Seams French

Blocking Boutis: Between all of the machine sewing and quilting that have kept me gainfully occupied over the last few months, I have taken a little time to work on my boutis. You may remember the little saffron coloured boutis rose window below from my post on October 15, 2014    http://seamsfrench.blogspot.ca/2014_10_01_archive.html . Once stitched and corded, it was soaked in a basin of warm water with a little gentle soap (such as Orvis), and then straightened and squared up with thumb tacks on a heavy sheet of styrofoam. It was originally destined to become a pin cushion, however, at 5" x 5", I find it too large to be practical for that use. Currently, it's ultimate destiny is undetermined. I used only 2 basic stitches on this piece: the running stitch and the back stitch. For more info on the stitches and their variations, click on the above link. Done a number of years ago, the little cicada used in both of the pieces below was my first attempt at boutis...

Honestly, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but sometimes, days and weeks just disappear! Vanish! Into thin air! How does that keep happening? Aside from enjoying the first summer in Canada for more then 8 years, I have been busy working on a number of new projects. High up on my priority list has been designing and stitching up a number of new boutis patterns that are simple to stitch and quite manageable in size. Easy to pick up anytime and take along just about anywhere. Below are two of the new boutis projects. This first one, stitched on an amber coloured batiste, will be a needle envelope. Although I have used a variety of stitches around the cicada motif to add interest and give it a bit of emphasis, it can all easily be worked with the basic running stitch. The first photo shows the needlefold being blocked after the stitching had been completed. I had to wet it and block it for a second time. The first time, I had not used nearly enough thumbtacks to keep it...

What a Relief! Boutis is a play of light and shadow created by first, stitching the motifs and channels of the design (created specifically for boutis), and then inserting cotton yarn through these same channels. It's with the addition of the cording that the relief is created and this is what defines and gives life to the patterns and motifs of the piece. When working boutis, the cording process is just as important and time intensive as the stitching. That being said, the little mobile phone pouch on silk that I have been working on is finally stitched and corded. Stitched and corded, the little silk phone pouch that I have been working on is ready to be assembled. Once all of the cording was completed, I soaked the piece in cold water and tacked it tautly it to a sheet of Styrofoam. This is the opportunity to square up the finished piece of boutis and ease in (or out) any irregularities. In my post of February 11/2014, "Boutis...

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared.  The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w...