Combine lino printing with appliqué and machine embroidery to create a teatime scene that’s perfect for using up leftover fabric in your stash

BY MARIA LIVESEY

FIND THE TEMPLATES FOR THIS PROJECT ON PAGE 60

Lino cutting has most definitely moved on from the ‘school days’ of gouging groves in tough sheets of linoleum (while trying not to stab yourself with a slightly blunt blade!). More modern materials are easy to handle and cut like ‘a knife through butter’. Inks have evolved too – traditionally lino printing is seen as a paper-based fine art process. What you’ll see here are washable printing inks for textiles, appliqué and a play with some free machine stitch. This tutorial makes a great taster of my explorative textile workshops ‘lino cut, print and stitch’.

YOU WILL NEED

Consider making sure you have:

• A decent working space for printing and for laying out drying fabrics.

• If you don’t like a mess, use an apron and protect your printing area with plastic sheeting.

• Ironing station for fabrics. Planning your project:

• Drying time: block printing inks needs at least a day before you can handle them.

• A colour palette – have a matching teapot and cup or be brave and play!

MATERIALS

• Speedball fabric block printing inks in Black from www.speedballart.com (and a Silver if you want to splash out)

• Stamp cutting blocks, 2-3: - Soft, easy to carve, rubber blocks, Pink, 4 x 6in, x 3 – such as Linoleum Stamp Making blocks, 0.8cm thick (often found in packs of 12 on Amazon)

• Extra rubber blocks to test the blade with if you’re new to cutting, one for all the pieces and one spare!

• Alternative cutting block: - Rubber Stamp Carving Blocks, Soft Printing Carving Colored Rubber Block for DIY Stamps Making Hobbies Crafts Beginners and Professional, Matcha Green, 10 x 15cm, 0.8cm thick, from www.amazon.co.uk

• Tracing paper

• Bondaweb, A3 size approx.

• Medium-weight iron-on interfacing, a little bigger than A4

• Scraps of paper for testing your cut stamps out on

• Fabric scraps from your stash: feel free to print as many of each as you like – experiment!