Shibori Ribbon Fan Tutorial

For today, I thought I'd share the tutorial for the Shibori Ribbon Fan that I did on my Peacock Wall Hanging project.

There's so many things you can do with Shibori Ribbon and this is a very easy embellishment for your crazy quilt blocks.

First, you'll need your piece of Shibori ribbon and you'll need to decide where you want to place it.

In the case of my example, I tucked one end underneath the lace, near the seam on the top.  You can tuck your ribbon into any seam on your block or underneath a piece of lace.

Once you have one end tacked down with a few stitches, you'll want to "poof" the top 3/4's of the ribbon.  Look closely at the above photo.  I pinched the ribbon where I wanted the fan to start.

I took a few "tack" stitches where I had the ribbon pinched to hold it in place.  Also, tack the edges of the ribbon down to hold the "poof" in place.

The next step is to fan out the bottom of the ribbon.  Do one side first, tacking along the edge with a few stitches to hold it in place.

Do the same on the other side of the fan.

As a focal point on the "pinch", I added a little hand painted rose lace applique.  You can use anything you like.  A ribbon bow, buttons or a piece of vintage jewelry.  A little focal point brings the eye to the Shibori ribbon.  Just be sure not to crush the little "poof" in your ribbon.

 

Finally, I did some beading along the edges of the poof as well as the fan.

Again, this is a really easy way to add some Shibori to your crazy quilting!  Give it a try and send me some photos for Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine.  I'll be starting on the Fall issue soon!

And here is an update of the overall piece:

I started working on the Broiderie Perse Rose applique this morning.  I still have a way to go on that.

Click on the photos to see them up close!

Hand Dyed Silk Ribbon

I spent about 3 hours this morning hand dying 50 yards of 7MM Silk Ribbon:

I was out of pinks all together and running quite low on greens and blues so that's what I focused on for this batch.  In a couple of weeks, I'll order another 50 yards and do some more muted colors.

I use Rit dye to do my silk ribbon.  It's inexpensive, easy to find in stores and works nicely.  Here is a tutorial for dying Silk Ribbon with Rit Dye.

In other news, I finished up the stitching on my Crazy Quilt Bird Pillow:

It just screams Spring doesn't it?  I want to get this sewn together sometime this week.

And finally, this is my next project:

This will be a wall hanging.  If you look closely, you should be able to see the point at the bottom.  Just follow the basting stitches.

The rose is not ironed down yet.  It's a Broiderie Perse applique but I haven't decided on where it will go yet.  This piece will have a focal point theme so where the rose goes will depend on how the focal point comes out. 

Does anyone want to guess the theme?  Leave me your guesses in the comments!

Finished Clutch Purse with Broiderie Perse Applique

I put this Clutch Purse together yesterday.  You might remember this piece as I used it for my Broiderie Perse Tutorial.  And Part 2 is here.

I absolutely love this piece!  I think it's the soft colors, the Broiderie Perse Applique and the Shibori ribbon.  It's so feminine!

Crazy Quilt Bird Pillow

My current project, which I started earlier last week, is the very Springy (and who doesn't need some Spring right now?) Crazy Quilt Bird Pillow:

I still have a way to go on this but as you can see, I did some Broiderie Perse applique:

Both motifs are from the same piece of fabric.  If you click on the images, you can see them larger.

I'll be adding the Shibori Silk Ribbon piece soon so I'll write up the tutorial for that as I work it.

Broiderie Perse Piece Finished

I have been stitching away on this little Broiderie Perse purse!  LOL!!  Yes, this will be a purse.

Here's a little something I wanted to point out:

I thought this piece of lace was a little boring looking.  It just didn't show up on the block.  I didn't want to take it off to hand paint it so, since I had my Rayon threads out, I decided to embroider it:

I satin stitched the little circles and then stem stitched the leaves.  This really defined the lace.  I went on to add some beads to it and them silk ribbon embroidery.

This is the finished stitched piece:

I have the frame to put it on so I'll get this sewn up either over the weekend or the first part of next week and I'll post another photo of it.

My next piece, which I'll start stitching on this afternoon is this:

As you can see, there will be a little bit of Broiderie Perse applique on this.  I was asked about the pink Shibori ribbon on the purse so I will be writing up a tutorial about working with Shibori ribbon when get to that point on this block.

If you want to see closeups of these photos, just click on them.

I'm going to leave you today with a YouTube video.  This is Marie Osmond singing Nessun Dorma from the opera Madam Butterfly.  My grandmother loved Madam Butterfly so it makes me think of her.  And I don't know about anyone else, but I think Marie Osmond does a beautiful rendition.

Correction Edit:  This piece is from Puccini's opera Turandot.  My grandmother always said it was Madam Butterfly.  Thank you to Catherine for correcting my error.  I'm well versed in Classical music but not opera.  I should have double checked it.  Still, it reminds me of my grandma who loved this piece!

Broiderie Perse Applique Finished

I wanted to show you some close up photos of my finished Broiderie Perse applique piece:

This one is a little closer:

Be sure to click on that bottom photo so you can see the stitching up close.

The beetle is a little brooch.  I've had it for awhile and can't remember for sure but I think it was given to me.

I used a variety of Kreinik #4 Braid colors which really make the applique pop.

