Tuesday, October 12, 2010

what the heck does confetti have to do with procrastination?

I was avoiding a project that's due mid-November (actually one of two projects due at the same time). I wasn't inspired and didn't really feel like working on anything serious, so I decided to play with a technique Penny B taught me several years ago. You start with a base fabric and then lay on many different squares of fabric (I used my procion mx hand dyed cottons in 2" squares). I cheated and fused them, but then stitched all the edges with a stitched out zigzag. When that was finished, I sliced down the middle of each square with a rotary cutter, rearranged the strips, then butted them together and stitched again........



......repeat as desired......I think that I sliced and diced around four times before I was happy with my confetti............




I have an idea for this, but won't post until I'm happy with the results. Of course, it won't work for either of the official projects, but at least I'm playing my way out of the doldrums....

8 comments:

Judy Ferguson said...

Made some inchies and decided that they take too much time. Cute, but time consuming. Love fusing. Make the most of your time. Confetti is.....I don't know. Think of another name like...color digits. Yeah.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Judy,

I guess that I could call it slice & dice! LOL! I can't remember what Penny called it, or even if she had a name for it. It's actually even more effective if you use mixed fabrics, like soft velvets, sheers and wonderful silks. The cotton strips were already cut up, so thought that I should use them.

kaiteM said...

Love them, and what a good way to work oneself out of the doldrums, i should try that. I like the idea of mixed fabrics.
"Stitch and Slice"?

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I like this! Looks like fun to do.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

MA, it is fun! When you're ready, give it a try. If you need more instructions, email me directly. Of course, you know that you could probably do this with denim, don't you??? LOL! That should get you going!

Kaite, thanks! I'm not quite out of them yet, but hope to make progress this weekend. It's quite amazing the effect you get from blending the fabrics. It's the same technique I used on the red Textile Museum shadow box piece that you liked so much. You know, the one about all the squares, escaping out of the box! Only in that one I used silks, velvets and sheers.

Penny Berens said...

Looking good Anne Marie! It is a time consuming technique, but good to do when you don't know how to get going.

liniecat said...

Love the idea of stitching then reducing to weeny pieces.........guess it could be quite 'centreing'... or drive you daft lol
But what a good way to kick the Creative Gene back into play!......mine falls into repose from time to time too, will try this as a ruse to get it back on track too!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Penny, Thanks again for the technique! It's a good way to use up leftover strips and doodle in fabric. Not to mention how useful it is for small backgrounds for postcards and ATC's.

Liniecat, Thanks! I like the "centreing" comment, but do try not to let it "drive" me "daft"! LOL! I'm "daft" enough as it is!