Saturday, September 20, 2014

A New Tree of Life Takes Shape

 A few months ago, I received a package in the mail from Australia with materials for a second stole for Noel.  The suggested theme was "tree of life" with the colours predominatly green for "ordinary times".  Included in the package was a green satin evening dress with a voluminous skirt cut on the bias.
This collection includes the evening dress in the lower left as well as some scraps of Harris tweeds contributed by a friend in Scotland.
 I think I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of fabric in the dress, so the collection had to sit on my table for a few months until I was hit by bolt of inspiration--to use the fabric in the dress in a "whole cloth" approach, creating an outline of a tree and then stuffing the leaves and stems from the back (a quilting technique called trapunto).
Sampler of the potential design.

The sampler from the backside.  I drew the design in pencil on the unbleached cotton and then stitched on top of the lines.  The stems are stuffed with cotton yarn, and the leaf shapes are stuffed with wool fleece.


A few more leaf shapes are appliqued on top.
Once I was satisfied that this approach would work, it was time to take it to the next level (next posting).

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