Wednesday, August 19, 2009

stitches in time



As I contemplate the design of my "willow tree" piece, the question of stitching is paramount at this point. Some time ago, I made a two-sided quilt for our son to use in the Manhattan apartment he shares with his girlfriend. I wanted something modern, and the Gee's Bend aesthetic came to mind -- large improvisational blocks of color, no straight edges.

Our son chose some of the Gee's Bend quilts that appealed to him, and very specifically selected the palette. I interpreted the Gee's Bend pieces more closely than I would now.

Stitching was what distinguished these designs from their forbears, and it is this type stitching that I am contemplating for my current piece - at least some sort of structured/unstructured design. Here are pix of our son's quilt:





Close-ups of the stitching:





I created a 'quadrant' with stitches, and then stitched designs within each quadrant, changing thread color and direction as the muse directed.

The first photo above is a digitally-created amalgam of both sides of the quilt -- this is an effective way for me to test how textile and stitch designs might work. Perhaps I can enlist Photoshop to test some stitch designs before needle and thread hit the cloth in my "willow tree" piece.

2 comments:

Fulvia said...

Pamela, exactly which is the Photoshop mock-up photo? I am unsure ... thanks!

Pamela Price Klebaum said...

The very first photo is a digitally-combined image -- if you concentrate on the different color combinations I used in each side of the quilt, you can track where the quilts converge. p.s. I love your work!!!

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