I have a limited amount of space – my studio is also my office. I don’t do well with clutter (it makes me nervous) so I try to limit myself to one project at a time.
A friend and neighbor, Megan, runs a camp at Burning Man every year. She is a hooper and the photos and videos I’ve seen of her hooping are so graceful that I was inspired to try to capture that grace, and all the colors and craziness of Burning Man, in a collage quilt.
This project was completed Nov. 15, 2023. Scroll down to see the completed project.
This is the photo that I used. The background is daytime, but I wanted it to be more colorful so I went looking for fabric that would depict the random colors of Burning Man at night. In the meantime, I started on the figure. You’ll notice that I chose a photo without the face showing. Megan has a lovely face and I would rather hide it than mess it up! The glasses give a nice hint of perspective.
I increased the size of the photo in Photoshop and then printed it poster style. Then I traced the hooping figure on parchment paper, traced the individual pieces onto LiteSAS2, then selected and cut the fabric pieces, tacking them together with a touch of a dry iron.
I did the hair with fine yarn and embroidery floss, placing the yarn directly to the sticky SAS. It will be sewn down on the head, but I will not finish placing the strands until it is quilted down.
I don’t like this background at all, but I haven’t ironed anything down yet. Back to the fabric stash to find something much more splashy.
I think this fabric will work. Before I put the figure on the background, I sewed all the pieces together with transparent thread, including some stitching on the head to hold the yarn down. The strands are still loose.
The size will be about 16″ x 16″ when finished. Megan will decide how she wants it finished: hanging sleeve, faced, or framed.
Here is the completed project. Megan asked for a faced finish. Completed Nov. 15, 2023.