Fabric Collage

On Thursday evening Susan (A Circle of Buttons) and I went to Glen Ellyn, Illinois and took a class at Vintage Living making fabric collages. It was WONDERFUL. My pictures aren't the best, though. I'm hoping that I get a lovely new camera for Christmas....again, I digress.

The owner of the shop Becky had recently been to a fabric collage workshop in Colorado conducted by KC Willis. If you are not familiar with her work, take a look. I've linked to KC's website. Becky was kind enough to hold a workshop in the back room of her store and teach us what she learned. Becky is quite an artist in her own right and her store is....well, let's just say I could move right in and live there and be happy as a clam!

Becky was so very

generous with all of her supplies and provided the four of us attending with lovely snacks and drinks. It was absolute heaven! We sat in her back room gluing, sewing, digging through mounds of buttons, lace, vintage fabrics. This was way beyond my expectations. There was lots of laughter and joy in that room. I had such a great time!

We learned how to coffee dye fabric and lace. Basically you use half of a container of instant coffee to a large roaster pan of water. Becky said to experiment with different brands as they will make different colors. She said it works quicker than tea dying. I've tea dyed in the past. Generally it never works too well for me. I'm anxious to try out this coffee dyeing thing. I've purchased fabric and coffee. I'm going to give it a go and I'll post the results sometime this weekend.