Thursday, July 30, 2015

Butterfly Fabric Postcard

I am working on catching up my swaps!! Here is the fabric postcard I created for my One for One July exchange on Trading Fabric Post Cards group.  I just discovered this website as well which explains a bit about the group and how it works.
I have really been enjoying making these postcards.  For this one, I started with some dyed silk which my friend Kate showed us how to do years ago when I lived out east!  It is a fun and easy process and I love the soft watercolour look that I achieved in this piece.  It was just the right size for my postcard so I cut a piece of batting and stitched them together using teal, light pink and dark pink thread in wavy lines across the length of it.  Dug through my stash of little scraps looking for something that worked with the colours and chose these ones.  They were donated to me by my sister after she finished making herself a lovely bag for carting her quilting supplies.  I used a butterfly die (SX) to cut the solid shape out of the lighter fabric and the outline out of the darker fabric.  I stitched the light coloured butterfly down first and then overlaid the dark wings and body which I also stitched into place using dark pink thread.  I did add a bit of watercolour to the body to give it a bit of definition before I stitched it down.  I added antenna using dark brown thread and the flight path was executed with light yellow thread in a couching stitch.  I added some yellow sequins and red Ebeads to the wings for a bit of texture and embellishment.  I fused some interfacing to the back to give it more body and added another layer of fusible webbing before laying my white back over my front and stitching the outer edge leaving a gap so I could turn it over.  Once it was turned inside out, I stitched closed the gap and pressed it neatly which activated the extra layer of fusible web securing my backing to the rest of the postcard.  I added a row of stitching all they way around the edge in dark pink and I was done!!   Added my details to the back and it is ready to be mailed off as soon as I get my partners information.

Therese