Technique of the Month: Painted Batting

I took a break this weekend from quilting the blazing star heritage quilt, and worked on the Technique of the Month from Three Creative Studios. This month's technique was painted batting. There are great instructions with photos for trying this out with various paints and batts. I actually painted my batting last weekend.

My first sample was three shades of Lumiere metallic paint on Warm and Natural batting. I quilted the whole piece on my new Janome, which was my first attempt at quilting with it. I also sprayed with a crystalline sparkly spray and for even more sparkle, fused iridescent foil to granules of 007 Bonding Powder. I loved this pastel combination.

The first postcard has a nice little fiber edge, and a bit of embroidered flowers with beads in the center.

Blue Heaven, 4" x 6", fabric postcard. 2010

A second postcard from this painted batt has seed beads to outline a large floral quilting motif.

Rhapsody in Blue, 4" x 6", fabric postcard, 2010

For a third postcard, I shaded in just a bit on the feather and the rose with Tsukineko inks, and added this beautiful lush feathery fiber to the edge.

Enchanted Garden, 4" x 6", fabric postcard, 2010

I had a long skinny strip left, and made a bookmark, which I beaded and embroidered while watching college basketball on TV on Saturday.

All of these blue pieces are backed with watercolor paper that I just painted with a wash in similar shades.

The next process Sue demoed in her tutorial was to use black batting, black Mistyfuse, silver paint, and silver foil. Instead I used white cotton batting, white Mistyfuse, copper and gold Lumiere paint, and copper and gold foil. Wow!

It is impossible to capture the gleam of this metallic paint/foil combination. I added a few other colors to the top with stamp pads. When I added foil, part of the batting came off after ironing. Perhaps the iron was too hot. I covered those areas with a copper leaf pen.


Great Balls of Fire, 4" x 6", fabric postcard, 2010

I got a second postcard and lots of little pieces out of this coppery batting.

Moon Dance, 6" x 4", fabric postcard, 2010

And another bookmark with beaded fringe.

All of the copper-colored pieces except for the bookmark have a backing of cardstock painted in the same Lumiere metallic paint.

I enjoyed participating in the Technique of the Month, and look forward to the next one!