Weaving Fabric Strips - Demo of Sorts!

When I finished my last post and said I might weave fabric strips again, I didn't expect to do it so soon.... But I thought I might be able to do a better explanation of my technique and show pictures of the process. Not realizing I was making things difficult for myself, I decided to weave strips to form the word, HEART. "Heart" has always been one of my favorite words. It's a great word to "assemble." First, start with an "ear." With an "ear" you "hear" (add the "h"). And when you truly "hear" someone, then you're listening with (add the "t") your heart.

More on my process. In Photoshop, I made a large word that said HEART, and did two images, one with the word in purple and one in red. I then made the images 8"x10" and used my inkjet printer to print the images onto cotton fabric. (I use "Colorfast" Printer Fabric Sheets.)

The printer fabric sheets come with a backing, which I removed. I then added Wonder Under to the backs of the fabric sheets. I add the Wonder Under so that when I'm done weaving the strips together, I can press the new piece and it will be fused together. I leave the paper backing on the Wonder Under until after I've cut the strips.

The trick to this technique is that one image is cut in horizontal strips while the other image is cut in vertical strips. Here are scanned images (click on image to enlarge) of the pieces after I'd cut them into strips. As I said in my last post, I cut curved lines instead of straight lines to make a more interesting final fabric.

In the past, when I had woven fabric strips for quilt backgrounds, it didn't matter if the strips lined up perfectly or not. When you're trying to do a specific image, like a word, it turns out it does matter, and thanks to the thickness of the fabric, the weaving wasn't working! I ended up using a scissors to trim a little off of each of the vertical strips, which made them fit together a whole lot better. Here's a scanned picture of the final woven fabric.

Despite a bit of frustration with the weaving, I'm happy with the way it came out. Now I'm thinking about quilting it and embellishing it and maybe mounting it on an 8x10 painted canvas.