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Learning the art of printing on fabric enticed about a dozen people to a workshop this month at St Luke’s Church in Hinds.
It was organised by Hinds woman Marie Williams — who is keen to offer more course next year — and led by textile tutor Catherine McDonald of Prebbleton.
McDonald described the workshops as a play-date where participants created their own unique fabrics with paint.
“The class is all about fun and saying ‘what if’ and having a go,” McDonald said.
Trying textile printing for the first time Heather Salton from Ashburton said she was enjoying the freedom of expression the art form allowed.
"It good because there is no right or wrong when it comes to printing this way,” Salton said.
McDonald who has been quilting since 1991 now prints all her own fabric.
"Nothing is off limit, nothing is safe when it comes to equipment to use to get patterns. You could use a potato masher, the tree of bark or for corrugated iron look a sushi mat works well.”
She provided kits for the workshop which included white and black cotton squares, as well as coloured ones she had dyed herself, along with other items like stencils and stamps.
The workshop encouraged experimentation using sun printing, stencilling, stamping, layering, mono printing with Gelli-plates or Shiva Sticks.
She said among her learners, stencilling was the most popular.
McDonald is well-known in the quilting, stitching and creative fabric world as she exhibits and enters many stitching challenges throughout New Zealand and internationally.
She is the convenor for the national quilt symposium in Christchurch on October 1 - 6 where there will be classes as well as exhibitions and merchant stalls at the Threads of Our Time symposium.