A from Art Quilt – All kinds of experiments

Inspiration: Upcycle, making something new from a piece that exists. In this series six art-quilts are made from one old damask tablecloth.

This is my last quilt of a series of six, representing letters, corresponding with different textile art techniques. It was a bit strange working on this one, because it is also my last quilt as member of the Fifteen by Fifteen group. Five whole years I joined the group with lots of pleasure. There were so many different challenges, with unbelievable much possibilities to use, the deadlines, reveals and of course, the contact with my fellow members, a group of dear, creative ladies which all have the same love for art quilting. But life goes on, new opportunities are there, more teaching and preparing lessons plus the invitation to join the Colorminds, a group of Dutch ladies, making larger work in pre-arranged colors, which is a big challenge too. So I am leaving the Fifteen by Fifteen group, a new member is already found and I wish Bella Kaplan as much fun and friendship as I found here.

So now to my letter A, it stands for Art quilt and for All kinds of experiments. And this is exactly what I did, I started with needle punching, cut holes in the fabric and embroidered around it, tried to make some darning, to create an ajour effect, found some pieces of synthetic organza, melted down with tyvek and sewed that on and much more. Colored some areias with Inktense blocks, put netting and a glue flower which I used with printing techniques on it and wrote with a textile marker. At last I stitched red cords on top of it all and filled that up with large stitches.

The whole piece is looking like I see the world right now. There is happening a lot, groups of people face each other and each have their own opinion, then there is the quarantine and isolation, grief and fear, but fortunately also hope for change and improvement, togetherness and care for each other, the desire and the will to achieve a more liveable world. This is what I learned as a member of the Fifteen by Fifteen group, to always include my inner world and observations in my art work.

Materials: Damask tablecloth – iron and tea for dyeing –  silk – linen/steel fabric – Mylar – Tyvek – metal foils on the batting behind the holes – all kind of threads – 20/80 batting – cotton backside

Techniques: needle punching – embroidery – hand and machine stitching

   

Full series: