A use for my eco printing!

 Last time I posted I had been experimenting with eco print and made some samplers. It is quite an addictive pass time as you don't actually know what you will get until the bundle is unwrapped. Naturally, I wanted an excuse to continue but fabric (especially silk noil) is expensive.

I made myself a bag and purse with some of the fabric and had so many comments on it I decided to make more for my shop. Hooray! A use for my fabric and a possible income to buy more. Some of the bags and purses are silk and some are cotton.

Here are a few of them. More can be found in my etsy shop.

Each time I dye only enough for one bag and one purse so there is usually a matching set and all are completely unique. The green, cotton bag and purse were first dyed with a dye I made from nettles and then steamed with leaves from the hedge row. They are made from cotton so are vegan friendly. 

Next time I dye a batch of fabric I will try to remember to take photos so you can see how it's done.
 

Eco printing on fabric with embroidery

 Hi everyone. It's been a few months since I last posted as we have very sadly had a family bereavement and I was dashing to and from England for hospital visits and a funeral. To be honest I didn't feel much like working anyway.

However, I am now getting back to work - and play. I have listed several more felts in my etsy shop. I was delighted that three sold within days ! Two of them went to repeat customers which is always nice because I know that they must have been very happy with their original purchase to have come back for more.

I'm waffling. Let me tell you about the eco printing. In case you've not come across it before it's a process where you mordant either paper or fabric, place leaves and flowers on it and steam it for a couple of hours. The leaves and some flowers leave a print on your paper / fabric. 

I have had a lot of success with printing on paper before but been disappointed with the results on fabric so I decided to take an online workshop. What a difference! Instead of looking like someone screwed the fabric and rubbed it in dirt I have leaf prints.

I started with cotton. It's not the best for this method but it's inexpensive and I had some. The prints were there but quite faint so I decided to add embroidery. I love the result. Here are photos of my samplers.

This is the first one. It was done on plain, white calico. I added both hand and free machine stitching. I also put some wadding on the back to make the stitches give more depth.

This is the second one I made. The background is actually a peachy, beige but doesn't show well in the photo. It started as plain, white calico but I dyed it with coreopsis before printing. Coreopsis gives a bright orange but the iron water I used as a mordant modified it.

Close up of stitching. Both machine and hand embroidery.

Close up of the second one which was all hand embroidery.

After having a bit of practise I treated myself to some silk noil. Gosh! Look at this.

The prints are so much clearer. I think it is a little too dark so today I am trying more silk with less mordant. It's so exiting when the time comes to unwrap the bundles and see what has happened.

I've no idea what I shall do with all of these prints but I'm sure I will think of something. I'll keep you updated when I do.