what if ?

#175: Starting a story

What if a question can generate a story ?  Like....what if trees can fly ?

Happy New Year everyone...

Continued here

#176: Putting a face on things

...So what if  trees had eyes ? Just some comic relief on a cold winter day.   You can put a face ( especially eyes)  on just about anything and make it come alive.  A way of making eye contact.  I drew these with pen and stitched over them. 

#177: Stitched patchwork

 

In my never ending quest to redefine patchwork, Ii found myself asking what if  I just use the stitches to define the patchwork pattern ?  I made myself some templates out of graph paper,  so I could play around with this idea. i  started with a nine patch and traced around a square that was a 3" a 3" block.  I like 1" squares.   Then, I drew some dotted lines as guides.  Just quilting alternate squares.  A nine patch without patching.  I think it is a splendid start.   I will try a star next. and  I shouldn't skip the fact that  I wondered  if variegated thread would give it more dimension.   Because it did.

 

And a  note about the fabric.   This is a linen Jacquard  double cloth. not an easy thing to get. But  I find stitching on 2 layers of fabric the easiest,  for stability and body.  The nice thing about any double cloth if you can find it is that it is 2 layers of fabric woven together.  Two pieces of fabric pre-basted!   AND you can hide thread ends in between the layers. Reversible.  Ooh yes!  Double cloth is amazing as a fabric friend. 

tip.  Don't buy graph paper, there are many sites like this where you can print your own an any scrap paper.  Oor better yet, use a ruler and a pencil and draw what you need. 

stitched patchwork

3x3 inch double cloth block quilted with 2 strands of hand dyed variegated embroidery floss. Reversible.

I like the texture, and that it looks like weaving.  I like that it is quilted, patched and reversible just like that.

Continued here.

#178: Stitched patchwork revisited

 

Continuing from here, I asked what if I try a star?   But what if (?)  I just draw the star freehand,  the lines will look like the shadows of a seam if they show a bit and that is ok. Yes that is ok.  I like this a lot and now i will try something bigger. 

 

7" drawn star block on one layer of cotton linen.  Pattern stitching done kantha style ( rows of running stitch)  with 2 strands of DMC.   The red is variegated.   I like the way this crosses two cultural traditions.

#179: A more interesting 9 patch

So what if (? ) you are following a pattern and the pattern has 2 colors.  what if (? ) you create variation within each color to make it more interesting?  I have used this method before but  I thought I would detail its reasoning.

I picked a nine patch. because of its simplicity. And black and white for the same reason.
 5 black squares and 4 white squares. But all the blacks are different.  And so are the whites.  Still reads as a nine patch but more interesting, don't you think?  I think so.  Plus, a great way to use up small scraps and not buy more matching fabric. 

Tip...I also varied the types of fabrics in each color category.   This makes the color and the texture variation add to the visual depth.

When substituting colors you can break the rules, a pale color can also be used as "white" against black.   Likewise a very deep shade of another color can be used as a "black" against white.   It's like magic.

I have applied this idea here, as I begin a new cloth.

I use this method to hand piece most of the time:

 

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