"Dwell in Possibility"

Melody finished covering the basics of fabric fusing in her on line class and has recently been addressing individual questions. The class will continue at an intermediate level and she will put out a challenge that we can apply to our own projects and designs using skills we have learned.  I'm in! 

This week's challenge was to do some sort of a composition that could best be done by fusing...rather than traditional stitching. It could be anything and any size.  I woke up in the middle of the night knowing I wanted to do a little fabric weaving. 

I cut random strips of fused fabric and tacked the ends to my release paper with a piece of fused muslin.  I wanted to keep one end held down while I wove in the strips going the other way.

One I had it the size I wanted I could peel it off the release paper because it was all fused together. I snipped off the muslin and cleaned up the edges a bit.

I like the way it looked on dark cobalt blue hand dyed fabric 

and I added one of the little quotes from my experiment a few days ago.

I cut out a piece of my new batik (with fusing) that would wrap all the way to the back of a 5 x 5 chunky canvas.  I cut out the middle because it would be under the design....fused fabric is precious so why hide and waste it. Thanks Melody...this is a nice little square for something else.

I also learned from Melody that you can fuse fabric right onto a canvas. Who knew?  So that's what I did....trimming and folding as I went to create a fabric covered frame.  I was giddy seeing how well this worked. 

Next I cut the middle out of a piece of gold hand dyed fabric and overlayed a piece of cobalt blue and fused it together.  After I stitched around the blue, I trimmed the gold down to an 1/8 inch.                                                                                                      

I fused the whole thing onto the canvas....added a little fused circle as a focal point and stitched on a button. 

And finally....I added a little "joy" on the side...and there you have it....a fabric project best done by fusing.
Next time I'll do more top stitching because I think it adds an interesting textural element. Stitching lines along the weaving could have been pretty cool. It's all about experimenting...and there's always a next time. I dwell in possibilities!

Paul and I are going to a wedding this weekend...and this will be part of our gift. (Paul is actually performing the wedding.)

Do you notice the sliver of soap at the top left?  Another tip from Melody for marking lines for cutting.  The marks just fade away during the ironing process.  I'm learning so many cool tips and tricks!