Butterfly Quilt (in progress)

Here is my latest work-in-progress. I think I'll call it Ghosts of Past Travelers.

In my last blog, Mary Ann had mentioned using a baking rack for sun printing. So, I took the metal rack that I (previously) used for cooling cookies and placed wet PFD fabric on top of it. I pushed the fabric down in some of the spaces,sprayed with dye from a spray bottle and placed out in the sun for about 2 hours. I like the soft, ethereal look it produced. However, I am going to have to buy a new cooling rack and some baking sheets - once they are used with dye/paint I don't think they should ever be used for food again!

I traced the outline of my butterfly (or is it a moth?) with water-based resist and then painted and silk screened over the top of the resist. The silk screen is by Ginny Eckley. I'm in my "all me, all the time" phase where I want all the design elements to be of my making but Ginny's silk screen was just too perfect for this project to not use it. It looks like fragments of butterfly wings - hence the name.

Fabric Shopping

If shopping were an Olympic sport, my daughter would be a gold medalist. She can find the best bargains and always in the right size and color. On the other hand, I am more of a lazy, impatient shopper. I know exactly what I want and if I don't immediately see it, I move on.

This can pose a problem when working on a project. I can see the perfect fabric in my head but do not always find it on the shelf. However a little computer time, an ink jet printer, some PFD (prepared for dye) fabric and freezer paper can solve the problem.

This will be part of a round boarder. Sheets of PFD fabric were ironed to freezer paper, cut to size and printed on my ink jet printer. I printed each section just to the size needed including cutting lines. No reason to waste printer ink on fabric that will be cut away. 

Inspiration

Circular shapes fascinate me. These are Maharam and Arc/Com upholstery fabrics. The one in the lower left corner is a reintroduction of a design from 1960.

Fabric Arrived from Spoonflower

The package from Spoonflower arrived in the mail today! I am pleased with the results of my little trial. I did 2 variations; one with a light background (just the base off-white cotton) and one with a dark gray background. I ordered a fat quarter of each but in retrospect, I wish I had ordered a yard of each (fat quarter @ $11 versus full yard @ $18). The fabric quality is great and it has a really nice hand.

I was a little worried that some of my line work was too fine to print well but all of the detail in my original artwork is also in the final fabric.

My design was just a fun design; I did not have a specific project in mind (in contrast to my normally very practical brain). Now I have to figure out a good use for the fabric. I was thinking about a purse or tote. But if you have any other ideas, I'd sure appreciate your suggestions.

I did not end up where I thought I was going!

I've been playing around with Corel Draw and have a couple of designs. I did not end up where I thought I was going!

Comments and crits welcome.