Saturday, July 9, 2011

Derailed




I love hand dyed fabrics.*
Like most quilters I love them and buy or make them and then don't know what to do with them.
THEN I watched an episode of Design Matters TV with Laura Kemshall
http://www.lindakemshall.com/DesignMattersTV.html
She took a piece if hand dyed fabric and made a rail fence block and then quilt. Interesting, imaginative and simple! Not to mention that it makes perfect use of those multi coloured hand dyed fabrics that you don't know what to do with.
This is the fabric before cutting it up.
After cutting it into 4.5 inch strips the width of the fabric then 1.5 inch strips it was sorted into groups by colour. A lengthy process that really is a great exercise on colour and decision making! Then four strips were sewn into a block and blocks arranged -- another lengthy process requiring making up my mind. Easier said than done!
This is the resulting layout all sewn together
I love the way the mottling of the fabric when cut makes the colours sparkle. The mixed vertical and horizontal nature of a rial fence lay out adds another layer of texture to the surface.
Now on to quilting it. More decisions!
Make sure to check out Design Matters TV!

*Love them enough to take Carol Soderlund's class on dying. Two classes coming up this fall at the Crow Timber Frame Barn; True Colors and Layers upon Layers. I am looking forward to them!
http://carolsoderlund.com/

http://www.nancycrow.com/HTML/barnworkshops2011fall.html

2 comments:

Carol Soderlund said...

Hi Nysha,
so excited I will see you this fall! What you have done with this piece is fascinating. I will have to go check out the show.

Mary Pal said...

This is very cool, Nysha! I love seeing the results of your daring experiments!