Screen Printing Workshop

This is another terribly overdue blog post to tell you about the screen printing class that I took at Handmakers Factory in July.

I didn't really know what to expect from the class, but I knew that if I didn't take some ideas with me I'd end up struggling to come up with something good to print in the class. So, in preparation I printed off some ideas the night before. As I didn't have any better ideas, I brought along some ingress related designs. I also brought along some fabric to print onto.

When we started the class we got a quick run through of the general technique and then learnt about how to make templates. Of course, I decided to start with the most complicated of the designs I brought with me. There was logic behind my madness; the design required two colours, so it made sense to start with it, as the first colour would need to dry before I could print the second colour.

 

The first step was cutting out the templates, the second step was printing the first colour. I was happy to discover that I could print 4-5 versions of the design before it started to bleed and need washing to start again.

  

Next I had to carefully line up the printed fabric with the screen to print the second colour. This step was pretty tricky, but I'm quite happy with how it came out.

(For those that are interested, this is an Australian themed play on the Resistance Logo that we designed for some keyrings. Resistance is one of the two teams in Ingress, and is the team that I play on)

After successfully printing my first design I got working on a (more simple) second ...

 

and third design...

I was very happy with how much I managed to get done in a day:

I have since sewn some of the fabric up, into bags...

 

And a merino t-shirt for the boy...

And I also printed onto the back of a t-shirt that I'd previously made for myself but rarely wore...

Overall, I had an amazing day at the class, I would recommend it to anybody that is considering trying screen printing. I want to print more stuff now! I have a stack of merino that we bought to make shirts for the boy, and am hoping to print some designs onto those too, once we have some designs.

Copy-Cat Skirt and Awesome Bike Bag

When I was out on Saturday taking photos of Mindy's Picnic Blanket I realised I was wearing one of my favourite summer skirts and that I'd never actually blogged about it.  I made the skirt pre-blog, over my Christmas break in 2007 - yes that's right, the skirt is almost 5 years old! Working out how long ago has scared me slightly!

The skirt was inspired by a skirt that my mum had bought in a shop, and I really liked the patchwork look of the skirt with the stripes in all different directions. I spent quite a while looking for fabric, but as the stripe repeat on her skirt was wider than on any fabric I could find and I was worried about it all looking too much the same. So instead my skirt is made up of two different fabrics in similar colours, one of which is a seer-sucker, which gives the skirt extra texture.

I 'drafted' the skirt myself by making a simple gore shape similar in measurement to the gores on my mum's skirt, I made about 5 copies and and then chopped up the gores into randomly divided sections (to make two gores per combination). From there I made up pattern pieces for all the bits of skirt, as the pieces have ~1 inch pleats in them where they're seamed together. That's right - every single piece in this skirt had a pattern piece, that was a lot of cutting, and then even more stitching! I think at the time I worked it out as 3 seams for every join in each gore! (I still have all the pattern pieces in my pattern stash)



But I didn't mind all the stitching, as I love how the skirt turned out. I also loved the price tag. This was one of the earlier items I made for myself and I was particularly chuffed that I had made my own interpretation of a skirt that cost about $200 in the shops for less than $20! And 5 years later mine is still going strong but I think my mum's has worn out.



I also wanted to take a moment to share something slightly newer than my skirt; my bike and even newer bike bag, since they were great props for the photos. I got my bike back in April and have been enjoying riding it very much! My previous bike was a 'boys' bike and I really struggled getting on and off it. I'm really loving having a step through bike again and being able to hop on and off easily! Also, MUD GUARDS! So good for riding in the rain or on wet roads!

However even more excitingly is my new bag, I got one of these Basil Elements Shoulder Bags. I really wanted a pannier bag now the weather is warming up; it sucks having a bag on your back when it's hot. However most of the pannier bags I've seen look like they're a real pain to carry around when they're not on the bike, and since I usually use my bike to go somewhere and then will want to carry my bag with me when I get there I need a bag that's easy/comfortable to carry around. So when I found the Basil Pannier bags online I was VERY excited! I ended up buying it from a local bike store as it meant I could see the bag in person before committing to buying it. It functions just like a normal bag when it's not on the bike, and then clips on my rack when I am on my bike - win win!

I don't buy many fabric based things these days, but I'm so happy with this bag. I've had it less than a week , but so far it's great! I did find pannier clips available for sale on the internet however, so have been contemplating trying to make my own pannier bag sometime... I should probably try making a regular bag first to get the hang of it though shouldn't I?!

Another Bag...

I've made another bag like the one I made for my mum for Christmas, this time with some different fabric.

Which again folds up to keep in my bag:

One thing I like about this bag is that I bought 0.5m of fabric and it uses exactly that much for the main body of the bag, plus a little bit more for the pouch. It doesn't add anything to my stash, which is certainly a good thing, as I'm running out of room!!

Christmas Gift: Fold-up Fabric Bag

I made a fabric bag for mum for Christmas. I followed this tutorial to make a fold-up bag. The fabric is from the quilting section at Spotlight.

The front and back of the bag:

And once it's folded up:

I found some steps of the tutorial a little confusing; like where the 'top' is mentioned but there is no indication as to which way around to put the fabric to get the 'top'. However I muddled through and the bag is great. I have some different fabric that will be made up into another one of these for myself.

Fortunate Washing Incident...

While pre-washing the reds from the rainbow of fabric I bought the other week I shoved in my calico "plastic bag" in with them as it was filthy, not quite thinking it through.

This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like now:

Shopping Bag...

A little pressie I made for my Dad to make his weekly trips to the supermarket a tiny bit more interesting:

The bag was made by following this tutorial with a couple of changes:
- I didn't line it, it's made from a single layer of calico. I zigzagged around the edges to somewhat finish them.
- I made it out of one piece of fabric so there's no seam at the top of the handles (having a seam there is a bit bulky and not so comfy for carrying)
- The tongue is machine stitched onto the fabric with a straight stitch
- It doesn't have the pocket detailed in the tutorial

Queens Birthday productivity

It was the queens birthday long weekend this weekend. I wish every weekend were a long weekend as then I'd have so much more time for sewing! Day one is for resting, day two for errands and day three for sewing!

This weekend, in addition to making an enormous mess in the living room, I pottered around doing a few things, including two more strips on my quilt (8 down, 14 to go!), a fabric bag using this tutorial and everything except the buttons and sleeves for a JJ shirt (see the photos above and below) You'd think by now I'd have learnt to buy the buttons when I buy the fabric, but nooooo, I didn't, so a trip to a shop to buy some will be needed before I can finish (and wear) the shirt.