Sometimes I dye specialty fabrics: those that are almost a full design and that will be big players in a future design. After a class with Pat Pauly, I’m now designing such fabrics to have larger patterns. (These are harder for me to use, but do wonderful things in a composition, once I get it figured out.)
This is one of my favorite specialty fabrics, started in class with Pat and completed at home.
I’m not sure whether those shapes are spears, spades, or leaves, but I love them. AND the colors!
And this is my all-time favorite (so far.) I’m in love with it!
The open circles, above, were made with a 2 piece newspaper stencil. Surprisingly, the newspaper left an imprint in the center of the circles. Can you make it out? I liked it and decided to emulate it for the background. I was SO happy with the result. Some black lines finished it off, (although I need to give them more forethought next time.)
I have some other fabrics that are sorta specialty. That is, their designs are smaller in scale, meaning they can be cut up more easily. But, I’ll still need to be very thoughtful about how I use them
Don’t you love this one, above? It was initially monochromatic, but I added the hand-painted fuchsia to give it a pop. Definitely a good decision!
Then, there are those fabrics that fall on the other end of the spectrum: the ones that will be hard to use. Perhaps they have a strong contrast or unusual colors. Like these.
What would you do with that jarring fuchsia and bright yellow piece bottom right? I’m pretty sure I’ll
A) cut it in such a way so as to isolate a color or pattern, and
B) use very small amounts of it as an accent.
At some point I know that these oddball fabrics will be just the thing I’m looking for.
I’m having fun staring at these fabrics, plotting how I might use them, and finishing up some other stuff so I can get to it!
Ellen Lindner
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