4th Birthday Portrait Quilt

   Traditionally, I make a small quilt birthday card for my grandchildren to go with their gifts. Since David's birthday is near Christmas, I use materials I find on hand since time is crowded.

    I found a sketch I had made of David using a marker. It looks as if I may have traced over a photograph which I had enlarged. I made two copies on my copy machine and scanned them to fit a size 8 1/2' x 11" sheet of paper. Of course I used a printable fabric, not paper, of that size to print the line drawing.

     Next, I ironed Wonder Under to the back so I could laminate the fabric with the drawing onto a background. Mistake #1. I had wanted to embroider the lines with black thread but this is not easy to do once fabric has been laminated. I learned that other people use invisible ink for their embroidery lines. Mistake #2. I had used up the Cars fabric, our theme this year. In a hurry I settled for Batman and numbers. Later I found Cars fragments which I laminated, cut out and stitched around. Mistake #3. You can see through the white fabric, but it shows how colorful David is. Mistake #4. It was late. I forgot to change the thread for the binding. It looked messy so I further messed it up more with puff paints. I was distracted listening to Tom Wolfe's new book Back to Blood. But I think the card is lively and cute. I dried it on the radiator and added a cupcake.

      I love it when David says, "For me, LinLin?" I say, "Yes:" and he adds, "Oh thank you, LinLin! My quilt," and hugs it. Most of the time, to get done all I want to do, I can't worry about "perfect."

Fabric Portrait Quilts: some references and ideas

     I wrote on October 26, about a portrait fabric workshop I took with Esterita Austin. I thought I would pass on some book titles I have found since then that might be helpful using fabric and soft textile paint (So Soft, Jacquard).

     In the past, when painting oil portraits, if something did not look right, and I had a photo, I would scan it into the computer and use a filter in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to get a fresh look at what was wrong. The Cut-Out filter or the Posterizing filter were amazingly helpful to find the needed emphasis.

     Now I am thinking about making a small wall portrait quilt for someone's gift from fabric rather than oil paint. One idea is to take a photo, remove the color and use a filter. You would outline the shapes on freezer paper, cut out each shape as a template for fabric, cut fabric in one of the 5 values from white to grays to black, fuse each piece w an iron to a background fabric and layer the finished piece to batting and a backside fabric...finishing the edges and quilting as inspired. Susan suggested I use this photo of Beth and the girls. Click to enlarge.

cut-out filter

original

color removed

Photo-Inspired Art Quilts: From Composition to Finished Piece by Leni Levenson Wiener

Portraits for Fabric Lovers by Marilyn Belford

Work in Fabric & Thread by Deidre Scherer
Portrait Quilts: Painted Faces You Can Do by Bonnie Lyn McCaffery 

and thanks to Sharon (in comments): Quilting Arts Workshop Making Faces: Beginning and Advanced Portraits  (DVD) by Maria Elkins

Funny Face: a journal quilt

This afternoon, I felt I should make a journal quilt about the water supply problem in Boston. However, I was still curious to make a portrait like the ones Clara Wainwright led the townspeople of Gloucester to make (see Sunday's post, May 2). I thought I would create one of Beth for Mother's Day with the children on her necklace; and then make all my friends for a quilt or get them to. Then I decided since this would not be a realistic portrait, it might not be fair to subject friends and family quite yet. YET!

So....I prepared a background for my visage. Thank goodness I don't look that way. I cut out pieces of fabric, free hand, thinking teaching, books, crafts, drawing. I held the fabric scraps in place by light dabs of glue. Then I tried different feet on the sewing machine (mistake). Very messy. Then it became apparent I would need to use netting for the unraveling elements. I understand only maroon netting works. Here is the monster! Artists never give up but maybe sometimes they should :*)