Fabric Collage

I’m often asked about my construction technique, as well as my design inspiration.
This article will shed a little light on both topics.

Sometimes, I start with a specific photo, as my inspiration. (This is always a photo I shot myself.) Here’s one such photo, of my neighbor’s ti plants:

I pay attention to what aspect of the photo appeals to me, and I try to focus on that. In this case, it’s the backlit pink leaves. To feature them, I’ve cropped the photo.

Typically, I make some sort of sketch, especially when I’m interpreting a photo. In this case, I did it in the computer. This is not meant to be a concrete plan, but rather, an idea to get me started. As a matter of fact, I often find the PROCESS of sketching to be of greater value than the resulting sketch. This is the time during which I consider options, and the adrenalin really starts to flow!

Construction takes place on a design wall. (This is, basically, housing insulation covered with flannel or felt.) I pin up a piece of white background fabric, as a base. Then, I begin to pin other fabrics into place.

In the photo above, I’m focusing on value (light/dark.) I want the background darkest at the left, to give a strong contrast with the vivid colors that will be placed in that vicinity. The rectangular fabrics at the bottom are folded pieces of fabrics that I’m auditioning. (The white dots are the pin heads.)

This is great fun! I freely cut shapes, often using scraps with very little alteration. I try to work fairly quickly, so I don’t over think things.

In the photo above, I’ve placed the first few leaves, which will establish the design. To help me work quickly, I precut a variety of leaf shapes, in an assortment of fabrics.

I cut and place, move, reshape, and tweak, as needed. This is an exciting way to create, because it’s extremely flexible! In the next photo, I’m thinking ahead to the dark fabrics I’ll be needing.

The darks looked good, but I wasn’t ready for them yet. In the next shot, I’ve removed them, in order to concentrate on the main leaves. Can you identify the changes I’ve made?

Now, it ‘s time to add the dark foreground leaves back. For this project, I’ve cut everything so it has jagged edges. I do this by scrunching the fabric as I cut it.

After the main composition is complete, I consider a border. I may audition colors with the computer, but final decisions are made with actual fabrics. For this piece, I first considered dark green borders on two sides. (And maybe some brighter green in the foreground, too.)

I wasn’t crazy about that, so I tried black, this time on the left only. I liked that, and decided to add some sort of contrasting fabric to separate the border from the main part. In the next photo, I simultaneously tried out three different pink fabrics.

I noticed that the leaves on the left ended rather abruptly, so I decided to extend some of them into the border.

Once I’m happy with the composition, it’s time to pin everything together, so I can get it to the sewing machine. Using LOTS of long pins, I pin through all layers. When it’s secure, I layer it on top of batting, and add a few more pins. (Sometimes I add a backing fabric at this point, but often I use a facing technique, which later forms the backing.)

In the next photo you can see that I extended the leaves on the left even more. That’s one of the great things about this collage technique: it gives me the ability to add more elements at any point. In this photo, most of the stitching is complete. The stems and one final leaf have been pinned in place, and are ready to be stitched.

Stitching creates an important visual element, both with the thread and with the added texture.  In this case, I also added heavy stitching to represent veins in the leaves.

Stitching holds all the layers together. With it, I aim not only for a pleasing appearance, but also for structural integrity and control of the many pieces of fabric. However, I don’t try to heavily cover the edges. Instead, I prefer the texture of leaving them “as is.”

Finally, I finish the edges, and give any loose threads a “haircut.”  Here’s the finished product. Click on the photo for more information.

Fabric collages such as this one are simple to hang and easy to care for. Read more here.

If you found this information useful, you may be interested in my other free articles, online classes, and e-books. Full directory