For my second quilt in the Waiting… series, I am struggling not only to draw the woman right, but to add a young girl at her side. I tried a lot of different women, but decided to go back to more or less the same woman with some differences in hair and clothing, so that drawing is progressing, but the child has been a huge struggle for me so far.
First of all, you need to know that I have to get the drawing right before I can make the applique. The only thing I plan to print onto fabric are the faces and hands of the woman and the girl. The rest might be appliqued fabrics, yarn, and thread painting. Still, I have to get it right so I have a pattern to go by.
I have combed the internet to find a good model for the little girl standing in the right pose with more or less the right clothing. The closest I came are two girls from Dover Pictura and neither one of them are right. Here they are:
So I am struggling to draw a little girl with all my requirements. She has to be pretty, she has to be a little windblown, though not as much as her mom, because she is shielded a little by her mom. She has to be looking out to sea, and she has to be dressed in the mid 19th century outdoor winter clothing. So far, I have managed to sketch the head, and that’s all.
The head, of course, is the most important part and also the most difficult. That’s the part I will printout in fabric and use as an applique. The rest of it has only to be properly proportioned and designed, because that’s just a pattern, unless the drawing is wonderful, then I may use much of the whole drawing for the applique and just add embellishments of thread painted hair and the yarn for the fur edging. I have spent a lot of time drawing this head with some frustration. Now I have to paint her. I’ll show you the finished woman and child when I get it done. It takes time, but if I want to make this quilt, I have to do this.
Sew happy everyone! I hope to have it ready to make the entire two appliques by the weekend. What color do you think her hair should be?
Cheers.