Annette Morgan: Tool kit

Category
Toolkit
View all articles by Daniel

Welcome to another edition of Tool kit, a series of articles where we take a look at some of the favourite tools used by professional textile artists. Each item includes a description of the tool itself.

Annette Morgan is an award winning textile artist, teacher, quilt judge tutor, author, and qualified quilt judge. She is a past President of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles (QGBI) and co-founder of art quilt group Anglia Textile Works. Annette is founder of Contemporary Quilt, a specialist interest group of the QGBI. She also helped to found the Festival of Quilts with Andrew Salmon of Twisted Thread.

In this article Annette shares with us the secrets of her tool box. We learn how she utilises not one but three sewing machines, and the various screens that help her create such unique quilted art.

Sewing machine

Item 1 – Sewing Machine

Item description: Sewing machine
Brand: Bernina 1080 [1996 – 2015] – now I have a Bernini B710,
Pfaff Tiptonic 6230 since 1998 and a Janome Horizon

How do you use this item in your practice?

Sewing machines are the main tool I use in my work, and I have several depending on the project in hand – there is always one out on my work table. My old Bernina, the 1080 was a real workhorse, and basically I think I wore it out! I bought the Pfaff sewing machine in 1998, as by then I was teaching and needed a backup sewing machine in case the Bernina went wrong.

I was introduced to the Janome machines by a friend, and I found their machine had a wide arm for working on large pieces of work, and the machine quilting facility worked well for me.

Why do you use this specific item?

I still use the Pfaff for quick piecing and bindings, or taking out to workshops as it is smaller and lighter in weight than the Bernina and Janome Horizon.

I like both the Janome and Bernina for free machine stitching, whether quilting or embroidery.

And where did you buy it from?

Bernina B710 – Martin Woods ‘Stitchers’, Beckingham Business Park, Essex.
Janome Horizon, Supplied by Janome.
Pfaff and Bernina 1080 – shop no longer exists.

Silk screen

Item 2 – Silk screen

Item description: Silk screen

How do you use this item in your practice?

Most of my work is either fairly abstract or it may be pictorial in nature. I make my own masks from freezer paper, to create one off pieces of fabric. I will often spend several days printing to obtain a stash of fabrics to use in my projects.

I use procion dye paste through the screen.

Why do you use this specific item?

To transfer my own images onto fabric, and to create individual art.

And where did you buy it from?

They can be obtained from art suppliers such as Art Van Go, George Weil etc.

Thermofax screen

Item 3 – Thermofax screens

Item description: Thermofax screens

How do you use this item in your practice?

I like to print my own fabrics and this is an ideal way to get my own photos onto fabric. I use them with procion dye paste and screen printing inks bought from Thermofax.

These screens are not cheap, but I only have a few made a year.

Why do you use this specific item?

You are able to get fine detail using these screens as opposed to normal silk screens.

And where did you buy it from?

Claire Higgot, Thermofaxscreens.co.uk

HP printer

Item 4 – HP Printer

Item description: HP Printer Deskjet 3520
Year: 2014

How do you use this item in your practice?

I use the prink jet printer to print onto T shirt transfer paper for dark fabrics, in order to use my own photographs onto fabric.

Why do you use this specific item?

It prints well, I can also scan images, and photocopy straight onto the T Shirt Transfer paper

And where did you buy it from?

PC World

Item 5 – Printing board

Item description: Printing board
Brand: Home made!

How do you use this item in your practice?

I use this board to print onto fabric – it is a 5ft by 4 ft piece of hardboard covered with an old wool blanket obtained for a charity shop, and then covered with white cotton [these layers have been stapled on the back of the board]. I also have smaller one 24 ins by 24ins for smaller printing jobs.

Why do you use this specific item?

I can use it to print on – I cover it with a drop cloth and pin my fabric to it ready for printing. I put it on my work table, and because it is slightly padded it receives printing well. I also use it, standing upright against a chest, as an auditioning board when I am constructing pieces of work. It is much better to look at work face on, than on a table or the floor.

And where did you buy it from?

You can get board cut to size at any DIY store.