Commission Wall Hanging - Final

This is a continuation of 2 previous posts about the making of the commission wall hanging for my brother and sister-in-law.  

The piece was quilted on my long arm in several colors of thread and with curvy lines in most places and some stones in other places.  

The quilt ended up so even at all of the edges and corners, that I just cleaned them up and finished the edges with facing.  It ended up at 34" W x 40" H.

I hope they like it and I hope you do too!

Commission Wall Hanging - Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of a commission piece for my brother and sister-in-law.

After I placed the upper left section on the design wall, one of the pieces stuck out like a sore thumb.  I had saved all of the freezer paper pattern pieces and used it to draw another stabilizer piece, then switched out the offending fabric.  It looked much better.  Can you see it too?

While the upper left section looks very dark and like one fabric, it is actually 5 different fabrics.  I think it'll add some subtle texture to the piece, but it was a lot of work for not much impact.

I worked on the lower left section next and cut the swirly curvy moss green middle piece to make sure that I had enough fabric in the right color before I cut up the entire yardage.

The next section was the upper right.

Then part of the lower right.  I changed out the fabric on several pieces many times while trying to introduce some more white/light turquoise.  

Here is the completed top.  I hope you like it so far!

Commission wall hanging - Part One

My brother and sister-in-law bought a house in Scottsdale, Arizona last year that has a ton of wall space.  They commissioned me to make a wall hanging for them and I started working through the process of designing a fiber art piece that:

(1) fits in the space

(2) fits in with their artistic aesthetic

(3) goes with their color scheme

(4) is something that I can accomplish with my skill set

They sent a few pictures that might work for them and gave me a general color scheme.  Then, I took a trip to see them in February that would enable me to narrow down the choices and start designing the piece.  Here's where we ended up after that trip:

We went shopping for fabric in the colors that they wanted in the piece:

And I pulled more from my stash;

I drew the design to scale on freezer paper.

Then started cutting it into sections that could be pieced.  I traced each piece in the section onto freezer paper and used them for the patterns.

In order to see how the colors were coming together, I pinned the freezer paper pattern on the back side.  When the section was all cut and placed, I ironed the freezer paper back onto the right side.

I decided to use fabric glue to hold the pieces together until they could be sewn.  Later in the night, when I couldn't sleep, I realized that with all the curved edges, it would be a colossal mess trying to sew it together and keep it flat.  So, I got out the Ricky Tims water soluble stabilizer and I drew each piece a second time.  That meant that in addition to the pattern, there were 2 more steps before I could start cutting pieces again.  

I also decided to put more information on the pattern and placed an "o" for the side that was turned over to the back, and an "u" for the side that would be under.  Each piece also got a number so that I would know in what order to start putting the pieces together.  

Then, I was able to start working with the fabric again.  First was to glue the stabilizer to the back of the fabric, trim it, and pin them both and put it in place on the main pattern.  When a large section was completed, I turned one of the edges on each piece and glued it together with it's neighbor. The hash marks on the freezer paper helped to align up the pieces.  Here is a view of a section from the right side and from the back side.

Here are a couple of sections with all of the right stabilizers and placement done.  I used an invisible thread to zig zag the edges together.

I hope its heading in the right direction.  And I hope you like it so far!

Commission Sewing and Review

I've accepted a new challenge!

This time its not a skills challenge, but instead is an income producing challenge.  I applied to Connecting Threads to be a quilt pattern tester and they have hired me to do this for the past couple of months.

Its right up my alley, with my engineering degree and background in developing patterns and quilt classes.  Plus, I get to sew with someone else's material and supplies.  And, finally, I don't end up with more quilts stored in bins.

Unfortunately, I can't show you any of the quilts that I've made.  Secrecy is the key to working with catalog companies before they unveil their patterns and fabrics.

So far its been pretty fun and is another thing to keep me busy in retirement.

I hope you find things that are challenging and fun too!