Fabric Challenge and Swap – Fiber Designs by Ann

I was happy to learn that the fabric I submitted for the Quilting Art Fabric Challenge/Swap was published in their Dec 2016/Jan2017 magazine. They didn’t publish all of the submissions but I was impression by the variety and would love to be able to ask many of the artists how exactly they achieved their results.

The way the challenge worked was for readers to create a fat quarter of fabric with original surface designs, submit it, and then they would receive a fat quarter made by another entrant. For more information see that QA link above.

I was so excited when I received a fat quarter created by Susan Price. Susan along with her business partner, Elizabeth, create original and custom Thermofax screens and sell their designs on Etsy at – PGFiber2art

Susan explained that the fabric I received was snow dyed, pole-wrapped (Shibori) and then thermofax screen printed using her original photo called Birds on a Branch. I think it is beautiful! Thank you, Susan.

A short time after I received Susan’s fabric I received a “thank you” email from Pat Robertson, who was the recipient of my challenge fabric. As I looked through the magazine again, I discovered that the fabric Pat submitted was also published so I asked Pat to send me photos of her fabric. Pat was kind enough to also send photos of her process too. The steps are – Pre-treated fabric, snow pile, dye applied, processing, fabric accepting the dye, rinse, and beautiful results! Thank you, Pat.

So you can see what wonderful results may come from playing with (and working) surface designs. I hope you will give it a try and if you do please share your results!

By Ann Scott

I started sewing and designing using fabric, thread, and paper when I was a child. I taught myself to make quilts, at first not following the "rules," then watched some experts, learned the rules, and made many hand quilted and appliqued quilts. I spent years focusing on miniature landscape quilts. Now I am a fiber and mixed media artist and that encompasses everything I have a passion for. I have taught, lectured, and my work have show nationally and internationally, some pieces have been published.

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2 comments

Your photo of your fabric is way better than the magazine’s! And I’ve bought thermofax screens from Susan Price, so I feel really connected to this QA contest. I did chuckle at the number of submissions that were snow dyed. Since I dye only in the summer I’ve done ice, not snow, dyeing. There’s no way the temps in my garage could get high enough for batching in the winter.

It’s neat to hear you are familiar with Susan’s screens. I’m not sure which photo of my fabric is more accurate; mine may be too dark but I don’t remember it being as light as the photo in the magazine (I asked Pat to let me know but she hadn’t gotten her magazine yet). Living here, where it doesn’t get really cold (I’m a wimp, cold to me is about 70 degrees!), I have often wondered about batching or just working on other aspects of dyeing when a person lives in a cold climate. I know some people have batching closets. I do love seeing snow dyed (and iced) results – each one so unique.

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