Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Folded Fabric Fun

I've found that the world is divided into those who CAN teach themselves quite happily from written directions and those that struggle.
I belong firmly to the first group and if it weren't for the existence of the second group I probably wouldn't have been teaching quilting for a quarter of a century.

Be that as it may, it is really rare for me to strike a pattern, or set of directions, that I can't nut out, regardless of how it's written.
I just automatically assume that I'll be able to work it out no matter what "it" is
Which just goes to prove that pride [ or perhaps eternal optimism ] really does goeth before a fall

Allow me to 'splain

I found two really cute little folded fabric origami patterns by Hitomi from Quilting Heart over at Purl's Palace, Daylesford t'other day and decided that today was the day to try out one of them:

It says quite clearly to practice in paper first
and did I do that?

not on your Nellie

as a result the prototype took about two hours [ and mind you this was AFTER emailing the designer last week for clarification - which she was very nice about ]

model #2 took 15 minutes

and by #5 I had it down to 10 minutes flat

the original idea is to incorporate these into a mini quilt but I'm thinking more along the lines of spray mounting them and framing in simple box frames

mmmm
wonder how they'd work - with slight modifications of course - in silk paper???

6 comments:

Dianne said...

These are so cute, and soooo tiny. Well done for persevering, from one who belongs to the second camp. Got to be shown everything!

Donna Lee said...

I,too firmly believe that I can figure any directions out if I just keep trying. Sometimes i have to put them down and come back later (I think of this as letting my brain do its job) but it's rare for me to give up entirely. It's how I learned to knit. The internet has made it easy to find directions to do just about anything.
Origami was one of the most challenging things I ever tried because the directions are largely visual without a lot of words. I love the pieces you folded(out of fabric no less!) and would definitely frame them. They are gorgeous.

Lindi said...

Definitely frameable. They're gorgeous!
Worth the struggle.

Carol said...

How absolutely gorgeous and yes, I think in a box frame would be magnificent.

I'm a written (plus pictures) person, I need to be able to refer back.

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Wow, they are just gorgeous ... wonder how they would look in a quilt ... spectacular, I'd imagine. Good on ya for sticking to it !! Not sure I would have had the patience !!!
Have a great weekend.
Take care, Meow

Lynne said...

I had that problem with my teddy sewing instructions! Finally figured it out sitting you-know-where; thank goodness I'd knitted Tomten - the instructions meant sew half the stitches to the head and the other half to the neck! Why didn't they just say so?

By the way, I've made that 'Japanese' pattern [or something similar] in washi paper - very nice!