I worked on making my patchwork white fabric backgrounds first. These are fabric pieces laid on a base fabric and sewn down. The stitching and raw edges are visible. I used a mix of textures and fabric types, including textured sheers, jacquard napkins and tablecloths, lace tablecloth (machine made), patterned sheer drapes, linen-type napkins, Ikea patterned fabric divider fabric, lace doilies, woven placemats, matelasse coverlet, etc. (It is amazing to me how I can find nice linens at the thrift store for bargain prices, I recently got a lace machine-made tablecloth, jacquard tablecloth, textured sheer, and many jacquard and linen-type napkins for $9). I kept all the fabrics in square and rectangle shapes as the paintings will be more organic.
The problem with loving an idea is it is all too easy to go overboard. I started with making two big pieces, roughly 30" x 36", that could be wrapped around a 24" x 30" canvas.
Then I took some canvas I had previously cut to wrap 12" square canvases, and made six of them.
In the continuation of my brilliant idea, I thought I would make somewhat smaller ones (10"x10") that could have a focal point, and I could cut it out in the focal point shape and sew it to another piece of background fabric. There are 8 of these. (I haven't sewn these down yet).
For the bigger ones I used a spray glue to tack down my fabrics prior to sewing. This glue is meant for fabric and I have to iron it to have the glue activate. For the smallest ones, I just used a dab of water soluble glue stick. I plan to break out my new walking foot and see if that helps keep the fabrics flat for the small ones. I have done some patchwork pieces like this before and I hate having "bubbles" in my fabric as it affects the paint.
Now I have to find the time to paint all of these. I plan to gelli print some of the smaller ones.
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