Monday, March 17, 2014

Sew-off squares to the rescue


Longtime readers of my blog know that I am enamored of sew-off squares, those little bits of fabric that you sew onto at the end of a seam to make sure your needle doesn't come unthreaded.  For me, they're both an essential sewing technique and an opportunity for small-time creativity.

Depending on what fabrics I'm working with and what color thread is on my machine, the squares end up with quite different characters. I produce these things by the dozen as I do complicated piecing and quilting (practically every seam needs to be sewed off) and stash them in plastic bags. When I needed to make two small pieces for a sale to benefit our local visual art association, I pulled out my bags.

My two pieces used quite different approaches.  For the first one I gathered squares that had been heavily stitched, so densely that they almost became monochromes, obscuring much of the underlying fabric.  I thought they looked rather painterly, especially when placed close together.

For the second piece I chose squares that were not so heavily stitched, and found nine made out of related fabrics (leftovers from two huge striped quilts made two years ago) to arrange into a nine-patch composition.  I sewed them to a linen backing and mounted that to the canvas.

The gimmick of the sale is that all the works were the same size (8" square) and were hung anonymously; people only found out who did their art after they bought it.  I checked out the sale a half hour after the doors opened and was very pleased to see that one of my pieces had already sold; not sure what happened with the other one.






12 comments:

  1. Last fall at the Crow Barn, Nancy collected samples of all of our sew off squares. It was great fun to see everyone's personalities in their squares.

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  2. Wonderful inspiration here. Thanks!

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  3. They are beautiful. I love how you presented them on canvas.

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  4. Great job - and I love that little one with the numbers, too, although, obviously, it's not your's...

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  5. I have never heard of "sewn off squares" and can't figure out what you are talking about. Linda

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    1. Linda -- I guess I need to write about them. Stay tuned...

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  6. Me too. I would like to know more about sew off squares. I do like your painterly one - is it the one that sold?

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    1. no, the nine-patch.

      I think I like the painterly one better too. I thought I had the nine pieces perfectly arranged on the linen (and sewed down) but when I stretched it over the canvas the pieces got out of alignment and look a bit haphazard.

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  7. I have save several of mine, and used a few in some art pieces. But now I will save them all! Yours ar wonderful!

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  8. I, also, have no idea what you're talking about--but the results are great!
    best, nadia

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  9. What great use of imagination and cast off sewoffs and sewons. sew on!

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  10. Love this. I'll be watching for more description of what you did. I like that you are repurposing some bits and pieces. Found you on "Off the Wall Friday!"

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