Improvising
Structures #97 (In Progress) ©2008
Basting on a Bed
This evening I layered the composition for Structures #97 with the batting and backing, so I could baste the layers together with safety pins, before I start the surface stitching. As I talk about in my how I baste blog post, this step is extremely important in ensuring a flat finished piece.
I’ve perfected my method by pinning the layers to the carpeting in my studio (see the post above for details). I know exactly how tight to pull each layer for it to come out right for my style of stitching.
Problem is there’s not a lick of carpet in my new little house. Hardwood floors everywhere. I’ve been pondering how to baste this quilt for a week and finally came upon the idea of basting it on my son’s queen sized bed - the only large flat surface in the house.
It worked out quite well and I think the final textile painting will be wonderfully pucker free. Although I have to admit I had to remove at least 80% of the pins and redo them as I ended pining the layers to the mattress pad. I finally got my long rotary cutting acrylic ruler out to slide between the quilt and bed to prevent this little problem. With carpet, if a pin catches some fibers I can just yank it up and no harm is done.
The Right Tools
Today Photoshop CS3 arrived at my house and I installed on my new laptop. It’s amazing what 4 gigabytes of memory and a fast processor can do to speed up the manipulation of images. It’s wonderful. I’ll save hours of time each month not sitting around waiting for photoshop to load my huge raw image files.
The other exciting news is that I can process the raw images from my new Nikon D200 with this set up. I was unable to get my older version of photoshop to behave with a mixture of D70 and D200 raw images. This means I can now take my own high resolution images for publication.
Finally, I have all the right tools to do what I need with my images. It’s definitely time to take some classes to learn how to use them instead of my very improvised methods I use today.
Posted by Lisa in: Making Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Tagged: making art, new laptop, photographing artwork, photoshop, stitching, studio
mikawendy said,
August 11, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
Thanks for posting the pic of basting a quilt on a mattress. I have hardwood floors, and the open space is only large enough for a double size quilt–or a queen if it’s a REEEALLY tight fit, so I’ve never thought of using the floor. I pin baste on the floor usually (I tape the backing fabric to the floor with painter’s tape), but using the bed sounds like an interesting idea.
I’ve read books that show how to use a table to baste part of a quilt 1/2 or 1/4 at a time, but it sounds like so much hassle–and a likely way to get wrinkles in the middle of the quilt.
Patty said,
August 12, 2008 @ 5:06 am
I am really blessed when it comes to basting my quilts together. 8 or 9 years ago I had my dad build me a table. It is made with two 4′ x 8′ sheets of 3/4″ plywood. One of the sheets was split into 2′ x 8′ lengths and hinged on the 4 x 8 so I can set the table to be 4′ x 8′ , 6′ x 8′ by swinging up one leaf, or 8′ x 8′ with both leaves up. It is the perfect height also since I am short. No more crawing on the floor or partial basting. It does take up a lot of room and the only place to set it up was in the basement at my house in Dover. But when I had to move to Akron, the house I was looking for had to have a big enough room for my table to be in my quilting studio - that was the top priority over just about anything else. I have a tendancy to make really big quilts - sometimes more than 8′ long - so this table is just the ticket! The table does not have any finish on it so the bare wood gives just enough grip to help the fabric stay put with some tape basting around the edges.
Deirdre said,
August 12, 2008 @ 9:29 am
Thanks for the basting tips.
I bet you are excited about the new program (and faster computer). If you haven’t done it yet, check out Lynda.com they have GREAT videos to teach you how to use almost every program and their photoshop ones are really good. If you just join for 1 month its even cheaper than a book.
:-D eirdre
Jill Lee-Jones said,
August 13, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Thanks too for the basting tips…I’ve noticed that not only do some of those safety pins make big holes, they can be too blunt or have a snag on the end that actually causes a run (like in a nylon) in some fabrics! Grrrrr…
Lisa, I have a another question for you. I have 3 white Persian cats…how do you deal with the inevitable cat hair that gets on quilts? I have my studio in a completely different building than where my cats are and I still get hair on my quilts. I’ve used lint rollers, masking tape…all to no avail…maybe it’s just that long hair really sticks!
Jill
gregory said,
August 13, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
Hi Lisa,
At times in my graphics work we’ve gone with images of artists work for different purposes/programs with the approval of the artist. So it is good to hear you archive hi-resolution images of all your work as it can be an additional revenue source even after the physical piece has been sold.
GV
gregory said,
August 13, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
On Another Topic …
I was going to send you an e-mail on receiving Squares #4 from you but thought I would put my comments it in your blog because I am so impressed.
I received your Squares #4, and it is soo much better to see in-hand than as an image on the computer! There is a lot more to the color variations and value changes and the stitching in it is just awesome … it has so much depth. Also, the craftsman is incredible … as a working designer and artist I am more than impressed! And, of course am very happy.
GV
Lisa Call said,
August 13, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
mikawendy - I’ve tried the table top method - don’t really like it. I’m a big fan of crawling on the floor. I’m also partial to soft surfaces for the basting as the way I do it, it turns out exactly as I like it.
Wow Patty - that is quite the table - cool!
Deirdre - thanks for the tip - I will definitely check them out
Jill Lee-Jones - I use a lint roller - over and over. Every piece is rolled extensively before I ship it out the door. My cats are now living in my bedroom studio almost all day long. It’s cat hair central. I’m looking forward to more space with the theory it will be more diluted.
Gregory - yes - some of my older work I don’t have high res images of and a few times really could have used them. Scanning slides is not the same thing at all.
And thank you so much for the positive review of my work. I’m glad you like the piece !