Art Quilt: River of Sorrow

Kind of dramatic, huh? I am not sure what else to call the shape. I have used this shape two other times – both on political quilts.

I knew the approximate shape I wanted, so I made a paper template by taping a bunch of pieces of newsprint together.

Then I cut out the fabric. Then I trimmed the fabric. Then I shaped the piece until I had it the way I wanted it.

Down the Drain: River of Sorrow
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow

Finally, I was able to put it on the wall. It didn’t stick, so there are pins you can’t see.

Down the Drain: River of Sorrow-detail
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow-detail
  1. I wanted to make the shape look like it was going down a drain. I needed it to look like it was constrained in some way and forced to flow down.
  2. I wanted the black border squares to go on top of the Shape. At this stage, I pinned the border over the shape to move in that direction.
  3. The part of the ‘water’ that goes down a drain was hard to approximate. The shape you see in this picture is what I ended up with.

After I got the approximate shape, I took fabric ink and a rubber stamp alphabet and wrote on the shape. I wrote words that described what I observed was going down the drain.

I always have a hard time naming my political quilts. Their names end up being straightforward and somewhat unsophisticated. I guess I have learned to go with that.

Posts about Down the Drain

  1. I Have a Secret – 8/6/2017
  2. Art Quilt Start: Background – 8/8/2017