Just recently, I was looking for a small amount of floral knit fabric, enough to make a size 3 dress bodice and I ran into a couple of problems: I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for…

Paint colours for kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms. If you're stuck on one section of the paint colour charts, we've got the inspiration you need.

By Nicole Tinkham In a previous blog post “How to Transfer a Printed Image”, we discussed how GOLDEN’s Soft Gel (Gloss) and GAC 800 can be used to transfer a printed image. GOLDEN carries various …

painting my fabric banner I love Pinterest for the convenience of collecting and organizing ideas. I usually have several project going ...

I also had a clear least favorite!

Tips and tricks you need to know before using fabric paint.

Stenciling on Fabric and Paper - How to make stencil printed tea towels and handmade greeting cards for Christmas gifts

We take a look at a genius way to use an allover stencil pattern and paint to create an elegant custom headboard-right on the wall!...

Create Custom Watercolor Fabrics, by Alyson Provax.

I'd like to share with you some ideas for manipulating fabric. I have been fortunate to be involved in South East ...

Make your home decor look unique and expensive with these Cheap, easy and quick home decorating ideas. Easy DIY home decor ideas on a budget.

Dodge your next design disaster and create a well-balanced living space with these tips from interior design experts.

In this DIY guide you will learn about the different types of fabric wall coverings and how you can easily make them yourself

The laundry room / mud room made great progress in the past week as part of the One Room Challenge. We've got shelving and trim up, the sink installed, flooring etc. But this week I

How to make oilcloth - a fantastic water-proofing method for fabric that maintains flexibility. Learn how to apply an oil-treatment to any fabric.

Today’s How to Stencil post features what may be one of my favorite stencil finishes of all time-a stenciled texture finish that replicates the look...

Flour resist with dye

See this before you paint any upholstery, as some things to consider. Testing matt medium, acrylic paint and fabric medium.

Starched Fabric Wall Treatment

For any surface treatment with dye such as dye painting, stamping, stenciling, any kind of monoprinting, or deconstructed screen printing, I like to pre-treat my cloth in a soak of soda ash, also k…

https://youtu.be/-RioumvSLmE Every single patient with Hashimoto's will go through the same stages over the course of their disease. These stages outline are important because they outline exactly what will happen to you, provided you let

Best tutorial on how to make your own pretty DIY privacy window screen for any size window in bathrooms and kitchens. Materials used: pine, thin fabric, miter box, spray adhesive, and nails! No power tools needed. Window treatment without hardware because this window screen fits snugly inside the frame of the window!

