Tell your Truth with text on quilts.

Lorraine Woodruff Long's technique for creating text with shadow layers will become a go to method through your artwork.

Sandra Lee Chandler showcases text on quilts in the form of felt, appliqué, or handwritten graffiti to deliver powerful messages.

Join the conversation with text on today's episode of Quilting Arts.

Quilting Arts TV is brought to you by.

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[Upbeat music] Lorraine Woodruff Long is here and she has something to say.

Yes, I like.

I really love using text on my quilts and fiber projects.

I have a fun way to do it.

It's very simple and easy.

You really don't need to have a lot of skills to do it.

Mostly cutting and ironing.

- Yeah.

and I'll show you how to do it.

- So So fun.

- Yeah.

So this is we're going to be making we're going to be I'm going to show you how I made this.

And you'll start out by thinking, you know, giving some thought to what is your your letter fabric color going to be.

In this case it's white.

And then the color on the behind I call it the shadow fabric.

And then I will show you how to cut out and do that stuff.

And we iron it onto a pillow or a quilt, and you can finish it and make it into whatever you want.

So we'll go through all the steps, show you how to make it.

- Okay.

Great.

I can see so many ways to use this.

- You can do so much.

It's very fun.

So the first thing you're going to want to think about is what kind of a stencil you want to use?

I use an alphabet stencil.

You can get them at most craft stores.

You can get them online, and I really like using these plastic ones.

You can use them over and over and over there, practically indestructible.

And we'll talk a little bit more about knowing what the right and the wrong side is for both of these.

Once we start using that, the other other things that you'll need is decide again what your top letter is going to be.

So in this case it's just some denim.

And also what is your shadow color going to be.

- Okay.

In this case I'm using this turquoise.

And another important product that I like to use is paper backed fusible.

And so I've cut both of these to my two different fabrics.

What you can see is one size is paper.

It's really important that you get paper and that it's that it's paper backed fusible.

And I really like using whatever heaviest heavy hold you can find.

- Heavy layer.

Yeah.

And so you can tell from here that one side is kind of plastic.

It's not sticky but it's a little rough.

So you'll know what the.

- That's the glue.

That's the glue side.

And that's going to go on your fabric that you iron.

And then it'll, you'll iron over it with your, with your iron.

And we'll, I'll show you how to do that next.

Other materials that you'll need is I, you know, regular cutting scissors.

I like using some sharps for little tiny edges that you're cutting out.

I do use pinking shears to do the shadow fabric I like using.

I'll show you how to use a pin or a craft knife.

And then when you're placing your letters on fabric, I just found it's easier to use a tweezers to make it not your hands not stick, and they stay where you want it to do.

- Okay.

And of course a pencil.

So first step is you're going to take your two fabrics that you're using and you're going to face them wrong side up.

So in this case I have the denim down.

And then here is my here's my letter color.

Here is my shadow fabric.

- Okay.

And then you'll cut a piece of, of the fusible that that's a little bit smaller than your size of your fabric.

It is really important to do that because once you start ironing it you'll you don't want it to the glue to get on your iron or your, your ironing board.

So you're putting.

The fusible adhesive on the entire piece before you cut the letters out?

- Absolutely.

- Alright.

And then another thing that's really important with this, look at your fusible and look at your fusible instructions because they're all different.

The one that I have here, it's a little not intuitive, but you're only supposed to have it on for 2 to 3 seconds.

And actually I found that if you just really you think, oh, it needs more, it will eventually harden and kind of crystallize and it'll stop sticking.

So just follow the directions.

Always a good rule.

- Always a good rule.

To follow the directions.

So all I'm going to do I'm just going to sit here, you know, one 1000, two 1000 I'm pressing it.

And you can see when it starts to stick.

- Yeah.

like I can see your stick.

And you don't have to.

You can kind of see that it.

Yeah.

It kind of melds.

It's not too hard.

You don't have to go too crazy.

But really importantly making sure that you're not you know, that it's not overlapping into your, your iron or your.

Your mat.

- Your mat.

You don't want to get glue on your mat.

- Yeah.

So here the first thing I'm going to do is start with my letter.

Actually, let me do the I'm going to do a little extra press just to make sure it's there for good.

So going back to my mat right side down and your fusible side up, I'm going to be cutting out love.

So usually what I do is I'll put out my template and I'll put it the correct way.

In this case I can see that correct way is kind of a matte finish.

And here is love.

