HISTORY AND AVAILABILITY:
I started painting fabric for my quilts in 1994 as I could not find suitable fabric for my South African styled quilts. I experimented by painting onto different surfaces which created wonderful effects. I started selling fat quarters in 2001 and it is available at Pied Piper quilt shop during the South African National Quilt Festivals. As this is such a labour intensive process, stock is limited and normally only available from me. Each piece is unique as the weather plays an important role in the drying process - using the same mixture of colours painted on the same surface, will dry differently in summer than in winter! I limit stock as I also need time to quilt and teach....
ABOUT BRUSH RAGS FABRICS
Fat quarters are painted with DALA fabric paint on cotton percale. Each piece is individually painted by hand on a variety of surfaces to create interesting finishes. Once the paint is applied, the pieces cannot be disturbed while wet to prevent smudging which makes painting of large pieces difficult. The entire process includes washing fabric, cutting, painting, ironing to fix the paint, a gentle hand wash in Sunlight Liquid to get rid of paint residue and salt, ironing to get rid of creases and the final ironing with a press which is also the final quality control. Plain coloured fabric tends to look very flawed, but really gives life to fabric as movement always happens during the drying time. Unlike fabric dye which penetrates the surface of the fibres, fabric paint coats the surface of the fibres which gives the fabric a front and a back side. The drying process for some of the techniques takes over 24 hours! All brush bags fat quarters are washed and ready for use, hope you enjoy your fabric!
WASHING INSTRUCTION:
Gently hand wash in luke warm water, do not rub! Sunlight Liquid works well or any other gentle soap.
Some articles made of Brush Rags fabric:
Some articles made of Brush Rags fabric:
Since 2001
