Ellen Anne Eddy

The Heart of the Art

General process:

I use an animal imagery that began in my quilting as an effort to build my own world. I was living in an urban area of Chicago and felt very bound by the city. I found nature within myself and stitched it into my quilts. I found I had the need for the swiftness of heron wings, and the splash of the frog pond. What I didn’t have where I lived, I manufactured for myself from hand-dyed cotton, organza and thread.

I begin my quilt with a drawing of its inhabitants on felt and Tear-Away as a stabilizer. I use hand dyed fabric that either blends with the environment or that blends with the colors of the creature. I embroider the animals using a zigzag or straight stitch in a hoop with my Bernina machine.

I choose thread colors to create the appearance a three dimensional surface. Black outlines tend to punch the image out and make it more recognizable. Then I choose colors in rayon, polyester and metallic embroidery threads that range much lighter and darker than the image needs to be in the end. I always include a complimentary  to create a zinger effect that helps to keep the piece alive.  I work dark to light, stitching colors in rows that lap over each other. The eye blends the colors of thread much as it does with pointillist paintings. Large images often have up to 100 colors of thread in them. Eyes are always done in flat threads like Kaleidoscope, Jewel and Silver, so that they have a wet look. When the image is embroidered, I cut it away loosely from the fabric.

Because of the embroidery, the image shrinks considerably (sometimes up to 10-30 percent), I start my background after that is finished and I know what size the image is going to be.

All my tops use my hand-dyed fabric. When I dye my fabric, I want a source of light directly in the dyeing so that my creatures can move within the lights and shadows of the piece. I choose one that will create an environment right for the being. But it is not strictly based in nature. Colors are a non-verbal language, and they tell us about our inner and outer world. Sometimes the sky is fuchsia.  It’s a reflection of light: sometimes inner light and sometimes external illumination. Lately I’ve been rubbing fabric with oil stick paint plates to create extra texture. I back the hand-dye with Style a Shade, a heavy non-woven  iron-on backing, which will remain in the piece as stabilization.

Then I begin to build the environment. I use a collection of the fabric that have no name. Odd sheers, laces, weird lame`s, hand-dyed cheesecloth, printed organzas and sparkle glitters to make water, air, fire, greenery and sunlight. I cut shapes from those and fuse them using Steam a Seam 2. I build it up in layers of fabric which later give it dimensionality.  I place the creature in his/her world and straight stitch them down using free motion stitching. I trim away the excess fabric and outline them in black. Then I add more elements over them, if needful (a bit of water or perhaps a ray of sunshine.)Then elements like water, air and fire are soft edged appliqued (so that no edge shows on them) using monofilament thread. Elements like trees, leaves, etc. are edged with a hard edge applique using rayons, polyesters or metallics. Both kinds of stitching are done free motion using a zigzag stitch. I detail them with more thread embroidery, usually using perle cotton and thicker metallic threads.

Then over the background, I stipple straight stitch with sliver or tinsel threads in several colors to create a shimmering image that shades across the surface of the piece.

When the piece is completely embroidered, I back and bind it with a corded buttonhole stitch around the edge, so I don’t lose any of the details that may have strayed outside the square of the piece.

Stabilizers and products change like lightning, but the general process remains the same. Of course, I feel no need to always do anything in any order or to include everything possible. The final decider is “What does this piece need?” And that’s what we do.