Has anyone put fabric in the sun to fade and pinned leaves ect on to make a design. How do you attach them and how long does it take. :?:

I want to use a dk green fabric and leaves and then piece around the designs

Ruth, I wonder how long you would have to leave the material out in the sun? The only type of project like this I have done was with sun sensitive paper for one of my 5th grade classes as a science experiment. That would be neat on material.

I have no ideas to offer you Ruth, but this sounds wonderful. I hope you figure out and I hope to see what it looks like when you do. :)

On second thought, I might suggest that instead of trying pin leaves to the fabric, which might get weird once they start to dry out some and maybe curl on the sides, you might just cut out some different leaf shapes from freezer paper, press that to your fabric, and set it in the sun. Perhaps the freezer paper designs will cover the fabric well enough that the sun can't fade the fabric underneath? Just a thought. Anyhoo, good luck with this and keep up updated. :)

Alex Anderson did a segment on this in one of her shows...maybe if you went to HGTV you might find it? I will look and see if I can find a link....I think they added something to water, soaked the fabric and then laid it out to dry in the sun???? can't remember...I will try to find it for you

Well, after finding it...I don't think this is what you are talking about but just in case it is....here is the link anyway.... I thought of this segment right away and couldn't remember what it was called....but I really don't think this is what you meant.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_quilting_instructions/article/0,1789,HGTV_3302_3696791,00.html
Crafts : Instructions : Botanically Correct : Home & Garden Television

Depending on the fabric color and the impression you want to make..it would take about 20 + minutes...I would check it every 10-15 just to see how it is developing and then go from there...you could do multiple leaves at various stages, which would leave a tonal effect across the whole of the material...Intense sun....intense fade. Have fun and show us what you come up with , please. :D

Ohhhh I like that idea!

Hello. Please forgive a new member for just barging in, but you might want to try discharging the fabric as demonstrated by Colleen Wise on that episode of Simply Quilts. All you need is bleach and hydrogen peroxide. The only real difference is that the result does not necessarily look like a 'faded' original. For instance, many black fabrics discharge to a reddish-orange color.

There is an article on discharging methods in the current issue of Quilting Arts Magazine with instructions and examples of each. Colleen Wise also has a book called 'Casting Shadows' that is a bit hard to find, but still available at Quilting Books Unlimited (www.qbu.com). I've just started to experiment with this technique, but it's great fun!

Hi Nor'easter... You're forgiven & welcome. We all "barge in" here... it's what you're supposed to do. :D Is this the same lady I saw once that uses bleach to discharge, then vinegar to stop the bleach? (I can't remember if it was Simply Quilts or another show I saw that on.) Anyway, the results of her method were solely dependant on the way you folded your fabric & how long you let it discharge. She showed over-dying on some of the fabrics after discharging them. It all looked pretty cool... Just wish I could remember her name.

Anyway, I like that quilt in your avatar. Did you make it?