Raw-edge Appliqué

Finished This Morning

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Qu8ilt Top
Quilt Back

I chose to complete this quilt with a facing/hidden binding (mitred corners) and did the hand stitched blind hem on the quilt back this morning.

The quilting took just three days – that’s because I elected to quilt the top in 4-block squares. That meant each row had to have a half design (because the top was constructed with 9 columns). I decided to stagger the quilting blocks so the half block elements alternated from one side to the other – half using the right side of the design, the other half using the left. Nobody but me will ever notice. All anyone looking at the quilt will see is the fact that it is quilted! I chose thread to match the background fabric on top; the bottom thread matches the blue/grey background fabric – same weight Wonderfil variegated, just a different colour. I embroidered the standard label I always use in a dark navy blue – I usually mute it to blend in but decided this time to make it stand out!

[BTW, no dragonflies, no embroidery – in the end I decided to let the circles be the focus of the work. In the photo you can see the colour and density change from bottom to top of the quilt – which was intentional.] I pieced the quilt back from scraps left over from the quilt top.

I was showing this quilt (top finished but not quilted) one evening last week to two friends when I realized if I build my next quilt using some version of half-square triangles, that would allow me to pull four-five quilts from my collection to go with it – my Parrsboro showing coming summer could become a collection of quilts created from half-square triangles! Each quilt would be seen differently because the HST theme would provide a new context. So now to think about block sizes and ways of combining the main fabric with the solids so the solids don’t take over the quilt – I want to showcase the print!

The print is Eclectic Elements – Abandoned (Rusted Patina) by Tim Holtz for Free Spirit. What grabbed me about the fabric was the rich colour pallet in yellow/oranges and turquoise/greens. When I pulled the solid fat quarters from a nearby box (conveniently at hand on the table in the shop) and laid them on the print the whole came alive. I figure there has to be a way to use the solids so they create a background and the print becomes the dominant feature (rather than the other way around – which is what I fear may happen)! My idea is this: start by cutting 4 1/2″ strips from the print, then cut 2 1/2″ strips from the matching solids, sew them together in pairs, then create a tube from the print strip and the two solids strips, from which I can then cut half-square triangles! I may want to subdivide the solids even further before I pair them with the print – to break up the concentration of solid colour….

I need to play with this idea using scraps to see what actually happens!

Appliqué Edge Stitching – Done

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Quilt Top
Detail 2
Detail 2

It took two days, but I did get all 87 circles edge-stitched. What with changing thread colour, selecting and modifying different stitches the process was tedious. The large circles are relatively easy because I can keep the raw edge aligned with the centre mark on the open-toe foot I prefer to use; but the smaller the circle, the harder it is to keep the stitching precisely on the edge. On the whole I did a reasonable job although I did unpick the stitching on two of the circles – in the first instance I didn’t like the stitch I had chosen, in the second I wasn’t as accurate as I wanted to be; both undoing operations took considerable time.

Now my challenge is to decide whether to add some embroidery or not:

With 260×260 embroidery hoop as guide

The largest embroidery I can do easily would be using the 260×260 hoop – to go larger would involve the Grand Dream hoop (360×350) which I have to rotate in order to embroider a complete design (always a risky move because the two halves don’t always align precisely).

Here’s the problem – so I embroider a design partly over one or more circles using a placement like I’ve shown – not too dense a design so that it overtakes what I’ve done so far. I think I’d even add the batting at this point to give the embroidery some substance. However, I still need to embroider the whole quilt surface, including over the top of any embroidery and that, I know would make the whole effort muddy. I could add small clusters of dragonflies in a few strategic spots:

They’re not too dense, and might add an interesting bit of detail, although I’m not sure they’d show up against the darker print fabrics!

I’m probably better off leaving the top as it is, setting up the quilt sandwich and just quilting the whole thing!

At the moment the top is sitting on my cutting table while I ponder what to do now.

Yesterday, to do something productive while thinking about where to go next with the quilt, I took three pair of corduroy pants I made at least 10 years ago (which I’d put at the back of my closet last winter because they were too small at the waist and I was too lazy to do anything with them), and added long elastic gussets to each side.

The gussets had to be deep and wide enough to allow the fly front to zipper close. I serged the edges of the 6″ elastic inserts, then overlock-stitched the raw corduroy edges to the elastic using one of the overlock stitches on my embroidery machine. The whole process of removing the elastic I’d previously inserted into just the waistband, extending the cut 2″ below the front pocket opening, serging the elastic inserts, and stitching them in place took abut 20 minutes for each pair of pants. I’m wearing one of them today!

The idea comes from Kathy Ruddy who describes how to create elastic inserts in new pants. I’ve provided Kathy’s instructions previously: https://jmncreativeendeavours.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/elastic-inserts.pdf – it’s not all that difficult to do as a modification on already made pants (whether I’ve made them myself, or bought them and adjusted them to fit).

