I am making the word "slither" for
Tonya's Halloween Noises quilt. I wanted to make it short but l-o-n-g. Since I generally like to know where I'm going before I start out, I start by doing some little drawings. I have a graph paper notebook just for my quilting ideas. If you click the photos, you can enlarge them. You can see it took me a few tries.
Finally I got the letters the size and shape I liked. These letters will be three times as wide as they are high, and since I can't seem to make a 1/4" strip nice, straight, and even, that means my narrowest strips will be 1/2" finished. The letters will be about 2-1/2" high by perhaps 7-1/2" wide. I drew them all out, then traced them out on tracing paper, so I could see them all together.
That was a good start, but I wanted to do something a bit snake-y with them, so I made photocopies of my drawn letters, and then colored them with magic marker, and then made more copies so I could cut them apart and move the letters around. I highly recommend it.
I still don't know exactly how I will arrange the individual letters, but I know I don't want them lined up straight. That's not what "slither" is all about. Since they'll be fairly large, I wanted to see how they'd look, "life-sized", as it were. So I started making them, using some fabric from my stash. (My finished letters will be acid green on a dark background.)
This red "S" is about 9 inches wide. This means if I laid out all the letters evenly spaced in a straight line, my word would be almost 60" long!
You can click the photos to enlarge.
I am making the word "slither" for Tonya's Halloween Noises quilt. I wanted to make it short but l-o-n-g. Since I generally like to know where I'm going before I start out, I start by doing some little drawings. I have a graph paper notebook just for my quilting ideas. If you click the photos, you can enlarge them. You can see it took me a few tries.
Finally I got the letters the size and shape I liked. These letters will be three times as wide as they are high, and since I can't seem to make a 1/4" strip nice, straight, and even, that means my narrowest strips will be 1/2" finished. The letters will be about 2-1/2" high by perhaps 7-1/2" wide. I drew them all out, then traced them out on tracing paper, so I could see them all together. 
That was a good start, but I wanted to do something a bit snake-y with them, so I made photocopies of my drawn letters, and then colored them with magic marker, and then made more copies so I could cut them apart and move the letters around. I highly recommend it.
I still don't know exactly how I will arrange the individual letters, but I know I don't want them lined up straight. That's not what "slither" is all about. Since they'll be fairly large, I wanted to see how they'd look, "life-sized", as it were. So I started making them, using some fabric from my stash. (My finished letters will be acid green on a dark background.)
This red "S" is about 9 inches wide. This means if I laid out all the letters evenly spaced in a straight line, my word would be almost 60" long!
You can click the photos to enlarge.
9 comments:
so fun to hear how you work - you're definitely much more of a planner than I am. Why not try the quarter inch thick parts in letters and LET them be wobbly - this is slither after all.
Great to see your steps of working toward a final product.
I like the idea of mimic-ing the motion of a snake. How about some letters are scrunched together and some letters are more elongated, like when a snake is sidewinding along on the sand?
I like your planning and your work. I'm doing my first letters ever for Tonya's Halloween Sounds and my word is Mu ha ha.
Yesterday I took some time and created my M and u. I am working wacky/wonky...which is how I most often create. As I look back, I created this way, even as a child.
Again, I love your S L I T H E R!!
(Even though I hate, hate, hate, hate snakes!)
Hugs
What a cool idea and thank you for showing us your whole process! I love to see people's processes.
It's a long process isn't it. For the first time ever I've started planning before cutting. I've got the idea, but probably need to redraw making the letters bigger. They aren't, however, going to be as big as yours and I'm doing black on green!!!!!
Now I understand why it took me and my family 7 years to be debt-free...if I would make a plan and stick to it like you I'd know where I was going! An acid green slither is so great!
your slither is going to look so cool- way to plan it out and thanks for sharing
I love how it's looking, slither should be long and squat! I also loved the idea of imitating the shape of a snake. It's going to look great along the bottom of Tonya's quilt, quietly slithering along!
Cheers,
Dionne
What a good idea to plan instead of jumping straight in (like I do!) Maybe I'll make a quick sketch before I leap, this time!
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