sWADDLING

I am again in a course with Karen Ruane called SS4.  This one is spread over 6 months and will be slower with fewer videos.  Mainly watching Karen s she creates which is a wonderful thing to watch.

She started making a swaddling band that was used for centuries to bind babies when they were born.
They did it to keep their limbs straight and strong.  People still wrap newborn babies but only to keep them feeling safe and warm.  When I see a mother out with a fairly new baby and they are only in a sunsuit, etc. I always have the feeling of wanting to rush over and say why don't you wrap the baby up in a soft blanket.  Different times, different ways I guess.

To get back to the bands she started making them in pieces and using old transfers on the silk to honor her grandmothers and others who always used these transfers on pillowcases, dresser scarves, etc.

She is also going to make some small ledger books to incorporate items along with this band.
I am showing the 1st. piece I have finished and a piece to go in a ledger.  It is on the cork board and was dam stretched.  This makes such a difference in the end piece.  This will have to be done in sections then pieces joined later.  This can be made as long as you wish.  When I run out of ideas I will have to stop.

We also ironed on a light interfacing to the actual paper transfer we used to make it like a fabric.  The second from the top piece and the third from the bottom  piece are both paper.

You can see the paper better in this and the following pic.

This is on watercolor paper with hexagons made with fabric that I transferred the images to plus french knots. 

I am not sure how good this will show up but the top is FME lace fabric that I made, then an opening made for the transfer paper itself underneath and then some FME stitching on the watercolor paper itself. 

I must say that the ideas above are not mine but Karen's.  I am putting some ideas of my own in the next piece that I am working on now.