Quilting Arts TV

Are you familiar with Quilting Arts TV? As a long-time subscriber to Quilting Arts magazine and owners of many DVDs on various quilting and surface design techniques, we're happy to report that it is now possible, depending on where you live, to view current episodes on public broadcasting television. If you cannot find it showing in your area, you can also subscribe to the online version, or choose to purchase a particular series that you may be interested in.  Which brings us to the most recent series, season 2900.  The shows are hosted by Susan Brubaker Knapp, and she is joined by Vivika Hansen DeNegre to share artwork from the Quilting Arts community. 

Series 2900 includes segments with 11 quilt artists including Lea McComas, Margaret Abramshe, Luana Rubin, and Denise Labadie with topics ranging from color to surface design to applique. A unique feature in this season appears at the end of every episode, called Finishing Touches.  Here Susan and Vivika chat about several pieces from the Quilting Arts community that were submitted to the magazine's Readers Challenges.  

Sue has participated many times in the challenges and has had several pieces selected to be published.  In early 2022, past participants were invited to submit to a special challenge just for those whose work was previously published, and the selected pieces are the ones featured in Finishing Touches.  

Sue was delighted to see her piece "Serendipity" featured at the end of episodes 4 and 11, and to hear the comments and discussion between Susan and Vivika regarding her quilt.  

This piece evolved from an "ugly" hand-dye that was overdyed in indigo and became the result you see here, thus the title "Serendipity". The official description of the process is as follows:

Indigo fixes everything!  This quilt started with a rather ugly hand dyed fabric that looked like a brown and white spotted cow.  Last summer my friend and I had an indigo pot going so I decided to overdye it in hopes of improving it.  After accordion folding and clamping plexiglass circles on the outside, it went in the pot.  The outside layers directly under the circles came out great, but the middle was still uninteresting.  So, I cut off strips of the circles, refolded the rest and dipped it in the indigo pot again.  Voila!  Now it looked like art.  I added an original design Thermofax spiral print on the brown circles and echoed the circles across the center, doing all the quilting with hand stitch.  

The photos above show the original ugly fabric, results after 1 dip in the indigo pot, and final configuration after a second dip in the indigo.  It was a great exercise in creativity and "going with the flow" of unpredictable results.  

Above is a detail shot of the finished piece.

If you're not yet or haven't recently been a watcher of Quilting Arts TV, please check it out.  There are so many interesting techniques featured and so much to learn from the Quilting Arts community!

Treasures Among the Trash

Sue's husband has spent much of the last year cleaning out his parent's house after his mother's passing last May.  Recently he unearthed her fabric stash and brought it home for Sue to go through.  Most of it is apparel and home decor fabrics from the 1970's and 80's, but buried within the piles was a bag containing molas - hand applique pieces from Panama.  Are you familiar with molas?  They are colorful applique pieces made by the Kuna Indians, from the San Blas Islands, which are an integral part of their native costume and popular among tourists to the area.  Elizabeth is our resident expert on molas, since she lived in Panama while her husband was stationed there with the Air Force and has a personal mola collection of more than 400 pieces.  Publicity from a 1963 article in Women's World Weekly popularized the idea that a mola was a stack of fabric cut down through multiple layers to show the different color from each layer, thus the term "reverse applique".  In reality, most molas are 2 layers and sometimes 3 with the other layers as inserts of small pieces of fabric stitched down with tiny stitches just as would be a traditional applique.  Imagine how thick and hot, living in a tropical climate, a garment made of many layers would be if the term reverse applique applied to the entire technique for creating the garment?

This mola (above) is typical of an abstract design used by the Kuna Indians who live on islands along the coast of Panama and Colombia. Mola is the Kuna word for blouse and over the years in western society has become the term associated with the intricate applique panel used to make both the front and back of the blouse. Molas can be classified as acculturation or traditional.  The acculturation molas can be further broken down to representations of commercial items, advertisements and the world from outside the Kuna culture. Traditional molas represent items from their world, many of them depictions of the natural world, geometric and abstract linear designs, as shown above.  Depictions of flora and fauna are also used on such molas and their cash crop, coconuts, is often seen in these designs.

This is a pair of Christmas designs likely intended to be sold to a tourist but made as if they were going to be part of the traditional mola blouse.  One panel on the blouse front and the other on the back.  This is an example of an acculturation mola.  When the maker cuts out pieces of one layer on one panel, they can be swapped in the mirror image of the second panel.  Molas meant to wear always come in pairs and are typically sold together.   The vertical slits, called cigar slits, to take up the negative space around the bell design are slits made in the top layer and small pieces of fabric inserted behind and then stitched to make the cigar shapes.  The fabrics in these slits are not one solid piece across the entire mola.  The cigar slits are used by stitchers from one section of the Kuna community and can be traced back to the islands of the maker.  They are loosely stitched together just to keep them as a pair for sale.  Likewise, the pair below of stylized birds.

