Melanie Testa

Etsy Coupon Code

Announcing our first Playful Fabric Print-Along

I am really excited that Carol and I are announcing our first…

Playful Fabric Print-Along!

This is a  month long event. And just wait! We have gathered up some snazzy benefits to go with it!

What does this mean?   How do I participate?   What do I need to do?

Participation in this Print-Along requires the purchase and use of the Playful Fabric Printing book. Print-Alongs are participatory events. We will not be teaching you how to print, so much as printing along-side you. We will answer questions in the community group, of course, but we will refer you back to the book when necessary. 

We invite you to join our Playful Fabric Printing Community page on Facebook.

This is a closed and growing group of ‘playful friends’, who are working with our techniques and contributing to great discussion. We share photos, tips, video content and friendship in this  fabulous and supportive community. 

Anyone can join, whether you participate in the Playful Fabric Print-Along or not. This is the place we’ll have discussions during the Print-Along and this is where participants share results.

Also, Carol and I will be blogging throughout the Print-Along covering dye and print related matters. 

(This quilt top was printed with the Melly Marks Lace Swirl Kit. I will be blogging about this one soon, so please check back!)

Guidelines:

Each of you will make tools of your own or use favorite tools to create between 1-9 prints.

It may be that you print one gorgeous print or you might choose to “speed print” multiples (Playful Fabric Printing, page 90). We suggest you begin by perusing Chapter 4, and choosing a technique to explore, like Double Stamping (Playful Fabric Printing, page 69),or maybe “Printing Photo-Inspired Multicolor Sets (Playful Fabric Printing, page 96).

And then, follow your fancy while printing one to nine! (or more)

On April 28 we will have a ‘Show and Share Roundup’ within the Playful Fabric Printing Community page.

Bloggers who choose to shout out participation and want to show samples of their work through their websites and blogs are encouraged. We would love to collect ‘Pins’ of your work and web presence to our Playful Fabric Printing Pinterest boards. Check out Carol’s Playful Fabric Printing board, then head over to mine. We hope you’ll want the Pins! AND, please use our hashtag, #playfulfabricprinting This will help us follow one-another on our socials.

Let us know you are joining the Playful Fabric Print-Along inside the Playful Fabric Printing FB community page. 

And it’s OK to share this blog post on your favorite social media platform! We would love help in getting the word out. 

BONUS!!!! Coupon Bonanza! This is the snazzy part.

During the Playful Fabric Print-Along our good friends from PRO Chemical & Dye and StencilGirl and of course, Melly Marks are offering coupons to members of our Playful Fabric Printing Facebook Community.

Thanks  to PRO Chem, StencilGirl and Melly Marks for making this event even more fun! 

Lets get printing together! I can’t wait.

 

Check out these StencilGirl and Melly Marks commercials:

 

Lace Swirl Quilt Top

This last weekend was quite productive. I took Bucket to my twice yearly quilt retreat and made great progress while #freerangetextileprinting. Then, I came home, switched out the newspaper and tinfoil I had been using to steam (this is a link to Pokey Bolton’s blog related to our Playful Fabric Printing blog hop-who chose the steamer as a topic), and got to work. I now have about 39 Melly Marks Lace Swirl and 50 Chevrons printed and ready to cut and piece!

This is why I love steaming and boiling. Steaming and boiling is a transformative experience. I love seeing the prints pile up, all stiff like potato chips, then, I like seeing the final shade after boiling and drip dry. 

I think this is a great coloring of the Lace Marks multicolor print set. The swirl is printed in Medium and the innards is Light value (I can figure out which color number if you want this info!) Combined with the pale pink ground, I feel this color way really highlights the lacey design. 

Here is a pile of ready to iron handprints. They look like potato chips to me. They act like it too. I am so excited to make a new quilt top, I could eat these like potato chips! If only they tasted as good.

I hope at the end of making this quilt to come out with a ‘pattern’, that states how many prints, provides a color way, and breaks down the making the quilt. I hope you might like this idea. I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Here is the “Insider Info” portion of today’s program 🙂

I am offering my first Etsy Shop coupon code, use the code MELLYMARKS1 to receive 4$ off an order of 20$ or more, in my new shop! This code will be available until March 28.

And, join the Playful Fabric Printing Community page on Facebook.

Additionally, comment if you would consider becoming a Sample Maker for my upcoming fabric line, to be release at Quilt Market!!!

I hope to teach at Schweinfurth Art Center in May, please join me. This class will expand upon the principle presented in Playful Fabric Printing.