2020 Topic 21 Fabric Covered Notebooks with ESA (by Jenny Marples)

 2020 Topic 21: Masterboards

Stitching fabric masterboard pieces in strips creates a wonderful textured new piece of fabric, perfect for new projects. With some useful ideas for applying paint and dying fabric, there's plenty to learn and be inspired by in this post.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Jenny Marples with you today, and I'd like to share an idea for making fabric masterboards with the new Seth Apter stamp sets and Fresco Finish Paints. The results can then be used to decorate book covers and much more.

Creating masterboards is a great way of building confidence if you are new to stamping with paint on fabric because mistakes can easily be disguised. And when finished you end up with your own unique designs that can be stitched or sewn through. I chose to team mine with additional strips of fabric in complimentary colours.

Here's a closer look at how the first of the books, the Gold Rush version, turned out;

So now let's see how these were made, starting with the first of the masterboards. Measure the height of your book cover and cut (or tear) strips of white/natural cotton fabric that are at least 6cm longer. The width of each strip can vary in size - it's just a question of ensuring you end up with a combination of strips that are wide enough to cover your book.

In each of the photos above and below showing the fabric masterboards you'll see the Fresco Finish Paints and stamps used, all taken from Seth Apter's ESA17 and ESA18 sets. Begin by covering one of four strips with the main paint colour (eg. above it's Lilac, below Pansy, Spanish Mulberry and Squid Ink). I find that fabric can be a greedy surface, soaking up paint quickly so mixing it with a little Fabric Medium and water can help.

Next, for each of the coloured fabric strips, repeat stamp with one of Seth's stamps to create an all-over pattern. My preferred method for doing this is to create a paint 'ink pad' by adding the paint onto a piece of foam and pushing it into the foam with a spatula. This paint 'ink pad' can then be pounced over the surface of the stamp before applying it to the fabric. Be aware that you may need more paint than you think on the surface of your stamp than you might expect because that fabric is still thirsty.

Now go in with another colour of 'paint pad' and another of Seth's stamps creating a second layer of patterns over the first. You might want to go over 'mistakes' made during the first layer of stamping, though bear in mind when you tear the fabric into thinner strips those are going to disappear from focus anyway.

Cut or tear each of your fabric masterboards into even thinner strips of differing widths. Remember, the idea is to have enough to cover your notebook cover. I found I had enough to cover three notebooks when adding extra contrasting coloured strips of fabric (using Midnight, Gold Rush, Blue Bayou and Guacamole). It also helped to iron the fabric before cutting/tearing it.

Cut a new piece of fabric measuring the size of your cover with an additional 1.5cm border around the edges. Lay out your strips (the masterboard ones and some of the plain ones) and arrange over the new piece of fabric, ensuring it's covered. Trim off the excess (should be roughly 3cm) and hold on to these for later. Stitch the strips and new fabric together as shown below using coordinating thread. 

Now add trims over the top, stitching them into place. If you don't have colour coordinated ones in your stash create your own - cotton lace can be dyed with dilute paint and Infusions. I also coloured some white teabag paper with Raspberry Infusions and tore strips from that to add to the mix.

Below you can see how adding neutral trims and that pop of contrasting colour can really add to the finished look. You can also try using a combination of straight and zig zag stitches for even more interest.

Cover your notebook cover with your stitched fabric as shown below with your choice of adhesive. I used dry adhesive sheets so that none of the glue could leak through to the front of the fabric.

Stick some of those left over pieces of fabric to a piece of card and die cut some letters for the front of the notebook.

I was excited to find that the 'magic' stamp from set ESA17 perfectly fits the plaque from Eileen Hull's 'Journal' Die. Painting the plaque with Heavy Cream and stamping over with Buff gave a subtle textured look perfect for mounting the die cut letters on. Glue your plaque onto the front of your notebook and add a text block inside to finish. Even if you don't want to make your own book just use the fabric to cover a pre-made book.

Here are the other versions of the notebook starting with the Blue Bayou one;

And finally the Guacamole version;

It was fun seeing how the shades of purple used to create the fabric masterboards teamed with the contrasting coloured strips and made each one individual. Hopefully you'll have seen how easy it is to create masterboards on fabric using paints and stamps and how effectively they can be used within stitched projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Jenny

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