First Time Stripping

In an earlier post I talked about doing something different with these lovelies.

Over at the "...Fire" blog we had a guest artist for June.  Kathy Loomis posted a tutorial for slicing and stitching fabric (here) that is a fine way to "do" something with those bits and pieces of hand-dyes, monoprints, and artcloths that just need something.  

So I went through the "Summer O' Turquoise" stash and pulled these fine candidates and started cutting strips.

Kathy recommends using "flimsy" fabric for the little strips to avoid adding excess bulk, but I like the sturdiness of the hand-dyes.  I'll have to play around more another time with "flimsy" fabric.

I pulled this monoprint from my stash that I had overdyed with a flour resist (here).  I like the colors but it doesn't really stand on its own.  

I cut some strips from the Caribbean-colored fabrics and joined them end to end.  I ironed the seams open because I figured they would be much easier to insert that way.

This is the start.  The orange/blue stripe was a mistake.  But I decided to go with it.  I kept adding more and more slices and strips until I got this:

This is where I finished.  I really like the thinnest strips.  I think the chunky strips look clunky. The really thin strips (3/4 inch or less before sewing) look much better.  Kathy uses less than 1/4 inch seam for her strips and, while it's scary sewing that tiny a seam, they look much better with the tiny seam allowance.  And it's not like it's going anywhere.  I'll post another photo after I add more strips.  I'm not sure I should continue with the turquoise though...