Today I made a tote-bag and a tank top! Sortof. A month or two ago, one of our sewing-circle attendees showed us how to do transfers onto fabric using citra solv household cleaner. A few weeks ago, my friend Sarah and I decided to start a two-person monthly art-club in which we show each other what sort of making we’ve been doing and also show each other techniques we’ve recently learned or wanted to try out. Sarah is a dynamo and totally an inspiration when it comes to getting sh*t done and finding time to fit art and making into your daily life (and also an inspiration when it comes to being a good person and just overall how to live life). We had our first ‘art club’ tonight! I decided to try out some citra solv transfers.

My wonderful husband was kind enough to flip and print out some test images for me (laser printer required – inkjet wont work!) and I had some fabric scraps to use as well as some cheap fabric items from WalMart I’d picked up a few weeks ago. I did my first test on a scrap of linen:

You put the paper face-down on the fabric, paint the back of the paper with citra solv, let it sit for a lil bit, and then rub the back real hard with a spoon. On Louise, I used the back of the spoon and I don’t think I was able to get enough pressure. Next I tried out a cheap-o tote bag and did a TMBG homage image:

That one worked a little better as I was using the edge of the spoon rather than the back, but I was still not pressing as hard as I could have. The last one I tried was a cheap-o tank top and that one worked out the best:

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the results! There wasn’t too much smudging and when I pressed hard enough, the images came out pretty clear. I am planning to wash the tank top to see if the image sticks around. Art club ended tonight with us buying tickets to Harry Potter Land in California for February so it was definitely a successful evening!