Saturday, 1 February 2025

Mosaic: Vintage Brooch

For this theme of Mosaic, I was not looking forward to adding fusible web to small pieces of fabric and then trying to manipulate them into place.  Fortunately I found the work of Colleen Ansbaugh!  In an article in the Fall 2021 issue of Quilting Arts, she recommended putting down a large area of fusible web as a background, and then adding the small pieces of fabric on top.  And then once they were all fused in place, adding a layer of netting to hold all the edges down through the stresses of stitching.

So that is the technique I followed, to recreate the look of this vintage brooch on a larger scale.




I cheated a little bit by "binding" it with a large wooden hoop. :)

This is not one of my favorites.  When I look at the individual pieces of each flower, I feel like I copied the original satisfactorily, but the overall effect reminds me of a red crab and two eyeballs.  Even my phone suggested the "food" filter when I took the photo.  And I don't think I will be doing this technique again -- I do not enjoy working with tiny pieces.  But as always, I enjoyed the process and stretching my skills!

If you would like to see more of the steps of creating this piece, you can visit my blog Deep in the Heart of Textiles. 


10 comments:

  1. I like the addition of the hoop for the finish, it gives a nod to the pin. I'm chuckling over the crab - I don't see a crab, but I get what you mean. A current project I'm working on has done the same thing, given me an image I can't get out of my head. Anyway, it's a lovely finish!

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  2. Thanks, Wendy! It was good to start out the year trying a new technique, but I am more of a stitch-and-then-reslice person so these little bits were not for me. :)

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  3. Oh...interesting! I love how this turned out. I might have to try this myself.

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    1. If you do try this technique, I would be interested to see what you come up with, because you do so well with small bits of fabric, color and value, etc!

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  4. I love it and I love how you made me smile at your reaction to your piece. It's definitely unqique and the colours are very appealing, it makes me look closer but maybe thats the eyes drawing me in!

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    1. I will have to try for that reaction in more pieces -- "Look closer, this piece is hypnotizing you...." :)

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  5. I like this a lot, but now you have mentioned the crab and eyeballs I will only see that every time I look at it :) I think we are all our own worst critics :)

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    1. It would be interesting to really push the crab and eyeball appearance and try to present myself as a surrealist designer like Schiaparelli. :)

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  6. Your brooch is beautiful and I very much like your mosaic piece. That sounds like a more clever process than trying to stick all the pieces one by one :)

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    1. Thanks, Janine! The process did give me more appreciation for all the work that went into these mosaic jewelry pieces, but I will be glad not to do it myself again. :)

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