2016 #23 Printed Patchwork Cushion {by Carol Fox}

2016 Topic 23: Bleach Techniques

Hi everyone Carol Fox from gingernonutsbits here, joining you this evening with a post about Bleach. I have always had a bit of a love affair with bleach and the effect it can have on fabrics. I remember as a child Tie Dying my clothes as I loved the patterns that bleach made on them, but I think this stopped for a while when my Mum found me Tie Dying my School dress when I was 10, that was not a good day !!! But as I have got older (a lot older) I have learnt to refine my use of Bleach and now I mainly use it for stamping and stippling. I love the way it can add another layer to your projects. 

I have used it to bleach another layer of pattern onto fabric that I printed with the Gelli Plate. I have used this to make a patchwork Cushion, which is a different way to show off your art and add a nice splash of colour to a room at the same time.

Step One: I brayered Mermaid paint directly onto my Gelli Plate, I laid a piece of fabric that I had cut to the size I wanted to work with onto the plate, and pulled of a print in exactly the same way you would if you were using a piece of a paper; the only exception was that I thoroughly pressed the fabric onto the Gelli Plate by rubbing my hand over it very firmly to ensure there was good adhesion to the plate with the fabric. I brayered a 2nd colour of Bougainvillea Paint onto the plate and randomly stamped the large circle shape from the stamp plate set EEG18 over it.

EEG18

Step Two: I then placed the same piece of fabric over the plate again and pulled off a 2nd print, again ensuring that there was good contact with the plate by the fabric. 

Step Three: I repeated this on several other pieces of fabric using the paint colours Eggplant, Guacamole, Cherry Red and Zesty Zing, and the following stencils...

PS001 {by Lin Brown}

PSO31 {by Darcy Wilkinson}

 and

PSO18 {by Emma Godfrey}

Layering up the paints and stencils in different combinations on the Gelli Plate so I had a good selection of backgrounds to use. 

Step Four: I then set about with the bleach to add depth and shade variations to my pieces of fabric. After playing a bit I realised that the opaque colours do not bleach at all, which although this says great things about the paint, it was pretty pants for my project.....or so I thought; But in the end this did give me some great effects on some of the pieces, where the bleach lifted the semi-opaque paints from the fabric and left the opaque ones. I have shown my favourites in the photo below. The bleach worked especially well with the Bougainvillea, Cherry Red, and Eggplant paints. In the photo below I used the bleach with the stencils PS018 and PS001 stencil and the EEG18 set of stamps, applying the bleach with cut and dry foam so it did not seep under the stencil or flood the stamps on application and therefore the bleached image kept its definition. 

Step Five: I now cut up my pieces of fabric to the size and shape that I wanted to give an interesting patchwork effect for my cushion. I laid them out in the shape of my cushion and then added extra touches with stamping using the Stamp sets EEG15 and EEG18, with Zesty Zing, Cherry Red, Bougainvillea, Mermaid, Little Black Dress and Snowflake paint. I attached them to a piece of fabric I had cut to size of my finished cushion using dressmakers Bondaweb.

EEG15

Step 6: I now stitched round all the individual pieces of fabric with my sewing machine. I did debate whether to add some extra stamping with black paint to link the individual pieces together a bit, but I could not decide, so I stitched about a half of it as you can see in the following photo, left it for a while and came back to it to get a fresh look. I decided not to, as I thought more black might overpower the individual fabric pieces too much. I may still go in on odd patches when I have finished all the stitching to add some extra touches with black paint, but at this point I just finished stitching around all the pieces with my sewing machine. 

I completed my cushion by adding a panel of fabric to the back and inserting a cushion pad. As you can see I did decide once it was finished to add some extra stamping using Little Black Dress paint and the Dream word from EEG18 To do this I removed the cushion pad and placed a folded towel inside to protect the back panel off the cushion and stamped my word using the paint. I especially like the way the Dream word fitted inside one of the small stitched panels, like it was made for it. 

I really enjoyed this project as I have made smaller items before with fabric I have printed on the Gelli Plate, I have a dog and a rabbit I made on my blog (link Below), but I had never attempted something this big. If you wanted to have a go yourself there are some great free patterns online to download, or this actual technique would look great on a pencil case to take your pens to craft or journal classes and how great would that be, to use a journal style case you made yourself to use for your journal pens and the doodling you could do on it, I think I have just talked myself into making one. 

I hope you have enjoyed my project, Carol Xx 

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I have a regular Journal class starting at That’s Crafty in the new year, the dates arranged so far are the 4th March, 1st April and the 6th May. Bookings can be made by ringing the shop on 01708 344146

Carol this is fabulous, what a brilliant way to use gelli prints. I think every art room should have a cushion like this. Thanks for sharing your techniques, the layering of prints and bleached stencils adds so much dimension. ~Darcy

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were inspired directly by their post; so please spare a moment to comment or make your own creative item. They all love to see your feedback and what you can do more than you realise!

We would love to see how you interpret this Bleaching Techniques topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #23: Bleaching Techniques on this page HERE. The Bleaching Techniques link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Dec 11th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store.