Medieval-Inspired Art Quilt

While working on an art piece recently, I stumbled on a half-finished project from a few years ago. The little quarter circles of orange and green and navy and magenta caught my eye as I was auditioning embellishments for the other project. It was an unfinished circle quilt, inspired by a 2011 article by Beryl Taylor in Quilting Arts Magazine about making a reverse applique quilt with a circle motif, then "slicing and dicing" it and arranging it into mismatched circles.

Due to a shoulder injury, I had stopped working with fabric in 2012 and switched to mixed media. Painting is gentler on my shoulder, and I sometimes paint, stencil or stamp with my non-dominant hand to save wear and tear on the bad shoulder. Watercolor and other soft materials are especially kind to my shoulder.

But, when I saw the layers of fabric and the rich colors, art quilting once again called to me.

On the left, the circle quilt pieces were auditioned on a yellow, green and aqua and 9-patch quilt.

A section of the slice and dice quilt with some unfinished artwork.

You can read about Beryl Taylor's technique in her book Mixed Media Art Quilts, and here is a link to my blogpost about trying the technique. I also made another "slice and dice" quilt with squares.

Below are the pieces of the reverse applique, slice and dice circle quilt. I knew it needed embellishment, so I started looking through my boxes and drawers for just the right elements.

As I was rummaging through my stash of fabrics, trims, papers and art supplies, I noticed that the colors of a piece of sari trim from Gwen Lafluer's website that was leftover from my "humble shoe box" project matched my leftover slices of circle quilt.

I had an "aha!" moment of artistic excitement.

The piece of Patchwork Sari Ribbon was just right in the middle of the reverse applique circles.

I realized that the center circles hiding underneath the sari patchwork ribbon were not necessary, and it would be a waste to cover them with the sari ribbon, so I removed them and added them (plus a few extra pieces) to the bottom and made the quilt longer.

There was a gap between the Sari Ribbon and the quilt squares.

However, the sari trim was a little short and a bit raggedy at the top and bottom edges, and the wine-colored fabric backing peeked through, so I looked through my assortment of sari scraps and found a bit of gold fabric that was just right to extend the trim. I carefully removed the gold edging from the blue silk cloth it was stitched to and added it above and below the sari trim.

Using some tiny, sharp scissors, I removed the gold trim from the sari scrap.

The gold trim was added at the top and bottom of the center area.

Once the Sari Ribbon was in place, the gold blended nicely at the top and bottom of the center strip.

I auditioned some embellishments to see what I liked as an accent. The background and center strip were working well togehter, but it seemed to need just a little more.

The paisley-shaped beaded snippet embellishment on the bottom of the photo below was gorgeous, but the shape didn't work with the Dresden Trim at the top.

Audition 1

Audition 2

After snapping a quick photo so I would remember the placement of the embellishments and center sari trim, I removed them and began zigzag stitching the quilted broken circle pieces.

When the quilt pieces were all stitched in place, I used a machine blanket stitch around the edges of the quilt to finish it. Serendipity was still with me...while I was looking through my trim box I discovered that the some of my Darn Good Yarn was exactly the right color to couch along the edges. I tested the five different yarns in my sample pack and settled on the red and orange variegated yarn.

The Spice Market Yarn Sampler - Warm Base, had five yarns to choose from.

I carefully pinned it in place and then hand stitched it with an overcast stitch and orange thread.

Detail of the quilt, with the hand-couched yarn edging.

I had settled on some gold paper Dresden Trim--four pieces at the top and two on the bottom, with a little golden disc that was part of an assortment of Turkmen Jewelry Parts. I didn't want to poke holes in the delicate Dresden Trim, so I used some gel medium to adhere it to the quilt. I hand stitched the Turkmen disc in place with some gold thread.

To me, the finished piece looks like a Medieval Throne. Although the quilted circles are decidedly modern, and the center of sari trim is from India, the Dresden Trim gives the quilt the impression of a Medieval Throne's carved back and legs. The deep, vivid colors along with the ornate gold of the Dresden Trim and Turkmen medallion add to the royal feeling.

 It felt really good to work on an art quilt again, although I must confess, my shoulder did get a little sore. I hadn't worked with fabric in quite a few years. My last art quilt, done in 2012, was a small piece that is hanging in the entryway of our apartment. It was mostly designed digitally, then printed on fabric, and is called Dare to Be an Artist. One of my other favorites--and last art quilts--is Dreaming of Fashion, which was also done in 2012 and appeared in Quilting Arts Magazine's August/September 2012 issue. Both of these old pieces are dear to my heart. This new Medieval-inspired piece reminds me of my roots, that I am at my core a fabric designer and art quilter, and that I should pull out my sewing machine more often and include stitching and fibers in my future mixed media work.

