Create a background - Step 4

Choose your color range, then start auditioning fabrics on your design wall. Your reference photo, a good-quality color print in the size you'll be doing the final portrait in, is a useful tool for the background color selection process. Other tools in this process are a color wheel and a reducing glass. A reducing glass does the opposite of a magnifying glass, making things smaller so you don't have to squint or stand far away to get a sense of the finished portrait. Another good tool is a camera, which acts much like a reducing glass.

I've heard that the best quilts are those that catch the viewers interest from a distance, from the middle range, and also up close, so the extremes of "big picture" (focal point, contrast) as well as details (stitching, embellishment)are equally important.

In my background I've used batiks, satin, silk and tulle in complementary colors, and cut into strips to create texture and give visual weight to the figure.

The strips are laid on a foundation of muslin. I've used a liquid fabric stiffener on the muslin to avoid needing a hoop for the heavy freed-motion embroidery I'll be doing later. I find hoops restrictive to the creative process. I've also used Mistyfuse on the back of the colored strips to avoid puckering. I'll let you know how this works out. The down side is the possibility of too much stiffness and a lack of that "quilted look" once the 3 layers are quilted.

Time to put the first layer of stitching on the background!