Athens time

Tuesday 23 March 2010

The making of rainbow zebra....

I have been wondering why I am taking about 14 - 18 hours over my bee blocks....

I think I have found the answer...

Firstly I think a lot about it and then reject gazillions options... (This time is not included in the above estimation btw...). Then I start the design process..

I am not so good drawing from memory, so I look for pictures I can use.


I found a zebra I liked and traced it off the laptop, then put a grid around it.


and enlarged the zebra.

With some tracing paper I traced the outlines so I can overlay later, and coloured the outline of the zebra itself in transfer pen to be able to cut out the (light blue) basic zebra shape from the fabric.

I made little pattern pieces of each and every stripe (there are still four waiting to be converted into fabric on the right hand side on the back leg) and used bondaweb (after reversing the stripes of course) ironed to the back so I could iron them all on securely after being happy with the result. (I did some of the stripes more than once when I was not happy with the colours together).
Overlaying my traced copy to check the position of all the pattern bits.

All bits loose in their proper places...
and ironed on securely.

The outline embroidery being done,

and here the finished article, after machine securing each and every little stripe.

I think I can see why these things take me so long ! Dallas' house took me 14 hours too.. Similar sort of thing.. I first drew the house, then simplified it, then angled everything into something manageable for patchwork and made all the little templates for each piece. Some of those windows were so small that I could not possibly do this by machine, so whereas the zebra was part hand, part machine, the house was entirely by hand.

Marysia, whose son Wojtek this was for, wrote the following in flickr;

"Wojtek loves it! He is sitting next to me and screaming from happiness! Awesome!"

All I can say is that it made me very happy he likes it and I was able to create it for him!

13 comments:

Cathy @ CabbageQuilts said...

Oh my goodness Marguerite, these are a work of art. Thanks for sharing how you arrive at the finished article...fabulous. I too love that zebra, especially the gorgeous colours you have used. A lot of work but totally worth the effort xo

Terrie Sandelin said...

Thanks for sharing your process. That is one beautiful zebra -- I love the colors and fabrics. Wouldn't it be fun if there were real life zebras that colorful, too?

dolores said...

Wowser....That's awesome Marg!! You are a very patient person! Phewy...I don't know if I would ever attempt something like that...especially to give away!:)

Molly said...

That zebra is truly amazing! I'm in awe of you!!

Marianne Penner said...

AMAZING Zebra! You did a fantastic job with it but what a huge amount of work!

Catherine said...

Wow Marguerite it's fantastic!! Really great to see your design process for the making of it too. You've put in so much work and it must have felt good to know the receipient really appreciates it. Beautiful job!

Marlene said...

What a wonderful work of art.I can understand the screams of joy from the recipient. You are amazing.

Lynz said...

Holy crap! Woman, that zebra is awesome! *jaw drops*

Micki said...

The zebra is just wonderful!
Micki

Evelyn said...

Wow, that is such an amazing labor of love. You are so adventurous, and everything you try turns out so lovely!

Cathie said...

What an outstanding little tutorial. I absolutely LOVE your little blog here. Lovely colors, interesting projects - unique of sorts. I am now a follower and am looking forward to seeing what the future brings here at quilting and sailing!

myBearpaw said...

You are so good, giving us such a detailed tutorial! I always forget to take photos of things while I am making them. The zebra is so pretty!

sallgood said...

Fantastic! You described your process so well too!