Friday 30 March 2012

Colour My World Black

This month's colour was quite the challenge...at least, I thought so. The low expectations are probably why I'm so happy with the result. ;)

For the black challenge, I thought I'd use solid black fabric and focus on texture. I decided to try two new-to-me techniques for adding texture -- trapunto and fabric folding.


On Wednesday, I showed you my progress on the trapunto. This motif is called Biotribe Logo 1 from Alex Sherman's Contemporary Celtic Motifs book and CD. I really wanted to do a circular celtic knot, but I thought it was probably too complex for my second try at trapunto (the first unsuccessful attempt was on the dots on the red challenge). Wednesday's photo still has the water soluble thread and white clover pen marks. The trapunto technique I used this time is the one taught by Phillipa Naylor on The Quilt Show, when it was free a couple of weekends ago. It worked a LOT better this time.

I saw also saw the fabric folding technique from Rami Kim on The Quilt Show and knew I had to give that a try too. Clearly it was an illuminating weekend!

Here is my finished black challenge.
Front - Black Velvet Band
It kind of reminds of the song, Black Velvet Band. Well, except for the velvet part. I don't think there's a version of the song that I don't like, but I especially love this punk/indie version by the Dropkick Murphys:






Fabric folding - "Her eyes that shone like diamonds"
Trapunto
Back - Black Velvet Band
As with my other challenge pieces, this one is 14.5" by 14.5" unfinished. Part of why I'm so thrilled that the trapunto worked is because I want to do trapunto on another project that's been on hold for a couple of years now. Now I can do it and maybe even finish that project.

I'm linking up with TGIFF!, which is being hosted by the fabulous Fiona at Finding Fifth. She's got a yummy Gelato Log Cabin to share today so check it out when you get a chance. As always, you are also welcome to link up a recent finish of your own.

To see some of the ways other people have used this colour in their quilts, I put together a board on Pinterest. There's quite a variety of styles, which shows black's versatility.

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see what you did with this colour!

The colour for April is yellow. I'll do a post about this vibrant colour in the next few days.

15 comments:

  1. I like all the texture in this block. Those fabric folds are very cool!

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  2. Black is very ticky....you did well. I've added my "Listen to the Mockingbird" mini to your link. I think the black is very effective in this - against the crazy brightness - at calming the image and conveying a story. Thanks for the challenge.

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  3. you did a great job with black. The celtic knot looks fabulous, and the folded fabric adds a lot of interest. Super great texture!

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  4. Whoa, great job! I've never tried trapunto on anything but white or cream. It's really effective on black though. Awesome!

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  5. Great interpretation of the colour and the song!

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  6. oh, and BTW- thanks, now I'm singing... LOL

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  7. Amazing, I love both the folded fabric and the celtic know, wow!!!

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  8. Good job M-R!! A very creative way to use black! As you already know, mine isn't done but I will add it when I find just the right background! This was definitely the most challenging month yet!

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  9. This looks fantastic! Very effective :) Love the fabric folding on the sides too!

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  10. totally gorgeous!

    (P.S. What challenge group is this? Also - I answered your questions today)

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  11. Gorgeous! Love the texture and the fabric folding in this piece, M-R.

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  12. Wow! I love it! two things I plan to try soon: fabric folding and trapunto. Very inspiring!

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  13. Holy moley this is awesome!

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