Guest Author - Kim Noblin

Caryl Bryer Fallert is an amazing, award-winning quilt artist. In addition, she has become the leading source of information for printing images on fabric. You may have seen her demonstrate her printing and scanning techniques on HGTV's Simply Quilts. I was inspired by the show and immediately purchased the supplies. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite remember all of the steps and being afraid that I would make a terrific mess of the whole process, I put it away for another day when I'd have more time to sit down and figure it out.

That was a couple of years ago and I'd completely forgotten about it until I found "Fallert's Guide to Images on Fabric" on Amazon a few days ago. I was instantly excited at the prospect of reading about the technique. I clicked the buy button faster than you can say "Bubble Jet Set" and three days later, it arrived!

Inside the book, I found everything that I'd been looking for and more. The author begins with a thorough explanation of the supplies you will need to get started. She includes pictures. Lots and lots of pictures! Not just pictures of the beautiful quilts that she has made by printing images on fabric, but pictures of her pouring Bubble Jet Set over fabric and removing loose threads with tape before printing. Images of great tips that will make your projects a success!

My favorite collection of photos were in a section called "Copying Three-Dimensional Objects". Here she shows objects that she has piled on her scanner and the resulting printed fabric. From fabric scraps to flowers, she desmonstrates that the combinations are endless and that even the most mundane objects can create interesting designs.

Next, she talks about using your computer to alter your scanned image. Changing the contrast, hue, and saturation can really make a difference in your finished image. You can have fun and play with all sorts of image effects to create new and different designs.

If you'd like to make an image larger than will run through your printer, she shows you how to print sections of the photo and piece them together so that no one can tell that the photo was not printed all at once.

The possibilities are endless with Ms. Fallert's technique. This is a must-have book for every quilter's bookshelf!