Fashion Wae: screen printed fabric

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 8:20 AM

Recently the new Tulip ScreenIt arrived on my doorstep for me to try out and let me tell you I was thrilled! I have worked with just about every different form of screen printing and I knew that like all of the other products from iLoveToCreate - this one would be fabulous!! I got busy creating my own screen printed fabric!

The ScreenIt is a really simple and easy to use, all in one DIY screen printing system- where you can burn your own screens. The printing system comes with-

1 Tube of Tulip® Soft® Fabric Paint

1 Squeegee

1 Dark room light bulb

2 Machine light bulb

Detailed instructions

And the best part (in my opinion) is that you can use all of the Tulip Soft fabric paints with your screens!

At this point I have to preface the rest of this tutorial with the fact the I rarely use screen printing the way that it is intended to be used- big shocker I know! So if you are expecting a straight forward perfect tutorial of how to screen print a fresh clean design- you won't find it here not that there is anything wrong with fresh and clean- its just not my style! Instead I like to use the screen printing process as more of a way to create pattern on fabric and a way to add layers to mixed media projects. You can read more about my process in my book Sew Wild or see it in action in my online class Beneath the Surface.

The first thing I did was create a page full of simple drawings to burn onto a screen. This is where I am a little different in my process- I like to fill my screens with a variety of designs (more bang for your buck when working with emulsion screens). Instead of placing just one image in the center of the screen I like to fill the screen with different images and designs and then use those designs in different projects. WARNING- if you are looking for a really clean way to screen print- like on t-shirts-this is not the way to go- instead place your image in the middle of the screen.

After burning my drawings onto the screen (it only took 15 minutes!) I then cut my screen up- yes you read correct- I cut around the different designs and then start printing with all of my little pieces of screens.

I use my little pieces of screen prints to create layers of pattern on fabric (clothing, paper, canvas, etc). Keep in mind that I am going for more of a messy look so I tend to embrace imperfections that I get from this process (including the edges of the screen getting printed on the surface).

I covered a good amount of my surface with a layer of flowers- much quicker and easier than painting or drawing flowers on my surface!

After the first layer of flowers was dry- I added another design - paisleys- with another color. (This time I used a piece of the screen that had a couple of designs on it and I simply taped off the designs that I didn't want printed)