Stenciling and Screening on Fabric

The June meeting of the Choo Choo Quilters featured a program on two surface design techniques: stenciling with oil paint sticks and silk screening.

Designs were drawn on freezer paper and then cut out to create the stencil. After ironing the freezer paper stencil onto the square of fabric, a stencil brush was used to lightly fill in the areas with color from the paintstick. More than one color could be used to blend the colors on the fabric.

Here is an example of how this surface design method could be used to make a quilt. Hand-dyed fabrics were used for the blocks as well as the sashing and outside pieced borders.

A close-up of two stenciled quilt blocks is shown here.

Another technique that was demonstrated was silk screening. Fabric paint was mixed with shaving cream to silkscreen designs onto the fabric.

The Show and Tell part of the evening included a cute baby quilt, a vintage quilt top made from an Anne Orr "French Wreath" pattern and a colorful bed quilt.