working with silk velvet (this one hand dyed from prairie fibers) has presented some new challenges, it not only moves....the ragged edge literally flies away. if i turn it under i get too much of a ridge, which i don't want here. so i have chosen to wrap it in a variegated red/pink thread, dirtied up with some tan dye to tone it down. pink but not too pink. i have placed the heart on a thin gridded cotton voile. a curtain fabric actually. i have lots of it left over from my woven fabric design days. it is a great intermediate light weight but sturdy backing and the guide lines come in handy. the wrapping shows on the back and is not really ugly but i will be adding another backing to the final piece. this is just to stabilize the lots of silk and velvet i plan to use. so this mini quilt will be quilted twice. a basic set of stitches to hold everything in place and then final quilting to secure the back which i think will be cotton velvet. this method ends up with lots of stitches on the front. but because there are less stitches going all the way through, the backing fabric stays looser, shares its freedom and imparts more softness and drape to the overall piece.
...i have started to add some new scraps, pinning a torn strip of rainbow dyed shibori for a start. in the spirit of color, a keeper from the goddess of silk rainbows.
i have left the tail of the soft cotton woven center hanging out, it kind of pushed its way out of the heart shaped confines. it is like a little kite flying there. and a bit of color is forming around the border on this crisp and breezy day in september. that delicious red silk scrap is a gift from shula-la.
