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Manipulated fabrics - part three



I want to share one final fabric manipulation with you that I've found very helpful in creating a highly textured quilt.  It's the humble ruffle.  But oh my...there are so many different variations on it!



1. Anchor your thread just next to one of the short edges of a strip of fabric.  Do a loose running stitch along the length, and leave an unknotted tail at the other end.  I did a selection of strips with one line of stitching right down the center, one on each edge, and one on each edge with a middle line like the one shown above.



2. Gather the piece of fabric by gently pulling on the loose thread ends.  Work the fullness of the ruffle through the piece to get the amount of puckering that you desire.  When you are satisfied, knot off the loose ends and trim the tails a bit.




3. Pin the fabric to a thin piece of batting if desired.  Stitch through all layers, adding beads to hold the ruffles in place.  You can do this without the batting, but be careful to keep your thread tension very loose.




4. Trim the batting until it is just hidden by the edge of the fabric (not shown).






5. Arrange the manipulated pieces of fabric on top of another flat piece of fabric (or more than one piece, in whatever shapes you want).  I painted a piece of batting and used blanket stitch to attach two flat rectangles of glue gel resist fabric.  I added one additional style of manipulated fabric, some China silk flowers, which are strips that are gathered along one edge only.  Instructions can be found on my Beading Arts blog.   

6. I used blanket stitch to attach each of the manipulated fabric pieces.  I left a lot of painted batting visible around the silk fabrics, and I plan to make some or all of it an actual part of the quilt surface.  It will probably take a year before this quilt is finished, and I'll show you why next week ;-) 


Glue gel resist fabrics
Manipulated fabrics - part one
Manipulated fabrics - part two
Manipulated fabrics - part three

Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Comments

That is lovely, Cyndi. It's so soft and pretty and feminine. I love the muted pastels.
Cyndi L said…
Thank you, Eileen. I'm enjoying the embellishment phase now too :-)
JessicaSews said…
Enjoyed the (three) posts on Manipulated fabrics!
Cyndi L said…
Thanks Jessica! My newest quilt is using one of these techniques, tucks! Vulture Quilt
JessicaSews said…
Well, I'm 'hooked' - there is much to see and read... you'll see me commenting here and there!

I'm off to read on the Vulture Quilt... :)