Fabric Archives - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Can taking an online course improve my ecoprints?

In December 2020 I registered for an online course in the hope of improving my ecoprints. The course was Foundation of ecoprinting and was run by Caroline Nixon. The course started in early January. I did not get very far with the course because I broke my elbow. That is what you get for cycling when it's icy. I was then unable to wring out fabric or wrap bundles. Caroline kindly let me join the April course instead. Luckily my elbow is fully recovered and I could participate in the April course. Good timing as well as many of the plants in my garden were coming into leaf. Here is one of my first ecoprints. The fabric is a hemp silk blend and has a slight texture and lovely drape. Certainly, this is not the best ecoprint in the world but it tells me loads. I have printed with raspberry, aquilegia, alchemilla,…

2 Comments

25/04/2021

Eco Dyeing / eco printing / Fabric / Mordant / Natural dyeing / Textile art

It’s time to organise my white fabric stash

Both natural dyeing and eco printing require white fabric and I have been building a disorganised stash. I bought a lot of old tablecloths from the local charity shop during 2019 and early 2020 and mordanted most of it. I even have a stash inventory from about a year ago. Meaningless really as I have not updated it. I stored my stash in numerous plastic blags and in an old blanket chest I got from my mother. Last year in the first lockdown I sewed scrubs for the local hospital and I volunteered to take all the white sheeting we were given, as it wasn’t suitable for making scrubs. This has added to the significantly to the stash. And of course, I have bought lengths of fabric to supplement the recycled material. I have kept my small quantity of silk fabric separate from the rest, and for now, I am not sorting…

0 Comments

28/02/2021

Eco Dyeing / eco printing / Fabric / garments / machine stitching / Natural dyeing / sewing

My challenge: Sewing garments with ecoprinted fabric.

I have sewn garments for years but only made garments with eco-printed fabrics for about a year. Eco printed fabric gives me a new challenge: the width of the fabric. I printed eco-fabric that was 42cm wide. Garments normally use 115cm wide fabric. 42cm was limited by my longest pole and the length of my fish kettle. With my new larger fish kettle this has gone up to about 54cm. I looked for interesting garment patterns that could be accommodated by this restriction. I choose a Marcy Tilton jacket pattern My fabric was an old linen table cloth. I cut out the pattern pieces before printing to get round the width limitations. Then I printed the pieces individually using walnut, rose, silverweed and Cornus leaves, and a tannin blanket. Work in progress. Finished jacket The trouser pattern was made up of narrow pieces. I simply sewed my fabric pieces together to get…

0 Comments

14/02/2021

Fabric / fibre / Wet felting

How I know my precious fabric will felt ?

Over the years I have collected lots of fabric. Completley randomly at one time, just because I loved them, but now always with an eye to felting or dyeing. But and its a big BUT I am not always sure that my precious fabrics will felt well. Of course I know chiffon and pongee and organza will felt . But what about an old heavy silk scarf from Thailand and silk fabric from a market in Rotterdam, or some embossed silk sari from India, or some recycle fabric from a charity shop. Knitters are always advised to knit a tension square. As a knitter I rarely do. I just know it will turn out all right.Mostly I am correct. You could take the same attitude with felting. With felting I am far less cavalier. Knitting can always be pulled…

4 Comments

25/02/2018