Seams French

A sister project to "Boutis Blues", but with a brighter outlook, "Boutis Gold" represents hope and light. This project will require 8 - 10 of Medallion A, (see below) Medallion A and another 6 - 8 of Medallion B. (below) To create boutis, two layers of a fine white Swiss cotton batiste are stitched together into channels and small closed shapes, and are later corded. Medallion B Although traditionally cotton thread is the thread of choice, my preference for detailed stitching like this has become a 50 weight silk thread. (I use Tire thread by Superior . It's available in Canada through Cindy's Threadworks . ) As well as being a pleasure to stitch with, the contrast of gold silk on a bright white background, adds a luminescence not possible with cotton thread. The reverse side of Medallion B. Most of this project is stitched with a tiny back-stitch, (point d'arriere), one of the most frequently used stitches in boutis. The backgroun...

Europe is rich with magnificent historical buildings, many dating back to medieval times and earlier. Spending time exploring some of these amazing architectural structures is always a priority and highlight for me when traveling in Europe. After reading "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett , I became particularly fascinated with cathedrals and living in France for a number of years gave me the opportunity to visit many of them. Cathedrals provide a huge source of design inspiration for me. From floor to ceiling, inside to out,  they hold a treasure trove of motifs and patterns. I have spent hours photographing and collecting data in these churches and cathedrals and they have become an important resource for me. Rose windows, in particular, fascinate me and have become a recurring theme when I'm making patterns for my boutis. The radiating bars that divide the circular windows into segments easily lend themselves to boutis design. With the help of my husband and ...

When a shirt (or any item of clothing) becomes an all time favourite,  it is worn beyond threadbare to such an impressive point that there are not even enough threads to mend. Replacing it wasn't an option, because the store where said shirt was purchased some 15 - 20 years ago had long since closed. What to do? While evaluating the options, I came across an almost identically coloured cotton in my stash, so maybe mending would be possible. The stash match: The shade is slightly off, but very close. The thought of unpicking all of the seams was extremely uninspiring, (understatement of the year), but the more I thought about the problem, the more of a challenge it became. So unpick is what I did. (The things we do for love) Reams of Seams (unpicked!) Once the daunting, dreaded task of unpicking was done, I used these pieces to draft new pattern pieces for the parts to be replaced. Taking another look at the shirt to be mended, I decided that even though the w...

Stitch by Stitch and Line by Line When I started the first rough sketches for a quilt for our bed back in 2013, I had no idea it would take this long to finally get the quilt to the quilting stage. As the ideas came and went, and we came and went to and from France every six months, the designs got altered, rejected, put on hold and restarted many times. Staying at home for the last few years, progress was actually possible. Thanks to Autocad and my husband's input, the design finally came together early this year.  Whew! The quilt is now well on it's way, with a hoped for finish before 2019. (Fingers crossed!) Most of the outline got quilted before the chalk lines disappeared. All major design lines are outlined with 1/2" channels. Using a quilting ruler (in this case Kelly Cline's straight edge ruler ) is very helpful for accuracy. I love these rulers and am getting pretty comfortable with the ones used for stitching straight lines. On my next p...

When quilting on a stationery, domestic machine, the overall visibility of a large design gets lost because the quilt has to be scrunched and bunched to fit into the machine and to distribute the weight. For this reason, taking the time to mark accurately is the first step to a successful result. In my experience, too often impatience has led to shortcuts which more often than not leads to regrettable results. Above is the full size skeleton design of my quilt top, 60" x 80", without borders. Some design details have been drawn on transparent mylar, and overlay the pattern skeleton. Because this quilt is so large, I did my marking in 3 main steps: 1. Registration Lines - the main division lines in the pattern 2. Skeleton - Outline of all design features 3. Detail -Filling in the shapes 1. Registration Lines:  My preferred method for the initial squaring up process and marking of registration lines is done on a clean floor, where the quilt top can be fairly...

No sunscreen required. Hand stitched and corded boutis has been reverse-appliqued into dupioni silk. Batting and a backing have been added, and the whole frame has then been finished with machine quilting. The backing is attached with reverse applique as well. When backlit, the light shines through the boutis, highlighting the design. Another suncatcher catching a few rays. And voila, the boutis comes alive with the light.

In preparation for quilting my large bed quilt , auditioning stitching patterns and thread colours and weights has been an ongoing side project for the last several months. Some of the questions I considered: - Where is the focal point of the quilt? Is there more than one? - How can I create relief around the motif to be highlighted? - Which background filler is the most effective? - Should contrast be created by the colour of the threads or by using varying weights of thread?  Or maybe a combination of both? The 3 samples below are exploring the possibilities. Sample 1 is stitched using the same colours and materials that are in the quilt: teal silk dupioni that has been stabilized, 1 layer of wool batting and a cotton backing. All of the samples are using design elements from the quilt itself. In this first sample I tried my hand at thread painting with a contrasting colour. I used Magnifico, Superior's 40 wt. poly for the outline of the motif, and a 100 wt. silk for ...