Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Designed And Ready For Stitch


Yesterday I designed this quilt - there's no sewing done yet but just putting the elements together visually is an exacting and engrossing process. I tried over 50 possibilities not counting fabrics just held up to guage their fit. I know this because I took photos along the way. I wonder if the longer I make art quilts whether design choices will come to me more easily or whether I'll spend even more time trying to get a good design. There is so much to stay aware of and for each new piece added, all the design elements must be considered - how does the new piece relate to the whole? I imagine that down the road I will look back at this quilt and see how I might have improved it. For now, it works for me. I've added one more little blue piece to the lower left corner after I took this shot and decided it needed something of a darker value to keep the viewer's eye moving around the piece. I will add more roving as well - what I've placed is just on loosely to give me an idea of how it might look. I plan to construct the quilt a little unconventionally. I want some of the edges to be fringed so I won't bind them, yet I don't want the inner batting to show. I have backing that is also fringed and have cut the batting to be just inside the fringed edging and I will top stitch it closed. Also, my fringed backing piece is not long enough for the quilt so I will add fabric to make it fit. I want to keep rough edges on the surface so I will raw edge applique everything down.
I also tried a photo transfer experiment I'd heard about - print a photo onto a transparency sheet and then place on fabric and burnish with a spoon. I didn't use any medium on the untreated piece of my hand dyed fabric and it worked fairly well. I heat set it later but I don't know if it's really permanent. I'd like to try this using some digital ground matte I have, too.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yvonne, your blog is great! What a wonderful place to combine your love of fibre art and your talented writing. It is perfect for you. All the pieces shown on your blog are so new and fresh, and your digital photography illustrates them beautifully.

Yvonne said...

Nice to hear from you, Sharon and thanks for your comments!

Ruth said...

Yvonne, It's fascinating to watch the evolution of your piece over the last few days, seeing things move around and even disappear from it altogether. The fringe on the piece will look great with the fringe around the edges. Keep us posted!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your journey with this quilt, Yvonne. I've enjoyed reading about your thought process.
Can't wait to see it up close!