What amazes me is that my pants continue to fit everywhere except at the waist and belly. As my large “tummy” gets larger, I need to extend the top 6″ or so of my pants but the rest continues to fit reasonably well. It might be useful to revisit that original pattern (if I can figure out which version it might be – I usually date each modification) and try it out again using a “full tummy adjustment“. Let you know how that goes!

Meanwhile it’s back to working on the quilt.

Deadline Looming!

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I’ve been working away frantically to finish the last quilt. the show at Art Labs in Parrsboro opens a week tomorrow at 2:00 pm! That’s a month to six weeks earlier than I was hoping for so it’s been a crunch to complete everything and get it all ready to hang. I’ll make the deadline but there’s still quite a bit to get done.

As far as the final quilt is concerned, I have the centre panel quilted, the sashing and inner border seam stitched-in-the-ditch. That leaves two more border seams to stitch all the way around, the wide outer border quilted, and the facing and a label applied to the back. I have time, but the minutes are slipping away!

I just finished adding the sawtooth hangers to the back of the flowers, carefully measuring the hanging position for each on the linen-covered panel, adding small nails to hang each piece on. With a little aligning they’ll be fine.

Flowers Hung on Navy Linen Panel

I still have to figure out some way to hang the panel itself – I’ve got an idea for how to do that, but whether it will work or not remains to be seen.

I’ve finished the Modern Flowers panel, as well. Last week I stopped into Sew With Vision to see whether I could find a fabric to cover the hanging panel because I didn’t have enough navy linen to cover it. I came home with a metre and a half of Moda Basic Grunge in Peacoat Navy. It shows off the small pieces beautifully.

Modern Flowers on Grunge Background

Because the navy Grunge worked so well, I thought I’d recover the Flowers panel to match. I went back to the shop this afternoon hoping to find another metre of the navy grunge – no luck – none left. I bought some dark teal fabric but it was worse than the navy linen – it has lighter blue elements which fight with the Flowers. I decided to stick with the navy linen. I did some browsing to see whether I could find a couple of yards/metres anywhere – looks like this particular Grunge fabric is out of stock just about everywhere, and even if I had found some, it wouldn’t have come for a couple of weeks and I have just one week to get everything finished.

Now back to work on the quilt!

Bradford Pear. (#12)

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Bradford Pear

Along my street we’ve got Bradford Pear trees which are filled with lovely “apple/cherry” like blossoms early in the spring. They last maybe a week/ten days and that’s it. I’ve photographed the trees and the flowers each spring I’ve lived in my apartment (going on seven years). I’ll take pictures – of the same trees – again this year.

I did a bit of research to learn more about Bradford Pear trees and discovered they aren’t the best choice although they’re used widely to line streets. One writer identified several reasons why you should avoid them: they grow tall – 40-50 feet, the flowers have a strong, somewhat unpleasant fragrance, often have weak branches – sometimes falling apart after 20 years (!), and they cross pollinate with related trees causing problems if fruit pears are growing anywhere near. Nevertheless, I love how the flower clusters look which is why I decided to include one in this floral collection.

I decided to do very little stitching on the flowers, thinking the detail on the stems, leaves, buds and branch would more than offset the spare flower detail. A good decision, here.

This is #12. The series is now complete.

My Floral Collection

I’ve laid them out on the floor to think about the display arrangement. I still have to add paper backing, a label, and a sawtooth hanger on the back of each before I can say they are finished. I’ll get that done over the weekend. I plan on showing the full set in Truro, I think. Brandt will only want ten for the December show in Tatamagouche this year – I will have a difficult time deciding which two to hold back! I’m happy with all of them.

Now I can move on to a new quilt, along with some clothing I want to make for the summer.

Night-blooming Cereus (#11)

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Night-blooming Cereus

This flower isn’t from a photo. My friend Elayne gave me a bundle of four 1-yard pieces of Hawaiian barkcloth a number of years ago. It has lovely tropical flowers very sharply printed on a 100% medium weight cotton fabric. I’ve made a couple of wall art pieces from it by carefully cutting out flowers and leaves and mounting them on a raw silk background, then thread painting the resulting image.

I’ve shared the fabric with participants when I’ve done workshops on raw-edge appliqué with thread painting. I still have a lot left. I liked this printed Cereus bloom so I chose it to be one of the flowers in this 6″x6″ project.

This particular fabric had a lot of grey in the leaves and in the centre of the flower – I chose to obscure it with the thread painting. The challenge with this fabric is the weave is somewhat loose so the raw edges are “raw.” I do my best to tame them with edge stitching. I can see a few loose threads in the photo – I will use my very fine pointed tweezers to pull those threads out, and trim what I can’t remove with very sharp, fine embroidery scissors.

