Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!: Crafted Appliqué technique

Showing posts with label Crafted Appliqué technique. Show all posts

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Nifty Novelties Blog Hop at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 252 of Free Motion Mavericks and the opening day of Nifty Novelties Blog Hop, hosted by Marian of Seams to be Sewn. Marian has obtained some great giveaways, so please read below.

Paddington Bear visits Nifty Novelties Blog Hop

Last fall on Throwback Thursday for October, my daughter reminded me of my promise to make her a Paddington Bear quilt. I promptly bought the fabrics, and then all kinds of art quilting deadlines happened! I've got a good idea of the quilt's design but I have a couple more quilts to do before I can get to this one. The Nifty Novelties Blog Hop was the perfect excuse to make her a Paddington Bear book mini until I get the real quilt done.

Paddington Bear book block mini

Here is a close-up of the book cover

Paddington came with us to a fancy restaurant tonight and became acquainted with my daughter 😊 I'm happy to report that Paddington Bear was on his best behaviour and my daughter loves her mini!

Paddington Bear among the fresh green sprouts

These are the novelty Paddington Bear fabrics
that I bought last fall. They come from around the world!

I hope that you'll visit the other participants in the Nifty Novelties Blog Hop. The links are at the bottom of this very long post!

Giveaway

Marian of Seams to be Sewn has received a whole bunch of fat quarters for the Nifty Novelties Blog Hop. I'm hoping that Rafflecopter will be easy to use. The giveaway is a Timeless Treasures Fabric Bundle. You can find the raffle details on Marian's post. BTW, I will pay for the shipping of the bundle for the winner of my post 😊.
Update - Dix in Canada is the winner of this Timeless Treasures Fabric Bundle. Thanks to everyone for leaving a message and Marian for organising all of this.

What I learned

I was going to appliqué the Paddington Bear pieces without using anything behind them (my usual way!) but it became obvious that I needed some kind of stabilizer. I decided to use the Crafted Appliqué technique. It was perfect for this project.
I stitched the pieces to the front of the book cover with Kimono silk thread without a problem but then had major tension issues with the FMQ. At least the tension was so bad that I was able to pull most of the thread out without effort. This is the first time that this has happened - I think my Jag is due for a tune up.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Morning has broken - Art with Fabric Spring 2018

Welcome to Art with Fabric, Spring 2018 edition!

Morning has broken

What if surrealists created happy, colourful art? That's the premise of my art piece today.

Morning has broken

Alida, our amazing host and organiser, chose the theme of 1+1=3. I did some research and while I'm intrigued by surrealism, I find the lack of colour rather depressing. There is enough harshness in the world without my contributing to it. However, when I found a painting featuring an egg as the sunrise, my imagination went into overdrive. I love the concept of the egg as sun and harbinger of life. So, I took the egg concept and ran with it.

Vladimir Kush - Sunrise by the Ocean, 2000

Vladimir Kush was born and grew up in Russia where he attended art school. He now lives in Hawaii and owns 4 art galleries. Many of his work are based on mythology and symbolism. While some of his pieces have vivid colours, I find that as a surrealist, there is usually something evocative and sometimes disturbing in his work.

When I first saw Sunrise by the Ocean on the internet, it was attributed to Salavador Dali and called L'Aurora, 1948. It was my daughter, who is studying art history, who researched the piece and found that it was actually a work by Vladimir Kush. Apparently misattribution on the internet is quite rampant.

Creating a background

The first step was to find fabric for the background. Both larger pieces are hand dyed fabric. I bought the sky fabric but the bottom fabric comes from last summer's experiment with hand dying. The egg shell is from a commercial fabric with a very light paisley pattern. It was perfect for free motion quilting (FMQ). I didn't cut the ragged edges of the eggshell until later, when I was sure that it was what I wanted.

