Edge Finishes and Rooted In Fiber Exhibit

Leaf Cluster VII - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2017

While I was not as diligent keeping to a daily "stitchvember" practice as I was to a daily "Inktober" one, the personal challenge did keep me regularly in the studio to complete the chosen leaf clusters for the second December exhibit I am participating in. Besides today's looming deadline for dropping them off, I also knew I'd be losing studio time to physical therapy sessions starting around Thanksgiving. They've been taking about 2 hours out of my day, three days a week in an effort to clear up a nagging leg pain that is probably tendinitis. It's a little bit of a mystery as to how I injured myself and quite irritating that it is so slow to respond to treatment - definitely tiring of the 3 times a day icing that I've been doing since late September. At any rate, both Leaf Clusters got completed by the end of November/stitchvember, completed that is, except for readying them for framing.

Leaf Cluster VII - detail

Does anyone truly enjoy the edge finishing process? I know I never have, even though I know it is the final design decision one can make before the quilt is done. There's the squaring up process which can get off, and if adding a binding, crossing fingers that the edges will not be all wavy once it is stitched on. I can sometimes avoid the tedious hand-stitching to the back but if not, I have to keep checking the front to make sure I haven't allowed the needle to go all the way through, leaving a bit of thread showing where it doesn't belong. Satin stitching or some similar decorative machine method can end up uneven and stretching the edge into the dreaded wave. When I started putting smaller pieces into frames, I thought that would solve having to fuss over these raw unfinished edges, but I was wrong. I still end up having to do something with those edges before attaching the quilt to something somewhat rigid. Sometimes that has been a loose zigzag stitch (still having to be careful not to stretch those edges), sometimes that has been Fray Check, sometimes that has been wrapping the quilt over stretched canvas. Every thing I do makes me nervous until the quilt slips into the frame and looks perfect.

This nervousness came back to me as I embarked on framing these two pieces, and it dawned on me that my reticence to take that last step was actually fear that during the process I would irreparably damage the piece and I'd have nothing ready to take its place so close to deadline. I could easily place the ruler wrong, especially on Leaf Cluster VI, where I was dithering on exact placement of the cluster within the frame. But I had to start cutting, deciding to do things in a slightly different order than I usually do. I had the pane of glass from the frame so set that on the quilt and marked around it with a permanent pen. Then I applied Fray Check along that drawn line and let it dry before cutting. I've always found it tricky applying the Fray Check to the cut edge which never fails to have a few stray threads sticking out along it. Fray Checking first worked really well on this piece.

A strip of 1/2" Scor-Tape has been applied to the top of the illustration board

Now to attach it to illustration board which would keep it stiff inside the frame, a must since I would not be using that pane of glass or a mat to hold it in place. I've done this different ways too, including machine basting around the edge, using an acid-free glue of some kind (applying a thin line of it around the edges and a few lines through the middle to keep the center from sagging), but also trying a double-sided scrapbooking tape. The tape didn't always adhere well to the fabric, and glue is inherently messy, so I perked up when I started seeing a product called Scor-Tape being demoed in the videos on Joggles.com. She often uses it to attach canvas to paper and warns that once it is down, there is no going back. It comes in a variety of widths and strikes me as a little expensive, but it is archival (which I've always been careful about) so when it was included in a store-wide discount, I ordered some up. I find it much easier to use than the scrapbooking tape I'd tried, and it appears to stick well to the felt backing of this quilt. I applied strips along the outside and across the middle which held the quilt in place just fine.

You can see that this is an inexpensive frame with no rabbet to speak of which is why I used the illustration board - easy to bend those metal strips over to hold the artwork in place. I did my usual of stamping my logo/initials and inking "label" details directly on the board. A business card with the rest of the exhibit-required information will be taped to the lower right corner.

Leaf Cluster VI - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2017

Add some eyelet screws and hanging wire and this one's ready to go! Leaf Cluster VII went through the same series of steps except it was Scor-Taped to foam core board because of the wider rabbet of the Nielsen Bainbridge metal frame it is placed in. Seriously, so slick once one gets over that fear of making a terrible gaffe during the process.

Idaho Maple - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2011

I'm allowed three pieces in the "Rooted in Fiber" exhibit so I spent Sunday afternoon looking through my documentation binders for older pieces that would fit the theme and look good with these two, then digging said quilts out of a storage bin. I decided on Idaho Maple which is a 2011 piece using one of the squares of fabric printed during a 2006 experiment with stamping using actual leaves (see this post). Remembering the brief series that I did with those leaf prints back then is what prompted me to try another series with a different type of leaf cut into a stamp. It seemed a nice connection to make. Here's the Artist Statement I devised:  

My love affair with fiber is rooted in my earliest memories, watching my mother and aunt sew at the machine and hand-embroider tea towels, running my fingers over the motifs on the fabric in a quilt made by my grandmother, delving into my mother’s supplies at a very early age for a scrap of fabric, floss and needle to crudely embroider a mother’s day greeting to her. Since then, I’ve tried just about every needle art and sewn many pieces of clothing before discovering my true creative outlet in quilting. With everything else, I mostly followed someone else’s design and directions. With quilting, I found myself easily making changes to patterns and eventually striking out on my own to execute  original designs.

I worked my way from traditional quilting to contemporary “wall quilts” incorporating patchwork blocks to “art quilts” made of fabric enhanced with surface design techniques such as dyes, paint and stamping, sometimes embellished with beads and specialty yarns, and increasingly more often presented in a frame. Underlying my creative journey has always been the love and feel of textiles and an appreciation of the long history of the needle arts.

"Rooted in Fiber" is just one part of this three-part exhibit. Come join us if you can!

"Works in Miniature, Rooted in Fiber, & Beyond Form"
12/15/17 - 03/16/18
This exhibit features three themes in one. "Works in Miniature" will feature miniature art pieces in 2D and 3D, no larger that 8" x 8". "Rooted in Fiber" will feature the many wonders of the fiber art world.  "Beyond Form" will feature a gathering of abstract works.
Please join us for a reception at the Sandpoint Center (former Columbia Bank building on the corner of Fifth Ave. & Church St.) Friday,  December 12th 5:30 - 7pm