For an upcoming issue of Altered Couture I have written an article about using Shiva Paintstiks. A few wearable art items will appear with the techniques article. To supplement that article, here is an on-line tutorial with pictures illustrating the steps to perfect Shiva Paintstik application!! I like to use freezer paper stencils. Trace your design onto the paper side of freezer paper. Cut out the design. Iron the freezer paper stencil to your fabric. Fabric should be prewashed and dried. The arrow is my registration mark for this Chinese character PEACE. And here I am ironing in the square in the center of the second character. I've moved to the kitchen counter so I have a firm surface to work on. See my stencil brushes? These are dedicated solely to the purpose of Shiva Paintstiks. I store them in a zip top plastic bag. Shiva Paintstiks form a protective skin which prevent them from drying out. There are many different ways to remove that skin. Being somewhat of a skin thrift (get it? spend thrift, skin thrift), I like to peel away the skin using my thumbnail and a paper towel. Once the Paintstik is exposed, I swirl my stencil brush on the tip of the Paintstik to load it with paint. Next gently swirl the stencil brush on your stencil. You will have to reload your brush with paint a few times. Some say you need to use solvents to clean your brushes. Not me, I'm way too lazy to get those out. I just rub the paint off onto a paper towel. You can see how in about 4 squares, the paint is mostly off the brush. Then I pop the brush back into the baggie. I've been using these same stencil brushes forever. Once you are done, place your piece in between layers of paper towels (one on top, one on the bottom). Iron for a minute or so. This lets all the paint sink into the fabric. You still have to air dry and heat set the Shiva Paintstiks after 3-5 days. The moment of truth. Peel away your stencil (and save for another day). . . And the reveal. There is is. Perfect in every way. Soft and flexible. Washable, but NOT dry cleanable. Put out to dry for 3-5 days and then heat set by ironing. I usually iron for 2 minutes. Have never had a problem with fading. Another way to use Shiva Paintstiks: Rubbing plates. I don't like those commercial plastic ones, though some use them with great success. Too slippery. So I make my own rubbing plates. You need a piece of cardboard and a bottle of dimensional fabric paint. If you are in a hurry and you can't wait for the paint to dry (overnight), then you can use a hot glue gun. Using the dimensional paint, draw your design on the cardboard. Set aside to dry overnight. Place your fabric over your design and gently rub with the Shiva Paintstik. And there is your design. I like the dimensional paint because it is slightly rubbery and doesn't let the fabric slide. The stencil brush is not in the picture, but here I've used the stencil brush over my rubbing plate for a different look. Rubber stamps make nice rubbing plates too. Don't use ones with many small and fine details, they just get lost. Place your rubber stamp underneath your fabric. Rub with your Shiva Paintstik. Place your finished rubbing in between layers of paper towels (one on top and one on bottom) and iron. This lets the paint sink into the fabric. Let air dry for 3-5 days and then heat set again, ironing 2 minutes. Voila, three different types of rubbings.

On the second Friday of the month my FiberWorks group meets at the Brookfield Craft Center where one of our members demonstrates something of interest. Last Friday Andrea showed how to ice dye. I had done quite a bit of snow dyeing a couple of winters ago when we had an impressive amount of snow, but this was done with bags of ice from the grocery store. The technique is basically the same, the difference being that with snow dyeing your dye powders are mixed with water and put on the snow as a dye solution. In ice dyeing you work with the dry powders. After soaking your fabric in a soda ash solution, you put it in the bottom of a container, crumpled or twisted as you wish, then cover it with a layer of ice. Then you sprinkle small amounts of Procion dye powders on top of the ice. The ice acts as a resist and lets the dye hit the fabric at different times Leave it in the bucket for 24 hours, then rinse, wash in hot water and Synthropol, dry and iron. We had an absolutely perfect day for the project. We had a nice room do do our fabric manipulation, then a good outdoor space to deal with the ice and dyes. Andrea was a great teacher and everyone had a lot of fun. I did some more on my own when I got home and then some more yesterday. Some were more successful than others. Here are some that I liked. First dyed with just Bright Blue (boring), then over-dyed with Olive and Lemon/Lime I used just Deep Purple. All of these colors came through. Two pieces side by side using Wine, then over-dyed with Olive and Lemon/Lime This piece and the next were done at the workshop using Kiwi, Pale Yellow and Shrimp (I think). There were several large and small pieces using these colors. Parts of it were uninteresting, but I think that these two look like a flower garden. I am going to make a small piece using these and do some stitching to emphasize the flowers and grass. Doesn't it look like a water color? The next three pieces were done with each one using just one black. Who knew that all these beautiful colors were hiding in there? If I had used them as regular dyes where you mix them with water, I would have made three slightly different shades of black, because there are different concentrations of the mixing colors. Doing it this way with dry powders, they are quite similar. Cotton Black Black 608 Deep Black Fuschia and Navy Olive, Azure Blue and I forgot the third color I used. I should have kept records. Maybe next time. Detail of above.

Raise your hand if you're a type nerd? Yep, that's what I thought. There's something about seeing beautifully designed words that truly makes them art!

Skip expensive wallpaper and add interest to your walls with this paint technique.

This is a guide about repairing drywall after wallpaper removal. After removing wallpaper, the walls will need cleaning and perhaps some repair, prior to painting or whatever your next wall treatment will be.