This is my latest quilt. I have been inspired by all the many hairstyle images on Pinterest. I love the 1940s fashions and hairstyles and there have been plenty of pictures of "victory rolls" and various pin curls and I wanted to do a quilt representing these ideas. When I went to Florida in January I found the large scale print, the dress print, the red wavy stripe and the purple tone on tone dot fabric and suddenly became inspired because I love flowers and I loved the "weird" yellowy lime green. So between the fabrics and my love of the 1940s this is what I came up with. The hair is my favorite part of the quilt and the most challenging. I was looking at images of curls and how the light reflects in certain areas and the shadows are in the depth of the hair and the pin curls. But how to translate that into fabric. I thought if I was doing this as a painting how would I approach it?? I began with the tone on tone dot fabric and had one big piece the size of the entire hair. then I visually sectioned off the highlighted (lighter) areas, the darker areas and the shadows or deepest and farthest away areas. I assigned 3 fabrics to each area and layered and fused them to the base purple fabric. I used a purple fabric marker to define the lines and then when I quilted it I defined it some more and I was satisfied with the victory rolls-it has definition and movement. I could have used fabric paint as a last resort if I wasn't getting the results from the fabric alone but I didn't need it. I have a paper doll book of 1940s fashions which helps me select the right clothing for my lady in the quilt. I didn't go nuts with jewelry just a simple earring make from a flower button and a few beads. The flowers in her hair are cut from leftovers from the large scale border fabric. Fortunately they were mirror images and I fused them back to back, tacked them down and glued a rhinestone to the center. There are a few red rhinestones in the background and a bit of fabric paint on her face for details on the eyes and mouth. She ended up looking a little like Lisa Marie Presley or Bette Midler isn the 1970s!. I did contrasting quilting in certain areas-the striped background got circular quilting and the curvey floral of the outside border got striped stitching. I will enter it in upcoming quilt shows.The second photo is a close up and a follow up of my last post to show the progression of the face as I begin the drawing, the fused applique, the quilting and the details.
It's perfect, Laurie!!! Reminds me of the ads during the war and women working in the factories and being that 50's housewife as well!! As always, a great job!
ReplyDeleteLove it Laurie, great piece.
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie,
ReplyDeleteIt's me again and your work is AWESOME. It reminds me of a fashion magazine layout. You just wait and see they are going to be published in a really big way. I can see it hanging on someones wall. Each woman looks like a model. The hairstyles and pizzazz! Each quilt screams lights, camera, action! The curls are awesome and the quilt draws you in. I keep thinking about the WWII women who kept their hair in those sweeping curls.Similiar to the Anderson Sisters who sang the Bugle Boy song. It definitely pulls me back into the past! Oh, you are going to go far with your quilts. All of your quilts have a place and they look GREAT!