Now the first thing you have to do is you're going to start thinking backwards, because you're you're going to trace it.

Because this is going to be the glue.

- Yeah.

And this is.

The backside.

And when you turn it over, it'll be it'll be the right the correct way.

And most people do it wrong a couple of times before.

You do it.

And yeah, you do it.

Yeah.

Just inevitably.

And then you start learning how to think backwards, especially if you do a bunch of them.

And so, you know, when you're tr we are both trying to remember what this little piece.

I always called them bridges.

Yeah.

Bridges.

- Yeah.

- I know typesetters and people who are graphic designers know what it is.

But, you know, you do that just to make sure that it's placed.

But when I'm cutting it, I just do a little bit of that and I'll show you how I cut it out, and then you'll just do it for all of your letters.

Again, thinking backwards, I can tell this is the right side.

So I need to think backwards and I'll do that.

And some letters it doesn't matter as much.

- Right.

But there can be really subtle differences sometimes on a letter.

- Yeah.

Sometimes you really can't tell.

And better just to flip it.

Better just to flip it.

So here I am and I know I'm doing it correctly.

And a pencil is very easy to do and I'm just going to cut it like that.

So I'm going to show you what I'm going to do is cut these out next I'm going to show you a couple of things I want you to think about with cutting your letter part.

Let's start with the zero.

Cut it to the oh, I should say I'm calling it a zero.

And I always do this too is I cut it to a smaller piece to handle in your.

- Yeah.

So I'm just going to put this aside for the moment.

And then with things like this, I make sure I just cut it in the center, do a little trip and then I don't cut there.

I enclosed it.

So it's going to be an oh that's floating like it would in anywhere.

I do a lot of these where I'll just cut out all.

I'll trace a whole series of letters or a poem or a saying.

I do a lot of things with a lot of text, and I like making, you know, outlining all of them and just sit in front of the TV or something and cutting out my letters.

And you're doing a good job with the cutting to where you're moving, sometimes moving the fabric rather than moving the scissors around.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, it's just like you didn't kindergarten.

You're learning how to cut, you know, it's, you know, I'm not being I'm not being all that perfect or precise in this case, which is fine.

And then the next thing I want to show, we're going to take all of these, you know, here's one that I've done, but I'm going to show you what you're going to do is you will be taking these letters and ironing them onto your shadow fabric.

But how do you get the paper off?

I like using a pen or craft knife.

You have to be really careful you don't slice through it.

Right.

So I just I scratch it, I go, okay, just a little scratch.

You can hardly tell.

And then I just, you know, use this or the pen and I kind of pull it up under Easy.

- And you can tell I've done a great job because, look, it's all shiny.

It's melted onto it.

So I just pull it off and then I have my letter and I do that for all of them.

And then I'm going to iron that onto the shadow fabric here.

So I have another piece that's already been prepared and so show you how I do it.

So what I do is these have all been ironed on to this I to do the next one once I ironed it on, and then I pull off the whole sheet on the back.

But you can keep cutting it with the paper.

It's just that, Because it's harder to cut throu Yeah, I can get a little hard when you're doing a lot of them.

So I'm going to be, you know, outlining all of them this way.

But again, the O is a good example of giving some thought, like how do you want to do it to make it show up more.

So in this case I just use the pinking shears.

I kind of guide it, you know, maybe a quarter of an inch.

Do you take care to make sure that the little notches line up when you have to do the next cut?

Sometimes you can tell again, I'm sort of all about no quilt police, no notch police.

I'm just kind of about making it as good as it feels good.

But yeah, sometimes I kind of I want it to be super good.

I like to keep things like this open.

I mean, I mean, I don't I'm not going to cut it in here again because it just shows off the fabric a little bit.

And the word shows up - Yeah.

- on the background fabric.

And kind of the same things with like the V, and I'll show you on this other piece how I'm doing it, but I just, you know, outline them.

I put them all, you know, out on a tray or something.

And then we'll go to my other piece and lay it out where it's going to go on my fabric.

So let's put those over.

Let's pull out the love over there.

- Okay.

- So once I've, you know, in this case I'm going to be making another pillow.

And it's just it's just the fabric.

It's not quilted or anything.

This fusible is very sturdy and it will stay on there.

But you know, if you're washing or if it's on a pillow or something that's going to be handled a lot, you need to tack it down.

And also you've done all this cutting and all this work.

Make it stay there forever.

That's my philosophy.

So I always, I always sew it down.

