Patchwork wall canvas – Part 1 – Bookcase

Patchwork wall canvas – Part 1 – Bookcase

It would take several consecutive publications (actually, more than juste several) to show you and explain how to make such a patchwork canvas, combining different embroidered scenes and a patchwork finishing. You will assist my artwork scene by scene and only see the result in the end, just as it happened with me

I started with just an idea of what I wanted to have in the end, but with no specific plans, drawings, sizes. It was somewhere in October 2014. I didn’t have the scenes in my head in advance (except for a few ones that I saw in a French magazine). I didn’t even know the number of scenes I would make. I just picked a theme for them, namely to recreate various moments from the life of a child – playing, being with friends, going to school, reading books, writing homeworks, etc. I drew 2-3 scenes with a pencil on a blank sheet of paper, and then re-created them on the fabric. As the result reflected well my idea, I continued my work more confident. Step by step, I created something beautiful that now decorates one of the walls at home

If you feel like making the same artwork, you only need to follow my steps! You can either print my sketches and reproduce the same scenes, or make your own designs, choosing a theme that inspires you. Your canvas can be of a different size, based on how many scenes you decide to make. Mine makes 120 by 80 cm.

The first scene of the series is a small cozy corner for reading and knitting. The scene is smaller than it appears. The linen fabric makes 15 by 17 cm (plus 1 cm hem). You can enlarge it, if you want.

What you need:

- Light-colored linen fabric (mine was light gray). For my artwork, I needed a fabric making 120 cm long and 160 cm wide. For the scene itself, you need a piece of linen of 16 by 18 cm.

- Various fabric cuttings

- Felt in pastel colors

- Thread in the colors of your fabrics and felts.

- This sketch:

Bookcase motif

Step 1:

Take the printed pattern and a piece of white baking paper. Put the latter on the drawing and hand copy all the elements, drawing each item separately. Where an item is under another, prolong it with 1-2 mm.

Step 2:

Cut all duplicate items on the baking paper and take out all your fabric cuttings. Choose the ones that suit you and use the small patterns to cut out the elements from the fabrics.

Step 3:        

Arrange all the elements on the linen fabric. Center the pattern.

Step 4:

Fix the basic elements with pins. Remove the others from the scene without mixing them.

Step 5:                    

Set your sewing machine to the embroidery stitch. In fact, it is the simple zigzag, but with tightened parameters. I set the zigzag width to 2, and the zigzag spacing to 0.4. Try on a fabric cutting your stitch in order to find the right settings. The stitch should look like this:

Step 6:

Sew the elements on the fabric.

Step 7:

Now that everything is sewn on the fabric, you need to retouch some elements with hand embroidery. The library books need “labels”, the vase and lamp need some decorative motif, the opened book needs some “text”. The wool yarn and knitting needles are entirely made by hand. For this, cut a small circle for the yarn and sew it by wrapping it with many layers of thread immitanting a wool yarn.

Step 8:

Iron carefully your scene (from the back) and make 1 cm hem.

You are ready! Put your little creation aside and think about the drawing you will make the next day