Making a monochromatic art quilt
Technique Tuesday!
Yesterday, I showed you the little (10 x 8 inch) art quilt that I made from various fabric and paper scraps. I started with all off-white fabrics, and before I started “piecing”, if you can even call it that, I stained them all with tea to even up the tones more than they already were! As I mentioned yesterday, working with a monochromatic color scheme forces you to explore other ways of bringing contrast to a piece besides color. I also used some of my favorite things on the quilt - an image transfer, beads, and antique buttons.
Materials & Tools:
cutting mat
rotary cutter
scissors
pins
fabric glue
needles
fabrics and papers
buttons
beads
gold thread
transfered images (if desired)
- Instructions for making an image transfer onto fabric can be found in this post: Image Transfers on Fabric
- Stain or dye your fabrics in a strong tea solution.
- Cut a piece of batting to approximately 9 x 7 inches. Lay a piece of tea-stained muslin, slightly larger and with frayed edges, over top of the batting.
- Begin to arrange lots of layers of fabrics and papers on the background. Cut, tear, fold, whatever you want to add depth. I used layers or organza and netting to add even more depth. Use a bit of fabric glue to keep pieces from shifting once you are satisfied with the arrangement.
- Pin all pieces together well. Stitch all pieces down around the edges with metallic gold thread (I stitch this part by hand), removing all the pins as you go. Add buttons and beads as desired
- Cut or tear another piece of muslin for a backing, making it approximately 1/2 inch larger than the batting. Turn the edges under and blanket stitch it to the batting. Take a few more stitches here and there through all the layers to make sure the backing doesn’t shift. An alternative method is to make a pillow style quilt in the very beginning, with two layers of muslin and the batting, and quilt through all layers during the entire process. It just depends upon whether you want to see the quilting on the back or not.
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POSTED IN: Art Quilts, Collage, Creativity, Digital Art, Fabric & Fiber, Mixed Media, Paper, Technique Tuesday, Tutorials & Techniques
11 opinions for Making a monochromatic art quilt
Terry
Oct 23, 2007 at 10:33 am
Fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing techniques. I’ve quilted before and done paper projects but the combination is outstanding. And for the heritage album that I am creating something like this would be a perfect page for my seamstress/handicraft mother and aunt. I especially appreciate the idea to stain everything a similar color to bring it together.
Cyndi
Oct 23, 2007 at 10:45 am
Hi Terry! I’m glad you’ve found the ideas useful :-) You can use other types of stains too, of course, to bring all the colors together. What a nice keepsake you’re in the process of making!
Gina
Oct 24, 2007 at 7:37 am
I have never quilted but want to learn so badly! Thank you for laying out the technique! It seems really easy to follow and the tea for staining is a great idea!
Cyndi L
Oct 24, 2007 at 9:49 am
Gina, your mixed media work would look GREAT with some fabric and stitching added to the mix! Give it a try and let me know what you think :-)
Gina
Oct 24, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I am unpacking my sewing machine as we “type”, lol!
Making an art quilt
Nov 6, 2007 at 8:07 am
[…] The quilt that I shared with you yesterday, September Morning, is very similar to one I did awhile back called My Heart. The techniques are identical, except that I didn’t dye any of the fabrics other than the organza and the lace. Fortunately for me, I had some stained materials left over from the last quilt, so I just used those. The directions can be found here: Making an art quilt […]
Mary Emma Allen
Nov 7, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Ooh! This is lovely, too, Cyndi. I’m surprised I didn’t see it before. I love the tea and coffee stained colors…makes art work look antique. My daughter has used tea. I’ll send her here to see what she can do with coffee. I must direct my readers here, too.
Cyndi
Nov 7, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Thank you, Mary Emma! :-)
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Nov 27, 2007 at 1:48 pm
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