Abstract Chair Study #2

First, I want to thank all of you for the suggestions and input. I tried to respond to you individually if an email was provided. Several had mentioned things I had already been thinking. Several had some new ideas.

Today, I worked on another chair. I incorporated some of these suggestions. This piece has a completely different feel and the intention was very different. (The photo is a little darker than it actually is.) I had done several sketches in my sketchbook and was planning on doing another with the hand dyed fabrics. But as I went to the sewing room, I said, "Why don't I try it with commercial prints first, just for fun?"

I already had some scraps that had fusible webbing on them. That led my choices as I wanted to use them up and not start with new fabric. Here is what is different about this one:

1) I went back to the Peltex as a base and cut it in a regular rectangle (with right angles). It is 8" x 10".
2) I started with the background first and started randomly cutting and laying out the pieces, trying not to make all the edges line up (I will discuss more about this later).
3) I left the chair centered but after having the chair on top, I thought the light pink to the right needed something else. I added a strip of fabric and created a not-so-abstract vase with flower stitching.
4) The thread I used for the black outline is Jean thread (much thicker and I like it better).
5) Since the background already had lots of pattern, the thread I used for the background is the invisible thread. I did long up and down lines, but I did not use the straight stitch, I free motioned it. I like it much better as it has the same quality line as the black lines. I also made the lines very close together. You probably cannot see it this picture.
6) I thought the back was nice, so I did not put on a backing and finished the edge with a zigzag stitch. It is more of a burgundy color but seems more black in this picture.


Here is the back. The up and down lines had gray thread in the bobbin. The vase is floating since I didn't want to outline any kind of table on the front. I have discovered that I cannot sew my signature (initials) the same way I write them as I lift my hand from letter to letter. I will have to find some other way for it to work.


I am quite pleased with this piece. As I said earlier, I had a different intention with this. In the first piece, I purposely wanted to line up the background blocks with the chair blocks as I wanted the chair to become even more abstract. Is it a chair or just a set of blocks? Maybe if I had not titled it, that would have helped. Either way, the finished piece did not match the intention. I am planning on trying it again. I also plan to continue trying with different intentions and incorporating some more of the suggestions.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. Obviously, I have not been doing yard work, laundry or grocery shopping that I should be doing!