Aprons

Our group has decided to decorate aprons for us to use at events, so that we can be identified as a group. For the local quilt show this will set us apart as textile artists, as opposed to the regular guild membership. We discussed t-shirts, but thought the aprons would be more fun, and have more area to cover. I created the type setting in Photoshop, in several different fonts, and we voted online for the one we liked best. The "Papyrus" font won the vote. I scanned it into the Brother Scan N Cut, and cut a stencil on exposed x-ray film. The stencil worked great, the plastic film is just perfect. We took turns stenciling acrylic paint with a foam brush onto the top of each apron, we could choose our own colors.

We were originally going to start with ice dyeing the aprons, but the weather wasn't hot enough to set the dye or melt the ice. So we began by using acrylic paint, which will act as a resist for later dyeing, the aprons will get many layers of techniques built up. Amy used blue & purple to stencil the spirals on the bottom of her apron. Jenny began with a very personal hand print.

Different stencils were used as we began.

Pat used a foam stamp to create a multi-colored bouquet of flowers. Then a stencil was used to add a rooster, hen and chicks.

Pat finished hers off with a chicken wire stencil across the bottom of the apron.

Amy used several Thermo-fax screens to print the foliage coming from the pocket, then a fern stencil at the base of the pocket. The medallions are stamped with a foam stamp.

Vi did not make it to the paint day, but came to a second workshop when we ice dyed, about a week later the weather had warmed back up. This is wet from the dye bath, it will rinse out lighter. So this is just the beginning for us, some are considering applique, more dyeing and printing, others are going to couch some of the dyed yarn from our Shibori dyeing, and others are bead-aholics. Who knows where we will end up.