making: house print skirt

I wanted to try my hand at printing my own fabric. Seeing as I do a fair bit of block printing and have also been getting more involved in making some of my own clothing it seemed like a good idea.

I wanted to do some sort of repeating print so I cut a block that fit together so it looked a bit more continuous. I made a block with six interlocking houses on it, and also a border print on a lighter fabric with different complementary print to add a bit of contrast.

This being my first attempt at printing on fabric, and wanting to make sure that it would not run in the wash (cause what is the point of having hand printed fabric clothing and not being able to get it clean)so I mixed a fabric ink fixer into my normal screen/block printing ink and then iron set the fabric after it was dried per the instructions on the bottle. And then I threw all of that yardage in the washing machine and held my breath. And VOILA! it worked!


The skirt I made is a simple full skirt with side pockets. I added a very thin red piping in between the main skirt fabric and the boarder print, to add a bit more interest. And it turned out to be a pretty cute little skirt, rather whimsical and sweet and, of course, one of a kind.
Oh and while I was at it I made another skirt out of some fabric I had lying around, with big pockets on the front and a wide waistband. It was very satisfying to make something that I could wear, and to know that I could now print on fabric, which opens the door into so many other lovely creative possibilities.