Sari Silk Strip Challenge

The challenge for November was to use 1 or more strips of sari silk in a project. The sari silk strips were given to us by Cathey who gets them from a small business called Darn Good Yarn.

Hope: When I saw what was going on in the Dianne Hire class at A Quilters' Gathering, I decided to make a similar piece. Although I used some Australian fabrics, I think it has an African feeling. I used the sari silk, some other silk, beads and fussy cut motifs.

I also brought my piece from the Pam Mostek collage class. It is not yet finished and you can see some pins in the sky area but I am making progress.

Pat: The first thing I did with my strips when Cathey gave them to me was iron them. The jewel tones really looked great together. I decided to try piecing them together on felt using my longarm. First I used black thread to sew them on to the felt, then used decorative quilting and antique buttons to embellish them. Finally, I cut the felt with a wavy blade rotary cutter to form the decorative border.

I have also been working on samples for my new class on quilting zen mandalas.



Joan: Everyone knows how much I love landscapes. I decided to use one of my Iceland photos for inspiration. The piece is made from strips of hand dyed and silk fabric, a strip of photo printed on fabric (contains small sheep and fence posts) and a fuzzy sari silk strip was used for foreground grass.I quilted it on felt.

I have been experimenting with marbling fabric. I especially like the effect of dropping color on the thickened water and letting it morph into organic shapes. This is a piece I bordered in silk and quilted with a few different thread colors.

Marcia: I started with an idea then changed my mind. I decided to make a color blocked collage. I wanted to hand quilt the piece and have one section roughed but the tight weave of the fabrics made both techniques difficult. I ended up sewing & quilting it by machine. In addition to the silk sari strips, I used satin, beads,  buttons and butterflies.

Cathey: I started out wanting to make a large collaged/stitched fabric piece from the strips. I had some trouble and it needs more work. Here is the progress so far:

Then I decided to create a scarf. I layed ironed pieces of the sari silk together, sandwiched them between pieces of water soluable stabilizer, stitched them, then dissolved the stabilizer. I really like the result!

I also brought my collaged wave from Pam Mostek's class. I am still working on sewing down all the pieces and adding lots of texture to the foamy part of the wave.I am also experimenting with background color. In the photo I have some green fabric there but I am not yet convinced that that is the right color. Right now I am leaning toward yellow.

Melanie: For the sari silk challenge, I decided to incorporate my strips into the piece I started in Dianne Hire's class. I used silk, hand dyed cotton, Australian fabric, beads and crystals. I call it Jewel of India because the colors and felling remind me of India.

I also am almost finished with my collaged guitars. This was a great class and technique.