When I’ve finished the last flower – Bradford Pear (which grows just down the street) – I’ll decide which of the twelve pieces will go into the final collection of ten. This one may just stand out as different enough to be eliminated. I’ll see.

Day Lily

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Day Lily

#10 – almost there, just two more flowers to go. Then I can move onto the final quilt I want to get done before summer (I want to do a quilt based on the Drunkard’s Path back insert I created for the Moons & Planets quilt).

Lots of thread changing involved in stitching this flower. You’re not aware of the changes because they mirror the shading of the petals and sepals.

Again, the difficult decision – how much to stitch and what to leave open. I’ve enhanced the brightness of the flower colours using the Inktense watercolour pencils – just enough to make different areas stand out a bit more. Overall I’m happy with the detail I’ve managed with this flower.

Phalaenopsis

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Phalaenopsis – Moth Orchid

This is #9.

I took the eight completed pieces to the knitting group yesterday – the reaction was favourable – I guess I’m not wasting my time on this 6×6 project.

What was clear, however, is the women had no sense of the complexity of the work – that for ten of the pieces I’m doing a fabric/threadpainting rendering based on my own photos (the remaining two I adapted from fabric floral prints).

I explained to the gals that I started by going through my photos setting aside any I thought might be turned into a 6×6 piece. Next I edited them, adjusting the colour and cropping them to a 6.2″ x 6.2″ square so when I print them they are the right size for mounting and the colour strong enough to permit me to embellish them. Then I print each photo on a letter size piece of cotton lawn fabric (which is backed with plastic so it can move easily through the printer). After the print dries for a day or so, I removed the plastic and back the fabric with a fusible paperbacked glue sheet before I carefully “fussy cut” each flower.

At the start of the project I had prepared myself a dozen 9 1/2″ x 91/2″ squares of silk tussah which I’d backed with Sewer’s Dream stabilizer to keep the silk from fraying. I marked the position of the 6×6 square using a heat-erasable pen so I’d know where to place the flowers. After each flower was cut out I carefully positioned it onto the silk background, and fused it in place. On some flowers I added extra leaves before the final fusing.

Before doing any thread painting I use a heat-erasable pen to suggest the colour boundaries to be stitched. I might also intensify some colour with Inktense colour pencils or permanent markers. Then I begin sewing.

First I pull spools of thread from my thread stash (which at this point is quite large – a couple of hundred spools in every colour imaginable, a mixture of rayon and polyester – on this project the fibre content doesn’t matter, the colour does, so I mix and match). I constantly change thread (and bobbin) colour as I outline or infill aspects of each flower. For some flower renderings I’ve had to create machine stitches. After finishing each flower, I add my signature.

As I explained my process to the women they found themselves looking at the pieces differently, examining the detail more carefully. At first glance these pieces aren’t necessarily complex but the process of arriving at a finished 6×6 textile wall art piece takes me anywhere from 6-7 hours over a couple of days – likely longer than were I to simply paint the flowers on the 6×6 canvas!

Iris

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Iris

Yesterday when I stopped working on the Iris it didn’t feel done to me. There wasn’t enough detail on the leaves. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to colour them a bit more or just add a bit of stitching – in the end I did both. I shaded both the cluster of leaves on the left as well as the leaves beside the stem. Then I thread-painted the shading. Because the leaves are darker they blend into the whole, not drawing attention to themselves. I’m much happier with this piece now.

Oriental Poppy

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Oriental Poppy

One more piece done – #5. This purple oriental poppy was growing in a friend’s garden several years ago. I’ve kept the photo in my library and from time to time I have thought about what I could do with it. I decided to include it in this 6″ x 6″ collection.

I’m reasonably happy with how the flower turned out – you get a sense of the depth of the bloom. The flower centre was challenging – the oriental poppy has a gazillion feathery stamens with long filaments. The pistil is elaborate, too. I had to do quite a bit of practice sewing to find a way of representing the fullness of these floral elements. When you stand back from the rendering (where you no longer can see the stitching), it looks remarkably like a vibrant oriental poppy!

Prep Work Done

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Nine Flowers Ready To Thread Paint

I’ve spent the morning, fussy cutting the flowers, laying them out, fusing them to the raw silk background, redrawing the finished block size, positioning where I want the signature to go on each. The remaining nine are now ready to thread paint.

I’ve tidied up the top of my cutting table, putting fabric scraps back where they live. Stacked the rules in the ruler holder. Put my rotary cutters where they’re normally stashed. Now I have to start selecting thread for the stitching.

It’s a lovely sunny day out – no clouds at the moment. So once I’ve got myself organized it’s time to get out of the apartment! I’ll start sewing on these tomorrow morning.