Working in a Series
I’ve been interested in the idea of working in series recently. As a member of Cloth in Common, an international group of fiber artists, I’ve seen artists in the group whose work is quite cohesive, no matter what the theme. When you look at an artist’s work over time, you can often recognize their particular style. It sometimes shows in their choice of materials (for example: all plaids, or all solids) or motifs or composition. Maybe it appears in their focus on line, texture, or color palette.
When I was working toward a Master’s degree, I learned to work more quickly than in the past. This resulted in trying a new technique which I’ve continued to practice. This coincided with my discovery that I had MULTIPLE bags and boxes of scraps. Feeling the need to edit and organize these smallish pieces of fabric, I set about sorting them into light, medium and dark values, regardless of color.
Normally, I would hand applique all the pieces for my art quilts and often hand quilt them as well. This was not possible with class deadlines and work expectations. So, one day, I grabbed a handful of dark scraps, arranged them (without ironing) onto a background of gray felt, and used a ‘loopy scribble’ stitch to machine sew those pieces down – puckers, wrinkles and all. I used a longarm quilting machine and was very careful not to stitch over any of my fingers. I didn’t bother to pin the pieces, so I had to chase a few around before I could catch them with the needle. Then I changed thread to a light neutral color, and stitched a random area of light scraps, followed by a section of medium value scraps.
Together background
Dot background
I enjoyed the texture created by this loose method as well as the multicolor results. I found that this speedy process allowed me to complete work in much less time than before. I enjoy making portraits, so I continued ‘scribbling’ down small scrap pieces to create the forms of heads, necks, and shoulders.
Together
Eventually, I found myself with some ‘free’ time on my hands, and still SO MANY scraps, so I started a large underwater scene, which is still in production, and will be titled, ‘Change the World’. Some of these creatures are much more intriguing because they were originally irregular shapes in my scrap collections. The background was stitched completely in circles (referring to bubbles) and the individual fish and grasses, etc. are now being hand appliqued. The background went together fairly quickly since it was made with larger scraps and raw edge machine appliqued.
Change the World
Also in progress is a landscape that has been created for the most part with scrap green fabrics. This one has a blue and white vintage embroidered quilt as a base. Most of the vintage quilt is covered as it was in terrible condition and beyond repair. This one is taking much longer, because instead of scribbling, I am taking the time to outline stitch each leaf. And next, I will be ready to get back to scribbling, I think! Thankfully, my fingers are still intact, even after adding what seems like thousands of leaves.
Bridge - in progress