Laura Heine Fabric Collage

One of the mediums I experimented with when I was 'off the rail' was fabric collage.  Laura Heine has some absolutely stunning collage patterns.  Two of them are shown below.  Basically, the 'pattern' differs in each of the projects.  For the dress form below, you are given the outline of a basic dress form, including the base, and from there you let your imagination run rampant.  I knew that I wanted my dress to have a lot of structure and for the various dress parts to be distinct, rather than simply a lot of random flowers running together.

To that end, I chose two very large blooms and foliage for a well-defined bodice followed by a corset-like structure for the waist, accented by a 'flower' belt buckle.  All pieces are adhered to the base fabric with 'steam-a-seam 2.'

Moving on to the skirt, I again went back to the very showy flowers to create a peplum, and kept the skirt flowers pretty uniform but then set the skirt off with a very stylized 'hem' of violets.  The 'dress' lies on a base fabric and the next step will be to form a quilt sandwich with batting and a backing fabric and to decide how to go about quilting to show off the 'dress' to its best advantage. 

I'm not sure when I'll get back to completing the project, but will keep you posted.  

What I have finished is the Laura Heine "Chirp" pattern below.  For this pattern, she makes recommendations on how to cut and piece the various background fabrics.  She then provides drawings of the bird cages which you can copy onto your base fabric. A light board makes this part much easier.  Finally, she provides the bird drawings for you to cut out of fabric and place onto the background (again with steam-a-seam 2.  All fabric choices are yours as well as any embellishments.  I've done my 'cages' in a variety of ink, and stitching (some by machine and some by hand).  For my birds, I've used a variety of fabrics, buttons, and other embellishments.  I've added in other elements such as the butterflies for some variety and some machine quilting as well.

Once I was happy with my 'collage', I made a quilt sandwich of top, batting, and backing and quilted with a walking foot and straight lines spaced about 1/2 inch apart.  When making my quilt sandwich I used a fusible batting which I fused onto my backing material.  I then used a 'spray baste' to attach my top saving me from having to do any pinning while I quilted.  I started quilting from the center and alternated left and right from that spot. 

 

The finished collage is hanging happily in my daughter's dining room!

Off The Rail

My, it has been such a long time since I have blogged about anything at all!   I'm not sure why or exactly when I stopped.  Life got busy and took many twists and turns.  We sold our long time home and moved to a condo (with truly wonderful sewing space!); our daughter got married; my mother was ill and passed away; we had our first grandchild; and we are now expecting our second!  So, life just got in the way.  I have recently left my part time job in a sewing studio and feel I can focus a little more on the kind of sewing I want to do, without being distracted by every new and exciting project or notion that comes into the shop! 

But, in the meantime, I have been doing some projects that are very out of my comfort zone.  The first was this sweet baby quilt for our expected grandson.  I remember being in a class with Cynthia Guffey once where she said that those of us who sew garments should not quilt.  She meant absolutely nothing bad about quilting, but simply that there are so many quilters out there who would be delighted to quilt for us but that garment sewers were fewer and further between.  I do agree, but I wanted to try my hand at it anyway!

The fabric is a Hushabye Hollow Jelly Roll by Lydia Nelson for Moda.  The pattern is a variation of an Off The Rail (which is sort of where I feel I've been, so how appropriate!!)  I quilted it myself using a walking foot and curved, organic lines very close together.  I actually liked this part of the project much better than the piecing.  There is a wonderful book called Walk by Jacquie Gering which goes into great detail on how to achieve beautiful designs with lines and a lot of practice. 

I definitely don't see myself becoming a quilter, but I enjoyed the experience which was truly a surprise to me!