Applique picture finished.

I have managed to finish my first Applique picture and I really really enjoyed doing this (except for when the cheap silk thread, and the metallic thread kept shredding and the two needles broke).

All the fabrics used for this picture are scraps left over from garments I have made, which is satisfying on two counts;  I get my picture and I sort of have a memory board of fabrics I have used to make garments.

I tried very hard to find the name of the artist of the original piece, however it was just classified as modern Art Deco piece being sold by a website.

If you look at the flat fabric pieces in the picture below just after I assembled the different pieces, you can see it screams out for texture and contrast and I did this by layering the different coloured threads.

I used my free motion embroidery foot and dropped the feed dogs on my sewing machine.  I initially sat the work in one of my larger machine embroidery hoops, but I found it easier to just do the work flat.  FYI this piece is A4 size or 297 x 210mm or 11.7 x 8.3".

It took a little while to get a rhythm to moving the work around to create my spirals, and texture and painting technique, but once I had done a few times, it got easier. 

I love my first picture, and there is another one in the collection that will sit perfectly with this one,  (I want to display them as a pair) and allow me to use most of the same fabrics, so that is probably my next project.  While future projects may lead me to using some of Wendy's techniques, for the next one, I will more or less follow what I did for the first picture so they look like a pair.

This picture is not perfect, and I am sure the experts will be able to list a number of faults, but I love it.  I found the thread painting very therapeutic, and am looking forward to starting the second piece. 

I have subscribed to Craftsy's Pictorial Quilting Techniques by Wendy Butler Berns and have been watching it as I create my little picture.  There are lots of useful tips that I can apply to future pictorial projects, but I think I have been bitten by another bug lol.

My D Mike has taken some wonderful photos of London which will lend themselves perfectly to being recreated as a piece of art, so subject to time, I would like to see what I can do.

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday - I am back at work on the 2nd January so am making the most of my time off.

Catch you later...........