Hand-dyed Fabrics

Leafmeal Lie: Making snippet scrap Leaves

| ellenanneeddy

I don’t follow trends well. If it interests me it interests me. If it doesn’t, it’s background noise. So the snippet thing just went right past me. It’s an interesting technique, but it didn’t work with what I was doing.

So I was working on Green Heron Hunting and I needed to do something different with the leaves. I’ve often used green sheers with stitching to create folliage.

snips arranged on Steam a Seam 2

But I wanted fall leaves. Small fall leaves. I didn’t want them to be detailed. Just bits of color. So for this, the snippet thing made sense. I sat down with a pile of hand dyed scraps, and cut some bits. I cut a cloud shape of Steam a Seam 2. I arranged the bits on to the Steam a Seam 2 backing and pressed them on high heat with a non-stick pressing cloth.

The trick with a pile of snippes is stitching them down without them getting caught in the darning foot or having them go all over. I’ve seen snippets done with tulle over them to control the bits. Personally, I don’t like the look. I can always see the tulle. It looks either too dark or too light and it spoils the effect for me. So i decided to stitch them down with a top layer of dissolvable stabilizer, to keep things from getting tangled.

Dissolvable stabilizers have been around for a while. They are a film made from cornstarch and dissolve in water. They have a lot of commercial uses for computerized embroidery, but they also work well for free-motion embroidery. I don’t know that they stabilize so much as they keep the machine feet from getting tangled in the thread and bits of fabric. Originally they showed up in the 80s as Brama Bags, a dissolvable laundry bag for hospitals, where they were concerned about contagion from people’s laundry. It’s only gotten better since then. There are lots of different brands. The difference is in how thick the film is and how easily it dissolves. I like Aqua Film, which is now called StitcH2O, by OESD. But there are also Solvey, and Badgemaster and new ones come out all the time. What you are looking for is a film that’s steady enough to stitch over without being too thick. Thick ones take forever to dissolve.

That made a tree top I could iron onto the piece itself. But I never trust glue. It sometimes just comes loose. So it needs to be stitched over. And all those little bits of fabric, even glued, are going to go everywhere. So this is where I used my Aqua Film. I pinned over a sheet of the film, and stitched it with a zigzag stitch and a metallic green/brown Metallic thread called FS2-20.

After all that stitching, I trimmed away any extra stabilizer.

I put it up on my photo wall, got out a spray bottle, and spritzed the stabilizer. It’s not instant. You need to get it really wet. But it dissolves. I put a fan on the piece and it was dry the next day. The color darkened a bit, but I’m still happy with the result.

So these trees work for me. The frogs and heron are so busy, there needed to be similar excitement going on up top.

I’ve also used dissolvable topping film for a technique I call globbing, where you stitch down a glob of thread onto a quilt. Just put the thread where you want it, pin the stabilizer on top, and stitch in circles until it’s significantly attached. They work well for stitching over delicate things like Angelina Fiber, where, again your pressure foot is likely to get caught. You can read about it in Another Fine Mess: Globbing, What’s on Your Floor

Color Therapy: Should Realism Get In The Way OF Great Color?

| ellenanneeddy

I was working on Green Heron Hunting last week and put up several backgrounds on Facebook to choose from. Usually, people’s responses give me great ideas about what is and isn’t working. I put this up to a different group and was pretty much told unilaterally that they were all too wild. What was most distressing was the person who suggested that the black photo wall was the best background for it.

I don’t have words. I asked. It’s my own fault. In fairness, the backgrounds were wild. But not unusual for me. Mostly they were not “realistic” and the bird did have to be placed right to stand out,

This is the one that made the best sense to me

Realism is one of the old art standards. I’m always awed by it. That doesn’t mean I’m good at it. I’m constitutionally incapable of it, I suppose it depends on what your goals are.

Up until the impressionists, we measured art progress in terms of how real it looked. This came to a skidding halt for me after Delicoix and David showed us the French revolution and tables with dead rabbits up close. But another thing happened as well. We had cameras. We had photography. All of a sudden there was realism at the click of a button. Photography is still a measure of skill and eye. But instantly attainable.

The Impressionists opened the door to modern art by saying that we were not tied to realism. They suggested we could use art to explore other ideas, thoughts, and experiences. Art is a language of emotion and passion. It can reach past realism to say what is true in so many other ways.

My art has always been an examination of social systems. It’s allegorical and emotional. It’s about living on each other’s edges. I also am due for cataract surgery soon and that may be affecting my color choices. But I can’t imagine anything duller than a perfectly correct bird in 80 shades of brown. in a brown field.

