Kathy's Spring: "It All Started with THE GOWN"

"It all Started with the Gown"

Sometimes the biggest challenge for me is narrowing down the ideas that come flying into my head when we get our Challenge word.  "Spring" can mean so many things, and one of my first thoughts was an interpretation of "Time" as in the mainSPRING of a watch or time piece.  I'd even selected fabrics that would have perfectly conveyed that idea.  (They're still sitting on my Studio table !)

And then I saw "The Gown."    At a teeny-tiny "estate sale" we just happened upon, I wandered through the old house, in and out of all the rooms... just kind of looking around.  And there...hanging on an old wire hangar was simply, the most beautiful Gown I've ever seen.  Made of pure silk with pink silk ribbons, it embodied the purest thoughts of early love, romance, marriage, and the longevity of a tried and true relationship.   The silk is old; judging from some of the framed pictures in the house, I'd guess the gown was made in the 1930's.  The silk was cut on the bias; it hangs beautifully on that old wire hangar; and I can imagine how gorgeous it looked on the tall, slender woman who first wore it....perhaps on her wedding night.  Many of the lace pieces were sewn on by hand; there are tiny bust-line darts that give shape to the bodice; the pink silk ribbons tie at the waist line giving the entire piece just a bit more shape.   Simply put, it is an exquisite piece.

the beautiful gown!

Made of silk, the Gown is soft, demure, romantic; simple, luxurious in its own way.  It made me think of a wedding.  Weddings... flowers... bouquets.  And my random thoughts worked their way into the beautiful "Spring" quilt shown below.

Using a brand new package of stencils from Amy Butler (one of my favorite designers !) I selected a stencil that reminded me of a Spring Wedding Bouquet and stenciled the motif onto silk organza.  I used a combination of Jacquard textile paint and Lumiere metallic / pearlescent textile paint to give the motif a luminous quality.   I then made a basic quilt "sandwich" using water-mark taffeta for the top / 100% cotton batting / and pink cotton fabric printed with sentimental words like family, love, comfort, harmony, celebrate, etc. for the backing.   I free-motion quilted that basic quilt using Madeira 30 wt. variegated rayon thread and Madeira clear monofilament thread in my bobbin.    

After quilting that basic quilt, I 'fused' the stenciled silk organza to the quilt using a new-to-me product called Ultraviolet Misty Fuse that I learned about at the Int'l Quilt Festival in Houston last November.  It was amazing !   The Misty Fuse actually merged the silk organza to the the small quilt and they became as one unit.  I then free motion quilted around the stenciled motif; prepared and attached the binding and hanging sleeve.

This was one of the most enjoyable MM pieces I've worked on, and I attribute its success to that soft, simple, beautiful Gown that was so inspirational.