technique Archives - Anne Mathers

Boston Terrier on Blue

December 14, 2015 Anne Mathers Comments 2 comments

As an art quilter, I generally don’t make two of the same quilts on purpose. But, while I was auditioning the green background on Piper’s portrait, my enthusiasm got out of hand and I was having so much fun, I just had to complete it. But, it was a commission and I had not even asked the client what colour she wanted! With a copy of the templates in hand, I made a second portrait of Piper and fortunately, the black & white version also looks great on this saturated blue.

Quilted pet portrait, boston terrier portrait

Below is the workup for Piper, showing that I had traced the line drawing onto a thin muslin background. The lines are almost all covered up, but hopefully you can see a few of them in the face area. Since the individual fabric shapes are all backed with Lite Steam-s-Seam II they are lightly sticky and I can simply fill in the spaces, one shape at a time.

Process for constructing pet portrait

Using a re-positionable fusible product such as Lite Steam-a Stam II allows you to view your work in the vertical plane as it progresses. No pins, no glue, no pieces slipping around! It’s truly a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ approach and makes a world of difference.

Here’s what I learned from making Piper twice:

Always find out what your client wants before getting too carried away!
Photocopy your templates so you can make a new set if, needed.
Using a re-positionable fusible lets you work in a vertical plane and truly see your work as it develops.

There you have it: making a piece twice can really have unexpected advantages.

Welcome to the Dog House, Tinkerbelle

February 15, 2015 Anne Mathers Comments 0 Comment

Today was a great day because I finally delivered the quilted pet portrait of Tinkerbelle to her parents. Tinkerbelle was there and she was none the wiser of course, but Mom and Dad were thrilled with the quilt.

Without further a-do, here is the last instalment of this series explaining my technique for finishing a pet portrait.

Step 13

The final step is to finish the outside edges and add a hanging sleeve and a label. This is no time to gloss over the details and rush to the finish line because the quality of workmanship here can make or break the piece. The traditional finishing method is to square the quilt up and add a single or double fold binding to create a narrow outside border. I prefer a single internal border in my portraits so I finish the edges with a facing for a clean finish. The facing is simply a 2 1/2” wide strip of matching fabric (a separate strip for each edge) that’s stitched to the front of the quilt and then turned to the back and stitched down by hand. To save time, I prepared the hanging sleeve and attached its top edge to the upper facing strip before it was applied to the quilt. Once the facing was secured on the back, all I had to do was stitch the lower edge of the hanging sleeve to the back.

I always record my name and the date the quilt was finished on a quilt label which I print onto fabric. After fusing it to the back of the quilt I secure it with an invisible hand stitch. Then it’s time to photograph the portrait before transporting it to its new home.

Tinkerbelle is Off the Wall

February 12, 2015 Anne Mathers Comments 2 comments

It’s time to celebrate because Tinkerbelle’s portrait is done and she has moved off the design wall! In this blog, I’ll describe how I quilted the background and the portrait itself.

Step 10

I knew that I wanted to frame Tinkerbelle with an internal border 2 1/2” from the outside edge and that provided me the final dimensions of 22” wide x 24” high. Having selected the blue-green batik, I cut out a rectangle this size plus an additional 2” in width and height. I cut out slightly larger pieces of lightweight batting and backing and made a quilt sandwich out of the 3 layers, spray basting them so they would cling well and not slip around while I stitched them.

I had to decide on a free motion design so I took out a paper pad and doodled a few free motion designs, then chose two of my favourites. I’m a fan of testing my ideas before using them so I stitched some small samples to see how they would look. Oh my, am I glad I did that! This is how they turned out. The design on top was the winner hands down because it has a calming feeling while the one below looks busy and chaotic.

There’s no need to quilt behind the portrait itself so I marked off that area with a chalk marker. Then I went ahead and quilted the rest of the quilt sandwich.

Step 11

Next, I pinned the portrait in place on the background and with a Sulky invisible monofilament thread and Schmetz Microtex 60 needle, I zigzagged along the entire outer edge. I used my walking foot for this operation. After securing the portrait this way, I switched to an open-toed darning foot, dropped the feed dogs on my machine, changed to a Schmetz Microtex 70 needle and used the five colour-matched threads (Aurifil 50wt cotton) to stitch around the raw edge of each piece in the portrait.

Step 12

I had selected a black on white aboriginal print for the internal border since it seemed to echo the light on Tinkerbelle’s face. I planned to make a 1/2” border so I cut a 1” wide strip the required length plus a few inches to join the two ends. With a Hera marker I marked a 1/4” crease on each long edge, turned these edges to the back of the strip and pressed the strip well. I marked the placement of the internal border on the background with a chalk marker and then pinned the strip down along the chalk line. Using a narrow zigzag and invisible monofilament thread I stitched the inner edge of the border down, leaving a gap where I needed to join the two ends. I used a standard technique for joining these with a diagonal seam then resumed stitching the rest of the inner edge and finished off the outer edge.

All that’s left now is to finish the edges with a facing and add a hanging sleeve. That will be the final instalment in this series. If you have any thoughts on the processes I’ve described, please give me a shout by leaving a comment. Thanks again for checking in.

Auditioning My Rendition … of Tinkerbelle

February 8, 2015 Anne Mathers Comments 0 Comment

If you’ve been following along with me, you’ll have seen that Belle’s portrait finally came together. The next step is to find a good background for her, something that will really make her personality shine. I started by auditioning fabrics from my stash. Auditioning is simply placing the fabric on the vertical design wall and laying the portrait on it, then standing back to view it. It’s really important to audition on a vertical surface so you’re addressing the piece face-on and can absorb the full effect. What I was looking for is simple: do I get an ‘ah-hah’ feeling to tell me it’s the right one or does it feel flat or just wrong? Of course there are no rights or wrongs and you just have to follow what your head and your heart tell you is best. Here are a three worthy candidates I selected.

: belle on blue green

And here are my thoughts on each one:

I really like the movement in the pinky orange batik with the grey maple leaves stamped all over it but I struggle with the fact that Belle’s face is bathed in light and nothing in this background supports that. Or does it? Perhaps it’s the warmth that seemed to oppose the coolness of the greys and blacks.
The blue background worked well for my previous portrait, Jackeroo, but it’s a flop in this case. It simply feels flat and motionless and there’s no light emanating from it.
The green batik has movement and depth because of the blue/green shading. The lighter areas almost look like sunlight shining through a dense leafy foliage. It also has a subtle leaf pattern on it and while it doesn’t look so great in this photo, it ended up being my favourite. Now it’s time to prepare it for quilting so I can stitch the portrait down.

For you quilters out there, what tricks or guidelines do you use to select fabrics that play well together? And how do you know when they’re playing together well?

Thanks for reading my blog. Next time, I’ll describe how I prepare the background and what I do with the portrait.

Anne Mathers

Collage Artist, Teacher, Animal Lover

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