Reveal April Journal: "Clarice Cliff Revisited"

Clarice Ciff Revisited

My inspiration:

I like to watch Flog it on BBC with my DH and off course guessing at what price the items will be flogged (DH is very good at this). Every once in while there will be some handpainted pottery by Clarice Cliff, an artist from the Art Deco period. I always like the bold, bright colors she uses and the big patterns. This time there was a pair of mugs and what attracted my attention was this unusual color combination of a big orange/pink sun. Well, we assumed the two mugs would fetch a couple of hundreds pounds, but the price kept going til 1.400 pounds! I guess they won't end up in a kitchen LOL. I thought I would use the image for a journal quilt to try two new techniques; freezer paper applique and doing an 'overal quilting design' using the backing fabric as a pattern.

The proces: (experienced quilters better skip this in order not to be bored to death LOL)

I first made the drawing like I remembered the mug, keeping the shapes very simple. I taped the drawing against the window with the freezer paper on top to trace the pattern.

I cut out the parts and ironed the parts I needed (sun and flower) to the fabric. I cut them out with a seam allowance and used glue to fold it around the shape.

I sewed them down with invisible thread, using the blind hem stitch. The applique foot I purchased for my Pfaff was a real help. I still wonder if there exist such a thing as invisible machine applique but I'm getting closer.

It always seemed a lot of work to me to cut away the fabric from the back in order to remove the paper, but by making damp the fabric and paper it releases more easy than I expected.

I love machine quilting that goes 'all over the place' without any regard to the pattern of the quilt but haven't done much more than meandering or loops etc.

In "Color Fusion" a great book by Laura Heine she explains how she uses the backing fabric as a quilt pattern, putting the top thread in the bobbin. Of course not every fabric is usable, it should have an outline design, not to small and preferable not overlapping. I went three times through my stash to come up with one that seemed do-able (once I get an idea I won't give up LOL).

Backing fabric

I had a hard time when I started because it can be confusing which line to follow but as I went along I loosened up a bit and eyeballed more the shape I should sew. I didn't like it in the beginning, but decided to go on and the end result of the quilting is okay.

I guess this pattern is also possible to do free hand (doodling like Ricky Timms) but with the right backing fabric it saves a lot of marking.

Detail quilting:

I used Sulky cotton 30

I was surfing on the excellent website of the fanclub of Clarice Cliff www.claricecliff.com when I found the following pattern in the index: http://www.claricecliff.com/cgi-bin/patterns2.cgi?pattern=sunray I wondered if this it what I originally saw on tv or a variation (you might understand why I didn't start the reveal with this image LOL).