Once the design concept is in place, Jan's fiber pieces are built on richly colored cotton fabric that she hand-dyes with Procion MX (fiber-reactive) dyes.   Some of the techniques used are table dyeing, hang dyeing, tub dyeing, scrunch dyeing, fold dyeing and shibori. After the newly dyed cotton dries, it is washed and then rinsed numerous times until the water runs clear.   After being dried the fabric is steam pressed. During this step jan "bonds" with each piece of cotton, memorizing the details of the colors, textures and patterns and cataloguing them for future reference.   Later, acrylic paint is sometimes added to the surface of the fabric to add dimension and depth.

The main shapes of each design are cut out individually by hand.   They are then applied to the background with a fused appliqué technique.

The bold colors that make up the pieces of the horse's face shown here are individually appliqued.   Much like a puzzle, each piece is individually applied to the background to form the final design.