Thursday, June 30, 2016

Constructive Ideas...or....gluephobia!



Ambivalence  48"h, 35"w



Recently I've been asked several times about construction - it seems like an awful lot of people are fusing these days and people want to know what I use.  Well, I've never really tried fusing...I haven't needed to...I don't know whether it's the type of quilts I make or my fondness for the stitch or my fear of glue!

I do always work from a sketch, not being fond of racing back and forth to the design wall like a retriever, but my sketch can be pretty rough.  However, it does mean I have a very good idea of which pieces are going  to go where, and the order in which they can be sewn together.
I usually have two copies of the sketch - one with the values  (light, medium and dark).  The value sketch is on the design wall next to where I'm blocking out the quilt.  Then I have a gridded line drawing that shows the shapes and proportions - it's on the cutting table.  The grid helps me to calculate the size of each piece of  fabric I cut out. I look at the sketch, calculate the size, add seam allowance, cut out...stroll to the wall and pin it up!

So you can see - for the quilt at the top of the page...once I'd pinned everything up and made sure all the proportions and values were correct, and it looked the way I wanted it to...once that was done, all I had to do was piece those strips together...then piece the strips...

My fabric is sorted by value.  and I never pull from my whole stash...once I've decided on a color scheme, I pull out all the fabrics I think I'll use and put the rest away.  Too many choices can....well...you know what!! And, I'm not keen on quilts with a rainbow jumble of colors.

Electric Fields 34"h, 45"w


 I  think it's important that you should make work that you personally like!!!  Even if your friends and family think it's totally weird.  Yes, I've been greeted with many a puzzled look and a "well, what's it supposed to be?"!!!  You just have to plough on through that one!  The quilt above (currently in the SAQA show Concrete and Grasslands) was shown to 4 friends, two loved it, two hated it - so I guess - on average - it was deemed acceptable!  Statistically kidding apart, people definitely thought it was weird...until the perfect show came along ...and then they got it.

For the quilt above I pieced the two big background fabrics... the sky (background) and the rape field  (foreground)...then I appliqued the cooling towers onto the horizon and then layered various scraps of silk over the top to make them look beautiful...and no! they are not elephant legs upside down!!

And yes, the bottom fabric is all shibori - arashi shibori - here's a detail:



You can see I like hand stitching!! 
well, time for a nice cuppa tea, I think...
If you have been, thanks for reading...and not thinking about elephants!   Elizabeth

and....I look forward to reading your comments!





6 comments:

Kristin said...

I really love the first quilt! I like the 2nd one too. I have been wanting to take your abstract quilt classes but we have moved, and the time has just not been right. My sewing room is still not put together - most of my stuff is still in boxes, even though we've been here for a year now! Anyway, I hope you will continue to teach both of these classes!

Elizabeth Barton said...

Thank you Kristin! Yes I'm definitely continuing to teach all my online classes - the abstract ones are very popular, and it's such an intriguing subject - so many avenues to explore. Why don't you just get some black, some white and some medium grey fabric, unpack the sewing machine, rotary cutter and pins? Leave the rest! and start to work. You can get a LONG way, and learn a lot, with just 3 values.....

kay said...

I can't believe there are two people who don't like Electric Fields. It is my favorite of all your quilts! Who would have thought cooling towers could be so mesmerizing? And I love the shibori foreground, the stitching, and the perspective!

Nina Marie said...

Well since my first class with you 10 yrs ago (how did that happen?!), I too have pulled by value, stuck to a color palette and use "glue" sparingly. I just don't like the feel that fusing leaves the piece. The texture of fabric is the most interesting part of the media. I remember while working on the first of my current series - a fellow artist said, "OMG that's all pieced? That will take you forever". Although I like a finish piece as well as the next, it really is about the journey. Ohhh and I always like Electric Field.

Elizabeth Barton said...

Thank you Kay!
and...good to hear from you Nina!! 10 years! that's ridiculous, I would swear it was last month....ye gods! and yes, you are right...we must enjoy the journey, otherwise there really is no point...

Kristin said...

Thanks you, Elizabeth! I may try that. Still need to finish a small quilt I started in the last class I took from you!