Sunday, 10 February 2019

BLOG 432

Blog 432
 
Although I have been busy working on the large wall hanging, there is precious little detail to show really. I ironed the quilt top onto cotton wadding and added a few safety pins around the outside edge. As the fabrics are already bonded, they will stick to the wadding and hold it in place satisfactorily for machine texturing and adding detail. The fabrics pieces are small so I need to do a lot of thread work to hold them in place and enhance what they represent. When I add a coloured thread to the machine, I use it where necessary all over the quilt. There is no need to work from the centre to the edges in this bonded method.
 

I first devised this way of working about 17 years ago and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get back to it. I was attending art classes way back then to learn about colour, form and composition, and we did a bit of pointillist painting as part of the course. As usual, I came home and tried to transfer the idea to fabric rather than continue with paint and it took me a while to devise a suitable method. I eventually stopped going to art classes because I discovered finally that I preferred the feel and texture of the fabric rather than the smell and unpredictability of paint!  
            Thread work 1
 
 


            Thread work 2
 
 


            Thread work 3
 
I was at Suzette’s (Suzette Smart) house last Monday, sewing with friends. Pat is making a thread picture of wolves (inspired by a stylised card). Peggy is making a 3-D log which will eventually have foliage and butterflies attached (inspired by a photo in a butterfly house). Suzette is doing her usual artistic thread work involving fabric pieces and letters. I love sewing with like-minded friends and I learn so much about embroidery as I sew. That said, I am still a quilter at heart but I do try to make samples of what I am learning so that I can develop as a sewer.


                 
            Pat’s wolf
 
 


         Peggy’s tree trunk
           Suzette’s tree
 
I took the granddaughters swimming to Holywell last Sunday morning. Whenever we are in the car, I always insist that they bring their sketch books to draw as we travel.  Katie (6) was given the word ‘Holywell’ and she had to draw something that started with each letter of that word. I asked Ella (9) to draw a cat (I had a cunning plan!). Her first attempt was drawn quite sophisticatedly so I asked her then to think of a triangular cat and to draw it more simply. Eventually, after several attempts, she came up with the pattern below. She enlarged it onto A4 paper and now she is working it in fabric in complementary colours using Bondaweb, pinking shears and a running stitch. It will be a slow process I guess but at least she has some sewing underway!


               Ella’s cat pattern
 
 


            Yellow cat
 
 
 
 


          Purple cat
 
 


No comments:

Post a Comment