If it's a small piece like this it's very fun to you know use this is a blanket you know, stitch to make it look a little fancier.

Why don't you show me how you do the stitching?

Okay.

-You going to do this one?

- Yeah.

This one I'm I'm going to do it.

And I'm this one I did on my machine.

This one is a smaller piece.

I've actually already quilted it.

And you can do it with just the fabric.

Or you can take the quilted piece and I'm just going to outline it.

I'm going to show you how to do it.

Great.

Let's go to the machine.

I like to use a free motion foot just to outline the the letter, the black letter in this case.

And you really can't see it, but it will be secured.

And I'll just go along like this.

Pretty close to the edge.

But you don't want it to fray, right?

- Yeah.

And you know it with the with the fusible.

It's not going to fray.

I mean, it stays on there pretty well.

- Yeah.

Heavy fusible does a good job of stabilizing fabric.

And sometimes I like the frame.

Sometimes I do things so that it has you know it kind of gives it a little texture and it's fine.

But all I'm doing, you know, in this case is just outlining it.

And that way I know it's going to be on here forever.

And so.

Okay, that's great.

That's all there is to it.

All right.

Let's go back to the table.

So this is one that I just added a second shadow layer.

It's fun to just you know play with it.

You can add more color.

And pull some of the colors out of the fabric.

Yeah it's really fun.

- Yeah.

And these are wonderful for pillows.

They're one of my favorite ways to make pillows.

You can people's names fun messages.

And you know, in this case I made this for my daughter and I wanted it to be really well secured.

So I actually did.

I sewed it down for all the colors and love, you know, adding in the rick rack.

And there's fun ways to embellish pillows, of course, which is a whole other discussion.

- Right, right.

Okay, good.

And this again, this is so fun.

And I love the tassels on the finishing too.

Tie it all together.

- Yes.

- It's really great.

It's very fun.

Yeah.

So I can see you using these to do small quilts banners anything you want to say to somebody you could you could put it.

Yeah.

- Like this.

People's names love doing congratulations for people's weddings.

That was when I did recently.

What do you want to say?

Express yourself however you want.

Yeah.

That's great.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

- I learned a lot.

And we'll be right back.

Fiber artist and educator Sandra Lee Chandler uses words and numbers in her quilts to tell stories and share quotes.

So yeah, tell me about it.

So I Love using text to communicate with the world.

For instance, my quilt back here with Jackie Robinson, number 42, the first African-American to break into the National Baseball League.

- Right.

- Right.

So I loved using the repurposed denim because who knows who were those jeans?

And it brings together community just like he did.

Yeah.

And I love the star motif on that too, because it looks so it elevates his number.

- Absolutely.

And shows how important he was.

Thank you.

- Very interesting.

Okay, so what do you think about when you first start to put text on a quilt?

- Good question.

So first I think about what phrase word or what do I want to communicate.

So let's start out with maker.

Oh right.

Nice.

So I thought that was really something that was universal that we could all kind of get behind.

Right.

- So here's the phrase maker.

So first I think about the fonts.

Now you see the font that I used here is very bold.

It's large.

It's pretty heavy.

But what if we wanted smaller fonts.

Like on a smaller piece.

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

Or a larger piece with smaller fonts?

Because we have more to say.

Because you've done, like entire poems on quilts.

Yes.

- Yeah.

So there's several reasons why you'd use a smaller font.

In thinking of fonts, you're also going to think about what weight of the font and what size and what color.

So once you've figured out what you want to say, what the font is you want to use or text, then you're going to figure out how do I want to transfer it, either by a template like this, a plastic template or electronic machine that will cut it for you.

Yeah.

And I'll bet you use that a lot because you can do a lot faster.

- Absolutely.

So my preference is electronic machines, but I have cut out text myself by hand.

So here's an example.

Because we're going to move past what we want how we want it.

But we're now going to think about what are we going to use for that text.

What material.

So I have a piece of vegan leather, which is great because it doesn't fray.

Yeah.

And it gives you some nice texture.

- Absolutely.

So you can use that.

And that's an example.

But you can also use your felt, which we all love felt because it's got some texture.

It's going to it's a little heavier than maybe your quilt would be.

So the text will actually ride on top.

- Right.

It stands up a little bit.

- Absolutely.

The other thing is I love my sham brey.

Anything to do with denim?

So you can also use a sham brey, a quilting cotton or anything like that.

You probably wouldn't use another denim though, because it phrase like crazy, right?