Though intended to be used together in the construction of the blouse, they could certainly be used separately, perhaps on a shirt, maybe a tote bag, or the focal piece of an art quilt by the buyer.  These roosters are surrounded in the negative space by a maze-like design which indicates another area of the Kuna community of stitchers.  The feathers are appliqued down using small colorful fabric bits saved when making other pieces.  Kuna women use all the fabric down to the smallest of pieces.

This parrot is a non-traditional mola, a single piece and has embroidery stitching in addition to the applique. It is meant to be sold to a tourist and not to be used by a Kuna herself.  Kunas travel from their islands to the city in Panama, typically for medical care and have found a market for small mola styled pieces to be sold to tourists.  There is a cooperative market in Panama City which assists them in reaching a market.  When the US was still managing the Panama Canal, many military members were stationed in Panama and bought molas to bring back to the US as souvenirs.  

Finally, there is a collection of tourist molas, smaller pieces - circles and squares that feature fish and birds.  Though stitched together like the larger pairs, that was for purposes of sale, not intended to stay together.  They can easily be separated and used individually or in smaller groups.  The bird on the white background is especially nice.

Though Sue has no particular plans on what to do with these, there are lots of options as mentioned previously.  She may keep some and sell or donate others.  What would you do with them if you found such a treasure?

An Old Friend Returns

 

Today Sue's quilt from the OurStory: Human Rights Stories in Fabric exhibit returned home.  After nearly 6 years of travel to exhibit venues around the US, it is like getting reacquainted with a friend you haven't seen in years.  Remembering the creative processes and techniques used (and experimented with) to create a piece of fiber art and realizing - oh yeah, that's how I did that! 

This piece is called Women's Voices Matter and represents the Women's March in Washington DC on January 21. 2017 after the inauguration of the former President.  While that march had a particular focus, it's sad to say that all it represents is just as relevant today as it was 6 years ago, if not more so. 

Above is a detail shot of the center portion of the quilt.  The background is quilted with stitch writing made up of two phrases - "This is what democracy looks like." and "Respect my existence or expect my resistance."  To make the Washington Monument, I got an image of the constitution from the Library of Congress and had it printed on fabric by Spoonflower.  (digitally printed fabric) The posters are representative of those seen that day on the mall.

Above is a close-up of the stitching under the image - you might need to enlarge the photo to read it more easily.  But what it says is "Women's rights are human rights.  We march to protect our civil rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, right to education and environmental justice, workers' rights, right to freedom of religion, LGBTQIA rights, and disability rights, and affordable healthcare for all."  Wow.  How many of these rights have improved in the last six years, and how many have lost ground?

The OurStory exhibit and book was curated and authored by Susanne Miller Jones.  You can learn more about Suzanne and the exhibit on her website.

Scottish Teasels

Sue's "Fiber Visions" art quilt group recently issued a challenge to create a small art quilt based on a photograph.  Options were varied:  print the original photo on fabric and embellish it in some way, recreate the photo using any techniques desired, use the photo as inspiration for your design, or interpret the photo in some other way.  Sue chose to work with the photo below from her spring trip to Scotland. These teasels (a type of thistle) were photographed in the gardens of the governor's palace in the village of Culross.  For any Outlander fans, Culross is a 17th century village used to represent the village of Crainsmuir in the Starz drama.  A number of scenes were filmed in various rooms of the palace.   

Sue chose to recreate the photo as closely as possible, making a 9 x 12 version and mounting it on an artist's canvas.  The idea behind the photo was to create a Thermofax screen of the teasels, which was already in process when the challenge was issued.  So that meant deciding on the techniques for the background of the piece.  First was to find fabric for the gold of the wall and the texture of the stones.

On the left is the commercial fabric used for the background.  The texture was right, but the color was not, so golden pineapple paint by Profab was sponge painted over it to change the color.

Likewise, the fabric used for the rocks needed to be a bit darker so both gray and black were sponge painted over the original.

Starting on a base of muslin that was cut 3 inches bigger than the 9 x 12 finished size, the upper portion was layered with the gold and the lower part was layered with black, so that the space showing between the rocks of the wall would be dark.  A printout of the photo was used to create a template for the rock wall section.  After applying a fusible product to the fabrics, the pieces were cut out and fused to the background.   Adding a thin layer of felt as batting, free motion machine stitching was added to secure the rocks and create texture for the moss and tree branch.  Then the teasels could be added.

The teasels were also done as fusible applique, printed first on a brown fabric, then fusible applied and cut out.  The green leaves are also applique and were arranged at the same time as the teasels.  Since the extra fabric would be folded around the canvas, there was no need to extend the rocks beyond the 9 x 12 image size.  Additional stitching secured the teasels and leaves and added the curlicues and texture to the screen prints. Then the piece was mounted on the canvas.

On the left is the original photo and the art piece on the right.  Not an exact duplicate, but a close interpretation.  Sue is pleased with the result and plans to put it in a black drop-in frame that should set it off nicely.   

The teasels is a new Thermofax screen that you can find in our Etsy shop if you would like to use it in your own artwork.

