Wednesday, June 1, 2011


I recently hit a sewing rut. My motivation seemed to have run away. But then I came across This Tutorial through Martha Stewart's site and it was as if I had been struck by lighting. I used to do basic screen printing with a Speedball kit, but it began to be a hassle every time I wanted to print something different since I only had the one screen. According to the tutorial, all you need are picture frames and window sheers and voila! You've got a couple of fresh screens to print with!! Oh the possibilities!

Six screens later...
After a lot of trial and error, I've found that you really should follow the directions word for word and not try to take any shortcuts (or you could end up with something like crooked screens...). It was well worth destroying a perfectly good window sheer...even though in the end I ended up buying actual screen printing fabric. But in a bind, I think that a window sheer is decent. Another tip is to look for a thick, durable frame and avoid thin, flimsy frames.
In the end I am super excited to be able to have different designs to print with all at once instead of having to spend an hour trying to clean the screen of screen fluid in order to print something else.

Here are one of my screens that are waiting to be filled in with filler. The line is one I fell in love with from Godard's Pierrot le fou. I'll post more when I finish a test run of these babies!

(scene from Pierrot le fou via here)

5 comments:

♥ mommy author ♥ said...
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Chelsea Talks Smack said...

I LOVE THIS.

Safe in the Steep Cliffs said...

I think you're going to use that for fabric right? The last time I used that, it was for a in project school. It was so awesome and fun! BUT it can be quite frustrating at the same time. Specially when you're doing it wrong.

Isn't Martha Stewart the best at being so resourceful and creative?! I love it! I'm happy that you're not stuck in what you call a "sewer rut" anymore. At first, I thought about it in it's literal meaning. HAHA! I'm gullible like that!

-Abby

Dionne said...

I can't sew very well, so basically I am always in a sewing rut, lol.

I have never tried silk screen, but it sounds like a fun project. Yours looks great!

YnR said...

chelsea: glad you do!
abby: Fabric is right! And you're also right about the frustrating part. It was SUPER frustrating at points, but I managed to finish a couple of screens. But now I have yet to use them! And yes, thank goodness for Martha!
Dionne: At least you can cook! haha I would trade my sewing skills for your cooking skills any day!