Thursday, September 12, 2013

Open

 After much consideration I decided to go literal with 'Open' as I had often considered cutting into a quilt to reveal an inner quilt. So I started with a piece of paper to see if my idea had any hope. I had been stuck on what my opening would reveal until I was taking apart the beautiful bouquet a friend had brought me, all with flowers and greenery from her garden and yard.
 I laid out the various flowers and greenery. Not finding any fine tuille I settled for a heavier piece of netting but decided it would be too much to add the stitching as I normally would do, so simply used some iron-on to keep it all in place. I was happy with the subtle effect the layer of netting added.
 More testing .... how to keep the opening open .... a few clay buttons should work....
 The outer fabric is one I had bought a few years simply because I liked the fabric. It was so different and looked hand-dyed. I drew the stitching lines around where I would sew and then cut the openings. You need to look closely to see the white chalk lines.
 Sewn and cut below....
 More testing but it didn't pass ..... the fabric would be too limp to give the effect I wanted.

 So I decided to make the opening fabric double sided with batting in between ... an actual quilt, how about that?! Below is the finished piece.
 I finally decided not to add a facing or binding but rather I crocheted a cotton yarn trim and stitched it to the edge. It seemed to go with the organic feel I was aiming for.



 Now I'm looking forward to our next challenge!


9 comments:

  1. Gina, your ‘Open’ quilt is beautiful! So much thought has gone into this piece and I love the clay buttons too! Congratulations on a wonderful piece!

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  2. Talk about a clever opening for the challenge! This is so creative! It reminds me of an open sun flower. The quilting and your ceramics buttons are a nice finishing touch.

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  3. Wow - love the effect and the quilting is superb.

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  4. Oh Gina! This is stunning! There is a very definite sense of opening in this piece. My imagination makes me think of what one might find if peeking through a knot hole in a fence...a secret garden of some efin creature. Love it!

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  5. Fabulous piece Gina - making an actual quilt to use for the opening was inspired. I love the glimpse of the bouquet with the netting, and that piece of fabric is just perfect - reminds me of birch bark. Your clay buttons are the perfect finishing touch!

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  6. your imagination is obviously not a problem. i love this and the way your idea evolved. I love how the quilting makes it look like a real piece of bark and have dimension. Because the tulle layer is see through, you could also hang it up against a light (if there was no backing)gorgeous!

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  7. wow Gina! what a wonderful interpretation of the theme! I love the texture!!!!

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  8. I can't believe how cool this is! Really different and works surprisingly well. Great job!

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  9. Gina, this is an ingenious interpretation of the theme- I love it! The buttons add wonderful detail.

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