Friday, June 16, 2017

From "Scribble Drawing" to Fabric

This week the "scribble drawing" piece (see original post) was finished. It was both fun and challenging (mostly in choosing the right fabrics). And what a mess was made to put it together!


Here it is in progress, using the vinyl overlay for placement...

Notice the extra "seam allowance" for the purpose of overlapping pieces.
...and here's the finished (but unbound) piece next to the original drawing, titled Fish out of Water.

This fish is definitely out of water, and discombobulated at that. Gills, eye, body, tail and fins are all there--
just not where you'd expect. The distant waterfall also serves as a teardrop from the eye.
No batting was used, so no real quilting was done. Superior MonoPoly was used to stitch the raw edges to the buckram base--which is so stiff you can't quilt it at any rate (I did test it).

Would I do a project like this again? Probably not, unless I could quilt it. That's half the fun of it, after all. But at least my curiosity is satisfied. Anyway, it has a binding now...


...and is hanging (with bits of masking tape, lol) on the stairwell wall. VVHH calls this piece my Picasso, so the stairwell must be my gallery, haha.

UPDATE: Today, three days after my post, I found my "Picasso" on the stairs. So much for masking tape!  :)


On to the next project...although there a couple of UFOs (unfinished objects, for any non-quilting readers) hanging around. We'll see.

'Til next time,

Linda

6 comments:

  1. What a great idea that played out nicely!!!

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    1. Thanks, Rhonda. Been wanting to try this for a long time!

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  2. Very Picasso-ish. So colorful. You conquered that challenge.

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    1. Thanks, Angie. It's funny, I thought the drawing itself was so colorful--until the fabric version was done. Now the drawing looks almost pastel!

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  3. Wthis is so interesting how you did this! Thank you for taking the time to write and take pics along the way. A couple of questions - I've never heard of buckram. Why did you use it and where do you find it? Is there an advantage of that over say a heavy interfacing for stiffness?

    I usually do my freezer paper applique reversing the drawing and then ironing each piece on the back of the fabrics. Have you ever done it that way and if so do you like your method better and why? I love the idea of pinking the edges that go under. I never would have thought of that but it makes sense.

    I love your "controlled abstract" - you and are are a lot the same. I can't just throw down the fabric and come up with something. I have to be in control by having a plan.

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    1. Hey, Carol! I had read somewhere that one landscape quilter (her name escapes me at the moment) uses buckram all the time as her quilt back (though not the top base) because it's so sturdy and can take a lot of heavy free-motion stitching. It's definitely stiffer than heavy interfacing and used to be put in the headers of pinch-pleated draperies. It's also used inside ball caps and for book-binding. I'd been wanting to try it for my top base, but of course as suspected, it doesn't quilt, as it's too stiff for any puff (which was fine, since this "drawing" would probably have been distorted by quilting). I still want to try it as a landscape quilt back, though. One thing really nice about it was that it moved around under the needle very easily for FMQ, being so stable--I could just about guide it with one hand! This was a small piece, though. It might be a nightmare on a large one. It's available by the yard at Joann Fabrics, on a wide roll in the drapery/upholstery department.

      I've yet to try freezer paper applique, but it's definitely on my to-do list. I have a feeling it's going to be fun. Also want to try applique with fusible interfacing--no turned edges, just the whole piece sewn wrong-side-out and then turned through a slit in the interfacing and fused to the quilt.

      Yep, those pinked edges don't leave that telltale hard line. That's about all I ever use the pinking shears for anymore.

      You're so right--true, random abstract doesn't appeal to me; my brain has to make some sort of sense and structure out of it. Even my 2-year-old granddaughter's scribble drawings tend to become something arguably identifiable to my way of seeing. My brain can't just let it be what it is. LOL

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