Floral Improv: The Process
I thought you’d like to see a few in-progress photos from one of the Floral Improv samples.
First, I auditioned fabrics to determine a color palette. The background color is very important, too.
Next, I made a few simple flowers.
Then added details.
See what a different that made?
Next, I played with composition. Vertical or horizontal?
As you can see, I decided on a horizontal arrangement this time. The stems and leaves helped bring it to life, but it still needed definition at this stage.
Quilting will fix that.
See what I mean?
All in all, it’s a very creative process.
Ellen Lindner
Do you stitch all the raw edges down when you quilt a piece?
Which fusible do you prefer? I like steam a seam 2……what do you think about it?
Really like the way you did this. Interesting fabric/print/color choices too. Love the design layout.
Hi Diane,
I try to loosely capture the edges as part of my quilting process. I don’t want to completely cover the edges like a satin stitch would do. Or any sort of zigzag. Instead, I will often quilt wildly over busy things like leaves, crossing edges frequently. My goal is to make things structurally sound and visually pleasing, not to capture every stray thread.
For the primary elements, like flower petals, I will often outline stitch, twice, with black thread. I keep it sketchy and loose, with some undulation. This adds definition, but doesn’t require exact accuracy.
I seldom use a fusible product, but when I do it’s usually Misty Fuse. I haven’t tried SAS 2 recently enough to offer an opinion. Good questions!
Thanks, Maeve. Pretty radical colors, huh? But, I like them, too. And at this scale it’s easy to take chances.
Update: Just thinking about you and your wonderful artsy blog. Noticed I haven’t been receiving notifications, and see that you have a new blog. I just signed up for the newsletter. Will that also include your blog posts? I didn’t see anywhere to specifically sign up for them. Thanks! I always enjoy seeing what you are up to!
Hi Maeve,
After updating the website there are still a few (actually many) loose ends. The blog subscription is one of them. I hope to get it working soon and I’ll let you know via the newsletter when I do.