DesignMatters TV

Use your favourite letter stamps in a clever way to create shape in your design work. In this workshop Laura prints onto fabric, but you can apply the same principles to your sketchbook, mixed media projects or painting. 

Try adding text to your sketchbook pages and fabric using rubbings. Laura will demonstrate how to make the perfect rubbing and share her tips for successful rubbings on fabric with Markal or Shiva paint sticks.

Join Laura to see how she uses her own handwriting in sketchbooks and on fabric as a method for mark making. Watch her sampling process and see how to use text at different sizes to suit your own project.

Creating fabric design for digital print is just the start, once the fabric is printed you can still customise it using some of your favourite surface design techniques. In these workshops Laura shows how you can work with a digital print fabric to modify it with discharge dyeing and hand lettering.

Join Laura to see how she uses soya wax to create screenprint designs worked onto fabric with your favourite fabric paints. The wax has a very low melting point and is removed very simply with hot water making application and clean up a breeze.

Experiment with transfer printing using disperse dyes or transfer paints on synthetic fabrics. In this workshop Linda will demonstrate how you can use real leaves to add decorative visual texture to your transfer papers before using them to colour fabrics including polycotton or Lutradur.

Join Linda for a look through one of her sketchbooks as she talks about mark making and then how it’s possible to interpret those marks into your textile work, in this case using dimensional fabric paint. 

Join Laura is this video to see how she’s been experimenting with a technique that transfers drawings onto fabric using a silkscreen. She’s tried a range of printing mediums and shares with you her favourite. This is a fun technique that captures the essence of a hand drawn image but gives it the quality of a print.

We’re often asked how to translate successful sketchbook pages into fabric techniques. In this video Laura demonstrates how easily that can be done with a little sampling and experimentation. She’ll work with ink, acrylic paint and hand dyeing to interpret design ideas from her sketchbook pages.

Some detailed subject matter can be daunting to draw from scratch. In this workshop Linda will show you how it’s possible to use a subtle stamped shape as the base for your drawing. Take all the guesswork out of getting the shapes right and instead enjoy creating a design and drawing the details. Then building on the sketchbook work that Linda did using stamps and drawing, she demonstrates how it’s easily possible to translate those ideas to fabric to make a stitched piece.

Video Workshop – Learn how to dye a garment, either a ready-made item or something you’ve sewn yourself. Laura will show you how to dye your clothes with minimal equipment and exciting results. 

Join Laura as she samples layering of process in the studio, experimenting with new ideas to colour thread after stitching with it. She’ll work with digitally stitched embroidery, but the technique can be used with any satin stitch. 

Learn how to foil shapes on fabric. In this workshop Linda will show you two fast and easy methods to add some metallic gleam to your fabric. See her samples and also how she’s used the techniques in her quilts.

Learn how to make your own beautiful batik fabrics with simple mark making and layers of colour. We’ll use simple tools and easy-to-use wax to create these stunning, one of a kind fabrics. They’ll be perfect for use in your quilting making and embroidery, in fact any stitched project.

Dive into the fascinating world of indigo! In this workshop Laura will show you how to create stunning fabrics by using simple resist techniques and indigo as an overdye. We just love the results and we think you will too.

Explore how you can use dimensional fabric paints to add extra texture and surface interest to your stitched textiles. Laura demonstrates how to use Puffy and Slick paints which you’ll find available in lots of craft stores and online.

If you enjoy dyeing fabric, then it’s highly likely you’re going to want threads to match! In this show see how Laura prepares skeins ready for dyeing.

We just love the combination of indigo and rust dyed fabrics. In this workshop collection we’ll guide you through the essentials of indigo dyeing, plus more advanced methods using pleating, clamping and other simple resist methods. Next try rusting your fabric with iron objects to create incredible organic patterning.

Create a family of fabrics and threads that will work beautifully together using colour exchange dyeing, a simple hand dyeing technique using minimal equipment and supplies.

In this archive collection of 2 video workshops Laura will show you two of her favourite methods for colouring cloth with hand dyeing techniques. Use Procion MX dyes to colour natural fibre fabrics for fabulous results. You’ll only require simple equipment and Laura will guide you through the processes step-by-step.

In this collection of three video workshops Laura will demonstrate easy, but highly effective ways to colour cloth with thickened dyes. Explore three different methods for adding colour pattern and line using simple materials and equipment. Laura will show you how to use thickened dyes for these processes, an ideal choice as they won’t stiffen the fabric at all.

We just love hand dyed fabrics, there’s no better way to create just the colours and colour combinations that we want for our work. In this video collection we’ll show you how to dye your own fabrics and then use them in painterly appliqué and patchwork projects.

Learn how to thicken Procion MX dyes with Manutex (sodium alginate) so that you can paint or print with them.