Desmond backpacks

Last month I thought I would sew something a bit different. I saw some rucksacks with roll tops that I really liked in the shops, but I was put off by the price. Then I was inspired by Lauren of Guthrie Ghani to have a go at making my own, the Desmond backpack (see her blog post). To up the challenge I decide not just to make one, but two simultaneously, one for me and one for the other half.

I went with the gorgeous Millerain waxed cotton from Guthrie Ghani and found some lovely Robert Kaufman linen mix fabrics from mauds-fabric-finds.com for the lining. I already had some of the other bits I needed from some other bag making projects and the rest came from Calico Laine. They have a great selection of webbing in different colours for the straps, all well priced. I knew the bags were not going to be cheap to make, so I really shopped around to find exactly what I wanted.

With all the materials sourced I was finally ready to start construction. I found the pattern instructions were clear and the method of construction quite simple, so it came together easily. The pattern has plently of internal pockets, but I decided I wanted an additional zip up one, as I like the peace  of mind of knowing my stuff is secure, so I added this in. It is really simple to do with plenty of instructions on how online. My one challenge was that my machine didn't like sewing through multiple layers of the waxed cotton fabric, but I just perservered and got there in the end.

I am really happy with the result, a lovely pair of casual bags. I think the bag should be pretty strong; you reinforce the stiching by sewing repeatedly lines of stitching and the finished result seems quite robust. I would change a few things if I was to make the pattern again. I would add a couple of inches to the roll top. You don't have a lot to roll down and if you are not careful this tends to unroll. This is probably partly due to my fabric choice, the waxed cotton is a little stiff, I think it will soften up over time. I used D rings rather than circular rings and I find the ones on the shoulder straps sometimes rotate out of place, so I think circular rings would be my preference. 

So here is one of them from various angles:  

I think you can see that it is a good size. The other one in the mustard yellow also turned out well. 

Rhino

This is one of the quilts that I prepared for Midsomer Quilting's 2017 12x12 challenge. The theme was 'Where in the World'. The small  size made it relatively quick to produce, but the challenge was to bring out the features of the rhino with less stitch detail that I usually use. I was happy with the result in the end, but I worked in short bursts, to give me time to reflect on whether I was happy with the area before moving on.

This was the point in the year that I felt like I had really found a style of my own that I was happy with. Thread painting to bring my quilts to life, but still leaving a bit to the imagination. The juxtaposition of detailed realistic elements alongside the abstraction that results from the different fabrics.  There is always a fine balance to be found between adding detail and still making sure that the beautiful fabrics can enjoy a bit of the limelight.

Dragonfly

My second project of 2017 was a dragonfly. I think their wings are amazing and wanted to produce a close up quilt that focused on them. I wanted to capture the way that sometimes they really capture the light and you see lots of different colours.

I always start with a drawing, this is then scanned into the computer and enlarged for my final piece of work. I annotate the drawing with my initial ideas for the different areas, colours and stitching effects etc.

It is important to select fabric that work well together tonally, so I gather the fabric and 
check that they are ok.

With the fabric bonded it is already looking like a dragonfly, but there is a long way to go yet.

I work on small areas at a time, gradually working my way around, starting with the most important areas first, for example the eyes. It was really fiddly stitching the veins, so i had to really take my time.

And here is the end result. I kept the quilting of the background simple.

Where did 2017 go?

I didn't make many quilts in 2017, but I would like to think that for the ones I produced I made up for that in the quality of the art I produced. This is one of the them...

You probably can't appreciate it from the picture, but this this project took me several months due the work that went in.

After I drew out the design I did a dummy run with some of the techniques that I was planning to use, producing two mini quilts. I wasn't sure which background was going to work best a plain or a pieced one. It also provided the opportunity to practice my thread painting.  My previous quilts had featured thread painting, but not to the degree that I intend to use in this quilt. I was inspired by the amazing work animal embroidery of Sophie Standing and really wanted to take my work to the next level.

I decided on a pieced background, so the first step of the final quilt was to paper piece a range of green fabrics together...

Then I prepare the hare on some muslin, more attaching it to the fabric.

Then on to the grass and buttercup before assembling the pieces and holding them in place with glue.

Then it was time to start stitching and this stage took a long time. Lots of changes of thread colour and moving the embroidery hoop. Every time I wanted to work on a different area I had to unscrew the machine foot in order to get the hoop out from underneath.

With the thread painting complete it was time to combine the layers to turn it in to a quilt.  My furry friend insisted on helping.

Then there was more sewing to do as I added the quilting.

That's just a brief summary to give a taste of the process.