Besides, color really is an excellent anti-depressant. Nothing brightens my heart more than a new color chart. Or a wild array of color that visually bounces off the wall. Or a new shade of purple thread.

So there’s no harm in a bright red background and a turquoise stream. Or a set of wild toadstools in glory gory shades. Or a bird with purple in its wings.

Now all I need is a knot of toads.

Small work: Just Playing

| ellenanneeddy
1055-22 Blue Blooms

After all those larger pieces, I’ve relaxed into doing some tiny pieces, partially for a rest, and partially for having some new work at the Galesburg Art Center. I’d done a class with some fabric rubbing and had new colors to play with. So I played.

104822 Swirling Leaves
1046-22 Deco Bee
1051-22 Deco Daisy
1054-22 Wind over Water 3
1050-22 Coneflowers
1047-22 Ginko Leaves

It’s not a high-impact run. But it is a place to try out some new things and try out using things in new ways. That’s always fun.

1049-22 Dragonfly Mandella

I’ve also been introduced to a new thread called glide which looks metallic without being metallic. It’s a matter of color matching, but I’m impressed. I love metallic but it always behaves better from the bottom than through the needle.

1057-22 Deco Dragonflies

After this, I’m going to push through to the two next bigger pieces, but I needed a break.

The new pieces will be available on Etsy soon. Or you can look them up on my profile page.

I found the Glide thread at Feed Mill Fabrics and Quilts. They have a nice collection. If you’re missing that metallic look and you want to skip the metallic drama.

Sometimes you just need to play.

Good Bones: Rocks To Water

| ellenanneeddy
923-21 In the Reeds 2

Building something with dimension usually means it has a recognizable top and bottom. Design-wise, I believe you should be able to flip a piece on any side and have the design still move and work. But it loses a great deal of credibility if you have upside-down fish. It’s not a good look.

Be that as it may, it helps to have a recognizable border between sky, land, and water. How can we make those obviously separate, without just putting a line across it?

There are several subtle ways and some pretty direct ways.

Dyed cotton thread in the sky, thick metallic in the water

The easiest subtle way is to change the kind of thread you are using to stipple. Not the color necessarily. The kind of thread.

Threads separate in how they’re made and how much they shine. Metallic threads usually shine more than poly or rayon, certainly much more than cotton. Sliver-like threads that are flat tinsel shine the most. Next, come the twisted metallics like Supertwist. Then there are the wound metallics like Superior metallics.

Now, if water is shinier than air, and air is shinier than earth, you can separate them out by having different threads stippling the piece. I usually use Sliver or #8 weight metallic threads for water, and Supertwist for sky, and/ or earth. If they shine differently, your eye will automatically sort them out as different.

# eight weight metallic threads in water

But the best way I know to establish earth is rocks. This is not subtle. It’s an in-your-face statement of land. A pile of rocks at the water’s edge defines the water/earth border immediately. Ad it’s so easy to do.

I cut rocks out of leftover hand dye. I pick anything that is rock color, always adjustable to the color of the background, and cut a whole lot of rocks for when I need them. They’re backed with Steam-a-Seam 2 so I can move them around at will until I iron them down.

Fishy Business is a mostly water quilt. But a pile of rocks in one corner establishes the bottom of the pond. I may have globs of thread and some water ferns later to create more movement. Now all I want to do is establish a baseline with the rocks and start getting the water to flow.

I’m using soft edge applique techniques for this. Soft edge has no visible stitching or edge to it. Neither water or rocks are improved by having a hard applique edge around them. Instead, I’ll go around the edges with monofilament nylon and a zigzag stitch. There’s more information on, this in Sun, Clouds Water and Rocks.

I cut some elongated c shapes to make water from. Both in blue and green for the water and yellow for reflected sunlight.

You can see the progression on this in these shots. I started with a corner pile of rocks to establish the bottom of the pond. Then I added in the water ripples made of sheers backed with Steam-a-Seam 2. Since each fish I put in the water changes where the water ought to be, I’ve added them one by one and adjusted the water around them. I added sunlit water shapes across the middle.

I’m pleased with this so far. Nothing is sewn down yet, so I’ll leave it up and look at it in case it needs adjustment.

Having a sticky fusible like Steam-a-Seam 2 lets me design this way. When I’m ready, I’ll commit and iron it down. It’s a very fishy business after all.

Better Out than In? Some Thoughts ABout Studio Cleaning: What to Keep, What to Throw, What to Rehome

| ellenanneeddy

I’m cleaning the studio. There is only one reason really I ever clean the studio. I can’t find something.

