Painted & Stitched Fabric Collage

In Libby's class we also made a fabric collage.  Like the journal cover, this was built on a canvas background with fabrics and vintage textiles added for texture, and stitched with black thread.  This is Libby's sample (apologies for the poor picture).

The flowers and leaves are thread sketched with black thread on white-on-white fabric, then painted, and appliqued to the background.

Libby demonstrated her technique for painting the fabric after thread sketching.

Sue stitched out her flowers and leaves/stems, then painted them and cut them out.

Here's her background before adding the flowers; all the pieces were stitched down during class.

The flowers and stems were pinned down, with a place holder for the vase to get an idea of the final look.

After fiddling some more at home, here's how it evolved. The pot is made from some hand dyed/thermofax printed fabrics.  The screens used were circles and crackle which can be found in the Etsy shop.

Is it finished?  Maybe, maybe not.  Adding some background stitching is a possibility.

This was a great class, I really felt like an artist while creating these projects!  Thanks Libby!
And because I forgot to include it in yesterday's post, here's a shot of Sue, Paula and Denise with some of our class work.

Collage Journal Cover

We started out Libby's Paint & Stitch class by painting papers, as shown in yesterday's post.  Then Libby demonstrated how she uses the painted papers to create a collage on the front of a journal cover.  (The one below is a sample collage, not an actual journal cover.  Wish I had taken more pictures of her journals!)

The papers are applied with matte medium and allowed to dry.  Then free motion stitching is added with black thread to give definition and add detail.

 A layer of felt underneath the canvas fabric adds stability and depth.

Libby adds thread sketching on the back as well as inside cover and signature on the inside back.  The top and bottom edges are "scribble" stitched to hold the layers together.

Above is Sue's collage before stitching.

And after stitching.  A standard composition book fits inside.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the process, but I was having so much fun creating, I didn't think about it!  I was also surprised how quickly this project came together.  Totally freeing, embracing imperfection!  Thanks, Libby!

Paint & Stitch Magic

Over the past weekend, Sue had great fun in a 2-day class at Artistic Artifacts with Libby Williamson of Blue Denim Design.  Libby is from California and has a unique approach to art quilting, which combines painted paper collage, free motion thread sketching, machine applique and painting on cloth.  We created 2 different projects using related but different techniques.

We started with getting messy by painting some papers to use in the collage work.  Libby uses deli paper as a mainstay of her painted papers, but also recommends maps, book pages, sheet music, etc. She even gave us some Monopoly money to paint! 

Paint can be applied with a brush or fingers (or both) and stamps and other objects can be used to add additional color and pattern.

Here is Sue's friend Paula getting messy!  We also worked with gelatin plates to create papers and fabric prints.

Here are some of Sue's painted papers, some of which you may spot later in her collage.

This is one of Libby's collage samples.  The background is a heavy canvas that is fringed on the edges.  The colored pieces are all painted papers that are applied with matte medium.  Details are added with free motion stitching in black thread.

Here's the piece Libby did in class to demo the collage process.  Notice the 3 segments that make up the house are the Monopoly money.

We did so much in the 2 days, that I decided to break the post up into 3 parts, so be sure to check back for more.  Libby is a fun, relaxed, and generous teacher and I highly recommend her classes.  Here is a link to her blog.  Libby will be teaching at Craft Napa in January 2018, so if you are contemplating attending this 4 day retreat, check out Libby's classes.  (Sue and Paula attended Craft Napa this year.)