Sculpting art quilt surfaces

in-Tension - detail

For the past 4 months or so I have been working to develop a new direction for the wall hung quilts I make. I love the sculptural effects that can be achieved with fabric, so my new aim is to create a collection of art quilts that make the most of this. I want to make quilts with sculpted surfaces.
Learning how to do this needs samples, lot of samples. I've been using paper, felt and cloth to understand how lines can become edge and surfaces transformed into volumes. I always love the exploratory phase of any project - in fact I think I may even enjoy this more than the hard work of creating a finished piece. Exploring is so much more liberating!  The only trouble is, there is seldom very much to physically show for it, except a heap of contorted paper. But, I have learned a lot about how to form and control pleats, gathers and tucks, and what combining these structural elements can do to the surface of a quilt. 

Playing with curved folds on paper

Exploring the idea further with fabric

Eventually though, there comes a time to stop sampling and get going!
The red quilt at the top of the post is called 'in-Tension', and is the first full sized sculpted quilt I've made. It took a long time to make! 
 I  deliberately limited myself to 2 super saturated colours which really vibrate together, and 2 simple shapes. I wanted to emphasize the contoured surface to the max, so there is no other detail. The construction stitches double up as the quilting and I used dressmaking techniques to gather specific points together and created giant buttonhole type slashes which later became he dips and ridges created pleats.​

Slashes made using a buttonhole technique

Circles attached by applique

The quilt top before shaping

 
I absolutely loved making this quilt - it was a challenge right from the start and I really like the concept. Creating the quilt top was straightforward, but there are still issues I need to resolve to better control the overall finish. This is how it currently looks.... but further refinement is nescessary.​

in-Tension 40” x 43” x 3” | 101cm x 109cm x 7.5cm

I am presently working on 2 further pieces that continue this concept. I'll post more about them soon.

​Thanks for reading.