Fabric Paper (paper cloth) rocks. It is a simple technique that yields a material with all of the fabulousity of paper: you can draw, paint, cut. The stuff retains all of the flexibility and strength of cloth. You can stitch away with no worries of compromising the integrity. Handstitching works as well and the more you handle the fabric cloth, the softer it becomes.
There has been plenty of tutorials and articles published on papercloth but I thought I'd throw my own 2 cents into the pile. You can find videos, magazine articles (Cloth Paper Scissors), Beryl Taylor's, Making Paper from Cloth, a DVD from Interweave. I am using papercloth for covers in my upcoming series of online bookbinding classes and I wanted you to have the information!
I love the top piece here where the tissue tore and rumpled.
On to the tutorial! Here is the YouTube video and PDF for you. Below the vid is the text from the PDF if you just want to read. Enjoy!
Download Fabric Paper Tutorial.DianaTrout
and the text from the PDF:
The Fabric:
Muslin or other very lightweight cloth; patterned or plain (lightweight quilting cottons can be used)
The Papers:
Any lightweight papers can be used: tissue papers (colored, white, printed, old sewing patterns)
Paper napkins (separated into the single ply); Mulberry papers or other lightweight Japanese papers; Lightweight book pages
Plastic trashbag for workspace
Acrylic paints,
Any kind of pva glue, mod podge, acrylic matt medium. Mix some water into the glue to make it the consistency of milk. The glue should run easily off your brush. *NOTE: Lori W. noted (in the comments) that Elmer's glue does not work well. Thanks, Lori!
water, large brush (should be soft), Rag
The Method:
Cut your cloth to size. I am using approximately 12” x 18”
Spread out your trashbag to protect your surface
Use smaller pieces of plastic cut 3-4” larger than the cloth you will be making (trashbag cut, acrylic sheets, freezer wrap)
Lay the muslin on your plastic or freezer wrap.
Generously brush it with glue. Begin laying the papers on top of it. Brush more glue on the paper as you go along. Use the brush gently so that you don’t tear or dislodge the paper.
You can layer as much as you’d like, collage fashion, as long as you continually brush it with glue. Move the smaller piece aside to dry and continue making fabric paper!
When thoroughly dry - and this can take a while - gently peel the paper off of the plastic.Some glues may produce a shiny surface. It just depends how much water you put into the glue mix. You can stitch (machine or hand) on this paper. You will notice that with handling the Fabric Paper will become softer and more pliable.If your paper is coming loose from the cloth, sew, sew, sew to keep the layers together!