The Humble Shoe Box: Upcycled and Transformed

When I saw some gorgeous yellow embroidered floral trim on the Gwen Lafluer Studios website, my inner flower-child cried out for it. Yellow is my happy color, my "go-to" color, and I visualized wearing it on the bottom of my faded jeans, stitching it to a peasant shirt, or combining it with my own fabrics for a decorative pillow cover. All of those ideas would have been beautiful...but impractical. I didn't want to get the trim dirty or ruin the shimmer with wear and tear or repeated washing. It was also a little scratchy, so it wasn't quite right for my adult post flower-child wardrobe or to rest my head on.

So, I thought a little harder, and realized it would be just right for up-cycling a shoe box. I have been painting, collaging, stamping, stenciling and decorating the humble shoe box for years. As luck would have it, an empty box on my design table was just the right size for the gorgeous yellow trim. Sadly, I hadn't ordered enough to cover the whole box, so I rummaged around my stash and auditioned a few fabrics, ribbons and papers until I found a combination that I liked. I also discovered that Gwen's gorgeous patchwork sari silk trim went nicely with the yellow trim. I mixed both trims with an embroidered sheer sari silk remnant that I had been hoarding for years.

I started by draping the fabric and trims over the shoe box and lid, taping it lightly to see how it looked. I snapped photos as I went along so I would remember what worked and what didn't.

"Auditioning" fabrics, which are lightly wrapped on the shoe box.

Once I decided on the arrangement, I took all the pieces off the box and started painting. The box was red and shiny, and I could see the color peeking through the sheer white fabric, so I knew the lid needed white gesso. It took a couple coats to tone down the red.

Covering the shiny red box with white gesso.

 After the white gesso was dry, I used Golden heavy matte gel to adhere the white sari silk to the box top. I carefully wrapped it around the edges and glued it in place. While that dried, I set to work on the bottom of the box.

After the gesso dried, heavy gel medium was used to wrap sari silk scraps around the lid.

 Where the lid and top of the box met, I painted yellow. I knew that I couldn't use anything thick above the wide (2.75") yellow trim or it would be hard to close the box.  Next, I applied heavy gel to the bottom 3/4 of the box and added the yellow trim to the front and back. I used heavy gel at the edges of the trim to prevent fraying.

The top was painted yellow to compliment the trim, but allow the box to close easily.

While auditioning the fabrics and papers, I had thought I would use a thick fabric collage of "scrappy" fabric on the sides, but changed my mind and used some commercial scrapbooking paper instead.

An India-inspired commercial scrapbooking paper was used on the box sides.

 The sheer white silk fabric on the top wasn't quite wide enough to cover the whole left and right sides of the box top, so I auditioned a bunch of ribbons and fabrics, finally deciding to layer some wide orange grosgrain ribbon with an India-inspired orange and pink plaid ribbon.

Two types of ribbon decorate the box side lid, complimenting the paper below.

While the bottom dried, I attached the sari patchwork trim across the lid vertically, which nicely covered the join mark where the two pieces of white silk met. I wanted to keep the softness and loft of the sari patchwork, so rather than gluing it in place and risking it getting flat, hard or discolored, I attached it by poking a hole (with an awl) through the fabric and lid edge, then pushing a large brass brad through and flattening it on the inside. The brads add to the decorative effect and are also very strong.

An awl was used to poke a hole through the cardboard and fabric.

The patchwork sari silk was attached to the lid with brass brads.

The two trims are united with a dangling Turkmen Jewelry component.

 An important part to my design was a dangling jewel, which came as part of my order of Going Global Turkmen Jewelry Parts. It was just the perfect adornment for the box, and although it is fairly small, works nicely to unite the fabrics and colors of the top, bottom and sides, adding just the right bit of magic and mystery to what used to be an ordinary shoe box. I hand-sewed it to the sari patchwork fabric using red thread.

Side view of the finished box.

Below is a photo of my newest storage box, sitting atop some of the others I have made over the years. With all my art supplies, jewelry components, paper scraps, fabric scraps, photos, and ephemera, I am sure I will fill up my newest storage box very soon!

Other boxes in my collection were covered with newsprint, stamps, stencils, craypa, fabric, and painted deli paper.

Like the trims I used? The great news is that you can get 10% off on any trims on Gwen's website during the month of November...just in time to create some up-cycled shoe boxes to use for holiday gift-giving! Please also check out what the other Artist Tribe members are making in November using the gorgeous trims that Gwen Lafleur carries on her website. You can see them on Gwen's blog, or click here to see all the Artist Tribe projects.