Monday, August 22, 2011

Silk with Stitches



My fiber art group experimented with dyeing silk several months ago. We used 6" squares and tried several different techniques to see what we would get. I cut lots of these and glued them to note cards and mailed them. The leftover pieces were too beautiful to toss, so I began applying them to a foundation background at random. There was very little plan--just place and decide if I liked it and stitch it down with embroidery stitches. This was a carry-around project. I then added a backing and borders and machine quilted it only enough to secure the layers.
It has a rather chaotic look, but it mirrored my life as I cared for my husband during his last months. Embroidery has always been a comforting activity, and this piece certainly supplied that. The border and backing are from two pieces of Heide Stoll-Weber's hand dyed sateen. The piece is 24" x 25".

2 comments:

Norma Schlager said...

What a great way to use up scraps that are much too pretty to throw away. The hand stitching gives it another dimension. Very nice!

Nancy said...

Martha, what a wonderful use of great scraps and Heide's special fabrics.

Hand work does provide some solace in difficult times.

Thanks for sharing.

Nancy