Tuesday, September 2, 2014

On the design wall: Indigo quilt

It truly feels as if summer is over, and I couldn't resist the call of my shibori indigo fabrics, so I started a quilt with them:


Apologies for the poor lighting in the photo: we've had a spate of dark, gloomy days lately.  For this quilt, I'm working in an improvisational, collage-like mode that I enjoy.  I started with rough placement of a few main design elements (the leaf fabrics), added in the kumo and stitched circle pieces, and then started filling in the blank spaces.  In doing so, I began to see and build more structure into the quilt, such as the horizontal row of fabrics at the lower right, and a vertical row that's developing towards the left.  I love how this quilt is shaping up--I keep going downstairs to just sit and stare at it.

I also prepped a lot of fabrics before I was forced to abandon the idea of another vat this past weekend:


In addition to this bucket o' shibori, I have a couple of arashi pieces on larger poles ready for the dye bath.  As I mentioned on Monday, it will be a while before I get to these, but I'm plotting to try and set up a vat indoors with an open window and plenty of fans on Thanksgiving weekend.  I also worked on another small project, but it's related to a planned gift for a friend, so no photos for the time being.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced and The Needle and Thread Network.  Happy quilting!
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11 comments:

  1. Joanna @ Riddle and {Whimsy}September 2, 2014 at 11:20 PM

    Fabric dyeing seems so interesting! You have some really great textures in yours!

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  2. JulieSeptember 3, 2014 at 12:12 AM

    This looks fabulous - I especially love the leaf print.

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  3. Karen @ Pieces of ContentmentSeptember 3, 2014 at 3:06 AM

    Wow, very impressive. I love your shibori indigo fabrics! This will be one special quilt.

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  4. UnknownSeptember 3, 2014 at 5:06 AM

    I love the idea of dyeing but concerned about bleeding, any problems with that?

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    Replies
    1. momijiSeptember 3, 2014 at 8:29 AM

      The fabrics are dyed well enough that they don't crock (lose pigment when dry), but indigo dyed fabrics almost inevitably lose some color when washed. I'm not really worried about bleeding, however. I mainly make wall quilts and don't wash them. Since the quilt will be all blue, even if I did wash it, at worst, the whiter parts would pick up a little more of a bluish tint. But the fabrics are already well rinsed and don't have a great deal of excess dye, so I think any bleeding wouldn't be noticeable.

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  5. Mary HueySeptember 3, 2014 at 6:24 AM

    Beautiful fabrics!! and interesting to see the beginning of your design process!

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  6. KatSeptember 3, 2014 at 7:52 AM

    Beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished quilt. The designs are so detailed!

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  7. AngelaSeptember 3, 2014 at 7:54 AM

    Gorgeous fabrics!

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  8. Hilary FlorenceSeptember 3, 2014 at 11:02 AM

    This caught my eye at once. I love where you are going with this. The layout is great and I can well believe you keep looking at it. Your dyeing is wonderful. Shibori and pole wrapping is on my 'to do' list, but somehow never makes it to the top. This is going to be a lovely quilt

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  9. Terry Aske Art QuiltsSeptember 3, 2014 at 7:47 PM

    It looks great so far! Looking forward to seeing the final quilt.

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  10. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2014 at 6:45 AM

    Beautiful - can't wait to see the finished quilt!

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