Flowers and Leather

This is a miniature picture I made using the same techniques as the millinery flowers 

on leather and arranging them on a leather background. My finger is shown for scale.

Dragon Scales- Finish

Dragon Scales Applique

I seem to have issues posting on Blogger which make me not want to write. The Dragon Scales have been done for a while but my frustration has prevented me from completing this. I am going to try writing in one post and pictures in another.

I turned and laid out the appliques, arranging them in a "controlled random" fashion. Some of the lighter ones were semi transparent so I cut and inserted cotton broadcloth into an interlining for those pieces.

Dragon Scales Part 2

I laid them out to have a look before turning.

Scallops- aka Dragon Scales

While at a quilt shop recently, I was inspired by an Oakshott cotton charm pack. I decided to create a scalloped design and am making it into a pillow. I created a design using as much of the square as I could and used interfacing as a facing for the scallops.
The interfacing was sewn with the fusible side to the right side of the fabric and stitched with a 1/4" seam allowance. I was able to get two scallops from each square.
They needed to be notched and turned and soon I had a pile of little scallops. I laid them out on a square and discovered that I need more so will need to dig into my stash. I had bought a set of fat quarters in the Oakshott last year so will finally use some of them. Most of the Oakshott fabrics are shot cottons, where the warp and weft are different colours. This gives them a depth and richness. They are very lively appearance compared to regular solids.

 

More Peacocks

These ones are in cotton rather than silk. I really like making the peacocks. I enjoy the free motion feathers. The satin stitching is a bit wonky and hurts me to do. I spent yesterday stitching one and still haven't recovered yet.

Elephant Tea Cosies

Before my series of surgeries last year I had injured my back. I am cancer free (so far, fingers crossed) but the back issue remains. It has made sewing a challenge. I have some bulging discs that are affected by sitting, especially sitting and leaning forward.
I am trying to teach myself to sew while standing, but my control is not great yet. In order to practise I have been doing a lot of free motion while standing. Mistakes are less apparent in a sketchy style. However, I am accustomed to the heavy satin stitching of the dance costumes I have made for so many years.
These tea cosies have been great practise for re-learning to sew. These ones feature some of the satin stitching while the peacocks have far more free motion.

Peacock Tea Cosy

This cosy is duppioni silk and cotton velvet with free motion stitching.

I love how the sun brings out the details.

Another attempt

I tried free motion quilting before (not terribly successfully) and then did a lot of free motion embroidery recently. Then I found this blog ww.dontlooknow.typepad.com and HAD to try her pillow tutorial.

My result is above, which has my first attempt at free motion quilting. I have done embroidery but not quilting. I was quite rusty with the embroidery as well but it came back (to my not amazing previous level) by the time the pillow cover was done.

Thanks for the comments on the picture of me in my new dress. I have worn it often since then.

More Embroidery

Layers of silk, organza and thread have gone from a swirly sky,

to this,and eventually to this.

I am going to add some beads as stamens in the centre poppy and stop. It has to be done at some point. Now I need to figure out how to finish it. This one is for my Mum, who just got out of some major surgery about an hour ago. All is well so far.

Hat Head part 2

These photos have been taken on the hat forms that are shown in the last post.
I am mainly a garment sewer so I thought I would combine the two things. I free handed the vine and flower design then added a bead in teh centre of each flower. I thought it would be for me and I wanted subtle, but I don't wear a lot of beige or cream in the summer. Oops. Maybe I will try and black and white one. It might be easier if I do it before the hat is halfway constructed like these ones were.
This one has leaves that I made by cutting then singing the edges. I stitched them on a half completed hat and added a flower pin I had made. Voila! a perfect summer sunhat that can match any outfit. Maisie loves it!
These are for you Irene! I combined the stitching with a garment. A hat is a garment, isn't it?
Soon I will try to show myself in something I have made. Thanks Ruthie, Irene, Ann and Karen for your support.

Hat Head

I did a bit more on trees and stuck it in a frame (loosely) for this pic. I might paint the sky a pale gray blue instead of white but am holding off to ruminate a while.

These are some hatforms I drew in free motion. I did about 7 of them but only a few are shown here. I have been painting them, then embroidering and embellishing them some more. Here are two in progress. The flesh was painted first, then the hat, then background. On the red hat the blue leaked onto the flesh. I had to run with it. I added a bit more flesh tone on her nose, but left the blue everywhere else.
Some more stitching and painting. I stitched in one leave on the side and tried to stamp two more but did not like the effect.

So I appliqued some silk leaves over top and added copper foil to them. I then added some gold and copper foils to the swirls on the left. I might add more. Taking a break on it for now.

This one reminds me of Nefertiti. You can see above I am adding some diagonal designs to try to mimic the hat in the sculpture. Not sure about it. Never sure though.

Free Motion

I have always wanted to learn free motion embroidery. What I do is so tight and controlled and I wanted to loosen up. I have been taking a course in Textile Art at a local college and so have been doing a lot of free motion work lately.
I love it!
The trees are about 9x9" and aren't quite done yet. I roughly stitched in the scene, then loosely painted in the bushes, leaves and ground. The bushes and leaves were done with a technique using tiny snippets of silk held down with tulle. The foreground was stitched back and forth with shades of green. It wasn't until I added some deep green into the front that the depth was really created.
This one has more applique. I drew the design on the top and stithched it. I planned to use the reverse side as the right side but decided I wanted to elephant to face right, so I had to add the silk, stitch from the back and cut away the rest once it was all stitched. I am still playing with it. It probably should have been done with black bobbin thread as the white really shows. I want to paint the background and add more stitching and maybe some gold leaf.
I gave up trying to use my Husqvarna Mega Quilter,(which I LOVE for other things) and am using my Pfaff 1550. I had to buy a foot, but I have less tension problems than before.

Back

Thanks Irene. I need a bit more time to decide, but am leaning that way too.

The jacket back. This went a LOT quicker than the other pieces. It gets a lot speedier with some practice.

I tried to photograph the sketch but it wouldn't come out right.

The Right Front

Tearaway stabilizer on back with stitching done.On the positive applique I stitched just inside the lines, on the negative applique I stitched just outside. This way the finished lines are close to the original design lines once the fabrics are cut away.

Closer up picture of the fronts.

This is the original front on the left (on the right when viewing here) with a new right (on left).

To salvage the silk I satin stitched around the edges, which added a nice bright pinky-purple like to the design. It still didn't save the silk from fraying so I also embroidered around the flowers in a blanket sitch. On the newer side I only hand stitched the silk so there is no satin stitching there. It is a bit duller. I haven't finished the hand embroidery yet.

Fronts on the dummy. I am not sure if the design is done here. I originally had more leaves and another flower on the lower left (shown right) side.Original sketch of design

I don't know- am I done or should I add more applique?