I hit a wall and ended up with a great jacket!
I’ve got two short posts this week. I separated them because they are on two different subjects. You can find the other post here.
I had an odd week of in between-ness; I just made that up. I was in between projects, a little lost as to what to do. Both of the following projects are in Time Out until I figure out what I want to do with them:
This needs a better fit before I cut up a precious quilt to make a fabulous quilted coat.
And this trapunto piece, sigh. It has taken so long to complete this that my skill set exceeds what I’ve done on it so far. I am torn as to what to do. There is a lot of work yet to be done. Yet when it’s done, I am afraid I will look at it and wish I’d done it differently. So it will languish in Time Out until I decide what to do.
So I puttered:
I played with my Inktense pencils and sticks, which are so much fun. I am still not happy with the mottled color I get on larger areas. On the piece to the left, I was playing with different colors with no intent of making a “real” piece out of it. I trapunto’d the large orange peel shapes and oddly enough, I do not like the combination of larger trapunto’d areas + Inktense. They look bloated, not beautiful!
I tried my blocks too; they are good for getting color down on large areas. And I have a definite winner on aloe vs proper fabric medium – aloe! The fabric medium leaves some stiffness while the aloe does not. I haven’t seen an advantage to the medium yet so I’ll be an aloe girl from now on.
I wanted to be able to hand dye my own sheers for use in the sheer work I’ve been doing. This piece was meant to be fussy cut, hence the unattractive blotchy look. I also wanted to create a way for students to easily create their own hand dyed sheers with readily available items and no previous experience with dyeing. I played on silk organza using Inktense to lay down color instead of dye, since Inktense would not require a steam bath. I’m a little meh on this. I’d like the colors to be more vibrant. I did find a good source of sheer fabrics through a FaceBook exchange. See, sometimes FB is a good thing! So I’ll let this idea go fallow since I don’t need it now.
Ah, but I did have a Eureka moment! In a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of ideas, I got an idea in the morning and had successfully executed it by the evening. So. Much. Fun!
I did a variation on the sheer thing I was doing last week – I put it on a jean jacket. I used screening material, my sheers (some hand-dyed), some elementary free motion quilting and replaced the back panel with this. I love it! I have more ideas coming…
And, I forgot to post the completed sheer project I worked on initially:
QUESTION to you: Would you be more interested in a class making a wall hanging like above, or making a jacket (you use your own ready-made jacket)? I am thinking about making this a class and I’d love your input.
Without sounding preachy, I want to make a point: Pay attention to those in between times. They can be rich sources of new ideas, provide a reset, or just allow you time to play. I try to be mindful about those times and when I am, good things happen.
I’ll link up with:
I love adding to jeans shirts or jackets. I would rather take that class.
Good to know Frances – thank you for the feedback!
I’d rather make wall art than a wearable.
And that seems to be the consensus Beth!
I really like the shear wall hanging project and would be interested in taking a class.
Thank you for the feedback Donna! I just need to make it a class now:-)
I love your work. I appreciate all you share. I would take a class for the wall hanging, only because I don’t care for the raw edge look of the denim around the perimeter of the insert on the jacket.
Ah, had not thought of that. Thank you Nancy! Feedback is greatly appreciated.
liked both the jacket and sheer project, personally I liked seeing the jacket but wouldn’t be excited about doing it, but would use the project idea ( working with the screening ) on a hanging piece. Have used the aloe successfully too, it was fun to use something easily for a new purpose.
Thank you Suzanne – I really appreciate that feedback.
Both projects are gorgeous! I would not wear the jacket so the beautiful work would be wasted. I would prefer making the wall-hanging.
Thank you for your input Elizabeth! You seem to be in the majority.
Wall hanging, to learn technique. Then later experiment on garment.
I get that. That is kind of what I did myself. Thank you for commenting Peggy.
I would love both and would definitely wear the jacket. Great ideas and work.
Good to know Jean! I do love the jacket and I think I’m going to make another one.
Jacket back via Zoom
Now that’s an interesting thought Susan. I could offer it to guilds and zoom. Maybe an on-demand…
it turned out great!
Thank you Alycia!
I would love a wall hanging class! Finding those small fill in projects very satisfying and would like to learn new techniques.
Thank you for that enthusiastic response Linda!