As usual, the closer I get to starting something new, the poorer my sleep is. I spend the waking hours going over technique, fibres and finishes......ad nauseum.
Today I dove into the the simplest of the three, the most straightforward.
My only question with this one last evening, was the composition of the moon. I wanted something other than the Pearlized white cotton. I considered doing another patchwork, similar to what I assembled last year ........
but I thought it might appear a little too busy, seeing as this moon is at least 4x the size of the other. And I had no more silver. I tried an abstract approach, but discarded it quickly.
In a lot of "fibre art" moonscapes the craters and irregularities are features, either painted in or highlighted with quilting. In the back of my mind I was still admiring the results of the Poseidon's Eye I had used in the seascape. To give some crater qualities to plan white cloth I added some roving I purchased a short time ago, rabbit fur/lambs wool blends. It was actually white! Used with some of the darker greys and then anchored under organza, it stitched beautifully.
One of the issues with organza is it can, and in this case did pull. But the surface of the moon was up for a little irregularity.
Adding this to the night fabric called for applique, but with a piece this large I prefered to use reverse applique. There was a lot of material at the edge of the moon, cloth, organza and batting and I didn't think it would lie smoothly in a perfect circle. With the reverse applique the edge is fixed before sewing.
I like to cut my "hole" a 1/4 inch smaller than required. Using a full size circle for a guide the further the edge is cut about every 1/2 inch and with gentle pressure the edge can be ironed into that perfect circle.
Normally I would glue and then invert the two pieces and stitch along the inside fold, but the moon material was still too bulky, so I blind stitched the two pieces together.
Today I dove into the the simplest of the three, the most straightforward.
My only question with this one last evening, was the composition of the moon. I wanted something other than the Pearlized white cotton. I considered doing another patchwork, similar to what I assembled last year ........
but I thought it might appear a little too busy, seeing as this moon is at least 4x the size of the other. And I had no more silver. I tried an abstract approach, but discarded it quickly.
In a lot of "fibre art" moonscapes the craters and irregularities are features, either painted in or highlighted with quilting. In the back of my mind I was still admiring the results of the Poseidon's Eye I had used in the seascape. To give some crater qualities to plan white cloth I added some roving I purchased a short time ago, rabbit fur/lambs wool blends. It was actually white! Used with some of the darker greys and then anchored under organza, it stitched beautifully.
One of the issues with organza is it can, and in this case did pull. But the surface of the moon was up for a little irregularity.
Adding this to the night fabric called for applique, but with a piece this large I prefered to use reverse applique. There was a lot of material at the edge of the moon, cloth, organza and batting and I didn't think it would lie smoothly in a perfect circle. With the reverse applique the edge is fixed before sewing.
I like to cut my "hole" a 1/4 inch smaller than required. Using a full size circle for a guide the further the edge is cut about every 1/2 inch and with gentle pressure the edge can be ironed into that perfect circle.
Normally I would glue and then invert the two pieces and stitch along the inside fold, but the moon material was still too bulky, so I blind stitched the two pieces together.
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