin Moon Quilt Shop in Victoria, BC, Canada.  Here’s a photo of Christine with her quilt top.

Christine Koehne (Germany) with Coneflower quilt top

Christine Koehne (Germany)

And here I am with Jane Barnett. Jane was in our Take and Teach session on Saturday morning and she had a wonderful time. It’s so much fun when we get to see someone just beaming as they learn to play with paintsitks! We were just as excited as she was when we pulled her name for the quilt top.

Shelly Stokes and Jane Barnett with Coneflower quilt top

Shelly Stokes and Jane Barnett

We neglected to take a photo of our third winner from Canada. (We must have been distracted thinking about all the things we needed to do at the end of the show!) Oh well…

It’s not every day that you get to go home from market with a nearly finished sample! It was our pleasure to make these three shop owners happy and to show off our new pattern at the same time. Congrats to our winners!

I want to share one last photo from market. My friend Albright from Alexandria, MN was kind enough to loan us her dark version of this quilt for the show. Becky used the iridescent Fashion colors to paint the Conelfower on fabric that is almost black. It was stunning! A big special thank you goes to Becky for serving as a pattern tester for this pattern. Her help was absolutely invaluable.

Becky Albright's dark coneflower quilt

Becky Albright's dark coneflower quilt

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Posted in General, Quilt Market | 1 Comment »

Coneflowers will be blooming!

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

In spite of the weather, it has been feeling a bit like spring for the past couple of weeks here in the office as we put the finishing touches on a new Coneflower pattern by designer Nancy Kazlauckas. I have a perfect place in my office to hang these quilts – and then it will be spring year-round! (Just don’t tell Nancy – she thinks she’s going to get one of them back…)

Coneflower in warm colors

Nancy’s latest creation is a 27 1/2″ x 38″ whole cloth quilt. That’s right – it’s all paint and no piecing! I actually sat down and painted several of the shadow boxes on the left side of the quilt to finish up the photography, and I can vouch for the fact that it’s easier than it looks. Nancy has a super easy method for putting those shadow boxes together. It really works!

Not just a pattern…

This is our first Pattern Plus. In past patterns, all the stencils were traced and cut from freezer paper, but this time we tried something different. You cut the big coneflower stencil from freezer paper, but we’ve made mylar stencils for the smaller images. This will save you a ton of time – and you can use the stencils again and again for other great projects. Given the price of stencils these days, our retail price of $14.95 for pattern plus stencils is a real deal.

Coneflower Pattern & Stencils

Here’s an alternate colorway for those who prefer cool colors. They are both beautiful, so you’ll have to choose. Or pick your own colors!

Coneflower in cool colors

Speaking of colors, the warm color quilt was created with matte paintstik colors. Nancy used Azo Yellow, Peach, Azo Orange, Napthol Red, Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Seinna.

The cool color quilt was created with iridescent paintstik colors: Iridescent Pink, Purple, Turquoise, Dark Blue and Leaf Green.

We expect to begin shipping Nancy’s new pattern by April 6.

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Posted in New Products, Paintstik Projects | 7 Comments »