About the applique...

It occurs to me that I should talk a bit about how I'm doing my applique, just in case someone else would find it useful.

I got the idea for the candelabrum form from the examples and text I found in the book The History of Decorative Arts: Renaissance and Mannerism in Europe edited by Alain Gruber. Apparently it is a classical design theme which was extensively used in the later Renaissance period due to an upsurge of interest in grotesques following the discovery of some ancient frescoes in Italy. It works for my purposes because of the overall shape, and because it is basically just a whole lot of stands, basins, plates, tazzas, urns and candle holders stacked on top of each other.

I decided to cut some appropriate shapes out of paper and stack them in various ways until I liked the look, then use the selected pieces as patterns.

The process is:

1) fold piece of paper in half and draw/cut out 1/2 of a tazza or other form










2) lay various forms onto my (doorway) panel and play with the design until perfected



















3) number each piece for order and direction so I will be able to recreate the design

4) pin the pattern pieces to my applique fabric--leaving about 1/2" of space between them for seam allowance















5) cut the pieces apart (remembering to leave the seam allowance!)

6) draw around each pattern piece















7) remove pattern and hand stitch around each applique section staying just inside the drawn line (This stitch line ends up being the outside edge of the finished applique piece)
















8) clip the seam allowance in the curves as necessary to make the edges turn back smoothly, then turn, baste and press all the edges






























9) pin the prepared applique pieces to the panel--referring to the notes re order and direction as needed

10) stitch the applique to the panel


















11) remove the basting stitches from the applique

12) do happy dance!

13) repeat as necessary

There are methods for doing applique which would sew the paper pattern into the tent--sandwiched between the two layers of fabric--but I prefer this method, and I get to keep the pattern pieces and use them again for the next panel.

The first panel took just over a week for the whole process but the second one is going much faster--a lot of which is probably due to my developing callouses on my fingers. Canvas is hard stuff to sew by hand!

(Additional pictures posted 3/27/2011)