Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fabric calligraphy tips

A few questions came in about the calligraphy so here's a couple more tips.

Yes, I do use freezer paper on the back for stability. I find that it keeps the fabric from moving around while you are writing, and I pretty much use it every time. I just rip off a piece, and iron it to the back.

I don't need to heat set it, because I use pigma pens, and they are forever without heat, so be careful, don't write on your white pants while using them! They come in all sorts of colors and thickness.

I get some inspiration from various books on the form of the letters as well as some of the fancy loops. My favorite book is called The Technique of Copperplate Calligraphy by Gordon Turner, ISBN 0-486-25512-3.

If you have some extra lunch money burning a hole in your pocket, perhaps you want to surf on over to Purl and pick up one of their Liberty of London fat quarter packs.

Liberty fabric (to those who are lucky/crazy enough to own some) is what fabric looks and feels like in heaven, I think.

8 comments:

  1. I absolutely love your calligraphy! It's fun and fancy at the same time. And thanks for the book recommendation. I just went to amazon.com and found it used for a whopping 12¢! Of course shipping was $3.99. :) Thanks very much for sharing your talents.

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  2. Liberty of London is what Millionaire quilters quilt with!

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  3. Thanks for answering our questions. I just picked up two pens last night and I can't wait to give it a try.

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  4. Lovely work. I broke mt right arm in second grade and have blamed my poor penmanship on that ever since, hm, maybe I could re-learn.

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  5. What beautiful work! You have a very steady hand and plenty of patience.

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  6. I am just loving your blog! This post on calligraphy on fabric is wonderful. Thank you for the wonderful idea! I used to do quite a bit of calligraphy on paper and have been thinking about doing some embroidered words on fabric but I find now I could do calligraphy instead! Yours is soooo pretty!!!!
    ~Emily in Norway
    ps. I agree completely about Liberty of London and had to check out the fat quarter packs you recommended. I just did a post with several Liberty fabrics in it!

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  7. Thanks for all the tips! I just made my first quilt label and am so happy with it. I used the pen you recommended, and my own handwriting, thickening the down strokes. Looks great if I do say so myself!

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  8. Hi there! I made a label using your techniques and I love how it came out... But the first time I washed the quilt, the ink faded!! I thought those pigma pens were permanent?? Do you know what might have happened?

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