This is the first page of my new fabric journal. I’ve been making lots of fabric journals, but they’ve all been blank ones to sell. I recently started my first art journal, following the online lessons of Terri Sproul. I thought it was about time to start my first fabric journal, too.
Traditionally, “stamped” embroidery involves mass-produced, machine-stamped or iron-on images made with ink intended to be washed away or completely covered with stitching. In recent years,
some stitchers have stamped their own images using fabric ink that fades or washes away. For my stitchery, I used permanent ink and stitched in a way that features my stamped image instead of obscuring it.
Here’s the journal I decided to use, along with a pretty piece of hand dyed cheesecloth. The cover is made from upholstery fabric.
Here’s the inside.
Each page is made from a piece of folded tea dyed muslin. This way you can sew through the page and not have your stitches show on the other side.
I stamped my image onto tea dyed muslin. I usually stamp an image multiple times, so I can choose the one I like the best, or make several projects. I chose this image from the Sin City Stamps Dressforms set. This is a great set with more than a dozen images. I used ColorBox Chalk Ink in Rouge and heat set it with my iron after it dried. For more information about stamping on fabric, see my post here.
I pinned the muslin to a thin piece of batting. I like this for embroidery. It gives more body to the piece, and some texture to the image. The tighter you pull the thread, the more tufting you get.
When I’m trying to choose colors, I like to lay out a bunch of options and see how they look together.
I chose my colors and started stitching. I outlined the corset with three strands of floss, then stitched the inner lines with one strand. I did the outlines with two strands. I used backstitching, but you could try some fancy stitches. I added tiny beads for the fasteners.
When I was finished stitching, I trimmed the whole piece with a rotary cutter and then used scissors to trim the batting away from the edges so it wouldn’t show.
I made a little ruffle from a strip of the hand dyed cheesecloth and sewed it on. I inserted a piece of crinoline into the center of the journal page to give support.
Then I decided not to sew my stitched piece into the journal until I decide what’s going to be on the other side of the page. But I planned the layout:
I was definitely in a monochromatic mood while I was working on this piece, but you can use this process with any stamp and any color combination! I hope you will create your own rubber stamp stitchery. As always, let me know if you have any questions!
If you like the stamps from Sin City Stamps, I have great news for you! Sin City Stamps is giving away $1,000 worth of stamps (ten $100 prizes). Go here to find out how to enter to win!
And here’s a sure thing! You can save 20% off your total purchase at Sin City Stamps during the month of July by entering the code nautical20 at checkout.
Starshine Wishes,
Karen