Today I pieced up my example block for my Broiderie Perse on Crazy Quilts tutorial.  The tutorial will be presented in 2 parts.  I will post Part 1 over the weekend.

I need to shop for fabric.  Can you believe I said that?  LOL!!!  No, I don't need any fabric, I just need more fabric with larger flowers on it in more colors so I can do more of this!  Okay, so I do need more fabric!

So anyway, gather up some of your larger floral prints and stop back over the weekend.  This is such a cool and easy way to add more interest to your crazy quilting!

More On Broiderie Perse Applique

I'm still highlighting the flowers on my applique with Kreinik metallic threads.  The effects are quite lovely:

You may want to click on the photo to see it better.  I still have a bit more to do but as I mentioned yesterday, I love handwork!

I've received several really great questions about Broiderie Perse applique and I will address them here next week.  I want to work up a tutorial for everyone but I need a bit of sewing machine time to do it as well as a fully charged camera battery!

Again, this is a wonderful technique for crazy quilting and I want to make sure that everyone is comfortable in trying it.

I'm wondering, have you ever been intimidated by a technique?  What sort of things have you been wanting to try but just don't know how or where to start?

I ask because I've always been one to just jump in and do it.  I don't know if there's a right way or a wrong way to do any of these things.  I only know my way and if that works, then it's good!

I say that because we've all be taught that there is a certain protocol for everything in life.  And I agree that for the most part, there are right ways of doing things and not so right ways of doing things.  But when it comes to being creative, those protocols can get in the way and limit our creativity.  I think sometimes, they keep us caught in the web of "I don't know how so I can't do it" mindset.

I would suggest that if you were planning to make a traditional "sane" quilt with applique, there would be more rules about it so that it holds up to washing and everyday wear and tear.  But for the most part, crazy quilts cannot be laundered or dry cleaned.  So we can ease up a bit on some of the rules that would apply to traditional quilt making.

So, that's my little piece of philosophy for today!  LOL!!!  Again, I'll post a nice little tutorial here next week.  I really want to see some CQ pieces with Broiderie Perse.  I will publish them in the Fall issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly.

Broderie Perse

Well, it took me about an hour but I was able to get the tension straightened out on my electric machine yesterday.  I had to fiddle with both the top tension as well as the bobbin tension.  I didn't get my door hangers sewn together but at least I don't have to mess with the machine tomorrow.

I thought I'd talk a little bit today about my goals for Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine.  First and foremost, I took it on because I wanted to continue on with what Pat Winter started.  She created a beautiful way for stitchers to share projects, ideas, tutorials, patterns and eye candy with other Crazy Quilters.  Let's face it,, we can't have time to stitch and have time to be online looking around constantly.  So the magazine gives everyone a chance to share with each other and learn from each other in a really beautiful condensed format. 

Another goal, a very long term goal and perhaps not even a do-able goal, is to end the debate over whether Crazy Quilting is Quilting or Embroidery.  When I was talking to brick and mortar store owners in regards to the 2015 Crazy Quilt Calendar, the quilt shops looked at crazy quilting as embroidery and the needlework shops looked at it as quilting.  This story I'm sure is quite familiar to many long time crazy quilters.  Neither niche wants to accept it.  I'd like to help quilters to see it as quilting with embroidery and needleworkers to see it as embroidery on quilts.  Again, this may not be do-able or maybe it is.  Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

So in thinking about what steps could be taken to accomplish this mission, Broiderie Perse came to mind.  If you've been following Allison Aller for awhile, you're probably aware of what Broiderie Perse is.  It's really not as fancy as it sounds!  It's simply a type of applique work.  It has a long and interesting history which you can find here at Women Folk.

Since applique work is quite accepted in the quilting community, I thought we would start there.  I have some beautiful chinz fabrics with gorgeous florals on them.  All courtesy of my favorite decorating store who kindly and generously gives me their outdated fabric sample books.  I decided to start working this technique into my crazy quilt pieces and hopefully, other crazy quilters will follow (hint, hint)!

The piece I'm working on right now is my block for the 2016 Crazy Quilt Calendar.  I don't want to share the entire block at this time but I do want you see what I'm doing with the floral piece.

If you're not aware of this technique, I ironed my floral fabric to a piece of fusible web.  I cut the flower pattern out and ironed it down onto my block.  Using YLI silk thread, I did a tiny blanket stitch all the way around.  So not only is it fused, but it's also stitched in place.

To further secure (decorate) it, I'm highlighting the flowers with Kreinik metallic threads.  I'm using the #4 braids.  I've only just started on this step so I will share an update when I have the highlighting complete.

Again, this is not new.  Allie has used this technique many times on her beautiful quilts.  It looks more difficult than it actually is.  In fact, the blanket stitching can be done on the sewing machine.  I love the hand work but there's nothing wrong with sewing machine work either.

Okay, so where am I going with this?  I would like to encourage all the crazy quilters out there to give it a try!  It's an awesome design element and an excellent (easy) embellishment!  I will be using more of this techique on future projects.  But I would like to see other crazy quilters try this and send me photos for the magazine!!!  Let's work together on this goal, doable or not, let's give it a try!  One step at a time!

Okay, with all that said, I would like to point you in the direction of Gerry Krueger's blog.  She was asked to identify some old sewing tools!  I love the history of anything but esp. the history of sewing items.  So please hop over and read this post!!!