Nine-Patch Paper Quilt

When I saw Gwen Lafluer's Spring 2018 Stencil Girl designs, one of my favorites was a large stencil that had words and little flowers. The words said "what could I do if I wasn't afraid to try?" and they really resonated with me. (You can see the artwork I made with those words here.)

The designs surrounding the words also spoke to me. They were based on some hand carved, India-inspired designs that Gwen made during "Carve December."

 

I decided to try making some fabric designs with the stencils. I studied Textile Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and my early career was as a textile designer and print stylist. I  often visualize stencil and stamp designs as fabrics and imagine their colors and repeats in my mind's eye.

I made a bunch of different designs, and was especially happy with a couple. Then I thought of the words "what could I do if I wasn't afraid to try?" on the stencil and realized that fear can be of big things or of little things. Even the fear of cutting up the new fabric designs gnawed at me. I threw caution to the wind and decided to cut them into squares and try making a paper quilt. Fortunately I took photos of my design so I can recreate it in the future, which eased the fear a little.

Mixing and matching the papers I created with Gwen's new and old stencils.

A StencilGirl stencil by Jessica Sporn was printed on white and green on yellow paper.

One of Gwen's new designs was printed in  turquoise on top of the yellow and green print above.

My paper designs and fabrics in shades of yellow and pink.

My paper designs and fabrics in shades of blue, green and lavender.

These four designs were used to make the final paper quilt.

I didn't have enough of the paper I stenciled with the yellow, green and turquoise designs to make a very big quilt, so I combined them with some of my own fabrics, which I had designed a few years ago and printed at Spoonflower, along with a yellow and white print using a Jessica Sporn Stencil Girl design. Since the prints I made from Gwen's and Jessica's stencils were on paper, I glue-sticked my two fabrics to some heavy paper, then cut it all into squares. I was on a roll.

The 4" squares of the four designs looked pretty good, but the design (above) was too square and boring. I decided to cut all the squares diagonally and rearrange them.

 I almost had enough for a 9-patch, but wanted something in the center. (The red design in the middle is my living room rug, not part of the design!) I thought Gwen's words would work beautifully with the paper quilt. I painted some smooth, heavy watercolor paper turquoise, and stenciled the words on with an indigo ink. They were a little big to fit inside my center square, so I squished them in and hand wrote the word afraid.

 The words were a little too close to the edge, and the colors a little too harmonious, so I tried adding strips of contrasting fabric.

  I wasn't sure I liked it, so I left it and looked at it again the next day. I decided to try cutting the triangles even smaller so that it would be more of a pinwheel design. I liked the new arrangement, so I cut the rest of the pieces smaller, so that each 4" block would have 8 triangles.

 Next, I repeated the pattern until I had a square design with an empty center space. I  lightly glued the pieces to deli paper, leaving the center empty.

I tested out a few different ideas for the center. The words I had originally planned to have in the center didn't fit quite right, so I saved the quote for a future project.

Some reverse applique fabric pieces looked interesting and unexpected. I ended up using them in another project. You can see that project here.

I tried the reverse applique fabric pieces in the center and around the edges, and added some accent strips of another fabric.

The colors of the mermaid journal page worked, but it was too large.

The mermaid artwork looked too small inside the center square.

A piece of silk sari scrap fabric was the right size, but the wrong color.

A print of the Scribble X stencil had the right color, but didn't seem bold enough for a centerpiece.

A piece of deli paper printed with assorted stencils was harmonious, but lacked a central focus.

An art deco stencil print had the right colors, but was the wrong size and shape.

A print of Gwen's Art DecoMedallion stencil was just the right size and color for the center.

I tested some other stencils as accent, but they were too large and the extra brown color didn't work.

Finally, I decided to keep it simple and move forward with just Gwen's turquoise Art Deco Sun Medallion stencil in the center. The color was right, and the geometry worked with the quilt's geometry.

After backing the pieces with some fabric for stability and removing the deli paper that they were temporarily glued to, I zigzag stitched all the pieces together, and the design was finished.

A close up of the stitching in progress.

Detail shot of the stitched center design and surrounding quilt pieces.

My plan is to print some yardage of the green and yellow designs at Spoonflower so that I can play with the design some more, but this time as a real quilted fabric instead of paper. Can't you see this design as a big quilt on a bed, as throw pillows, or even a summer dress?

Kuchi Upcycled Body Butter Storage Container

Among the amazing array of art and craft elements from around the globe that are stocked in Gwen Lafleur’s online store are Kuchi patches. This October, the Artist Tribe (Gwen's posse of like-minded artists) are spotlighting these gorgeous, intricately beaded and embroidered vintage Afghan Kuchi patches...and each one is a mini work of art.

When I opened my box of October supplies and saw a big, round wine-colored Kuchi patch, the creative light bulb went off in my head, and I knew just where to use it.

I am always on the lookout for ways to recycle and upcycle household items. One of my favorite things to repurpose are tubs from the Body Shop’s Body Butter. I had an empty one sitting in my stash for a while and the top of it was exactly the same size as my big Kuchi patch. The question was, what do I do about the rest of the container?

In the past I have covered containers with felt, fabric and molding paste. (Here’s a link to my blogpost about another upcycled storage container.) I searched through my basket of fabrics and box of trims to find similar colors and designs that would work with the wine-colored Kuchi. I decided to go with fibers in the purple and orange family, colors reminiscent of richly colored fall leaves.

