Venice-inspired Wall Hanging

 So you may remember I asked which way I would cut up my hanging.

I cut it half.

And then cut one half into two pieces 6 inches wide.

On to the binding.  I didn't have enough plain colour but fortunately I was able to buy some from Littleheath Barn Studio, that Liske dyed especially for me.

I machined the binding to all the pieces and then folded it over and handstitched it on the back.

Here is the finished hanging

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Not a Saturday Story

Instead of a Saturday Story this week I thought I would write about my current textile project.  I am working on a wall hanging based on the fabrics I printed when I was at Leah Higgin's studio in 2019. If you go back to the linked blog post you will see that I have already made two pieces with this fabric plus a child's dress.

I cut some of the fabric up into random shapes and collaged them together using Mistyfuse to 'glue' them to a cotton fabric which in turn was 'glued' to acrylic felt and a backing fabric.

I started machining it using a decorative stitch on my machine.  After a few not very straight lines of that I decided to machine with a zigzag stitch and deliberately make the lines wavy.

Having covered the whole piece with machine stitching I then contemplated how to finish it.  Should I leave it as one whole piece - 28 inches square - or as is my wont, cut it up.  I drew different designs on my computer.

Then I tried the bottom two designs with a photo of the machined piece.

Which would you choose?   Which do you think I chose?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Aurora

I signed up for Lisa Walton's Aurora class at the beginning of December but only started the online class last week.  Rather than dye or paint some fabric I bought some gradient fabric from The Bramble Patch.

As ever, I didn't want my work to look like the tutors so I took the principle of how to cut the fabric and made it long and narrower than Lisa's sample.  Although it is actually wider than I meant it to be.

I have made several unsuccessful attempts at photographing this fabric.  It either comes out black where it's blue or the pale bit in the middle which is a matt finish shines so brightly it's hard to tell what colour it is.  At least it's blue in this one!

Interestingly it is described as black on the Bramble Patch website.

I decided to print onto the fabric using stencils, some fabric paint and acrylic paint.

I started machine quilting.  I tried to follow the lines printed on the fabric.  I forgot to put the walking foot on but I don't think it would have made much difference.

It really doesn't look good up close.  The layers all decided to do their own thing despite the copious amount of Mistyfuse!

At this point Lisa suggests machining with thick thread in the bobbin, then some handstitching.  Currently it's going to sit in the 'I don't why I started this project' pile.

And of course there's always the option to cut it up so that I can cut out all the bits where the fabric pleated!

Thank for joining me today
Bernice

 

Almost normal

Actually, almost normal might be an exaggeration!

However I did an in-person online workshop!  The tutor, Lisa Walton, was in Sydney, Australia and I was in my house in the UK.  Zooming, obviously.

Lisa talked about her Fantastic Fusion technique and demonstrated how to do it.  My fellow participants and I then worked on our own fusion squares and rectangles.

I tried rearranging the squares and adding larger strips.

Eventually I filled the whole of the cork board.

The next day, as those of you who know me well won't be surprised, I cut it up to narrow the wide strips and to add some more turquoise.

I put it onto acrylic felt with a backing fabric and machine quilted it.  I really like the patterns on the back.

And then I added a turquoise binding.

It was a great way to learn a new technique.  And probably the only way for me to learn from Lisa.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice