Sheer Crazy! Holiday Patchwork Photo Memory Pillows

August 7, 2013 Paula Scaffidi

Color your Photos and Fabrics with Software and Sheers

I guess it’s true. All memories are colored the way we’d most like to remember them. At any given moment we can view the world through rose-colored glasses or take a moment to indulge in the warm mellow light of a comforting memory. In this project I’ve applied “color-drenched lenses” to revisit a vintage family photo. Seeing familiar images “in a new light” is both interesting (if you like fabric shopping) and fun (remembering another time with loved ones).

Since this is a scrappy project, I had everything I needed on hand. So in lieu of long lines and crowded stores and parking lots, I decided to put on some tunes, made a cup of tea and had a fun sewing adventure. It’s easier than you think to create a few special gifts that could never be bought.

Layering patchwork areas with sheers and generous use of decorative stitching is so relaxing. Looking through a sheer fabric not only suggests the unveiling of memories. The use of sheer fabric and ribbons can also “glaze over” any not-so-fantastic moments of decorative stitch selection, stitch placement and thread color. Why not just experiment freely with your decorative stitches, right on a project… and never pick out a stitch. Just view it all through the lens/sheer fabric of your choice.

Strip-piece your crazy patchwork on a foundation, working out to the sides from the center. [For a stitch-and-flip patchwork tutorial, see Lindsay Conner’s tutorial on Craftsy at http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/04/stitch-and-flip-tutorial/ – Jo]

Explore Decorative Stitches and Trims

While highlighting a cherished memory with family, I’m also able to satisfy a sewing curiosity. What can I do with all those decorative stitches?

I really wanted to learn more about how the visual language of it all works; and not just what the buttons on my sewing computer can do. … design queries, example: How do various stitches look together? What happens if I change needles and use a thicker thread? Would a combination of two stitches look better here than one? … stabilizers….

A library feeling for my Dad’s house; just right for a beige chair facing the fireplace.

Color-enhanced images become decorative fabric. This pillow combination has more of a Victorian love-of-ornamentation feeling to it; and is least conventional in its coloration. I may have to keep this one for my chaise in our library-living room. I can’t wait to sew on the trims I’m auditioning.

The third photo here is the family portrait seen through “rose-colored-glasses.”

My sister (pictured holding me) loves primary red and traditional Christmas colors. To me the piecing (above) seems like a house and you’re peeking through our window. Some scraps of Seminole piecing also ended up here.

Wooden buttons and a country simplicity are featured for the brother on the left in the photo. I always think of how beautiful the deer are in his neck of the woods; can picture a warm fire and flannel shirts.