Sue Carrington #3 Wall Hanging ....

'I’ve had an idea brewing for a few weeks on what I might do for this project. I was very lucky to have attended one day of the very last ArtsyCrafts weekends where the project was a sewn book. I loved the idea of using the stitching as the glue to put your project together, so that’s where my inspiration for this project began.' 

I bought some Fat Squares of fabric last year, not really knowing what I would do with them but they were so lovely I had to have them ! I dug them out and decided on 2 that worked well together. I cut the squares large enough for a stamp to sit in the middle and still have space around the edge.

I then started to stamp the images that I wanted to sit in each of the quarters. I’ve used black Archivalink and made sure I re-inked it before I started, when you stamp onto fabric you really need a nice and juicy ink pad to hand. 

I’ve then heat set each image, knowing that I would be painting them and I didn’t want the black ink to run when it became wet from the watery paint. The stamp sets I’ve used are: 

LynnePerrella Collection 010

 LynnePerrella Collection 014

  

LynnePerrella Collection 023

I then painted each image with Fresco Finish paints, keeping to similar colours so that they all blended together. The colours I used were Limelight, Claret, Beach Hut, InkyPool, Hey Pesto and Old Gold. The faces were all painted with VintageLace as a base layer then I mixed some Butternut with the VintageLace to add shading to different parts of the face. To create the pink cheeks on the Oriental image I mixed a tiny drop of Claret to Vintage Lace.

I then frayed the edges of all of the images and painted them using lots of water so the fabric would suck up the paint. The colours I used were Beach Hut, Pumpkin Soup, Claret and Hey Pesto mixed with a little Green Olives. 

I realised at this point that the images weren’t going to look right on the fabric I’d chosen, I needed another layer.

I wanted a pale cream layer, but didn’t have any pale cream fabric. So, I cut another piece of white fabric and stitched it to an embroidery frame so I could get some tension. I spritzed it well with some water then using Vanilla, Cheesecake, Snowflake and a baby wipe I swiped the paint across the fabric. This gave me the perfect off white colour and also the perfect surface to stamp on.

Mini 44

and Mini 56

With the minis I stamped onto the fabric

and then added the key from 

Lynne Perrella Collection 010

and the bunting and sun’s face from  

Lynne Perrella 005. 

The Fresco’s create such a wonderful surface to stamp on, even on fabric.

I stamped a few extra images onto some spare pieces of fabric to use as embellishments.

LynnePerrella Collection 023

 and Lynne Perrella 010.

I painted the flowers and then frayed the edges of the fabric.

 

After I had laid all of the images out I realised I needed one more ! I used the image from the LynnePerrella Collection 005 and painted it in the same way as the previous images. To create the colour around the edge I mixed BeachHut and Inky Pool together.

I then started to pin things into place, my sewing isn’t that good to do it without pins !

Once I’d stitched the first four images in place I added the centre image with a small piece of wadding behind it so it would stand out a little.

I started to place embellishments but felt there was something missing, I wanted something that would make more of an impact. So, I decided to make a flower and for the first 2 layers I die cut 2 flowers using the Scallop Flower die from Crunchy Paper and then painted them with Claret Fresco. It's amazing how the paint easily covers the waxed craft paper so well.

When they were dry I scrunched them up and then brushed some Florentine Treasure Gold over them.

 

I cut three flowers using the small Grunge Flower die from tissue paper, painted them with a mixture of Snowflake and Vanilla and then stamped them with the script stamp from the Lynne Perrella Collection 014.

 

For the centre of the flower I cut two circles from some Organza ribbon and ran the edges along a tea light flame (which was hardly lit!)

The heat melts the edges and makes it shrink slightly leaving you with a cup shape.

 

This is the flower in situ I forgot to take a photo before I attached it !

 

I still wasn’t happy with the embellishments so I painted some Tando leaves with a mixture of HeyPesto and Green Olives and stamped some script on to them using the stamp from the Lynne Perrella Collection 014.

 

Again here they are in situ !

 

I was almost happy with everything but I needed some words. So I used the stamp from the Hot Pick 1205 set.

I love this stamp! Instead of Fresco’s I used some Antique Linen Distress Ink to colour the white fabric this time.

Finally, happy with all of the embellishments (it took me 24 hours to be happy!) I stitched lace to the top and bottom of the hanging. I doubled it up across the top so that I could slide a piece of dowelling through it. I glued two metal beads to either end and added a bead embellishment to the tied cord.

Here’s a close up of the finished project. I absolutely loved making this project, the PaperArtsy products are a joy to work with. 

 

This four month journey has flown by, I can’t believe my last project to share is tomorrow !

See you then, Sue ! 

Leandra says: What a fantastic project Sue. Certainly brings back lovely memories of that ArtsyCrafts fabric project. I really loved that class too. It's surprising how you can treat layers of fabric the same way as layers of paper, and all the same principles apply, it's just softer!

Gillian says: A beautiful fabric collage Sue, love how you have pulled it altogether. Those LP images are just perfect for this kind of project.