I experimented with three different suns. The first was a bright yellow fabric but was too small. Then, somewhere on the internet, I saw an amazing looking moon that had been pieced. My first pieced attempt was too symmetrical but the next one made it into the piece.

Creating the background

You can see a little bit of pink fabric peaking behind the sky. I didn't want to use interfacing so I used some thin cotton fabric to make it a little sturdier, since I knew that I would be attaching a lot of fabric to the background.

Auditioning the foreground

I cut out many flowers, leaves, trees, animals etc. (can you spot some of Tula Pink's amazing fabric?) but wasn't sure how I wanted these together. On my new design boards, I auditioned three different "looks".

I can't exactly say why I chose the foreground that I did, except that it was somehow lighter and more vibrant (Foreground #2).

Foreground #1

Foreground #2

Foreground #3

After examining the photos of the three foregrounds, I chose to go with the lighter one and then played with the placement, using fabrics from all three to come up with this almost final version.

The almost final foreground

I sewed the fabric to the background, using a lot of thread sketching to highlight some of the fabrics and colours.

Details: the sun and water

Shimmering sun and water

Now it was time to make the sun and water shimmer. I knew that this would be the highlight of the piece and that made me quite nervous. I took out my box of shinny transparent fabrics (gauze, tulle, silk, etc) and started playing with colours. It's not a very big box and my variety is rather limited but I really wanted to make it work without going to get more fabric.

I have a very light silk scarf that I bought in China that has the most amazing colours. The scarf is too delicate to wear but is perfect for using in art. I did a lot of fussy cutting to get the yellow/pink/orange for the sun. The fraying added the perfect look around the sun.

For the reflection of the sun in the water, I already had a yellow hand-dyed fabric to work with. Using some gauze and more silk, I managed to get the colours that I wanted. Over all that went a sparkling tulle that just makes the water sparkle and shimmer.

Putting it all together

I always find it hard to decide when to stop thread sketching and when to add the batting to quilt. I actually sandwiched this piece before I started playing with the sun and the water.

Details: the sun and eggshells

For the eggshells, I FMQ the design on the fabric before sandwiching the piece. Only the outline of the eggshells are quilted, making them really pop out.

After the sun and water were finished, it was time to start quilting the foreground and finally the sky. I played around with the quilting of the flowers, sometimes quilting the actual flowers, while at other times quilting around the flowers to make them pop. There were many lessons to be learned 😊

I decided to use a facing to finish the quilt. I like how it finishes it and at the same time it will let me finish working on the quilt while making it look good on this post. I still have a little bit of quilting left to do on the background.

Morning has broken, Art with Fabric, Spring 2018

What I learned

This was the first time that I've taken the time to create various parts of the quilt to audition it, like the sun and the different foregrounds. It really didn't take that long, and was so worth it in the end. I feel like this project was much more deliberately constructed than my other work.
I've never quite fallen in love with one of my pieces as I have with this one. Last week I was higher than a kite....on art!
However, after that euphoria, it was a hard drop! I think most of it was due to having worked so much on this. I was exhausted. I actually did almost nothing except read two books. It was also difficult to go back to actually finish the piece, but once I started, everything was fine.
As I mentioned, I learned some interesting lessons while doing all of this FMQ. It's probably because I was bored that I started experimenting with two fabrics that are similar - they both have smaller flowers with lots of leaves, and I had already thread sketched the leaves. For one of the fabrics, I quilted the flowers and some of the leaves, while for the other, I quilted the white space between the flowers and the leaves. I must admit that I would not usually have thought to FMQ in the white background but it was very effective.
I had a really hard time deciding what to do with the sky. Finally I just FMQ some lines and added a few clouds. It was hard to keep it simple after having quilted so much in the foreground. I think that keeping it simple was probably a good idea. (I have to finish quilting a few of the lines to the edge since the piece ended up being bigger than I originally thought!)
I still want to do a little bit of quilting of the background fabric that shows around the foreground. I did some of it, and it does look better when it's flattened and lets the flowers in the foreground pop.
I also considered adding some seed beads, but I really don't want to distract from the shimmering water and sun - so I think I'll skip the beading. I'll just have to find another project to bead :-)

Project Details

Morning has broken

14" x 20"

Material: hand-dyed fabrics, commercial fabrics, tulle, silk, gauze.

