Taunton's Threads - For people who love to sew
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From the pages of Threads Magazine Masking
Masking also describes the technique of covering parts of the fabric, perhaps with tape, before stenciling over it, so that, again, only a portion of the design prints. This can work very well when printing over already patterned fabrics, such as the striped example above, in which strips of tape allowed me to give the suggestion that the stenciled design is peeking out from behind the fabric's stripes. Stenciled bands and patches Another way to transform images from existing stencils is to fold or seam across the fabric they're printed on, revealing only portions of the stenciled design. The band in Fading below, which will be used to bind a garment edge, and the inset patches at top right are both good examples. You can, of course, print the fabric all over, then cut bias or straight strips or patches from it, but I sometimes prefer to cut the strips or patches first, with plenty of seam allowance, then lay them out together. That way, I'm more conscious of where my printed images will fall on each piece and can control the density and position of the individual motifs.
The way you print through your stencils is as much under your control as where and how you arrange the printed images on your fabric. For example, if you want a feeling of old, faded prints, as though you had used a tablecloth or curtain fabric from the '40s or '50s, you can print very lightly, concentrating your sponging around the edge of the stencil so the center of the design looks washed out. It helps if you use colors that already look soft, muted, and old. Try mixing a touch of the complementary color to the one you're using to dull its intensity (for example, add blue to orange, green to red, or purple to yellow--and vice versa). A second approach that can produce very interesting results is to actually wash the printed design before you heat-set it, rubbing gently to eliminate some of the paint. Print a little heavier than usual before washing, and be sure to test the results before you embark on a big project. Floating shadows
To get the most shadowlike effect, print the second image using a pale gray tint, then repeat other prints using the same shadow tone and offsetting the shadow in the same direction for each one. Printing the shadow tones sometimes closer, sometimes farther away, and sometimes at slightly different angles can give the effect of objects floating at different heights above a shifting background. [ previous ]
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