Buttons&Beads&Quilts!

Every so often the siren song of a new art quilt calls to me, begging to be started. I’ll have ideas in mind, and I’m fortunate in that I have “freeze-frame” vision, in that I’ll see something in my studio, connect the “dots” with some other random piece of fabric or object that may or not be visible, and think…”Oh, they would be terrific together!” So, I start a pile of fabrics and a box of buttons, large beads, and frou-frou, awaiting the creative process to begin on a particular piece. Often, the impetus is when the pile of fabric reaches a critical mass and falls to the floor. It’s as if they’re calling.. “Hey, Lady! Remember us?”. Other times, as in this case, I wanted to show the world how I go about creating a piece for this blog, and so I started on #7 in a series of pieces that features black and white circles. So, the following is the story of how “Circles of Black and White VII” began.

As you can see in the photo above, my tiny studio space in an extra bedroom becomes even more crowded when I haul out the ironing board. Fabrics that I’m considering for use get draped over a chair so that hopefully the two long haired cats won’t make a nest in them. The background fabric is cut out and pinned to a piece of wall board that serves as a pinning board so I can step back every so often to see how the the composition is progressing. As you can see in the photo below, that surface is quite crowded with all kinds of things I’ve found that inspire me. Since I do much smaller art quilts than I did in the past, (average now = 42″T or 35 “W or 107 cm  by 89 cm) as I like to carry them to work on when I travel, the space in the midde of the board that’s left bare works for me.

In this case, the two vertical columns of a yellow print on either side of the piece were pinned in place next. I choose motifs to be included one piece at a time, moving them around until I like where they are. I pretend that whatever is there is all that will be included in the composition, and make the most pleasing arrangement that I can with just that new addition and the few pieces that are already there. Then, I choose what to add next, again pretending that that’s all that will be included in the work. In this case, the large black square in the bottom right came next. I like to use 2″ (5 cm) wide ribbons as vertical elements in my pieces, as they make great lines on which to sew lengths of the same kinds of button, so the black and white diamond ribbon lengths came next. The black and white circles, that have been used throughout the series were then tucked in, one by one, in various places. I use circle shapes a lot in my work, I imagine because they duplicate on a larger scale the wealth of buttons that will be added later.

In the photo on the left, you can see the final composition of the top layer of this art quilt before it gets sandwiched with a backing fabric and batting in between. I’ve added 3 opened, short industrial zippers that make the “V” shapes. I’ve used them before in another quilt in this series, and while the large pulls are a pain, as they keep catching the quilting thread as I sew later on, I like the look of the large dangle. I’ve added in some flowers, as I’m a gardening addict. I was pleased with the yellow plumeria motifs that came with a bright blue butterfly in the center. I adore those insects, so I was especially pleased with the pale blue, iron-on appliques I found which make a complementary contrast to the yellows. (Yellow and blue were widely used throughout the house of one of my painting heroes, Monet, and I love  his use of complementary colors on the color wheel.)

In this photo, you can see the quilt sandwich with the top decorated layer, the batting middle, and the backing fabric. It’s been pinned together with both straight and large safety pins to keep the layers from slipping. Part of the problem with aligning the two pieces of fabric is that the warp and weft of some fabrics weren’t folded evenly onto the bolt at the factory, and thus the vertical and horizontal threads won’t be at right angles. This is most evident on the backing fabric, but since on my pieces, the back will be covered with hundreds of stitches because of the extensive buttons and beads that will be added, the misaligned fabric is not as evident. I’ve also added on some metal costume jewelry butterflies that are more secure if they go through all three layers of the work. Notice that the backing fabric and batting stick out beyond the edges of the top for now, so that as the top piece inevitably shifts as I quilt and bead on it, there will still be enough batting to go all the way to the edges. This extra batting and backing fabric will be trimmed and straightened at the end when it’s time for the binding to go on.

So now, the piece will reside for awhile on my pinning board, near my desk. As I talk on the phone, I can look at it and see if there are any more small additions or deletions that I want to make before I start adding the buttons and beads. How those choices are made will be the subject of another blog.

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You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com .

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