My 1950's Shoe Collection
( or When My Shoe Obsession Began! )
11" x 14"
Hand-dyed and painted cotton, stenciled, rubber stamped, fused.
I'm not sure where to begin. This is my "Plan B" design as I could not get the perspective that I wanted for my first design, which also featured shoes, or rather sneakers. Anytime I can "work" shoes into one of my MM themes, I will!
I have been obsessed with shoes for years and I do believe it started in my childhood. I can remember having 3 pairs of shoes every year probably until I got to Junior High School. Ugly brown 'everyday' shoes; white *Converse sneakers and Sunday 'best' black patent leather Mary Janes for church. I desperately wanted black and white saddle shoes, but that never happened. I suspect my mother thought the white part would always need polishing as I spent a lot of time playing kickball with the neighborhood kids.
I started with a hand-dyed blue fabric background to represent the ocean, lakes and blue skies that I think of when I remember my childhood summers spent in Rockport MA and/or Camp Fire Girls camp. The shoes were constructed and fused to the then quilted background. I had to paint a piece of white fabric brown as I had none in my stash. I also painted the pale blue and pink polka-dotted 'socks' fabric. I could not find any 1/4" satin ribbon ( both Joann's Fabrics and Michael's ribbons were depleted ) for the shoelaces, so I painted two lengths of pale grey ribbon that I own, one white and one brown ( which I would not do again as it became too stiff to tie nice little bows ). The majority of the rubber stamped letters that compose the shoe descriptions were left over from another project, which I thought added a bit of child-like whimsy. The final addition was the stenciled "My 1950'5 Shoe Collection". It wasn't until I put the finished quilt up on my wall to photograph that I realized, instead of "1950's" the stencil I cut was actually "1950'5". Because I cut the stencils myself, I printed them many times 'auditioning' paint colors but never once saw the mistake! I could ( and may still ) cut an 's' stencil, print on a separate piece of fabric to fuse on top of the 5, but at this point, think the mistake is kind of funny, I 'looked, but did not see'.
* Converse Rubber Company founded in 1908, Malden Massachusetts, where I grew up.
Just LOVE this darling quilt, Andrea! I too recall from my childhood having just a few pairs of shoes. Actually, though, before junior high, I'd have just TWO. One pair for school and one for Sunday best! At some point I started wearing sandals for the summer. But wait a minute--what did I wear up to age 12 to camp? I guess some style of sneakers or "tennis shoes" as we in Texas called them. But anyway, your quilt! Absolutely wonderful. I love the shoes, love the laces and am sorry that you had problems finding appropriate ribbons for those! AND I did not even notice the 5 instead of an S! I read an "S" I assure you! As usual, a fantastic quilt and one that fits our theme perfectly!
ReplyDeleteOne more thought: As a little kid up to age 10 or 12, I think I chiefly went barefood all summer!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cute! I like how you placed the shoes on the quilt. The quilting really makes it an interesting background for the letters to land on. I too did not see the 5 until you pointed it out. Thanks for sharing about your painting on the quilt. This is Judy
ReplyDeleteVery cute!! I love the childlike -whimsy of the lettering and the cute depiction of your shoes!! I would not have noticed the extra 5 either if you hadn't mentioned it!! I would not change it because it is something a child could do when writing!! And like Alice, I spent most of the summer barefoot too!! Fun piece!!
ReplyDeletethis last comment was from Nedra
DeleteI had a big belly laugh when I saw our quilt, Andrea, as I, too have 3 pairs of shoes that were almost identical to yours! I did, however, have a pair of black and white sandals once I entered junior high. I absolutely LOVE this depiction of childhood. Clever and well-made!! Carolyn
ReplyDelete