Techniques: applique, free motion quilting, improv piecing

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Final Learning QAL Sum Up

I haven't had a very productive month as far as quilting goes. December started out well, quilting wise, but I didn't end up making much progress. On the other hand, I've had a great Christmas and started getting used to relaxing and minimizing my obligations. All is well 😊

I've enjoyed putting on the Learning Quilt-A-Long but as I mentioned, there were very few link-ups so it's not really worth continuing. This is, therefore, my last Learning QAL Sum Up. I will, however, continue my learning journey but with less pressure!

For my December learning goal, I wanted to continue adding colour to my wholecloth quilt.

December Learning Sum Up

I only spent a few hours working on it, but it is slowly coming along. It's taking longer than I thought, mostly because I'm trying to think of different things to do within the pattern. Below you will see what I mean. I've done some lines within the flower in the middle (sort of a cross hatching) and I've done some echoing within the leaf, in two different colours.

Trying new FMQ techniques within the pattern

Here is the overall piece. It doesn't look like much progress but it was a few hours of FMQ.

FMQ Progress on the wholecloth quilt

A few more leaves now have colour

December One Monthly Goal (OMG) Finish

For my One Monthly Goal for December (OMG), I was hoping to start playing and creating an art quilt based on Jacobean embroidery of gardens. Instead of working on a garden, I found myself using some of the same techniques using Christmas fabrics from the bag of scraps that I brought up for the Christmas EPP.

I just built a background with strips and then started adding appliqué. I used the Crafty Appliqué technique for most of the appliqué. These worked out better than the large cardinal appliqué that was done without using that technique!

The beginning of a fun Christmas art quilt

I will be adding the embroidery and embellishment, once I've done the free motion quilting (FMQ). It is a great trial piece for my future art quilt based on Jacobean embroidery of gardens...that will come eventually.

Getting ready to travel

I'm going away for almost three weeks. I really, really dislike packing, especially when it comes to packing my hand-work. What to bring, how much, etc. It's always a pain because I want to get it right! I have to bring something with me other than books!

This embroidery is definitely coming with me. I've got another one started and will probably bring at least one solid fat quarter in case I decide to start others. I have visions of sketching what I see and embroidering it. Who knows, it could happen!

Packing a few embroidery pieces

For my last big trip, which was to China, I had packed some orange peels and appliquéd them onto blocks.

Orange peels project for my China trip

Appliquéd orange peel blocks

Appliquéing on the Yangtze River

This time, the trip is mostly to Spain. We start off in Barcelona.

I'm thrilled that I'll get to see the Sagrada Familia Cathedral again. It's an amazing building and its stained glass windows were the inspiration for my Art with Fabric in the fall of 2016.

Sagrada Familia stained-glass windows

Sagrada Familia Cathedral

Art with Fabric - stained-glass windows

What I learned

I'm happy that I put on the Learning QAL. It was a good idea and pushed me to learn so much more that I would have without it.
I also learned that it's a lot of work - not just writing the posts, but actually doing something!
I'm very grateful for those who put on QAL, Blog Hops and Linking Parties. I know how much work it is, but it's also rewarding and a great way to meet other quilters.

