Seams French

Light at the end of the Boutis Although the actual boutis piece is only the small 5" x 5" square in the center of the rose window, it was the springboard for a larger "cathedral tower" wall hanging and was central to it's development. The piece combines 2 of my favourite stitching techniques; needlework by hand and free motion quilting with machine. Tip to base, the finished hanging measures 31" x 16". Held up against the light, the boutis is illuminated from the back and becomes the focal point of the piece. The wall hanging consists of 3 sections. The rose window, (on the white batiste), takes center stage with the boutis it's main focus and the FMQ providing the frame. Front of the work, highlighting the boutis square. Back of the work The complete rose window has been hand appliqued into a light grey fabric, representative of the carved stone often surrounding a cathedral window. Details of the roof line as well as t...

Framing with a Machine Quilted Finish A true-to-tradition work of boutis would be constructed using only hand stitching and would not be combined with any other technique. My choice to frame this little 5" x 5" boutis square with machine quilting isn't intended to compromise the traditional, but rather it experiments with combining the two techniques. It makes a labour intensive, traditional technique like boutis more achievable and likely more appealing to the contemporary quilter/embroiderer. But that's a whole other discussion for another day. So that, by way of introduction, is what became of my little 5" x 5" boutis square. And since the original design for the boutis square was inspired by a rose window,  I decided to make it the focal point of a larger "cathedral tower" wall hanging. (see my previous post) . Below, with the boutis securely appliqued to the centre of the project, the wall hanging has been sandwiched and is ready to...

Design and Assembly When working with  a smaller project, like the rose window boutis below, there is the ever present question of how to finish it. Regardless of whether I am quilting, embroidering or stitching boutis, I like the piece to serve a purpose; be useful in some way. Averyclaire , quilter and embroiderer extraordinaire, is a Whizzz at creative, beautifully constructed finishes and never seems to run out of ideas. In fact, she runs a little finishing business, where she will finish other people's embroidered work, all with meticulous care and craftsmanship.  But for me, it's always a bit of a quandary. So, how to finish this little 5" x 5" boutis square. Since the inspiration for the initial boutis design was a rose window,  I thought, why not make it into a wall hanging of a larger rose window, with machine quilting framing the boutis. One of the things that I love most about Europe is it's multitude of historical buildings, of which most a...

Wishing everyone a great weekend in your part of the world.  Happy Thanksgiving from Canada.