C&T Publishing is a group of quilters and crafters dedicated to publishing products tailored to our audience. This blog is where we break away from book schedules and marketing campaigns to focus on what drives us to be creative and how this creativity manifests itself in our every day lives.
Christine Mann
How to Improve Your Fabric Painting with Fabric Medium and Gel Medium
Maybe you’ve been intrigued by the idea of painting on fabric. Maybe you’ve even tried your hand at painting a quilt, a t-shirt, a pair of shoes, or a silk scarf. But you may not have heard of the incredibly handy helpers for fabric painting called acrylic mediums. Here’s an introduction to acrylic mediums and how you can use them to enhance your fabric painting.
We recommend two different types of acrylic mediums for anyone getting started with fabric painting: fabric (Continue Reading...)
Painting on Fabric with Acrylic Inks – An Overview
When I first learned to quilt, I never imagined that quilting would involve putting on my apron and picking up a paint brush. But that’s all changed since I’ve joined the ever-growing group of quilters who are painting on fabric. It’s a whole new way to play with the colors we quilters love so much (and a whole new kind of mess in the sewing room!)
One thing I’ve discovered is that acrylic fabric paints aren’t the only way to make a (Continue Reading...)
Painting on Fabric for Quilters
You’re a quilter, not a painter or textile artist. What can someone like you do with fabric paints? Actually, you might be surprised by all the ways a touch of paint can enhance a quilt.
Have you ever made a quilt top that includes one fabric that just doesn’t look right? Instead of hating the top forever or spending hours ripping out seams, you can alter the color of the problem fabric with a little paint and turn a disaster into a quilt you can (Continue Reading...)
Painting on Fabric – An Overview
Anyone who has been to a quilt show or picked up a quilting magazine recently has seen some of the gorgeous effects fabric artists are creating these days with fabric paint. Who wouldn’t be proud to make something like this?
Or this?
Even if you’re more of a plain Jane quilter (like me), you can still use fabric paints to add color, texture, and excitement to your quilts. It doesn’t take years of art training or a lot of expensive (Continue Reading...)
Transforming Grief into Art
My daughter used acrylic fabric paints and fabric markers to paint this t-shirt commemorating those who died on 9/11/2001. I find that creating art, even in a small way, is one of the most meaningful ways to come to grips with life’s sorrowful moments. Have you ever created something that helped you deal with a tragic event?
Blank Canvas Books Go on a Cruise, Get All Dressed Up
Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica, took a bunch of lucky people on a cruise and made some fabulous embellished cloth books with them.
The foundation for the piece was our very own Ready-to-Go!® Blank Canvas Book. Isn’t it impressive that a few hours and some Crafty Chic paints, glitters, and iron-on embellishments can take you from blank to beautiful! Look at some of the wonderful art the cruise participants created:
Kathy has more about the books on her blog, plus (Continue Reading...)
Quick Fabric Postcard Project from “Field Trips in Fiber”
We’ve tested this out at the C&T research labs, and it’s true: everyone loves to get a fabric postcard. Blogger Vicki Welsh recently posted instructions for this great little postcard she made with fabric scraps, some Timtex interfacing, and a few embellishments. Try her technique when you need to make something that looks special but doesn’t take a long time.
For lots more fabulous fabric postcard ideas, check out Quilt-O-Grams or Fast, Fun & Easy® Fabric Postcards.
A Doll Quilt for the Princess and the Pea
Instead of doing taxes last weekend, I made something really important: a quilt for a Princess. My friend Rachel made this Princess and the Pea doll and her costume for a school fundraiser, and her husband Gary made the bed. The mattresses came from shirts bought at a thrift shop. Isn’t the whole ensemble adorable?
My contribution was the little Chinese Coins quilt on top of all the mattresses, which I embellished with lace, some of my sewing machine’s fancy stitches, (Continue Reading...)
Weekly Giveaway: Strip & Knit with Style
We’re proud of all our books and products, of course. But we are especially thrilled when one of our books makes international news. Mark Hordyzynski‘s book, Strip & Knit with Style, was featured in The New York Times on March 28 for its fourth-place finish in the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, sponsored by The Bookseller magazine. Apparently, our title caused a little confusion across the pond about what kind of stripping the book promotes. (Hint: (Continue Reading...)
Art Quilts at Play Review
Blogger and art quilter Diane Perin Hock just posted a review of Jane Davila and Elin Waterston’s newest book on the joys of art quilting and surface design. Here’s a brief excerpt:
I’m drawn to Jane and Elin’s work for a variety of reasons. I like the graphic quality of their compositions, their use of color, the perfect balance between simplicity and complexity that their work often shows. I can look at their pieces again and again, and always (Continue Reading...)
