Making your own unique layered sheer fabric art backgrounds with the layering of sheer fabrics such as silk organza mesh net lace or yarns. Subtle variations of tonal colour create a dreamy atmosphere.
Easier than you think, making interesting backgrounds for further stitching at a later date. I have started off here with a lightweight white cotton lawn. I found a lovely snippit of a sheer fabric that had a print of perhaps tree branches. Look at the black woolen yarn and how it echoes that design.
After I had layered the beautiful print down I lay down the woolen yarn. Then I got some fusible webbing ( you can buy paperback webbing). It is a web of glue strands. I cut out a rectangle the same size and placed it with the paperbacked side facing upwards. Then I ironed it. Once I pulled off the paper, I had this lovely surface ready to cut out some other interesting scraps. Have a look at the two pictures below. I found some mysterious net mesh, pale pink wool which I frayed and bundled up to resemble pale flowers. And some sheer fabrics like organza silk or chiffon etc whatever allows you to see through.
Once I was happy with my layering onto the fusible web I added a very pale pink cotton organza on the top, once it is ironed again using the same paper as a barrier to your iron you end up with a sandwich of layers. Can you see how muted the colours come through, even the black was toned down to grey. Can you see the lovely sparkle produced from some silver mesh I had as one of my layers.
Of course this was just a prelude to doing a bit of stitching. I looked into the design and imagined what I could see in it, then brough those hazy shapes into focus with the addition of embroiery stitches. I used some richer colours to add contrast, whilst sticking to the tonal colour range. This was a wonderful creative journey and lots of fun. I hope you will give it a try and make something truly an expression of yourself.
If you would like to see this tutorial in greater detail, I have a 3 part series video tutorial on YouTube for you to view. The first part involves making the background fabric. I hope you enjoy it, the link is below.
Cheers Tracey