Tag: Dark colors

Posted in quilting

SAHRR 2025 Round 4: A Nod to Boro

Posted on by Laura Kate

Pieceful Wendy is our host for round 4. She has given us instructions that lend themselves very well to scrap-busting and improvisational piecing: Cut a square of fabric. Slice it in half in any direction. Cut a strip of another fabric. Sew the strip to the cut sides of the square. That’s it.

There is a pattern in my Japanese quilt block dictionary that references Boro stitching.

In Japanese sewing culture, boro refers to the technique of mending old clothes by sewing odd pieces of fabric over the worn places. It began out of necessity: in olden times, fabric was scarce and expensive, so each little piece was saved and used in the mending. In modern Japan, fabric is readily available and boro stitching is done just for the sheer pleasure of making things by hand.

To read my post about boro stitching, click here.

My blocks for Round 4 are not traditional boro. I was inspired by the idea of using scraps. I started by cutting many strips of dark fabrics.

Then, following Wendy’s instructions, I slashed them.

Because I have chosen to use the color gold as a unifying element, I inserted strips of gold fabric, cut at around 1 and 1/4 inch wide. They finish out at 3/4 inch.

I sorted them into groups by color and direction of the insert. Then I stitched them together in three sections, to become the shoulder area of my kimono.

Left side
Center Section
Right side

This ten-inch tall section will sit on the shoulder – 1/2 on the back of the garment and 1/2 on the front. Here is my quilt after adding the round four blocks:

Even though the back is not quite done yet, my focus for the next two rounds will be to build the blocks for the kimono’s front.

I hope you are enjoying the quilty fun happening during the Stay at Home Round Robin challenge. To see others who are participating, enter the InLinz link found on Wendy’s Pieceful Thoughts site.

And here is the complete list of our hosts for SAHRR 2025 along with their blog sites.

Posted in painting

Color wash – The Dark Side

Posted on by Laura Kate

Okay, no Star Wars reference intended – I am talking about painting on a dark solid fabric. This is what I chose to do today. My goal is to make swatches that will represent the night sky in a future fiber object. Here are my chosen fabrics:

The gray solid will be used for most of the work. I chose the white marbled fabric because the black lines are vaguely cloud-like. Here we go:

With the gray fabric pieces cut roughly 13 by 21 inches, I painted one with blue and black and the other with violet, blue and black. I used foam brushes and loose, wavy strokes. Then I blended all the blotches together and lay the fabrics flat to dry. Here they are after drying.

Blue-Black
Violet, Blue and Black

The original gray is still visible, but it just shades the colors into a deeper range. I like the brooding, atmospheric effect. Next is the white marbled fabric.

I stuck with the blue paint, but darkened it by mixing in black for a monochromatic color scheme. At the last minute, I decided to scrunch the wet fabric.

And here is the swatch after it has dried.

Whoa!

This looks nothing like a night sky to me. It more resembles fast-moving water rippling over rocks. This piece could inspire a new fiber object for a later day.