Stenciled & Quilted Journal Cover

Hello Art Lovers, Linda Edkins Wyatt here with a new project using my stencil designs and a bonus sale on my stencils for the next two weeks when you use the coupon code SPIRAL20. 

I keep two kinds of journals — art journals with blank pages that I fill with paintings, drawings, and collage, and lined marble notebooks that I use as writing journals. I keep a marble notebook on my bedside and write all kinds of unrelated things in it — interesting dreams, Wordle and Connections puzzle possibilities, color formulas for digital artwork, interesting quotes, things I'm grateful for, and rambling morning / evening pages.

I decided that I could really use a removable, reusable cover for my marble notebooks, so I decided to give making one a try. And what could be better than designing a cover using my very own stencils?

I pulled out a few of my favorites to try stenciling onto cloth. I was feeling very experimental, and didn't have a plan or repeating pattern design in mind. I put some smooth, lightweight 100% cotton fabric on my worktable, pulled out some favorite colors of acrylic paint, gathered my stencils, found some cosmetic wedges to apply the paint, and started experimenting. I used heavy-body acrylic so that the colors didn't seep under the stencil edges. 

Below are the stencils I used:

Spiral, Lemurian Garden #M304; 

Lily, Lemurian Garden #M302; 

Lemurian Poppy, #S900; 

Woodcut Garden, #S958; 

Woodcut Mix, #M335; and 

Pansy, Lemurian Garden #M303. 

(You can see that they are well-loved by all the paint and stains on them!)

Here's a tip: I always put clear packing tape around all edges of my stencils when they are brand-new.  Many of my designs go right up near the edge of the mylar, so the tape gives some extra space and helps to avoid accidental smudges. I put the clear tape on both sides so there is no stickiness, and since the tape is clear, it allows me to see what is underneath.

Here's another tip: I used painter's tape to mask off some sections of my stencil when I had a small space to fill. On the bottom left photo you can see that I taped off the outer petals of the Pansy to make it a little smaller. I also taped off parts of the dots from the spiral and used them to fill in empty spaces and add visual interest.

I was pretty happy with the printing, but the white background bothered me. It seemed too boring. I also wanted something to unite the colors and patterns, so I decided to conduct a few tests and see if I could change the background color with some watered-down ink.

I liked the colored backgrounds, but decided to go lighter so that the stencils would pop more. Below, I diluted the ink with water and tried again. (I felt kind of like a mad scientist!)

On the left photo, I tested an edge with the light pink ink, and liked the look. So, I went ahead and covered the whole piece with light pink. I was anxious to see how it would dry, so I pulled out my hairdryer to help speed things up. Once the fabric dried, it was pretty, but needed something more. I decided to enhance it with quilting. 

I made a "quilt sandwich" with the stenciled and dyed fabric on top, thin batting in the middle, and some plain pink fabric on the back. I pinned the three layers together, then, using pink thread, did some free-motion machine quilting in a swirly pattern.

Once it was quilted, I carefully trimmed the fabric using my rotary cutter, metal ruler, and cutting mat to a size (11" x 17") that would fit nicely around the 7.5" x 10" book. I stitched an 11" x17" piece of the pink backing fabric to create a facing for the marble notebook's cardboard front and back to slip into.

After stitching the backing, I realized that I hadn't allowed for an opening that the marble notebook covers could slip into! So, I sliced down the center of the backing carefully and created two pockets for the front and back of the marble notebook.

It was almost finished, but the front cover seemed too plain, so I decided to honor my very first stencil, the spiral, by using it for a decorative front embellishment. 

The spiral is the shape that got me started as a stencil designer so it is kind of a "favorite child". I had entered a hand cut a spiral stencil, along with artwork created from that stencil, in a Cloth Paper Scissors magazine "Hand Cut Stencil" reader's challenge. It was among the winning submissions featured in Cloth Paper Scissors May/June 2016 issue. 

That success inspired me to join StencilClub, gave me the courage to apply to be part of the StencilGirl Creative Team, and eventually the confidence to submit my own stencil designs in 2020. 

Here's the artwork created with my very first spiral stencil, and the cover of the issue — from 10 years ago — that it appeared in:

My first try at a stenciled embellishment for the front cover of my journal wasn't quite right. I liked the turquoise spiral on the hand-dyed olive fabric, but the colors clashed with my quilted cover. I tried uniting the spiral patch with the cover by adding decorative buttons covered with some of the dyed fabric experiments. It was interesting, but not quite right, and also would have been too lumpy on a journal.

So, I used some of the cotton that I had dyed light pink (using the leftover dye from my earlier experiments) and tried stenciling the spiral with both white embossing powder and white acrylic. I tested both deep pink and aqua inks over the white spirals to see what looked best.

Once the samples were dry, I decided on the pink version that was dyed over white paint. I was a bit surprised that the white paint created a better resist than the embossing powder...on paper embossing creates a beautiful resist, but on fabric, the embossing ink sunk into the fabric too much and looked spotty. 

Next, I debated about the shape, and decided on a circle. I traced around a roll of packing tape to make the circle, then rusticly hand stitched the white spiral with white thread, basted the edges, and added some turquoise beads around the edge. The beading is a little wonky, as is the white hand quilting, but I decided to embrace my wonkiness and let go of my Virgo quest for perfection. My inner critic is still screaming at me to fix it and make it perfect :-)

As a final touch, I created a page marker with a handmade tassel, a few small beads, and one of my own handmade beads made from recycled Tyvek USPS mailers. If you want to see how to make the tyvek beads, here's a link to my post on bead-making.

Last but certainly not least, don't forget to use code SPIRAL20 to get 20% off any of my stencils through 9-24-26. 

If you want to see more of what I've been working on,  I hope you'll take a look at my beautiful new website and see all my favorite creations, especially my stencils & stenciled art section!

Happy Creating! 

Linda :)