More Botanical Printing

Last time Elizabeth shared eco printing on paper with her sister Becky in New Hampshire.  Meanwhile, in Virginia, Sue was also experimenting with botanical printing. Her first attempt was using rose petals to dye fabric.  Fading anniversary flowers were the impetus for this effort which turned out reasonably well.

The fabric was first soaked in a mordant containing alum and washing soda to help the color bond to the fabric.  It was also spritzed with diluted vinegar.  The flower petals were sprinkled on half the fabric, then it was folded in half before rolling and tying

Iron, in the form of rusty keys, was also added to the pot. The bundled fabric was steamed for about 2 hours, then allowed to sit over night before unwrapping.

Then the flower petals were scraped off and the color was heat set with an iron after the fabric was dry.

Sue then decided to try some eco dyeing with other plant materials.  This time she used both fabric and watercolor paper.  The results from this experiment were less than stellar (not enough tannins in the leaves?) so she did a second round with the same fabrics and papers.  The following pictures are after 2 rounds of dyeing.

Fabrics and paper were steamed together, again with rusty bits in the water for iron. The best paper print is the one above. Below are all 6 of the paper prints.

As you can see the prints are not very distinct, but these could potentially be used for overprinting by several methods.  Top on the list to try is cyanotype printing. Likewise, the fabrics do not have distinct prints, just the typical eco-print coloration which I think could make interesting backgrounds for something else.

Bottom line, the eco printing requires a bit more reading/research and experimentation to find the combination of ingredients that works better.  But these are still interesting and will find a use in a project somewhere.

Ecoprinting on paper with botanicals

It is funny how when in a partnership you can be miles apart and still be thinking along the same creative lines.  Recently, Sue posted some ecoprinting on fabric which she was working on in Virginia using rose petals while at the same time, here in New Hampshire, Elizabeth and her sister Becky were playing with ecoprinting on paper.

Using several different types of paper, they layered plant material and papers to get a stack which were then squished down between two remnants of fir board, which was not pressure treated.  Other stacks were encased in two pieces of cardboard  (from the backing of the watercolor pad and others from some inexpensive plastic placemats from the Dollar Store).  All of them were pressed down and wrapped with string to make as flat as possible with contact of the plant materials to the paper.

Using vinegar and alum for the mordant and rusty pieces of iron in the water the bundles boiled about 2 hours in an old turkey roaster.

They used inexpensive watercolor paper from Five Below and also large index cards which worked surprisingly well.  As this batch of paper came on a spiral notebook, the rough spiral edges were left to assist with opening and separating the wet pages.  It gave something to grab on to and the spiral edges can be cut or torn off later.

Here are some results.  The first two are different types of ferns, followed by a hydrangea
and then five index cards with sumac designs on them.

This last photo is striped maple where a piece of green construction paper was placed over the leaves in the stack.  That seems like a technique to try again as it was a nice way to introduce another color.

Let us know if you have any experiences with getting botanicals to print on either paper or fabric.  What has or has not worked well for you?

Untold Stories

It seems we've been absent on the blog for a bit.  Elizabeth broke her hand in February, and both Elizabeth and Sue are spending time on preparations for an upcoming VCQ retreat (of which Sue is chair) at the end of April.  But now that a recent piece of Sue's has been shared on the Colorways by Vicki blog, it's time to share here as well.  Sue created this piece in 2021 as a tribute to her father and his World War II service. It is called "Untold Stories".

Here's her description: "My father fought in World War II, but he didn’t talk about it. I knew he was in North Africa and Sicily but wasn’t interested enough to ask questions when I was younger. When I was 24, he died at age 55 of heart disease. Fast forward 42 years to 2019 when my mother passed away. While going through her things, we found artifacts from his time in military service. They shed some light on his experience but also left other questions unanswered. A brief journal recounts basic training and his first combat in Sicily. What happened after that? What were his experiences in Germany and France? Where and when was he wounded? How did he meet the Barbera family? I wish he was able to fill in the missing pieces of those untold stories."

Sue used Vicki's Barrier Island gradient as background and binding and loves the way the colors tint the photo transfers done with Transfer Artist Paper by Lesley Riley.  Other techniques include photos printed on ink jet fabric and text transfers done with textile medium on a cheesecloth substrate.

Here's a section of text from his journal.  It was only 5 pages in what was an Army issue address book and talked about his basic training and shipping out to North Africa.  From there, a few more stops before being sent to Sicily and seeing his first combat.  And that's where it ends - not the war, just the journal.

The excerpt above describes an American bomb being dropped 75 feet from their fox holes, injuring 18. He also spent time in Germany and France, and was wounded twice. He was awarded a Purple Heart, good conduct medal, combat infantry badge, distinguished service badge and Europe-Africa-Middle East (EAME) service medal.   He was 21 when he was inducted and just shy of his 24th birthday when discharged.  It's hard to imagine what so many endured at such a young age, but also brings deep appreciation for their sacrifices as well as those of our current service members who give of themselves to ensure our freedom..