Occasionally, I’ll request a review copy of an upcoming book or sewing video. Recently, I contacted C&T Publishing about two upcoming products, a book, Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth: Stamp, Screen, and Stencil with Everyday Objects (due out August 5), and DVD, Lynn Koolish Teaches You Printing on Fabric (available now at Amazon). Both deal with creating your own fabric and both are very inspirational.
Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth is a 95 page book that deals with all sorts of techniques ranging from stamping, stenciling, and screenprinting to discharge printing, rubbings and creating batiks. The instructions are written in a way that anyone, even a novice (such as myself), can make their own designs without difficulty. Best of all, every section of the book is loaded with photographs – not just to help you understand the technique, but also motivate the reader to try these methods as well.
The second product I reviewed was a 60 minute DVD, Lynn Koolish Teaches You Printing on Fabric. Even though I’ve used my computer and printer to create my own fabric, what I’ve tried is nothing in comparison to what this instructional video teaches you. The instructor discusses everything you need to know to create your own material from printers and inks (I had no idea that different companies had their own type of printer ink that could affect how you treat your new fabric), types of materials that can be used (and how inks react with them), and different programs available to create unique effects and images and how to use them. I actually learned quite a bit from watching this video and now finding myself wanting a scanner\copier\printer now more than ever.
Both products deal with vastly different techniques, but complement each other quite well. Even though both are geared toward quilters, especially art quilts, all of the techniques could easily be applied to clothing – in fact my mind is racing with ideas! I highly recommend Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth and Printing on Fabric especially if you’re looking to make your own material from home.