“Scribbling” on My Quilt

After becoming familiar with the work of Jane Davies, I’ve been enamored with what she calls scribbling.  Exactly as it sounds, she LITERALLY scribbles directly onto her painting. Although it seems random, it almost always enhances her work. I had tried it with some paper exercises and have been looking for an opportunity to use it with fabric. This quilt gave me that chance.

Here it is before scribbling.  It definitely needs something, right? And since I wanted to play up the idea of conflict or misunderstanding, a wild squiggly line seemed to fit.

First, I loosely auditioned the concept with photo editing software. 

It clearly needed some refining, but I liked the general effect.

Next, I put tracing paper on my quilted quilt and sketched a design in pencil. 

After some modifications I was happy with it and went over my pencil lines with a black Sharpie. As you can see, I intended to make the line thicker in the largest open area.

But, I wasn’t careful enough and I got Sharpie on my orange fabric! Well, I immediately knew one spot where the squiggle would travel. 🙂

After adding fusible web to a solid black fabric I slowly began to cut and place the scribble.

I hoped to use my scraps to create unexpected twists and turns in the line.  However, I found that, more often than not, I ended up cutting things specifically to shape.

And here’s the quilt with the scribble completely pinned in place.

Doesn’t it add a lot of energy?  I love it!

I should have it finished soon.

Ellen Lindner