Hand Dyed Fabrics Embellishing Textile Cards

Recently I tried embellishing my textile cards with additional fabric. Creatively invigorating! It was a technique I tried for the first time over the last three weeks. Why did I do it? Perhaps it was that large box of beautiful, hand dyed fabrics that are either too small or not quite suited alone for a card top. Or was it just time, after years of  free motion stitching details onto my hand dyed fabrics, to explore another method of adding details? Possibly a little of both.

Exploration is fun and sometimes frustrating but it always begets more ideas. I can't wait to dye some additional fabrics specifically for embellishment. More rayon velvet in different colours for sure and I know I have a piece of cotton velvet PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabric that I have never even tried dyeing. The cotton voile purchased from Dharma Trading  should be perfect for adding fabric in a small tube as in the third photo. 

Silk Organza and Silk Chiffon, on the Dharma Trading website, look like they would manipulate well for flowers and foliage. Did I tell myself I need to work through the fabrics I have before purchasing anymore? Hmmm...….

This was my neighbour's favorite card. She described the little bits of fabric to the one flower along with the purple colour itself as being what drew her to this card top. Those tiny circles of fabric were a challenge to cut out but more challenging to just catch the back edge of the center of the circle with the stitching. Worth it though, don't you think?

I know this one isn't too fancy but it was one of my personal favorites. The card looked alright with only the free motion stitching on it but when I added the three purple leaves on top, 'colour' took the center role of this little composition. That particular purple was achieved by over dyeing, in a low immersion dye bath, a peach coloured fabric. One never knows what will produce just the right shade.

Foliage detailing. I can see using this technique a lot in landscapes.

This hand painted fabric was a favorite of one of my neighbour's daughters. She stated she liked the lively nature of the many colours of this hand painted fabric. Yea! That is what I was going for when a painted this cotton cloth. The background is fairly watercolour like so that the solid colour of the added maple leaf really stands out. How very Canadian. 

I have had this piece cut out for awhile as a card top but could never figure  how quite to use it. Allowing myself to add a red piece of hand dyed fabric for a canoe brought life to this piece. When I asked my neighbour's other daughter what image she thought depicted autumn, this was the one she chose. It was so great to have a visit with my neighbours and getting their feedback was so very helpful.

Watch for two more posts about embellishing textile cards. One is about the addition of hand dyed velvet and one is about adding freeform yoyos.