The email came in with the following request from my sister-in-law:
“Our dear niece is getting married this May. The couple had said “no gifts,” but we want to make them a joint patchwork bedspread from all of the family. Would you be willing to make and send a six by six block that will be incorporated into this gift?“
Would I? Without a doubt. But I needed more information to make it personal. I asked, “What are the hobbies and interests of the happy couple?” When I heard the answer (the bride loves ballet and the groom is fond of dogs, especially his collie, Harvey,) an image came to mind immediately:
Dog in tutu !!
My sister-in-law had sent a photo with the fabric palette. (See above.) All I needed was some similar fabrics and a reference image.
The first step is to convert the photo to black and white, print it and make my edits.
Next I traced it, used the tracing as a pattern, and cut out each pattern piece. The pieces were attached to fabric treated with fusible webbing, cut out, and then fused to a piece of raw silk. Using Jacquard Textile paint and the reference photo as my guide, I painted the collie’s fur and features. Black micron pen rendered his little face beautifully. (sorry, I have no photos of these steps.)
Here is my block after the fusing and painting were complete.
I chose a light color background fabric in a cotton damask. It’s no coincidence that the background fabric was left-over from a bed spread that I made several years ago.
For final touches, I machine-stitched all the edges, added a few ruffles to the tutu with pale peach thread and brushed in some metallic paint for the crown.
This will go into the mail on Monday, along with a few extra pieces of fabric, which the patchwork makers may find useful.
Whimsical and fun. So satisfying to make. I hope that the recipients are pleased.
Daily Fiber 