I created this fabric postcard for a birthday swap on
my fabric postcard group. I started with a portion of
a fabric collage which I created a while back using a variety of strips I purchased at a thrift store. I had perused my inspiration folder earlier in the day and found one that had a large leaf so decided to make that my theme. I was having difficulty envisioning anything that seemed reasonable so I went back to the folder to see what had inspired me and I could not find the image I had checked out earlier so I was left to go back to creating without any further input. I eventually chose this pink solid and floral that coordinated to create my leaf by stitching two small pieces together to create the center line. I used a pencil to draw the leaf before cutting it out and then I laid it onto my collage. I thought it needed a bit of a stem but pink seemed out of whack so I chose two pieces of green from my small bits stash. I layered them and slipped them underneath the leaf before I added stitching. I used dark green thread for the stitching passing over the perimeter several times. Next, I did the center line and all the veins several times. To finish off the postcard I cut a piece of batting and an ivory cotton backer, pinned them together and stitched all the way around the edge and then filled in between the edge and the leaf in an all over pattern. I dug through the baggie of strips (the same ones I used for the collage) to see if had something that would work for the binding. I found this great fabric with a greenish background and some flowers some of which worked with the pink leaf so I applied fusible webbing to the back of several strips to create my binding. It was easy enough to trim the strips to the length I needed and then fuse them one at a time to the postcard. I started with doing the front left hand side and next I fused the strip to the back. I repeated this three more times to finish all the sides. I stitch twice all the way around using pink thread. I like this binding method. After a bit of checking it out I decided that I needed to add some yellow green thread to the leaf to help it fit in better with the whole postcard so I dug through my thread stash, found what I needed and added the stitching. That helped to make it all work together. I dug through my little stash of inkjet printed quotes and chose this one about focusing on what you want to add to my postcard. The whole fabric sheet was fusible before it was printed so I simply needed to trim it out and adhere it to my card. I decided to add stitch just for fun!!!
Mine does not seem to be a beautiful as the one I recollect seeing in my inspiration folder. I am not sure what I am missing but I expect it has to do with my colour choice. I did audition LOTS of fabrics before I chose the pink but maybe I should have kept trying. I am happy with how it turned out but next time I think I will have to create more contrast between the background and the leaf for the whole design to be more effective. It is always a learning experience!!!!
It will be off to my partner in time for it to arrive for her birthday!! Therese
