Monday, June 29, 2009

COMMISSION

I've been working on a commission.....and enjoying the process. The wall quilt will coordinate with this bedroom's decor and will replace the picture.


This detail of the machine embroidery on the quilt provided an inkling of an idea for my design.


Originally I thought about making an Amish style quilt since the owners didn't want the piece to be too busy.

But, sometimes even solid fabrics can be visually heavy, so I opted for what I hope will illustrate their love of the outdoors, and complement the patchwork and curves of the bed quilt. There will be three panels, featuring machine appliqued leaves. The background is a non-bleached muslin......unfortunately most of my photos make it appear darker.

4-patch unit strips will be placed between the panels. Here I simply cut out a few tea-dyed muslin squares (finished size 1") and positioned them in place to double check the visual impact.

Almost done......colors more true in the photo.

Top is finished......now the machine quilting begins. I can handle straight stitching...no problem, but this free-motion stuff is NOT something I've ever conquered or frankly, like to do. I'm not having fun doing the background quilting in the leaf panels.....but if I'm not too embarrassed with the results, will post a photo upon completion.

5 comments:

Julie Bagamary said...

It's looking good Mary, nice design.

Mary said...

I love the quilt but I also don't like to do machine quilting. Is it something you could have a long arm quilter do or are you supposed to do it yourself?

How do you go about designing for commissions?

The Inside Stori said...

Here's a reply to Gwendie's questions.....I probably could have hired out the quilting....but I'm a do it yourself kinda quilter. I approach commissions pretty much the same way I design my own work....sorry, this isn't very specific......I truly work by instinct. In this case of course I was guided by specific requirements such as size, color, personal taste (nothing fussy), and on my part.....time commitment related to compensation!

yui said...

Hi! I'm behind you.
Good luck!

Carol Sloan said...

Don't let her fool you - Mary did a wonderful job quilting this! She is just being too hard on her little bitty self...