Week in Review 2018 - 07/06

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Last week I was bemoaning the fact I had a created a design which required precision curved piecing. Over the 30 years I have been making quilts I have tried many different ways to cope with curved design elements. None suit me perfectly, which is probably why I keep trying different methods and different combinations of methods hoping for one that feels right. Since the method I used this week works best for me, I thought I would share it here.

1. Create templates for each piece in the pattern from freezer paper. The template should include a 1/4" seam allowance.

2. Iron the templates to the RIGHT side of the appropriate fabric. This insures that you aren't dealing with the mirror image of the pattern.

3. Cut the fabric exactly around the template. 

4. Using a thread that matches the fabric stitch along the 1/4" seam allowance. I set my stitch length to the same length I would use for paper piecing. You want many stitches to the inch.

5. Using a water soluble glue stick add glue to the BACK side of the fabric along the seam allowance of any seam to be turned under. You are preparing the fabric for appliqué. So, wherever two curved pieces of fabric abut, one is turned under and laid on top of the other. It helps if the seam allowance of the fabric to be turned under has been clipped. This must be done before the glue is added.

6. Turn the seam allowance under using the stitched seam line as your guide. 

The seam allowance has been turned under
and the fabric positioned. It is now ready for
machine appliqué.   

7. Run another line of glue along the turned under seam allowance. This will hold the fabric in place while you stitch.

8. Position your fabrics using the lower fabric's stitched seam allowance as your guide for placement.

After machine appliqué is added.

9. Select the blind hem stitch on your machine. This is the one that looks like ....^....^. Make sure the "...." portion is as close to the seam allowance as possible, but stitches only on the lower fabric. The "^", or as I think of it as the bite, reaches out and anchors the top fabric. Once again, I use a very tiny stitch length. This ensures that many bites get taken and the fabric pieces are securely held together. 

Now it is ready to be added to the design wall. 

What I love about this method is the precision. What I struggle with is that close up it can be detected. Also, to get the precision I want, there are many prep steps. Sometimes it is just best to say "close enough" and move on. The reality is once the whole artwork has been made, especially once the quilting has been added, nobody but me (and now you) will notice the machine appliqué.

 I am linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays. 

Week in Review 2018 - 01/05

Lola helps attach the sleeve to
Picking Up the Pieces #4

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

A question commonly asked in the art quilting community is, "if you make art quilts does it matter what your backs look like?" The answer is often no, unless you plan to enter the work into a judged show. Ultimately, I think this is a matter of personal taste. However, I wonder how quilt art appraisers would view this question. Do they look only at the front of the work, the composition, materials, and technical skills? I have had my work appraised by several different appraisers over the years. None have mentioned the back of my work, BUT, although the work isn't judged for matching seams and mitered corners, my skill at executing the work is included. 

Changing of the Guard - front

Changing of the Guard - back

My personal taste is pretty typical of my general "close enough" philosophy. I don't worry about the quilting thread not matching backing, or a tiny knot of thread showing. The fabric I select for my backs is frequently pieced for larger quilts, because I simply don't have fabric large enough for the back and very rarely buy fabric specifically for a back. I used to match my sleeve fabric to my backing fabric. No longer. I want a sleeve that I stands out against the backing. This way it is easy to spot. What is most important is there is no shadow through of backing fabric and or sleeve to the front of the quilt. This happens when the top is a lighter hued fabric than the back. The bigger the value gap, the more likely there is to be a problem.

Picking Up the Pieces #1 - back

Picking Up the Pieces #1 - front

I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.

Weekly Report 2014 - 10/10

Sketch for Giant Leap before adding
numerous layers of paints and ink

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Are you a perfectionist? I probably am. The irony is that I am a perfectionist in trying to let go of my perfectionism. Sometimes it is just good to laugh at ourselves.

My husband has a favorite joke he tells to explain the difference between a chemist (perfectionist) and chemical engineer (strives for perfection, but never reaches it.) I have rewritten the joke to be more fiber artist friendly.

Night Vision as it appeared halfway
through the week.

There were two fiber artists. Fiber Artist 1 would carefully stamp and stencil her cloth making sure every pattern and layer was perfection. Fiber Artist 2 was looser with her technique. She did her best to stencil and stamp, but also relished the serendipitous things that happened when paints bled into each other or new designs occurred due to missing sections of a stamp. FA1 and FA2 were told to stand at one end of a large work studio. At the other end was a huge stash of heavenly batiks, hand dyed fabric and the latest in embellishments and tools that would be theirs if they could reach it. Then they were told that they could move to half way across the studio. Every minute or so they were told that they could move half way from where they stood to where the stash was. The distance between the fiber artists and the stash was soon less than arm's distance away, when they were told that was as far as they could come. FA1 was sorely disappointed. FA2 exclaimed, "Close enough." She reached out and grabbed the stash.

Dizzy Daisies is a filler design by Lori Kennedy

It seems every week I need to relearn that art is not about control or perfectionism, it is about being close enough. Also, the longer you are in the business of making art, the tougher it is make visible improvement in your understanding and techniques. It can seem as though you will never get there, wherever there is. When in fact you are close enough. It would be easy to focus on my screw ups this week. Instead I am sharing how I got close enough.

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015) - Done!

a) Continue the piecing

Finally, all the leaves are pieced. I even managed to piece most of the leaves to each other. 

Closeup of Dizzy Daisies

I have also been playing with how to create the frog. I will be painting the stripes and spots on black vinyl. The trick at the moment is to find the perfect (or should that be close enough?) color so that it contrasts with the black vinyl and the leaf that the frog will be sitting on. None of my paints did the trick. So I have purchased DecoArt SoSoft paints because no heat setting, just drying time, is required to make the paint permanent. Hopefully, either the hot pink or primary 
yellow will do the trick.

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done!

Once again I turned to Lori Kennedy for inspiration on what motif to do in order to keep up my free motion quilting skills. I don't recommend Dizzy Daisies for beginners. I can see that my scale got noticeably bigger from start to finish. I did enjoy the challenge and I do so love all over, filler designs.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

Giant Leap is my interpretation of
LifeBook 2014 Lesson 41 by
Tamara Laporte.

Tamara LaPorte, the creator of LifeBook 2014 was our teacher this past Monday. She encouraged us to select an animal that best represented how we were feeling about our progress from the first of the year until now. For some reason I had frogs on the brain. I do feel that I have made a clear leap forward with my mixed media skills this year. Giant Leap is an homage to the iconic image of Neil Armstrong standing on the moon. Sure I have a lot farther to go with mixed media. I have come quite a distance and believe it just might be close enough.

Will I be able to keep the perfectionist at bay next week? Only time will tell. Here are the projects I will be focusing on:

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015)

a) Finish the piecing
b) Prepare the quilt sandwich
c) Test the new paints
d) Paint the poison dart frog

2) Free motion quilting practice.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. 


I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.