Sockittome.

You are all sharing in the design ideas for this quilt. I could have really appliquéd it but you all know I love to draw stuff so that’s what I decided to do. There will be appliqué on the quilt and quite a few embellishments but at this stage I’m just doing the drawings.

I drew the images  in pencil first using the good old sock as a guide. I’ve added a few extra bits of my own, because I can.

To make the pattern I drew over the pencil lines with a pigment ink pen, and let it dry for a few hours then rubbed out the pencil. To be honest, I didn’t do too much in pencil on the second sock, I just used the first one as a guide and took the plunge and drew directly  in pen. Scary indeed but lets live dangerously.

The next step is to put this image on fabric. It’s not the fabric I’m using for the quilt background…… simply because I have no idea what I’m going to do or use for the background at this stage, but these guys will be drawn on white fabric, coloured and then appliquéd on the background  whatever it may be.

The sock drawing is put on the light box and I’m using a white Japara fabric chat is a very close weave.

Don’t prewash the fabric, I was the substantial sizing left in the fabric.

Japara is a Waxed cotton as the name suggests, cotton impregnated with a paraffin based wax, woven into a cloth. Widely used from the mid-19th century to the mid-1950s, the product,which originated in the sailing industry in Scotland, became widely used by many for waterproofing. 

I’m using a staedler 0.1 pen, it’s very fine because I don’t want the outline to take over the quilt. It’s a very busy drawing.

Yes, I’m going to free motion quilt over every line, but unlike some quilts where I’ve used black thread as the outline, I’m going to use smoke monofilament  (At this stage of the planning anyway)

Because I’ve done the original drawing, I don’t have to trace everything from the pattern underneath the fabric… I’ll wing it a bit, I’ve just drawn the main lines  in the top of the sock the rest I can do freehand.

This is as much as I can do today… I was up at 5.30 doing a study on the techniques of Vincent Van Gogh for an upcoming class. I had a morning doing business with my super PA, grandies to teach sewing to, then the bike Race the Tour Down Under to photograph… and to say the least I’m a bit tired and I haven’t put in my time on the Bayeux today.

The images below are the wall I look at  when I’m drawing, precious things that remind me of the wonderful places I’ve visited over the past few years. Wedding beads from Kenya, a painting from Haiti and a Milagros from Mexico. It’s a riot of color and the way I love to work. Joy.