Unless you want that fray.

- Oh, right.

So I have not and I would prefer not to, but I can see in certain situations you may want to.

So now that we know our what words or phrase we want, we know what font we want.

We know what material.

Now let's talk about our quilt.

I love to repurpose.

My whole thing is repurposed denim source fabrics with African American heritage and storytelling.

So for me, this denim does all that.

It definitely tells a story.

It's recycled and it's going to bring together community.

These are orphan blocks that did not make it into a quilt.

So for me, I would just lay them together.

So my blocks together, so my rows together.

And that would be the base of my quilt.

And what's so wonderful about using these source materials is that you've got these great.

When you start to take them apart, you can see where the indigo is darker.

You can see where it's more faded.

I love how you include some of the seams in the pieces.

It's just so much more interesting than playing all fabric pieced together.

- Absolutely.

And so don't be afraid.

Because I wasn't afraid to look a side seam like you said, here's a seam that was actually stitched on.

Little hint of the yellow.

- Yes And you do not need to remove all of your stitches if you want.

Oh that's awesome.

- Here's where the pocket was.

So you can leave some of that.

That's part of the beauty.

But guess what?

I've got a quilt I've already sewn together.

Let's look at that one.

- Okay.

Oh, this is so nice.

The weight of it is so nice.

So here we have a quilt that's already been sewn together.

Really similar to the quilt blocks we saw.

These are quilt blocks that I sewed together, and then I quilted them.

So let's think about this.

Do we want to quilt our quilt before we put the lettering on, or do we want to wait or do we just quilt around it?

For me, I usually quilt my quilts and then I put my lettering on.

I want my lettering for me to stand out on top.

Okay.

How do we put our lettering on?

Well, let's bring our lettering right down to our quilt and let's talk about the weight.

Let's talk about the the text.

So if you can see the M is much wider than the rest of the letters.

Yeah.

So when I'm thinking about placement, yes, this may.

Be the - Center seam.

Center, but it's probably not going to sit on the center because my M is going to shift all those over.

Okay.

So we're going to take and we're going to shift.

And I'm going to look from this side.

And then maybe I'll place my R and go okay that looks pretty good.

A little bit wider over here.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And then we'll place the other two again.

So now we're thinking about the distance between each one.

I use my fingers.

I'm very organic.

So I'll just go like this this this and see I could move that one over just a little.

Yeah.

And typography.

That's kerning.

Right.

- Yes.

But if you want it, you could move them away.

What if you said I'm just going to jungle them up?

They don't always have to be in a straight line.

Yep, a little crookedy look.

Does that still read?

Yes.

And it's kind of fun.

So now I'm thinking about sewing them on.

So for me, I love to put one pin in each because it's going to hold it because typically if you have several words or even if you have one word, I'm going to probably roll this up.

And when I'm hand stitching or machine stitching, this will be rolled up.

- Yeah.

I will stitch this one down.

Then I'll unroll it readjust it.

So pinning.

- Tweak it as you go to make sure it's right.

- Yeah.

Okay.

Because for me it ends up I'm tweaking tweaking, tweaking when I can just tweak it once when I need to use it.

Yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

So if you notice, I'm just putting a pin in here.

Now, I was going to ask you to about the quilting you did on this one.

And that's hard stitching through denim.

Yes.

- I've done that.

Some people say it's very hard, I think, to make it easier for me.

It's about the needles.

So I love using sharps or embroidery needles.

I want the eye to be big enough that whatever thread I use it can go through.

- Okay.

- So let's talk about threads.

My background is fiber.

That's what my education is.

And I'm always thinking about what the fiber is.

What how does it handle.

How does it catch light.

What's the weight with denim being heavy or a thread.

Here's quilting thread.

- Okay.

The quilting thread is going to actually end up penetrating inside of the weave.

So it's going to give me texture, not necessarily color.

I'm not going to show up as much.

- Right.

- Yeah.

This is like a buttonhole weight.

It's going to also give me texture but show up more than my quilting thread.

Okay.

- This is the big boss.

A pearl cotton.

- This is what a Pearl cotton's going to show up.

It's going to always give you lots of light coming through it.

And then this is a pearl cotton that also has a variegated.

It goes from blue to green.

So it's going to give you a little texture.

So what I would do is I would then I hand quilt or hand appliqué.

But you can also use your sewing machine.

You can use your buttonhole stitch.

You can use your running stitch.

You could use X's.

I've seen people use.

