Recently I took a class through PNCA, Pacific Northwest College of Art, they kindly host our guild meetings. We have a great relationship with the school including a discount for guild members for classes. The class, Textile Design and Printing was taught by Lizzy House. Before I get started on the class one thing I know you all will love is fabric! Lizzy received Guising her Halloween line in the mail during our first day of class so we all got a peek. I'm a freak for Halloween and am soooo excited to make something with this line.

Lizzy House Guising Fabric!

I don't have any more photos for you from class, you think I would have at least one of Lizzy but I was so caught up in the class it didn't cross my mind. I think she looks just like her photos though cute in her skirts and her hair up.
So what did I learn? A LOT we learned the process of making repeats for fabric patterns and we did block printing and screen printing on fabric. For the block printing we used linoleum blocks and carved our designs with carving tools. To print on the fabric we used an oil base printing ink which you heat set once it's dry.

For the screen printing we drew our images and using a xerox of our drawing we transferred the image using a photo emulsion process to a silk screen. Printing the image on your fabric involves oil based ink again but this time it's squeegeed across the screen onto your fabric.

What was really great about the class was all the advice and info Lizzy had for getting into the fabric design world it was a lot to process and she is so positive! Now I have Lizzy saying "You can all design fabric you're amazing" in my head, maybe I'm embellishing with that amazing part but it's what I remember. It was also nice to meet and see what all the other students were coming up with. The group had diverse backgrounds and goals and we had a lot of fun.

If you are interested in Fabric Design check out Lizzy's book How to Enter the World of Fabric Design: for the Quilting Industry and Kim's book from True Up A Field Guide to Fabric Design. Both are excellent! We'll be doing a Guild review on Kim's book soon and giving away her book at a meeting. Also Lizzy will be in LA in May if you are in the area don't miss her.

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