Tag Archives: quilting

About Art, Blog, Inspiration, Textile work

Quilt and Stitch… Some Ideas, Part 3

April 3, 2015 Andree Fredette 2 Comments

Here is the third part of my little series (Quilt and Stitch posts One, and Two) on how I approach the quilting or texturing (or embroidery) of a quilt.

Once I create a top, or quilt surface, I spend a lot of time staring at it, trying to decide how I will add the layer of texture. Where will the lines be most effective? Does it need a lot of texture? Or restraint?

Those are hard decisions. It is sooooo easy to go overboard.

Most of the time, I follow the pieced lines (where two colours meet, for example), and texture between the lines. But there are always exceptions. Rules that need breaking…

And then, there is just the simple joy of meandering on a single piece of fabric, while changing thread colours. I have made discoveries that way! A line of black, for example (on the left, above), serves to highlight its light-coloured neighbour. Relief, in a way… On the right, above, I first placed a little pair of meandering lines in regular thread. Then I turned the piece over, and filled-in that little corridor with a “mossy stitch”, which is a tight figure-eight stitch, using a thick thread wound in my machine bobbin. Time consuming, but very zen.

Finally, another little “sketch”, a practice piece where I tried out various ideas… You can see the evolution of lines, with their accessory and filler motifs.

About Art, Blog, Inspiration, Textile work

Quilt and Stitch… Some Ideas, Part 2

March 20, 2015 Andree Fredette 2 Comments

As a follow-up on last week’s Quilt and Stitch post One, about my approach to mark-making on textiles, a.k.a. quilting, here is another set of closeups shots to illustrate my fascination with line repeats.

Above, two sets of very different line repeats: a curvy grouping at the bottom, contrasted with very angular paired lines around the “sun”, which are punctuated by little “seeds” of zig-zag-in-place, just because I imagined it might be interesting (smile).

The photo above is a real close-up, those stitching lines are about an 1/8″ apart, and the fabric is hand-dyed pima cotton, with a very tight weave. The sunburst effect on the hand-dye was achieved with tightly knotted elastics, a technique from the sixties… But resist dyeing, or tie-dye, is a subject for another day.

Above, another sample that shows how variations in spacing can create a vibration effect. Almost tribal. I could have changed thread colours, but chose to stay with the hot pink. In later posts on this topic, I will show you how thread colour can play a big role in a group of stitched lines.

Above: circular stitching in place, to create a little “pasty”, or embroidered dot. I left the thread on the piece between dots. For the top line of pasties, I decided to come back and to add lines of stitching to highlight the linear connection. I could have cut the threads… but it is far more interesting this way.

And this last example is a combo of machine and hand-stitching. I started with a line, punctuated by “pasties” which I topped with a thread buildup, to create a thread bead, practically. Then, I returned with another colour, and stitched up and down and around the pasties, because I felt like it…. The other lines on the right are stitched/embroidered by hand. You can also spot my fingernail-dragging mark on the fabric, where I had considered adding yet another line…

All in a day’s play.

About Art, Blog, Textile work

Quilt and Stitch… Some Ideas, Part 1

March 13, 2015 Andree Fredette

Before starting to texture a quilt, I usually go through what I call my doodling step, where I try out some ideas with a felt tip pen on some newsprint. I draw lines without lifting the felt tip pen from the paper, to imitate the “endless line” motion of a sewing machine stitching line…

Sometimes, the bright ideas are elusive and I scrap a lot of paper… And sometimes, light bulbs go on and I save my pile of paper sketches. On a good day, I can come up with several usable textures and on a bad day, well, it’s a really dry run. Go figure.

Then – before tackling an actual quilt – I take my bright ideas to little “quilt sandwiches”, to practice and warm up.

In the sample above, you can see the light green stitching lines, about an inch apart, that form “corridors”. I often use those as a first step, to establish a direction, especially when I am trying to evoke a stem, or to draw long lines across a piece.

After laying my road map, I come back (in this case, with a darker thread) and fill in with the patterns that I pick up in the greenery that surrounds me. I am really fascinated by the lines of foliage – both on shore and in the water – on the island. Grasses, plants, kelp, anything is a good source of inspiration.

And I have found that pattern repeats, especially when they are uneven, are very interesting. They move the eye around…

Here is an example of a textured quilt study, using simple lines to enhance the pieced design.

I am not interested in perfection, because perfectly spaced lines and stitches look too automated, machine-driven. I prefer the lyrical “élan”, the irregular repeats, much like wavelets washing ashore, no two exactly the same. I want my stitching or mark-making to look a bit more like someone applying pressure on a brush, while painting or drawing. Because I draw with a sewing machine…

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Work in progress: texturing stage

September 5, 2013 Andree Fredette

My latest quilt is Jungle… and it’s a jungle of stitches out there! I have been putting in the hours for the past two weeks, both on this big one and the smaller companion quilt.

Work is progressing, which is good. I am adding a layer of much more intense texture into this piece than I had planned. Guess I am incorrigible.It’s going to be an interesting piece to look at, once I block it on my work wall.

In the meantime, here is a shot of the beast, in the process.
Work in progress, Jungle, quilt by Andrée Fredette, September 2013 Much of the quilting is improvised and I draw inspiration from the colours and the shapes. This quilt is so graphic, with bright contrast, that I decided to stick with “stitching within the lines” rather than add another set of markings by going “off-road”. I think it would have been too chaotic. Well, it’s how I feel at the moment and this may change in the next couple of days (smile). People who quilt will understand what I am talking about!

And to give a better idea of the texture, here is a picture of the back.
Back view, work in progress, quilt by Andrée Fredette, September 2013 Still much more work to be done, one hour at a time. And of course, all the finishing.

Did I mention that I plan to finish this beast by Saturday? Better get going…

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Progress in the studio

August 28, 2013 Andree Fredette

Over the past week, I have spent many hours a day learning to drive my new Janome. It’s one of the wide-throated sewing machines, and it’s fun to have this much room to move the fabric around.

Stitch texture (quilting) on work in progress, by Andrée Fredette
It’s quite the transition from the 20-year old Bernina, but I am adapting quite well. I am having fun.

The smaller piece I have been working on is titled Que Onda? (What’s Up?) and is already textured. It’s ready for finishing touches. Below, 3 detail shots of the texturing.

Stitched texture (quilting) on work in progress by Andrée Fredette I revisited some favorite texture patterns of mine, to see how tension settings and various threads worked out with the new “beast”…
Stitched texture (quilting), work in progress by Andrée Fredette It turns out that the Janome is really easy to manoeuvre… and remarkably quiet. Maybe that’s a hint that I should get the Bernina to the technician for a bit of maintenance. I still plan to use the Bernina for piecing.

Below, another pic showing two of the pieces in the works, the little one (Que Onda?) and the big one, It’s a jungle out there. The big one is on the floor, ready for pinning. Once that is done (tonight), I get to texture it to my heart’s content. This will put my driving skills to work!
Jungle may still get trimmed quite a bit, depending on how I feel when I see it with some texture. I am not sure, yet, about the cropping of the piece. But I’ve decided to go with the flow and let it be fun. These colours are bringing out my inner child. I am letting the child play…

Quilts and Photography