Sunday, May 30, 2010

Using Lutradur

I promised I'd show the progression of "Celtic Roots" from start to finish. It all started with this package of Lutradur. I bought it last Fall with not a clue what to do with it. But as you know by now, I love to experiment with just about anything I can get my hands on.
Lutradur is a Mixed Media sheet that you can cut, paint, fuse, stamp, fold, stitch, ink, run through your printer and who knows what else. It feels and looks almost like very stiff dryer sheets

So with my idea to create a sort of 3D tree with Celtic knots for roots and lots of plaids as foliage, I got busy drawing my design.
To make the "tree", I began by using a small amount of fusible web to fuse two slightly overlapped sheets of the Lutradur together so that I would now have a large enough continuous piece. (All of these photos should be large enough to see some detail when you click on them) Can you see where the pieces are joined? I drew my tree and roots onto the Lutradur and then roughly painted the trunk, roots and earth. No need to be all that careful as I knew I would be cutting it out and adding stitching later.
The Lutradur is painted and ready to be trimmed to the finished shapeFabric selectionBeginning to build the layers........each foliage piece overlaps the one before it

Everything is pinned in place to see how it all will work out
The Lutradur tree is folded out of the way so that I could easily quilt the sky (which is my own hand painted fabric)
As I hand appliqued the foliage, I left openings for the branches to be tucked into

Filling in the "earth" area with lots of stitching using a very dark brown thread helps to make the roots really stand out

Above is a look at how the tree branches tuck into the foliage, I had to quilt a section, tuck in a branch, quilt the next section and so on.

With the piece being an irregular shape I knew the binding would be a bit of a challenge. I felt that the bindings would need to match the various areas to get the effect I was after. It was a little tricky to do but if you leave yourself lots of "wiggle" room you can manipulate it so that it goes exactly where you want it to. Below are close up shots of the binding. Notice how the angle changes as it wraps the to the back.

and finally the finished piece. Celtic Roots is roughly 16"x 21" made for the Wee Quilt Challenge, This years theme, was Celtic Connections. Since no matter who you are, we all are connected to family (for better or worse) I chose to do a family tree of sorts and asked how many plaids you might find in yours. Some wild thread colour was used in the quilting of the foliage to represent those "colourful" family members we all have. ( as with all Wee Quilt challenges, use of plaid is a must)
These challenges are great fun and I almost always learn something new with each new piece I create.
It should be noted that you can cut very intricate patterns in Lutradur with a heat/stencil cutting tool, but for this piece I chose to keep my entire Lutradur piece intact, and instead get a raised appearance with the heavy stitching in the background.
I hope this answers many of your questions, but if you have more, just ask.

19 comments:

Needled Mom said...

Great idea and a lovely piece. I have not used the product, but have read about it being used in my Quilting Arts magazines.

Misty said...

This is so beautiful and amazing! Congrats to you on your finish!

Joan said...

This is fantastic. Thanks for the explanation. I have never heard of Latradur before...its looks so interesting, and well done for your honourable Mention - it is well deserved!

Rian said...

Thank you for sharing this, Jill. It's very interesting. In the picture where you show "Beginning to fill the layers," it looks like the fabrics are under something translucent (freezer paper? fusible?) at the top edge. Can you explain?

It's an incredible piece!

Anonymous said...

Your a clever one!!

Anonymous said...

Impressive stuff, you used it to great effect. The painted detail is really good. I like all those different fabrics in the tree canopy too.

Andrea said...

oh my gosh!! I've never seen anything like it!! It looks so delicate. I've never heard of Lutradur before, but it sounds interesting. Congratulations!

Unknown said...

This turned out beautifully. Folding a section out of the way to quilt behind is it a technique I've been starting to use... makes things flow along much more easily!

Diane J. Evans said...

A work of absolute genius, Jill -- you started with the usual and took it to the level of the spectacular.

I've never used Lutrador -- is it the answer to my prayers? Can it be cut to any size without having raveled edges?

You have a gift, Jill -- thank you for sharing it with all of us.

Diane

GailM. said...

Beautiful. Did you do the logo for QC 2011. It's darling. I love how the trees have various quilting stitches. Love it.

Sherri said...

I am not quite awake and am trying to grasp your construction here. Did you make the tree out of the Lutradur AND use Lutradur for the "batting" of the whole piece?

Wonderful explaination of everything you did here! The hand applique' is something else too!

Quilt Rat said...

oh......no Sherri........the tree trunk, branches and the triangular portion with the roots is the Lutradur.

It, along with the painted cotton
(sky) and the plaids are all laid on a piece of muslin. Once this quilt "top" was made, it was then batted and backed as usual. I used a cotton batting and Batik for the back. Because of the unusual shape I wanted something that would hold the shape but nothing too soft.
Hope this answers your question.

Sherri said...

So there is a layer of backing, a layer of batting, a layer of muslin, the layers of fabrics on top and the cutout trunk/limbs/roots over all...right?

How does this Lutradur differ from OTC stabilizers and such? Just curious. :)

Quilter Kathy said...

What a great post! I was enlarging the photos and reading the text and loved hearing all the details about how you created this amazing piece! Thanks!

allie aller said...

Entirely original and beautiful work. I love this piece.
I'm so glad an online friend linked me to your blog!

Anonymous said...

I find your work incredible impressive! your attention to detail just amazing.
I also appreciate that you take the time in sharing each step of your process.

Carol said...

Thanks for sharing how you made your tree. Very interesting.

Cathy said...

What a beautiful, original idea! And your execution is perfect. I enjoyed your post a lot and hope to visit often to see what else you're up to. Hugs, Cathy K

prashant said...

I have not used the product, but have read about it being used in my Quilting Arts magazines.
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