Lady in a Forest Dress - Part 5

This is a continuation of 4 previous posts about the making of the lady in a forest dress.

I decided to work on the background before adding more components.  My idea was a forest background but not so dark to compete with the dress.  I had a lot of bark and moss fabric left over and had previously made a few forest art pieces.  I pulled fabrics in greens and browns from my stash that were different from the ones that I used for the dress and bodice.

I drew rough lines on the freezer paper pattern to mimic light coming through the forest and gradually getting darker around the edges.  This isn't what it will look like when its finished, but it gave me a sense of where I wanted the light and dark to fall. 

I cut out the figure and then match marked the seam lines.  The first section was the lightest of the greens.  I just ironed down the pattern, traced around it and turned the edges under.  I did the same thing for the next section of green.  It was glued to the first layer at the seam lines, then it's outer edges were pressed under. (I didn't use the light green for the bottom of the dress, which will get covered up.  Later, I will add some muslin there.

I cut out the pattern pieces for the next section and ironed them to the fabric.

After cutting a generous seam allowance, I placed them next to the green portions and glued the edges together at the seam lines.

The piece was starting to get a little floppy, so I stopped at that point and zig-zagged the edges together with invisible thread.  I also added an old ice dyed piece at the bottom.  Then I started adding trees.

I pulled off the lady and her dress, covered the background with light gray organza and stitched it down.  Then, I added more trees and bark cloth to mimic trees that were closer.  Here is what the background looks like with those trees fused in place.

Stay tuned for the next step and I hope you like it so far!

Lady in a Forest Dress

I contemplated a fiber art piece to go along with the theme, "Bark, Branch, and Bloom" for quite a few months.  I flipped through all of my pictures that were taken on hikes of moss and trees and wild flowers.  I looked at all of the thousands of pictures I've taken of the flowers and foliage in my yard and on my walks.  And even though I had tons of inspiration,  I just kept hitting a brick wall.

Something that usually causes me to pause like this is, "Do I want to make something to meet a challenge that I don't want when it's done?"  Like many of you, I've made things that I think are hideous or just plain unappealing.  Some of those have made it to the free table to give away; some have been donated to charity, and some, quite frankly, have ended up in the garbage.  I don't hang onto unfinished projects... and stinkers certainly don't warrant a spot in the bins with my collection of quilts.   What I finally realized with this challenge is that it HAD to fit into one of the series that I've made in order for me to get jazzed about it.  

I finally landed on making a lady in a dress that would look like it came out of the forest.  What better series to add to than the one I had so much fun making!  I enlisted the help of one of my granddaughters to draw something up, then looked through some of the Pinterest pictures and some of my own.  Here are some of the ideas, as they've been pinned to my design wall.

 Once I had this idea, I started making the bark and branch fabric.  I started both of these with cotton fabric, added crinkled up tissue paper with diluted glue, and added color with both acrylic paints, fabric paints, Inktense sticks and Neocolor crayons.  Here are pictures of the two pieces that I made while they were still wet.

The next things that I made were the "moss" and "greenery".  Stay tuned for the next post about those components.

I hope you like it so far!

Border corners - mitering them

I don't miter the corners on my quilt borders very much anymore.  I have found that most quilt judges just don't pay that much attention to them - except that they like the corner to be SQUARE and the binding to be full.  And since the miters can lead to problems, it's been easier not to miter the corners.

Recently, I decided to miter the corners on a quilt border.  The motif in the material would look better than if it got chopped off at the edge.  I could have done a better job of matching up the pattern at the corners since I had lots of extra material to play with.   But I shouldn't be pointing out what I don't like, so pretend that you didn't just read this!

Here is one method that I think is tried and true.  It involves Elmer's school glue.  I think that I learned it first from Sharon Schamber.

When you sew the borders onto the quilt top, start and stop 1/4" from the edge, and do a couple of back-stitches.  Press the seam towards the border.  Lay the two borders on top of each other, and using a large ruler, square up how the two borders lay on top of each other.

Trace the edges of the ruler with a chalk pencil.  I used a white chalk on this dark fabric.  I moved the ruler so that you could see this thin chalk line below.

Then place the ruler on the diagonal, going from inside corner to outside corner, and trace that line with the chalk pencil.  Again, I moved the ruler so that you could see the line.

Fold the top fabric back on this penciled line and press it.  It helps to line up the border edges sticking out on the bottom.  The bottom right crease should fall exactly on the penciled line.

Using a very fine tip, place a light line of glue just underneath the fold line.  Press.  I purchased the fine tip from Sharon Schamber, but I don't know when you'll be reading this blog, so I can't say for sure she still sells them.  You may be able to get them from someone else.

After this cools and is clearly glued in place, open up the fabric so that you can see the crease line.  Trace the line with another pencil line if you can't clearly see the crease mark.  The glue will hold the pieces together in just the right spot.

Pin in place, so that the layers don't shift.

Sew right on the line, back-stitching at the start and at the end.

Trim the seam to 1/4" and press.

I hope you try to miter the corners of your borders this way too.  The glue really does help you get a nice result.

Fall nest art quilt

It is starting to feel and look like fall outside.  The change in the season has made me want to come back inside and make some more nest quilts in my mixed media fiber art series.  Naturally, I started thinking and planning for a quilt with fall colors and one that would have that feeling of changing colors and nature's last gasp before winter.

I started this art quilt by making the nest with Angelina fibers, wool roving, yarn, lace, shredded material, and.....  It was covered with brown tulle on the top and the back, then stitched and trimmed.

I remembered something that I read somewhere (who knows where?) about stiffening fabric with glue.  I started with 4 different fabrics and mixed regular school glue half and half with water.  I painted the glue onto the fabric and let it dry overnight.  Freezer paper worked really well for the base; when the glued fabric was dry it just peeled off the freezer paper.  Oh, if you're going to do it, make sure you paint the glue on the shiny side.

I used some sketches of leaves that I had made and traced them onto Golden Threads quilting paper. I love this paper because it is see through, is easily stitched through, and is easily removed.  It's also a great paper for quilting designs.

These were stitched through (from the back side), then the paper was removed. 

On the right side, I zig-zag stitched again over the top of the first line, and then added the veining.  I used a small zig-zag, 0.6 mm long and 1.4 mm wide, that was just right for these leaves.  After I did all of the stitching, I carefully trimmed away the excess fabric.  

The finished leaves

 I made a couple more leaves with organza and tulle, although they were a little more finicky to make.  The variation in fabric, leaf shape, and color of thread makes the pile of leaves for this quilt more realistic.

Autumn Brilliance by Joanne Adams Roth

My background is an ombre fabric that fades from yellow to orange.  I found this at the wonderful quilt store in Centralia, called Quilters Junction.  The fabric is Daiwabo Selection for E. E. Schenck Company.  I added 3 feathers that I found this year on my walks and tilted the nest to give that feeling of a nest that has fallen out of the tree at the end of the season into a pile of leaves.

I hope you like it.