Sunday, March 15, 2015

And Then You Must Commit

Still moving fabric around on the design wall, but I came to the conclusion that I could do that forever. Just like coming to the point when I had to start cutting, I came to the point yesterday when I had to commit ... not to everything but surely to something. So I chose the top sections on either side of the center water section, applying Misty Fuse (did I mention how much I dislike Misty Fuse, and still do?) and fusing this latest Stonehenge fabric to the Stiff Stuff interfacing. I've been cutting the fabric a generous extra inch bigger all round than the interfacing pieces so there'd be no issues turning it to the back as you see here. Before turning, I satin stitched the grout lines, running them off the interfacing and onto the excess because the edges will be visible on all sides except where sections overlap. No worries about the satin stitching working loose or threads pulled to the back and tied off showing. Those exposed edges also meant mitering the corners was a must.

It took some trial and error to get things folded properly for a nice point, but I am pleased with the look. The fabric turned to the back has fusible so I could iron it into place. Where the miter folds onto itself from the right side where there is no fusible, I just glued it down with a little Gem Tac. Hopefully, this experimental construction method I'm employing will become clearer to you (and even to me!) as I progress.



I'm still no closer to having the proper thing for a bottom section of the wall. Several are in the ball park but lacking either the blue/grey or reddish brown to pull it all together. The batik above has never been right although I keep coming back to it because it has the right colors. I experimented with it to see if it could be altered a bit with Dye-na-flow paint. I had a Sienna that I thought might help and was VERY cautious in the application, watering it down quite a bit. The original batik is in the center, my two test pieces on either side. The difference is subtle, a bit of toning down, but the surprise was that the paint did not change those bright dots one iota. Can't figure out what's up with that.

2 comments:

Christine Staver said...

I have been using the new Steam a seam lite with my current project and am very happy with it. I know what you mean about misty fuse...I have a love hate relationship with it.

I think I would try over dyeing the batik with something darker than you think you need. What do you have to lose? Since you can't use it now the worst that can happen is that you will not be able to use it on this project after you overdye it.

Lucia Sasaki said...

Hi Sheila!
How good to see progress in your newest project!
I hope we, all your loyal readers, can see the final of this soon!
I confess that grey isn't one of my favorite color, but I understood that this project is about a rock wall, so...
And the batik part is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing!