Tag: quilt
August 7, 2009 by Chris
My next project is well under way. Here are some photos from the beginning of the process. I am using a print block that I made out of cork and wood. I used an x-acto knife to cut a spiral in the cork which I glued to the wood. I also glued a handle to the block.
I am printing with Opulence pigments suspended in a translucent medium on a 72″ x 72″ quilt top that I dyed a mossy green using Procion MX fibre-reactive dyes. I dyed it using low-water immersion (using far less water than usual so that the dye particles cannot circulate as freely and evenly) in two stages for a richly mottled and uneven effect. The first stage resulted in a golden wheat colour, and the second stage overdyed the gold with an emerald green to result in this great green moss. It’s been a lot of work and I’m enjoying the process. My inspiration has been west coast mosses and spring fiddleheads.
Here’s how it looked about an hour into the process:
I completed the first layer of dark-green pigment and followed that with a lighter hue that I applied incautiously. I decided to use a translucent lime green as the final blockprinting colour to give the spirals dimension and movement. The final product looks painterly with some obvious and intentional “errors”, and in the right light it’s a dead-ringer for velvet dévorée.
Here’s a ham shot:
Tags: block, cotton, fibre-reactive, fiddleheads, green, printing, printmaking, Procion MX, quilt, Singer 201-3, stamp
Categories: Process •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Quilt 6 (2009): 183 x 183 cm (72″ x 72″). Cotton fabric hand-dyed with Procion MX fibre-reactive dyes, block printed with Opulence pigments, some commercial fabrics, cotton batting and thread. Machine-pieced and machine-quilted.
The pattern for this quilt is based on prime numbers. I wrote a little C++ program that assigned each digit from 0 – 9 to a colour family or texture group and then made a pattern based on the occurrence of all the prime numbers. I wanted to see what it would look like. Note the relative lack of blue in the middle. Interesting!
Tags: C++, fibre-reactive, numbers, patchwork, prime numbers, Procion MX, programming, quilt, Singer 201-3
Categories: Finished •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Some process pictures from my sixth quilt. The pattern is based on prime numbers–I wrote a little C++ program that assigned each digit from 0 – 9 to a colour family or texture group and then made a pattern based on the occurrence of all the prime numbers.
I’m using the usual charcoal cotton background that I’ve dyed myself. It’s distressed because I use low-water immersion which doesn’t let the dye particles circulate as freely.
Tags: C++, cotton, fibre-reactive, numbers, patchwork, prime numbers, Procion MX, programming, quilt, Singer 201-3
Categories: Process •
83 Comments »
August 7, 2009 by Chris
Quilt 5 (2007-2008): 183 x 213 cm (72″ x 84″). Hand-dyed (Procion MX fibre-reactive) and commercial patterned and solid cottons, cotton thread, polyester batting. Hand-pieced; machine-assembled and -quilted.
My fifth quilt was an adventure. I hand-pieced and machine assembled and quilted this red and black variation of the traditional Drunkard’s Path block.
As usual, I used my trusted Singer 201-3 (made in Clydebank, Scotland in 1952). For the first time I used a walking foot purchased on eBay. I still found the occasional fold in the quilting on the underside here and there, but I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t because I’m doing something wrong.
I’m not perfectly happy with the picture but I think the general effect is visible. My plan was to experiment with value. At the top of the quilt I used reds with relatively light values, and at the bottom of the quilt I used reds with deeper values. I used darker fabrics for the centres in the top of the quilt, and lighter fabrics for the centres at the bottom of the quilt, all the while trying to maintain some artistic leeway for making minor adjustments here and there. Many of the fabrics have a Japanese or Chinese theme.
Tags: chinese, circles, cotton, Drunkard's Path, fibre-reactive, japanese, Procion MX, quilt, Singer 201-3
Categories: Finished •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Here are the plans for Quilt 5. I worked with values in red (17) and black (9), using a basic variation of the traditional Drunkard’s Path block, six blocks across and seven down.