There's all those decorative stitches too.

- Back stitches.

All of those embroidery stitches to have their letters secured onto their base.

It's really up to you as the artist.

Yeah.

Have fun.

But wait.

I want to show you what I did.

Okay.

On this quilt right here, I use the running stitch.

And because my quilt had so much going on in the background, I used a brown.

So it only gives me texture, right?

It blends into the felt color.

- Correct.

So here, if you notice I have big chunky stitches.

So you get those nice little puckers so it makes it look more textured.

- Exactly.

So this would be my esthetic.

I have chunky stitches with the same color.

Now could I have used another color?

Absolutely.

It's really up to your choice.

And remember when you're stitching you're stitching and looking at it like this, this quilt is probably going to be on a wall.

So I would advise putting a couple stitches in and walking away.

Right.

Have you ever used this on quilts that you would use on a bed that you would need to wash?

Absolutely.

So then that was when I would use fabric that I knew would go through the wash and go back and forth.

Right.

Right.

Probably not a felt, unless I would use a backing that I knew would hold that felt together.

Right.

Felt is generally pressed with heat.

So you can imagine when it gets to water because it's not woven, it's going to loosen up and probably not.

So you need to think about how you're going to use the quilt.

Absolutely.

- Right.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

So we're talking about text, right?

Well, I enjoy using quilts to talk about African American history and family legacy.

I have a quilt that has four women's names on it, and basically the legacy of each woman that she did to help the next generation.

Like stepping stones.

Stepping stones.

And so for me, things like when I think about Rosa, who sat, Ruby who walked, and Kamala who ran.

But ultimately today I think about Katanga, who rules.

Right.

Nice.

And then you can bring in all those stories and make people really think about the progress and the steps along the way.

Absolutely.

So let's go a little bit further.

We have text that can be actually just written on quilts.

You could have your friends, family or yourself write a quote.

Write what you're thinking.

Write anything.

Use those texts on quilts.

So you're telling your stories.

- Absolutely.

For instance, I have the skirt here.

That text was written on signatures.

We have a jacket.

What signatures were put on?

Text can be more than just on a quilt.

It's wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We'll be back in just a minute.

From applied design theory to innovative technique.

Learn what fellow artists are up to within the art quilting community.

Join us for finishing touches.

Hey, Marcia, how are you?

Hi.

I'm great and I'm so.

Excited about the quilts that I brought today.

Yeah, their little ones.

Yeah, they are little ones and they both have the theme of vintage now, and I just I think they're both so charming.

- They are.

The first one here is actually the artist is really commemorating her great grandparents.

And these are great grandparents in Scotland.

- Nice.

And it's written here that her great grandfather was a poet, a shepherd and a pond keeper.

- Oh.

So they've got a Celtic brooch, the thistle of Scotland, the sheep, and I think Heather.

And look at that piece of tartan.

Oh, it is a piece of tartan.

- Yeah.

- What do you know?

Nice.

- What a great surprise.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Beautiful.

And t This beautiful handwritten poem.

Probably.

- And it's titled Home Sweet Home.

Such a nice keepsake.

And beautifully, beautifully done.

- Yeah.

So lovely.

And then this second one here.

This is also commemorating family.

And this family, as I understand it had a tomato canning factory.

And so not only did the artist put the tomatoes here, but some of their actually their businesses sales records and things.

And this felted tomato gives it great dimensionality.

And then these coins, one of them was labeled a BRC coin.

That's a brass company token.

- Oh.

Back in the day, people used to use tokens as currency when they didn't have any other currency.

- Aren't they neat.

Yeah.

And the way she just hung them down from the button.

Yeah.

- Nice.

So now what is vintage now is supposed to be.

You're looking at something in a different way.

- Yeah.

We want to see the past in a fresh way.

So we just encourage everyone.

Dig around in your family archives and any little treasures you have around, and look at them in a new way so that it feels fresh, like a contemporary or art quilt, which these obviously are.

And it's really wonderful.

It is.

Make sure to make time for contemporary quilting every day.

Visit our website QuiltingArts-TV.com for access to selected project instructions, ideas, tips and techniques from this season of Quilting Arts TV.

If you enjoyed today's episode and want to see more contemporary quilting techniques and inspiring guests, a digital download of the entire Quilting Arts TV series is available for $29.99.

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The Bernina 990.

If it can be imagined, it can be created.

Gentle fuse fusible web made for quilters from Maywood Studio.

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