How to Create the Large Purple Ruler Work Wreath
Yin and Yang in My Sewing Room
Trapuntoed Ruler Work-Part 2B
We covered the first steps in creating the trapuntoed ruler work block above in an earlier post; you can find that post by clicking here. This left us at this step:
I used the same PTD 12 arc ruler to add 8 arcs along the outside edge, then I added a 1/4 inch channel, a 1/2 inch chaneel, and another 1/4 inch channel. My goal in doing this is to have one channel I can fill (the 1/2 in wide channel), and an inner and outer channel to set that filled channel “off,” or make it more interesting and intricate with very little work. Here’s what that looked like before I had filled the middle channel:
…and here’s what it looked like once that 1/2 inch wide channel had been filled with a row of pearls. Notice that the row of pearls really creates a visual ring around the mandala:
This next move is kind of subtle. I used a bluish-purple trilobal polyester thread to fill the long inner “triangles” with featherettes. This was a subtle way of adding a new color to the design:
I then swapped to a different thread color (light aqua), and added a different featherette design to the outer triangle shapes:
I went to hyperquilt it but was timid at first and only hyperquilted every other featherette in the outermost triangles:
And remember, the whole point of this “experiment” is that all these blocks will eventually be pieced into a quilt where all the ruler work will be trapuntoed, so I flipped this block over and trimmed away all the excess batting that fell outside the design, so here is what it looked like at the very end:
This final shot below will give you a bit of a sense of the effect of trapunto. This next shot shows the block after the quilt has been pieced and I’ve outlined “zones” of this mandala with invisible thread. You can really appreciate the effects of the trapunto and I haven’t even quilted anything in the area surrounding the mandala yet:
Stay tuned!
Trapuntoed Ruler Work-Part 2A
This is the 2nd block in my trapuntoed ruler work quilt; you can read about creating the first trapuntoed ruler work block by clicking here. This block began just like before, by subdividing it with 8 soaplines that intersect in the center of the block. I then used the largest template in the PTD Flower Template set to create my center-most shape:
Next, I left my pin in the center of the block but swapped the flower template to one of my Westalee Circles on Quilts templates. I choose a circle size that was just a tad bit smaller than the center of the flower template I’d just stitched. The circles on quilts templates are fun and you stitch the circles by “riding” inside the cut-out channels as shown below:
Once my circle was stitched, I swapped to a different Circles on Quilts Template that allowed me to stitch a circle that was just 1/2 inch smaller in diameter. This allowed me to create a narrow channel and adding a channel always makes a design look more interesting:
Notice that my center pin is still in place. That was deliberate as I thought I’d probably stitch another circle. I swapped to a different color thread, then stitched a much smaller circle. I swapped thread colors again, and used 2 different arc rulers to form a small curved “square” on point with tapering channels in the smallest circle:
Finally time for a bit of “fill-in” work! I added a small featherette inside the square on point, then used my soap lines to guide me in stitching 4 featherettes inside the large “spine zone:”
Next, I hyperquilted the lavendar featherettes with gold polyester thread and added small featherettes inside the flower petals. (Sorry, the colors on this next photo are totally off!)
Before I go any further, doesn’t it strike you that the flower shape we began with really doesn’t seem much like a flower anymore? I made tick marks on the center of each flower petal (they’re on the template), then used an arc ruler to add curved triangles that spring from the flower edge. It was easy to create a tapering channel around the triangles y marking a temporay tick mark 3/4″ further out than the point of each triangle:
This design is far from complete but there are so many steps that it’s too much for one post! See you soon with Part 2B details that will explain how to take the design above to the design below: