A closeup of eucalyptus. I'm "test applying" a bunch of these leaves. They are loosely attached to the quilt to hang free. If I like the look, and if they do not tangle on themselves too much, I will attach about 200 of them to make a limb overhanging the quilt. If it doesn't work, I'll have to decide if I want to applique them partly down. Or leave the piece just as it is. I want this piece to be entered in a couple shows... so what do you think?
7 comments:
Did you compost dye the fabrics Roby? I love the texture of the colors.
I'm inspired to whipp out my compost dyed fabrics and make something, but first I need to go weave a story on my loom.
I like the leaf. I like the contrast of the organic form against the squares.
When you say "loosely attached", how loosely? I think it's a cool idea, but they need to be attached firmly enough to handle shipping and a lot of handling by strangers if you want to show it. But you prolly already know that. :-)
Gee, Deb, I originally planned this for this year's viking challenge (art takes shapes)... so that contrast of geomentic and organic was the whole idea. Glad that it comes off.
And the "test applying" is to see how these cope with being handled. If I drag this around the house and get about 20 or so on without them tangling then the project is a go. If not, then each leaf will be partially attached to the quilt. At the moment, they are like real leaves... hanging from the stem alone.
I really like this piece and the idea of the leaves fluttering free, but is there a way to secure them that would have the same effect?
FYI: We had Phil Beaver at guild this morning. He had a quilt on which the leaves had been stitched down the spine only. After a couple of shows, he decided to applique them down because they were not holding up to the folding and shipping. Part of his problem was that they were raw edge and yours are not (I have had the privelege of seeing them up close and personal). But there could be problems of just having them hanging loosely. Maybe you could have just a few loose to give the effect.
I adore the shape of the leaves and agree that they would look beautiful "fluttering" across your geometric background (which, btw, looks superbly quilted). I did a piece where I only fused the spines of my leaves/pods down and then, because my fabric is sort of stiff, I manipulated the sides so that they stick out. It gives great dimension. Maybe you could stitch the leaves partially in different areas...sometimes the spine or part of it, sometimes at the base. You know, so they really looked scattered by the wind.
I love the leaves and I love the idea of keeping them loose and fluttery - very natural. If you feel attaching them by the stem is not secure enough, you could try just attaching the underside of the leaves to the quilt top with loops thread, some of the loops could be short and ones near the tips of the leaves could be longer.
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