Friday, September 18, 2009

Another Fabric Book

Last year when I joined the Calendar Girls Postcard Group (see link in the side bar) members of the Creative Group at the Guild decided they would like to use the same Calendar and make a fabric page from it as well.
There were 12 members and the idea was that the page would be 6" x 8" and we would swap a page each month round robin style- and at the end of the year we would have a fabric book which included a page from each person.
I have finally finished constructing my book and it will be in the Exhibition in a special section along with the other ladies books.
Because each book has 12 different peoples work in it they created a special section for us to show them off all together.
I have not taken photos of all the pages otherwise this post would be too long.
This is the cover that I made out of a piece of Nuno Felting I did about 8 years ago.
I decided to make a wrap cover and I blanket stitched around the edge of the piece in cream thread and then I whipped stitched the blanket stitch with a variegated Perle cotton.
I used the remainder of the blue thread to make a twisted cord (made on the sewing machine using the bobbin) and this is used to hold the cover in place.




This is the January page that I made and if you look at the January postcard in the Calendar Girls swap (side link) You will see that it is exactly the same design.



These two pages are the August and September ones---


And the October and November ones---



I made a border around each page from Calico then I stitched two pages back to back with a thin Pelon in between.
Next I stitched around the joined pages and then trimmed the page with pinking shears.
Then I stitched them together at the spine.
I remembered that I had purchased last year a set of small tiles which had the name of the months on them so I stitched these onto the appropriate pages.
I placed the cord through the centre pages and took it around to the back where the spine is.
On the cover piece I made a buttonhole loop in the centre of the spine part so that the cord could pass through it and then I could tie the cord in the front.
I can't wait to see how all the other books have turned out.

6 comments:

Penny said...

These look fabulous Doreen, you have been a busy girl. I am trying to catch up with stuff before I go as I will only take sketching stuff with me, but then again I could go mad at Ally Pally!

Heather said...

What a great idea Doreen. I love nuno felt and could just sit and look at it - it seems a crime to stitch on it sometimes. The pages of the book are lovely and the addition of those tiles is the icing on the cake. I would love to be at the exhibition and see all the books together.

Joei Rhode Island said...

Felt??? Did you say Felt? =-)
Looks lovely Doreen...Was the whole project one of flowers?
Very creative the way you finished the edges of the pages.
I would love to be able to see the entire exhibit.

Sandy said...

What a wonderful display.

Janet said...

I wish I could see the books in person. Your photos of the pages are beautiful so I'm thinking in person they must look spectacular! You have such a way with fabric.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

These look great Doreen...are more pictures coming? I'd love to see the rest of your book and pictures of what the others in the group did with theirs.