Tags: black, circles, cotton, Drunkard's Path, hand-pieced, plans, quilt, red, Singer 201-3, values
Categories: Process •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Quilt 4 (2007): 152 x 122 cm (60″ x 48″). Hand-dyed (Procion MX fibre-reactive) cotton, commercial patterned cotton, cotton YLI thread, polyester batting. Hand-pieced, machine-assembled; hand-quilted using a traditional hoop.
After making my first three quilts and lots of mistakes, I thought it was high time to take a class and learn from an expert. So in Spring 2007 I took a beginner’s quilting class at the Thread Bear quilt shop in North Vancouver (now closed). The instructors, a pair of energetic sextagenerians named Doris and Shirley, taught us how to make templates, trace and cut pieces, hand-sew the pieces into traditional blocks and the blocks into a quilt, layer and then hand-quilt our work using a traditional hoop.
This sampler quilt is made from commercial and hand-dyed (reactive) cottons, hand-pieced, and machine-assembled with cotton thread using a Singer 201-3 (made in Clydebank, Scotland in 1952), layered with polyester batting and quilted with cotton thread. I dyed the charcoal backing using low-water immersion and reactive dyes. I learned how to do this at Emily Carr at a great 4-week textile printing class.
Tags: cotton, fibre-reactive, hand-quilted, hoop, Procion MX, quilt, sampler, Singer 201-3, traditional
Categories: Finished •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Quilt 3 (2006-2007): 213 x 213 cm (84″ x 84″). Commercial cottons, cotton thread, polyester batting, backed with heavy black Italian cotton shirting. Paper foundation block construction. After “Jewel Squares Window Blind” in Kaffe Fassett‘s Glorious Patchwork (Clarkson Potter 1997). Machine-pieced and -quilted on a Singer 201-3 (made in Clydebank, Scotland in 1952).
This is my third quilt. Scott and I photographed it at the Thread Bear quilt shop (now closed) in North Van. Thread Bear had a magnificent and enormous second-floor studio-classroom with cathedral ceilings, large high tables, floor to ceiling windows and a view of a pristine salmon stream babbling through the forest outside.
This quilt took a long time to complete. I grew impatient with the quilting and that shows, especially in the middle of the quilt. It’s sloppy craftsmanship, but it’s just fine for snuggling on the couch.
I based this quilt on a pattern I found in Glorious Patchwork by Kaffe Fassett (Clarkson Potter 1997). The book contains a pattern for a foundation block patchwork blind in a rich assortment of reds. I wanted to make something larger, so I enlarged the blocks onto tracing paper and decided to use blues. A few spots of red pay homage to the original.
Foundation block work was interesting. I sewed the seams in each block right through the tracing paper and then, after sewing the blocks together into the quilt, tore the paper off piece by piece. I had to leave some strips here and there because removing them would have involved tearing some very stubborn seams. There’s a faint and strangely comforting crackle in the quilt from time to time.
Tags: block, blue, cotton, foundation, Italian shirting, Kaffe Fassett, paper, patchwork, quilt, Singer 201-3
Categories: Finished •
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August 7, 2009 by Chris
Quilt 1 (2006): 132 x 132 cm (52″ x 52″). Rayon-backed Chinese silk satin in green, red, purple and bronze, backed with purple polyester velvet and quilted with polyester and cotton blend. Machine-pieced and -quilted on a Singer 201-3 (made in Clydebank, Scotland in 1952).
Holding it up with me is Toronto-area sculptor Farhad Nargol-O’Neill. This quilt was a late wedding present slash Christmas present for Farhad and his wife, my friend Kathleen Florence Reichelt, a painter and playwright and founder of Toronto’s Garage Collective. Sadly, their marriage has ended, but the quilt is alive and well!
I learned that rayon-backed Chinese silk satin starts shredding to smithereens right after it’s cut. I was vacuuming silk fibres off everything in the apartment for months. It was very hard to sew – silk is very slippery and the fibres clogged both of my machines. I didn’t use any filling in order to keep it light and soft. I don’t know if I will quilt with silk again. What a way to start!
Tags: Chinese rayon-backed silk, patchwork, polyester, quilt, rayon, satin, silk, Singer 201-3, velvet
Categories: Finished •
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