Related Links

Playing with colour and Learning QAL Goal, December 1, 2017
Christmas EPP block, December 7, 2017
Christmas scraps, December 3, 2017
Orange peels appliqué, October 23, 2014
Art with Fabric, Stained glass window, October 13, 2016

Linking Parties: I will be linking up to the December One Monthly Goal Finish Link-up. I will also link up to as many linking parties as I can before I leave :-) Check out what everyone else has done! Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Oh Scrap!, Midweek Makers, Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Playing and Trying New Techniques

Appliquéd English Paper Pieced flag

I've enjoyed making Canada 150 quilts, but following other people's patterns and doing traditional quilting for any length of time is difficult for me. I need time to create and play with fabrics without a pattern or clear idea of where I'm going. So I decided to create a Canada 150 art quilt with some of the techniques I learned during Hillary Rice's surface design workshop.

As you may have read in my post, several weeks ago I took a two-day surface design and embellishment course with Hillary Rice. It was great to learn new techniques from this wonderful lady, but I felt unsettled. We sampled many techniques and were supposed to create an art quilt using these, but even as I started two pieces I couldn't get into it. In retrospect, I think I needed a theme or a vision for the art quilts, especially abstract ones.

This piece started with English Paper Piecing. Using a diamond template that I bought at the Festival of Quilts show and freezer paper, I made some diamond pieces with Canada 150 fabric.

Do you recall that I've said, many times, that I'm accuracy challenged? Well the diamonds were not accurate but I did manage to put these nine pieces together as a symbol of a Canadian flag.

Details of the sheer overlay and encasement, and thread painting

For the background, I used some beautiful blue eco-printed fabric with maple leaves that I bought at Fibre Fling 6. I added a strip of text fabric in the middle and then started playing. Here are the steps and the different techniques I used from the workshop. After appliquéing the English paper pieced flag, I used sheer overlay for the centre maple leaf. I placed the pink tulle over the leaf and free motion stitched around the leaf in a bright red Rainbows thread by Superior Threads. I left an opening because I was hoping to find something to place within it. This is called encasement - and I finally found a little cutting tool that made snow flakes - how perfect!

At the top left, the fabric suggested Northern Lights. I used shiny Madeira Polyneon and Gütermann machine embroidery thread to do free motion embroidery. I really like the effect but as I look at the image here, I'm going to make the northern lights bigger.

Suggesting regions of Canada with appliqué

Under the flag, you can see the couching of knobby gold yarn. I followed the design on the fabric to outline some mountains. I attached the couching by hand and then, between the two couched lines I added some sparking sheer overlay. To give the impression of snow, I embroidered three of the mountain peeks.

At the bottom centre, again following the outline of the fabric, I added several layers of organza and embroidered around them. I know that I should have waited to add the fish, but I was too impatient. Besides, I just free motion quilted around them!

Once this was completed, I had no idea how to add elements that would suggest various parts of Canada. I went into my landscaping stash and found some fabrics that I thought might work.

I used the crafted appliqué method and ironed the fabric onto the background. I then free motioned appliquéd the fabric and added thread painting.

Canada 150 art quilt incorporating some of the techniques learned

I don't think that there's much left to finish this piece. I need to work on the northern lights and then probably free motion quilt designs in the background that will bring all of the appliquéd pieces together. I'm not sure if I'll be able to add more techniques I learned to this piece. There are still 11 techniques to go! Maybe this will encourage me to keep working on my class pieces!

What I learned

I didn't realise how many techniques we had covered until I started going over my notes and looking at my samples. Although I knew some of the techniques, there were many that I've wanted to try out but didn't really have the courage to do so by myself.
I would love to add encaustic to this piece - it's using melted crayons to add colour. It was my all time favourite technique of the workshop, followed closely by metal appliqué. More about these when I finally use them :-)

Related Links

Celebrating 150 with Quilts, May 18, 2017
Hillary Rice
Fibre Fling 6, March 20, 2017
Superior Threads

Linking Parties: I will be linking this post to the following link-ups. Have a look to see what everyone is up to! MOP Monday, Slow Sunday Stitching, Off the Wall Friday, Oh Scrap! Finished or Not Friday, Main Crush Monday, Moving it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in June, Design Wall Mondays,

Friday, January 27, 2017

First Block - Applique

I know that I shouldn't commit to another quilting activity...but since I love learning and participating in Alida's events, I signed up for Growing up QAL, a skill building quilt-along.

