Crafty Gear 411: What Is Lutradur?

Today's Crafty Gear 411 is about a truly crafty material: Lutradur®.  A unique cross between fabric and paper. It is a 100% polyester, spun bond, non-woven, translucent web. It can be used for crafting, sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, wall art - just about everything you can dream up!

It's ideal for crafters of all sorts because it:

• Can be cut, but does not fray
• Works well as an overlay when put over paper as shown above
• Looks delicate and filters light, but also has incredible strength
• Works well with a wide range of glues & paints to add infinite colors or embellishments  
• Can be heat set to 400 degrees or melted/singed for antiquing effects
• Can be used like paper and run through an ink-jet printer to add graphics, photos or text and even be written on with pen or marker.  

I used my Cuttlebug & dies to cut a lovely butterfly shape and then overlapped pink and purple paint to make an ombre feel.

I die cut some scalloped shapes and then painted them with a sponge brush on freezer paper.  It was easy to peel them off when dry.  I used metallic fabric paint, opaque acrylics and glazes to get different shades and effects.

This is a close-up of the metallic:

By using liquid fabric softener to "paint them on" they give a sponge-painted look on the wall (or any other hard surface), but without the permanence.  Simply peel off and use again, somewhere else, without any damage:

I've also used iridescent glitter fabric paint on some shapes I handcut for my Rainbow Showers quilt and machine stitched them on for some added embellishment to my fabric appliques:

And by taping a piece to a sheet of cardstock, I was able to run it through my printer to make some dreamy-looking text & ghostly photos.  By coating the surface with gesso or a setting medium first (and drying before printing, obviously), the inks can look even brighter and no issues with smudges.  I just did it as-is just so you'd have an idea of the effect:

There are endless ways to use it, so it's a very practical medium, no matter what types of crafting you like to do.  Would you like to win a yard of Lutradur to play with, as well as several other useful crafty materials?  

Enter my Pellon Crafty Goods Giveaway HERE for a chance to win over $50's worth of crafting supplies!