1006 Twin Dragonflies was missing. Blissfully she showed up in a gallery I’d forgotten about.

I have a small missing quilt. This happens from time to time. Most of the time they’re in a nice safe pile. Somewhere. Except when they’re not.

So one goes through those piles All of them. All 5,378 of them. And that has brought me to several considerations.

You can’t keep everything. You really can’t. The whole idea that you would use every scrap of every fabric is….. monumental at a certain point. At a certain point, drowning in scraps goes from a possibility to an invitability.

Koi, made from embroidered fish I did 8 years ago and didn’t know what to do with.

There’s a theory out there somewhere if you haven’t used something within a year you should chuck it. I’ve found that silly.. So much of what I do is cyclical. I may very well take ten years to find a purpose for something. I almost never throw out an embroidery, even one I consider unsuccessful. It’s too much work to lose. And I never know when they will fit somewhere.

Swish, made with the leftover fish head from Koi

Tools. I’ve had very odd experiences with useless tools I’ve bought that somehow came in useful years later. I’m hesitant to toss those without long thought. Unless they just don’t work well.

Books. I have given up books. At least once I think. They’re books. Throwing away knowledge just seems wrong.

But scraps? They do pile up. I have fancy scraps of sheers and brocades, hand dyed scraps and quilting cotton. And the occasional leftover dress scraps.

For some while, I’ve sorted scraps by size and type. There’s the rock pile, pieces of hand dye that make rocks. On a bad day, I’ll cut rocks all day with Steam a Seam attached, so I have rocks to hand when I need them.

But what about strings? Raggy patches? Snips? Thread ends?

Useful, maybe. But in mountanous proportions? I know someone uses them. But am I drowning? Um, yes. A nice pile of them went to my last class as sample pieces. That worked. But they had to be big enough. So it’s a question of size. I can use a 3″ x 2″ piece but probably not a 1″ anything.

Where can it go? In a land filled with landfills, how do you find them a home? It’s like finding homes for well-deserving kittens. They need to go to the right place. They need rehoming.

Of course, schools, other crafters, church groups, nursing homes all accept donations. Other artists always need supplies and sharing supplies is a glorious thing to do. But in the same way you’ve found wonderful things at the thrift store, it’s a good place to give them wonderful things. Except that it’s mixed in with household goods and sports equipment.

We have a new store in Galesburg called Yours 2 Create that I am in love with. It’s a thrift store for artists and crafters. Not only can you find all kinds of arts and crafts supplies, but you can also donate all kinds of things for other artists that you no longer want to work with. The range is astonishing. Crayons, paints, fabrics, tools, broken jewelry, trims, silk flowers. I’ve always gone in there on a mission for a particular thing, but they have almost everything from time to time.

some of their trim collection

I wonder how many of these stores exist. This is the first one I’ve ever seen. But it’s an astonishment. What an incredibly smart idea! What a great resource!

Yours 2 Create is located at 2188 Veterans Drive, Galesburg, IL, United States, Illinois, They’re getting a big bag of goodies from me next week. And I may be able to walk through the studio without creating a landslide.

I’m also hoping I find my lost quilt. There may be a few more piles to go through.

Under the Skin: Thoughts about Shading

| ellenanneeddy

We’ve talked a lot about shading. I’m fascinated with making animals that are dimensional, and shading is how we achieve that. Shading is about delineating light from dark. But it can be a rough moment when you start to shade. It can feel really overdramatic.

I was working on this goldfish for a quilt called Fishy Business and I was struck with how very shocking it could be to stitch in with the complementary color all over your image. Every time I do it I take a deep breath and tell myself I haven’t ruined it.

The last color you put on is your lasting impression. Everything else just peaks through. But those sneak peeks are so exciting that they make it all work. Your eye blends the colors so that they stay fresh and don’t brown each other out.

I remember in class once insisting that a woman making an orange/brown squirrel needed to put blue in her stitching. She was appalled. And I understand why. But it all sorts itself out after you come back in with your primary color. It also gives you color under the skin, just like blue veins color our peachy selves.

So here’s to the courage to add the color that really seems like it might be too much. Undershading builds the dimensionality and tone. It creates unbelievable color.

Take Away Demo Classes at Feed Mill Fabric and Quilting!

| ellenanneeddy

    I’ll be at Feed Mill Fabrics and Quilts in Oneida, IL Friday and Saturday with demos,take away classes and a trunk load of quilts and fabrics to show you!

    Mary Walck and I filmed from Feed Mill Fabric and Quilts

    We’ll be offering two fabulous demos Friday Sept. 29th and Saturday Oct. 1st.

    Watch the demo and do it yourself. It’s easy, fun and fabulous! From 11:00 am to 300. Drop in any time, watch the demo and make your own.

