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Lutradur Hints and Uses

 

What Is It?
Lutradur is a non woven polyester material. At first glance, it looks like dressmakers interfacing, but its unique spun woven structure makes it see through in nature. It comes in a variety of different weights; the lighter the material, the easier it is to see through it. 

Some Features
It’s a truly versatile material. It doesn’t fray, has a slight sheen, is see through (see above), can be combined with all other types of material, can be painted, dyed, distressed with a soldering iron or heat gun, glued, stitched, embroidered…there are no limits to what you can do with Lutradur! It is also suitable for paper arts, such as making books, altered books, card making, Artist’s Trading Cards (ATCs) and postcards.

Can I run it through the printer?
The heavier weights of Lutradur can be run through the printer without backing paper; however, because of the structure of the material, some of the ink is inevitably lost. The lighter weights can be run through attached to freezer paper; again, the lighter the paper, the greater the ink loss. However experimentation with your printer settings is worthwhile.

What kind of dyes can I use with Lutradur?
Disperse dyes are suitable for dyeing lutradur. These dyes are painted onto paper and then transferred by ironing the dye onto the material. They are also available in crayon form.

What about paints?
If it works on cloth, it’ll work on Lutradur! However, if you use thick paint, you will lose the see through nature of the cloth. Better to work with washes of paint.

And inks?
Absolutely. Pens and pencils, too. 

Can I use heat to distress Lutradur?
Yes you can. It is possible to use both a heat gun and soldering iron for distressed effects; it tolerates the heat of a hot iron in the transfer dyeing process, but if you leave the iron on the material too long, you can also produce a distressed effect, sometimes when you didn’t intend it!

How does Lutradur withstand intense machine stitching?
Depends on the weight of Lutradur you are using, and how you are using it. As with any other material, the lighter the weight, the more distortion is likely when you stitch intensively into an area. The heavier weights will take a lot of stitching; the lighter weights, if fused onto a supporting material (which would be visible through the lutradur), can also be stitched like this.

Can you stitch Lutradur by hand?
Of course. Hand stitching can look particularly effective.

Can I print on it?
Yes. The transfer dyeing process lends itself to printing as well as painting, with a suitable thickener (contact your dye retailer for more information).

Can I use my embellisher on it?
Lutradur makes a great base cloth for the embellisher, but it can’t be felted onto other cloth. 

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