Collaged Hair and Such

In my last post, I showed you the large digitally printed fabric that I’m currently working on.  Since the image was somewhat pixelated – which I expected – I decided I needed to at least partially collage the people.

I started with the hair, thinking that maybe it was all I needed.

Click any image for a larger view
Carefree, in-progress.  An art quilt by Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

But, it was so effective I knew I couldn’t stop there.  My procedure was to study the fabric and photo VERY hard, in order to find subtle variations.  Once found, I drew these directly on the quilt fabric, and then cut each fabric to shape.

Carefree, in-progress.  An art quilt by Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Since I was working on the backs of people, I didn’t have to be super accurate, so I didn’t make pattern pieces.  I just cut into the fabric.  And tweaked the pieces as needed.

Carefree, in-progress.  An art quilt by Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

I quilted each section as I went.  Just to hold all those tiny pieces in place before proceeding.  Don’t you think this collage result is MUCH more interesting than the printed fabric?  I was very excited by it!

This was my set up.  I had the laptop handy, with the same image showing.  It had more contrast, so I referenced it a lot.

Carefree, in-progress.  An art quilt by Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

The photo above was taken late in the process.  Because I was working on the lower portion, I actually got to sit down at the design wall.  A first for me.

Ellen Lindner

See many more collaged quilts on my website

7 Comments

  1. Cindy says:

    Yes! Waaaaay more exciting to see the collaged pieces, glad you jumped into it. More excitment and intrigue up close and basically same effect at a distance. Hmmmm, wonder if I can do this in oil…..thinking, thinking…..

  2. Christine says:

    Wow! This is terrific – an exciting new (sort of new) direction. Very cool.

  3. Maeve Binder says:

    Love the collage hair. Very interesting to see it up close. This is something I haven’t tried to do yet, but would like to try. Very effective!

  4. ellen says:

    Thanks, Maeve! I’m kinda loving it too.

  5. ellen says:

    Thanks, Cindy. I really like it too!
    Hmm. How WOULD you do that in oils? I bet you’ll be experimenting.

  6. ellen says:

    Thanks, Christine!

  7. Annabel says:

    Hello Ellen, A lovely piece of work. If you have a high resolution image of about 300dpi or at least 1mg., and fancy putting it into our new section of our magazine Through Our Hands, please do get in touch! Annabel x