    Texturized Treasures:
    Oil Paint Stick Rubbing on Fabric

    Sept 30,2022 11:00 AM to 3 :00 PM

    Texturized Treasures: Oil Paint Stick Rubbing
    Create your own texturized fabric with rubbing plates and oil paint sticks. hand dyed cotton. So easy, so fun and so fabulous!

    $7.00 fee each person

    Gilding the Lily: Christmas Ornaments

    October 1, 2022

    Gilding the Lily Ornaments

    Take those marvelous Christmas prints and gild them with free motion stitchery to make a fabulous Christmas Ornament

    $5.00 fee each person

    11AM to 3PM each day at Classroom Building Join us For All the FUN!!😃😃😃

    Feed Mill Fabrics and Quilting is in Oneida, IL right on Route 34.

    What Rules? Testing Out Old Theories about guilding lilies

    | ellenanneeddy
    Swirling water, with metallic thread.

    Whenever you teach, people want you to give you rules. Directions. Patterns. A safe way to get results.

    That’s fair. That’s what they come to class for. What they’d really like is a formula. Add a plus b, divide by six and get your result. I do understand. And underneath it all, I have a list of odd rules as well.

    But I do know that they’re odd. They’re based usually on experience. But sometimes they’re annoyingly limiting. And every so often, I test them out. I push the borders, just to see if it’s a superstition I’ve made for myself, or something really helpful. Or if the materials have changed.

    This is a process I call gilding the lily. I take a really lovely print or rubbing and accentuate it with thread. I’ve taken to doing it a lot with oil paint stick rubbing.

    One of the tricky things is working with metallic, of all sorts. Metallic goes with metallic, right? I used to be quite strict about that.

    Until I had something I was embroidering there just wasn’t enough metallic colors for. And then I found my rule was silly. Of course I could dust something with metallic.

    So lately I’ve been working with metallic oil stick paint. I’ve been embellishing rubbings with straight stitch and metallic thread, a technique I call Gilding the Lily. Did I have to use metallic thread? I thought so. I thought the poly thread would cover it up too much. I thought it needed the shine.

    But I had to work the metallic thread from the top. And metallic thread, even the best metallic thread is touchy in the top of the machine. It goes through the needle 50 times before it lands in your fabric. So I tried it.

    How silly of me. I sat down with a pile of rubbings and some beautiful poly neon. The look was different. But lovely. And my rules were so much eye shine.

    It’s worth not shutting the doors of creativity because we have a safe sure method, a path we know. Sometimes we simply have to stumble past our safe path to experiment outside those possibilities to something new.

    So if I waffled teaching you in class and couldn’t give you a complete formula for a perfect quilt, I hope you understood I’d given you permission to try anything your heart desired. Me too!

    9

    Another Fishy Story: Thoughts on Color Range

    | ellenanneeddy

    I’m working on another fish quilt. I’m not sure quite how these fish will go together, but I’m aiming for three different colorations out of the same color range.

    I wanted gold fish. But good fish are not made of the same gold. Why? Well, seven fish all colored identically seems fishy to me. The nature of nature is variance.

    So I pulled a range of colors that went through yellow greens and orange golds.

    Coloration is about filling in space to a large degree. A large space accommodates a large range of colors. Usually colors are set with a base dark color, a shadow color, a range of progressively lighter colors, a shocker color and a lightest shade on top as a highlight. Except when it’s not. That works very well with large areas.

    Fish have scales which usually aren’t that large. Usually there’s room for a base color, a shader, a center color, a shocker and then a highlight. This gets more limited as the fish get smaller.

    For each of the small fish there’s a base color, a shader, the next brighter color, a softer shader and the next brightest color. I’m putting a shocker around the eye and in the bottom fins.

    So I’ve done four fish in red/green, yellow/purple, orange/blue, and yellow orange/ purple, to explore the progressions on this. You’ll notice all the shaders are complements.

    It’s a trick to have a number of elements in a quilt with different colors to match each other in tone. Since I’m choosing threads off the neon fluorescent chart, that kind of takes care of that.

    There are three large fish, but I wanted to do several fish in the full range. Here are process shots on four of them.

    Fish One

    Fish Two

    Fish Three

    Fish Four

    Notice what a difference in makes to outline them for the second time! The stitching inevitably creeps over the outline, so they need to be crisped up, sort of like fish sticks.

    So here are the fish in process, small ones finished large ones left to go on the background. I worried about them feeling too different, but the range gives them variation without seeming like they don’t belong.

    Part of why they all work together is that the color relationships are complements. That makes the color impacts similar.