Collaged Background Step 1

These fabric collage pieces all begin with some kind of background or support. Using Valerie Goodwin's technique, I'll show you how I began with fabrics from My Pink House, seen in my last post.

Selecting my fabrics for this technique is pretty easy and a lot of fun because any bloopers blend in so well in the later stages. I generally start with a range of lights, mediums, and darks in the color or colors I have in mind for my finished piece. It is easiest to assemble the collage if the pieces are cut into smallish rectangles, although with a little experience you can use any shapes you want, as raw edges ARE allowed. Above, I assembled my cut fabrics on the crinoline to which I will attach them. (Crinoline was discussed in a past post this month - nice firm backing and easy to stitch through by hand later in the process.)

 I start by stitching one fabric piece to the crinoline by machine, then adding the others, folding each piece over the seam. I often press the pieces down as I go but that's not essential.

 Once my fabrics are stitched onto the background, I begin stitching on the surface to ensure that each edge is surely attached. Decorative stitches can be fun and/or helpful here. Use any color you wish. We used black top stitching in Valerie's class and it looked great.

To finish this stage, I trim the edges.

Next step - making all those different colors and patterns look unified.

Lasting Lessons from Valerie

Last summer I took a terrific workshop with Valerie Goodwin at the annual Quilting by the Lake event held in Syracuse, New York. The title of her work shop was Design with Color, but it was so much more than that.

I have admired Valerie’s work for several years and saw it first in Quilting Arts magazine. Her art quilt maps just knocked me out! Maps?! Fabric?! Geographically-placed visual stories?! Right up my alley! She constructs beautiful fabric collage to tell her stories, and I bought her book Art Quilt Maps to learn more. But the thing that got me to the workshop - in spite of all kinds of complications - was seeing her work from 12 inches away at the Cartography: Artists as Map Makers exhibit at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY last June. Her materials and narratives were so inspiring, that I went home, rearranged my schedule, and send in my registration for the second week of Quilting by the Lake.

I’ll start with the finished collage backgrounds I used for a couple of my recent pieces using Valerie’s technique. Then I’ll explain how they were constructed in the next couple of posts.    

   

Jacaranda

The piece at the right is one of a group of works I made using Valerie's techniques for my backgrounds. This one, Jacaranda, is based on a photo I took in Oaxaca, Mexico of a doorway in an ancient stone building. As I walked past it one morning, the sun was hitting a brilliantly blooming jacaranda tree back in the courtyard. I wanted my background to convey the texture of  the old building with its somewhat crumbling walls. You can see many intentional imperfections and its rectangles of stone blocks.

My Pink House

You may have seen this piece on the left before. It is my Pink House fabric collage, an embellished version of my new studio, gallery, and home. This time, the collage using Valerie's technique makes up the house itself, which is then the background for more collage work. The house is 115 years old, and I wanted the siding to have a somewhat random look (although it doesn't appear that way, at least not on the front of the house). 

Below is an under-construction detail of the addition of the door and windows on top of that background.

If you like the look of this technique, I highly recommend Valerie's book. Even better, track her down at one of her workshops.

Next post - how to get started.