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Monday 29 February 2016

Yellow Bird

As usual, I was totally unprepared for this challenge, other than having dyed a piece of bamboo/silk fabric a wonderful bright yellow.  I find yellow a difficult colour to work with and I was completely devoid of ideas, and fast running out of time.  I wanted to use purple with the yellow, as that is an almost automatic pairing for me, but not too much.  I found a couple of orange/browns that I liked, then stalled again.

It is a long while since I have tried weaving fabric strips together, but I had a feeling that this might work with my fabrics.   I drew a couple of random shapes on paper, then pieced them together.  I immediately could see a yellow bird, and that impression was still there when I had woven the strips together.  I used Steam-a-seam-two-lite as a backing, and for the first time wished I had used Bondaweb instead.  The stickiness of the Steam-a-seam worked wonderfully when the strips were in the right position, but it made sliding them into place almost impossible.

I quilted the piece using black thread to roughly draw a bird shape over the yellow areas, then filled the rest with a mixture of spirals (because I like them) and leaf type meanders.

I like the finished piece, but I'm looking forward to working larger, even though my last minute tactics are going to be more of a problem!

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I wouldn't have guessed this was woven - very clever. I've tried to work out how you did it and am still not sure. Nice one.

    Hilary

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  2. Good idea on the weaving, but it can be really fiddly and I agree regarding using steam a seam, it must have made it really difficult. I like the fact that you managed a design such as the bird - very clever.

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  3. A technical marvel, for sure. I really like this bird motif and wonder if you might use it again?

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  4. Clever! I have done one woven piece but don't remember how it could be possible to do what you have done.

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  5. I'd never have thought of this in a million years - what fun! I like the fact that the fabric weaving gives a sense of movement without being dominant.

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  6. I like your little bird - it even looks like it has some dimension with the way the weave goes. And the weaving was a great idea - did you take the course in Beaconsfield?

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  7. The weaving really gives it a 3d effect as well not unlike your last piece. I love how the blue works its way into the yellow as a focus for the eye and all the kinds of pattern to enjoy.

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  8. I like your bird. I like the way the weaving breaks up the larger prints, especially the lighter brown print.

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  9. Great job Linda, I love the abstraction of the bird. I recognized your work immediately. Bravo!

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