Trial and Error, practice makes perfect

I'm discovering that I am a trial and error kinda person.  Despite my attempts at being a perfectionist and my obsession with detail, I still just go full speed ahead without thinking some stuff through.  So after choosing my background I rushed home from the fabric store and pinned my piece to my new purchase and stitched.  After completing the applique and confidently cutting away the back fabric from behind my piece I stand back to look.  Ok...so why won't it lie flat!  I think, no problem, I will make it lie flat when I stitch it.  Then I realize, I sewed it onto my  background square CROOKED.  which actually lead to other issues that created the rippling fabric issue.   I now realize things will only get worse from here!  So I start again, unstitch my mandala piece, cut a new backing, and this time draw registration marks so the circle will lie flat and be straight!  

Yay. It worked this time.  Lesson learned!  Measure twice, cut once!  

 I added an appliqued circle in the center and I'm ready to start adding some embroidery detail.   Off I go to trial and err again :)

From Sketch to Art Quilt. How it all begins

So I'm going to try and document these from start to finish. Hopefully I can stick with one project so that this doesn't take forever.  I like to have quite a few on the go. I find that way I can move where inspiration hits. Never seems to work if I try to force it

This is the design that I chose.  It's pretty detailed, maybe too much for a quilt, but I decided it would be fun to give it a whirl.

It will probably evolve into something different. But that is the fun of it, so lets see where it goes.

I start by taking the design back to a basic form I can piece together for my base. Something simple that gives me lots of space to work with.  

After playing with some colour ideas, I have gone with deep jewel tones.  This is my base, hand pieced and ready to play with.  At this stage it is 16" in diameter.  I aim for a 20" x 20" finished size once its on a background and stretched on a square frame.

I'm now on the hunt for my background fabric.  Then I will start adding applique and stitching.  It doesn't look like much yet, but thats the fun of it.  It will look very different when its done.

I think this will be a fun experiment for me because I haven't documented all the stages before. I tend to forget what the project looked like before I added the detail.

See you all soon ( hopefully!!) :)

More Detail of Textile Mandala

Here are a few more detailed pics of the Mandala. I'm learning as I go. Definitely trial and error.  But you can only unpick so many times before you ruin the fabric.  So I've learned to just let some ideas go for now.   I still have to applique it to a background and then add a little more detail. Then I think I will stretch it over a frame to finish.  

Back At It

It's been awhile since I've posted. Got away from the drawings and into quilting.  But still felt the pullback to do something more with the drawings. I wanted to take them to a new place and give them more dimension.  Soooo....  I've been working on fabric art versions.  I tried a few ideas with the quilting but just couldn't get the detail I wanted.  Just recently I came across some old embroidery kits I did when I was younger and...... The light bulb went off.   So these are my first attempt at using embroidery and hand piecing to create my mandalas in textile art.   I'm having fun with it again, and as before they are evolving as I work on them.  Hope you enjoy and I will post more as I go.