Tuesday 26 August 2014

Sailing


Wall hanging for Newlyweds





Detail

Recently my nephew was married in a beautiful garden wedding with an arbour trellis covered in flowers as his wedding canopy.  Simply and naturally beautiful.







 As they didn't need a canopy made by me I decided to get creative and work with a favorite photo of the newlyweds.  This photo was taken before they were married, at one of the family's favorite places in the world.  Our beloved Lac Notre Dame in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec.  My nephew shows off his ability to multitask, sailing while kissing.



 Working with the photo in photoshop, I changed it to a black and white image, printed it onto watersoluble paper and then free motion stitched the highlights.  I had asked the young couple to send me some fabric that was meaningful to them.  They sent this lovely batik that was aquired while travelling.  I used it for the framing fabric, keeping the dark shades at the bottom and the lighter ones at the top.  They sent a pretty burgandy blouse and I used a piece of that for the rod pocket.  A piece of the wedding dress was used to stabilize the image as I was sewing through silk organza.

After it was all put together, I decided to do a little hand stitching to add texture.  The browns and dark greens in the distance are to suggest our evergreens in the mountains that surround the lake, and I stitched a bit of bright blue into the lake.  In this close up you can see the free motion stitching of her hair and bathing suit.