Alida is giving us an excellent incentive to actually make the blocks since to keep receiving the instructions for the QAL for free, we have to make and post the blocks within a specific time period (which is generous).

The first block for January is the Rose Appliqué Block.

Crafted Appliqué

Of course, I didn't quite follow the instructions. I copied the pattern onto freezer paper, which I then ironed onto the rose fabric that had been prepared following the Crafted Appliqué technique. It worked perfectly.

As you can see from my image, I used some fabric to test the different sizes for the zigzag stitch. I also wanted to ensure that the thread colour would work out. I used Superior Thread's Bottom Line in the bobbin and their Kimono Silk on top. Wow! That thread combination along with a fine zigzag stitch really worked out well. That's a good thing because it felt like I was sewing for miles!

Rose Appliqué on block 1 with Kimono Silk thread and practice piece

Alida also sent us a special page for attaching our fabric swatches. I'm not sure what fabrics I'll be using for the whole project, but it would be nice if it coordinated well enough to make a quilt.

There is another page that we can use to colour each block. I'm not sure that I want to be that organised :-)

What I learned:

Once I put my mind to it, it really didn't take me long to make this block. For the time it took, it's very effective.
As I mentioned, this was a perfect project to use the Crafted Appliqué technique.
I impressed myself by making the practice piece to check out the stitch. I only do that when messing up would be much more work than doing a practice piece!
This first block was done on time and I'm looking forward to the next block (and staying on time)!

Featured Links:

Growing up QAL
Crafted Appliqué technique
Superior Thread's Bottom Line and Kimono Silk

Block 1: Rose Appliqué

Block Details:
Rose Appliqué (Block 1)
15½" x 15½"
Materials: Kona Cotton, Bottom Line and Kimono Silk threads
Techniques: Crafted Appliqué technique, freezer paper, zigzag stitch

Linky Parties: You can see and read about other participants' progress here. I have also linked this post to the following parties. Check them out! Linky Tuesday, Main Crush Monday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Needle and Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Embellished Dress-up Shirt

The back of the shirt

I just finished embellishing a fun dress-up shirt for my friend Sonya's son. He loves trucks and dinosaurs and now he'll have his own dress-up shirt to play in.

I found the truck at kidsplaycolor.com It's a simple dump truck that I could copy and then embellish. I drew the truck onto freezer paper. Not an easy thing to do since I was at the fall retreat and didn't have a printer. I cut out the truck shape and used the freezer paper template to copy it onto the shirt. I then sewed the truck outline in red and then embroidered the tires in red and black. The metal-looking beads are perfect for the tire rims. The grill of the truck is sewn with metallic thread from the bobbin.

This week I read Lara Buccella's Crafted Appliqué book. I had seen all of the blog posts about her book and was looking forward to reading it. Her technique is really great. I used it for both the truck and the dinosaur. Frankly I hadn't even though of using appliqué in this project until I read her book. It was the perfect technique.

Once I finished the appliqué, I used a black fabric pen to outline the windows and finish the tires. I also added three rows of red seed beads.

A very cool dump truck!

The front of the shirt

For the front of the shirt I found an easy dinosaur to draw from fourpencil.com It's a Diplodocus.

To cover the Diplodocus, I took out all of the colourful scraps I could find. I used the Crafted Appliqué technique,and then cut and ironed the fabric pieces in place, I used a multi-coloured King Tut thread to zig-zag stitch around each fabric piece. I embroidered the mouth and the eye with black embroidery floss.

The multi-coloured Diplodocus

What I learned:

I really enjoyed making this piece. I wasn't sure how I was going to fill in the truck, so I was really glad to read about the Crafted Appliqué technique.
I didn't think that I could draw both the truck and the Diplodocus from the computer screen. I am very pleased with the results.