These are the pages I did for Dianne’s book in our Round Robin. She had a theme of ‘Floral Fantasy’, and had done some beautiful stitching on the covers of her book. It was also in a pink and purple theme, so I tried to keep within those parameters.
I started out by painting the fabric. I used Pebeo Setacolour Soleil, but I unfortunately did this on the dark day in history. It was nice and sunny when I started, but unfortunately the sky turned black by the time I finished painting the fabric. I pressed on, and place assorted leaves onto the fabric, and mounted a light over the fabric to help with the sun-dyeing process. What came out was really unexpected. I’m not sure whether it was something about the maple leaves, but the paints didn’t just bleach under the leaves, they actually created tiny waves of colour. I ended up really liking the result, so I plan to try it again in the future, hoping it wasn’t a fluke.
I created a floral design silhouette in much the same way I designed the cover for my own book, where I would be able to cut away parts of the fabrics. I transferred my design on the fabric and mounted the entire thing onto purple felt using bondaweb. I hand stitched the flower and leaves with a variety of threads, including ribbon thread and embroidery floss, then machine stitched over top with coordinating colours or rayon thread. I also added a few beads to the flower itself.
I mounted the back fabric onto the piece and did the edges using a zig zag stitch and all-purpose thread, and the fabric was then cut away. I usually cut first and zig zag after, but in this case I wanted the purple felt to show slightly. I finished the front edge with a few beads around the border.
I hope you like it Dianne! :)