 

 First, I measured around the circumference of the tub and also measured the height, added a little extra, and cut a piece from some beautiful purple and gold paisley fabric that I found in New York’s “little India” neighborhood on Lexington Avenue in the east 20s. I had been hoarding it waiting for the right project…and this was the one. I also traced around the bottom and cut a circle shape.

I smeared a layer of gel medium on the container’s sides, then carefully adhered the fabric to it. I used the selvedge edge of the fabric and brought up close to the spiral threads at the top, but made sure not to overlap, which would interfere with the screw-on lid.

 

Next, I snipped the fabric every ¼” toward the bottom so it would fan out a little and I could cover the bottom edge. I also trimmed about ¼” away from the circle of fabric that would be used for the bottom, then used gel medium to adhere it.

While the fabric covered jar was drying, I set to work on the top. I used a piece of purple satin ribbon and adhered it to the side of the top with gel medium. It was a little wider than the lid edge, so I snipped it every ¼” and glued the extra ribbon over the edge to the top, securing it with some washi tape. The taped area would be hidden once the Kuchi patch was attached.

 

The Kuchi patch is quite thick, so I knew that gel medium would not be strong enough to attach it. So, I pulled out my hot glue gun, let it get warm, and squeezed dots of hot glue on the body butter lid, then quickly press the Kuchi in place…easy peasy!

Almost done, but it needed more “bling.” It also needed something to cover up the black selvedge edge near the top.

With the words “More is more!” often said by one of my favorite Fashion Institute of Technology Textile Design teacher ringing in my head, I set to work finding embellishments. I used some of Gwen’s jewelry components and rummaged through my personal stash of jewelry-making parts for the rest. I discovered some long-forgotten carved bone elephants in my stash that were just right and went beautifully with Gwen's dangly charms.

 I also took some of my own handmade Tyvek beads, combined them with small Swarovoski crystals, and added a looped headpin so they would hang. (For my tutorial on how to make beads out of recycled Tyvek mailing envelopes, click here and scroll down to the Tyvek Beaded Necklace instructions.)

On a piece of Gwen’s burnt orange sari ribbon, I alternated the larger dangly embellishments with the Tyvek beads, then tied it around the top of the jar. Last, I wrapped the orange sari ribbon and the dangly elements and fiddled with it until the jar had a casually-elegant appearance.

 Here's a photo of the new storage jar, sitting on my bookshelf along with the other three body butter jars I had previously repurposed. Now the question is...what do I keep in my new India-inspired jar? Art supplies? Jewelry? Coins? Crayons? Mini brads? Beads?

Please take a look the Kuchi patches on Gwen's website...you can save 15% on all Kuchi patches throughout October. And don't forget to surf around and see the incredible papers, trims, stencils and other unique items. The collection of items in Gwen's online store is unlike any other!

Back to My Roots

When people don't know what to draw or paint, I usually ask, "What did you love when you were about 10 years old?" Then I tell them to start with that. Going back to what you loved as a child--be it coloring books, finger paint, Play-Doh, mud pies, dandelion bracelets or any other child-like artistic expression--is good for the soul.

Folding ATC doll for PaperTraders "Winner Take All" June 2017 art lottery

I have been through a difficult time in my business life lately, and it put a big strain on my emotional state. So, I took my own advice and backpedaled to my childhood for some art fun. My favorite childhood thing to play with? Paper dolls. For the folding ATC doll above, I used royalty-free reprints of vintage paper doll parts from The Graphics Fairy. The 2.5" x 3.5" base (ATC, or Artist Trading Card) is made of a piece of vintage magazine text that was painted and stamped. The limbs are put together with mini brads, which allows the pieces to be posed and even interchanged with other dolls.

The face is an original that I made using the method from Jane Davenport's Beautiful Faces DVD. I scanned it, reduced it, printed it on card stock, and cut it out. Here's my step-by-step blogpost on how I created the face.

For a folding ATC doll, the rule is that all the extra pieces must tuck behind the base card. Here's what the doll looks like folded up:

ATC doll folded up to 2.5" x 3.5"

Continuing my "back to my roots" art theme, I used an old McCalls pattern piece as a base for a journal collage. As a young girl, teen, and into my 30s, I made many of my own clothes. I still have my favorite patterns from the early 1970s!  After applying (with matte medium) an old pattern as a base on my journal pages, I added some pretty ribbon, printed teabags, a handmade soy batik fabric strip and a mini piece of fiber-art for this two page spread in my art journal.

Art journal left and right spread with old sewing pattern as a base.

The third part of my latest "back to my roots" artistic journey was rediscovering my inner textile designer. In my early 20s, I studied textile/surface design at FIT and worked as a print stylist in New York's Garment Center for nearly 10 years. I "retired" for motherhood, then went into graphic design and writing as a career.

About five or six years ago, I took part in a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) project called "Visioning" and designed and printed my own line of fabric. Many of them are available on Spoonflower.com.

While recently cleaning my bins and boxes of papers and art supplies, I stumbled on some prints of vintage French textiles that I had ripped from an interior design magazine. I was startled at how similar they were to some of the fabrics from my own line. It really had me wondering about reincarnation. The designs are dated 1941, and I wasn't born yet, so who knows?

I used the magazine print on the right side of my journal, and added strips of my fabrics as borders at the sides and top. On the left side, I created a fabric collage of scraps of my own fabrics that struck me as similar.

On my worktable: vintage textile designs on right, collage of my designs on the left.

Reproduction of textile designs dated 1941

My original fabrics, printed on cotton, bear a striking similarity to the vintage 1941 designs.