Monday, October 17, 2011

Twisted Trees

Twisted Tree, 22" x 19"

Detail
In progress, pinned to foam core
 In my small Innovative Fiber Art group, Polly Duggan shared with us a twisted tree technique that she had learned from another quilter friend, Jackie Watkins. We used batiks for the trees because batiks have the same coloration on the back as well as the front. Starting with 1" strips of fabric, we dampened our fingers and rolled the strips into tight little "snakes" (remember making snakes from clay when you were a kid?). To assemble my tree, I first prepared a background (sky and ground) with batting and backing and quilted it. This was secured to a foamcore board so that the tree could be created onto the board. Although this seems backward, we began at the outer end of each branch and worked toward the trunk, adding and combining pieces to create the trunk down to the roots. After pinning the branches to the board, the piece was taken to the sewing machine to sew the branches. I added small twigs to indicate a bare, leafless tree. A barn and silo in the left background completed the piece.

3 comments:

Joy V said...

What a fabulous way to do textural art.

Norma Schlager said...

I saw this technique once on a quilt at a show and admired it. Yours looks great! I like the way you added the "frame", too.

Anonymous said...

You read my mind---I wanted to know more about the technique and knew a trip to your studio wasn't possible ---so thanks. buttoncrazy3